Jimmie Macgregor (born 10 March 1930) is a Scottish folksinger and broadcaster, best known as half of a singing duo with

Robin Hall Robin Hall (27 June 1936 – 18 November 1998) was a Scottish folksinger, best known as half of a singing duo with Jimmie Macgregor. Hall was a direct descendant of the famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor as well as of th ...

Biography

Jimmie Macgregor was born in

Springburn Springburn ( gd, Allt an Fhuairainn) is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its indu ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, and grew up in a

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

and then a council house, about which he has said: "Our house was a focus for people to gather and make music.... I had aunties and cousins who were chorus girls."Tom Shields, "He’s set to celebrate his 80th birthday but Jimmie Macgregor is far from over the hill"
''The Herald'', 8 March 2010. After doing his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

, he studied at

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

, graduating in the mid-1950s and becoming a potter and teacher.

Partnership with Hall

In 1960, he formed a musical partnership with

that would last 20 years.Craig McQueen, "Folk legend Jimmie Macgregor: I'm still going strong at 80 with no plans to retire"
''Daily Record'', 29 November 2010. They appeared extensively on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

– both on the ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'' programme and on the ''

White Heather Club ''The White Heather Club'' was a BBC TV Scottish variety show that ran on and off from 7 May 1958 to 11 April 1968 History It was an early evening BBC television programme. It started at 6.20, and Jimmy Shand composed a melody "The Six Twenty ...

''. Both also played as part of The Galliards with

Leon Rosselson Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934, Harrow, Middlesex, England) is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, i ...

and Shirley Bland. Hall and Macgregor recorded over 20 albums during their partnership, which ended in 1981. One of their most successful singles was the anthem " Football Crazy", released in 1960 on Decca Records.

Television and radio work

Macgregor went on to make television programmes for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

, many on long-distance walking, including ''In the Footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie'', ''On The

West Highland Way The West Highland Way ( gd, Slighe na Gàidhealtachd an Iar) is a linear long-distance route in Scotland. It is long, running from Milngavie north of Glasgow to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, with an element of hill walking in the r ...

'', and ''Macgregor Across Scotland''. He also made ''Macgregor's Gathering'', a long-running show for

Radio Scotland Radio Scotland was an offshore pirate radio station broadcasting on 1241 kHz mediumwave (242 metres), created by Tommy Shields in 1965. The station was on the former lightship L.V. ''Comet'', which had been fitted out as a radio station in ...

. He has been involved in various conservation organisations, among them the

Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

, and was awarded the

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 1994 for services to Scottish heritage and culture.Jimmie Macgregor biography
Shetland Folk Festival.

References

External links

archive of official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Jimmie Scottish folk singers Scottish television presenters 1930 births Living people 20th-century Scottish male singers People from Springburn Musicians from Glasgow Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Members of the Order of the British Empire