John Ross Beattie (born 27 November 1957) is a Scottish broadcaster and former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player.

Early life and education

Beattie was born to Scottish parents in North Borneo, where his father was manager of a rubber estate. He attended boarding school in Penang, Malaysia and the family returned to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

when he was eleven. and went to

the Glasgow Academy The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational independent day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully independent ...

. He studied at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and gained a degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Beattie played for Glasgow Schools,

Glasgow Academicals The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. The club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873. History Glasgow Hawks In 1997 the decision was made to ...

and Heriot's.

Provincial career

He played for Glasgow District. He played for

Combined Scottish Districts Combined Scottish Districts is a select Scottish provincial amateur rugby union team that draws its players from Glasgow District, Edinburgh District, North of Scotland District, Midlands District, South of Scotland District and Scottish Exi ...

on 1 March 1986 against South of Scotland.

International career

He gained 2 caps for Scotland 'B' in 1980. He won his first international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

at No. 8 on 2 February 1980 against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

at the age of 22. He went on to earn a total of 25 Scotland caps. He toured twice with the British Lions, to South Africa in 1980 and New Zealand in 1983, winning one test cap. He also played for the Lions against 'the Rest' in 1986. In 1987 he captained Scotland in a pre-season tour to Spain and later scored a try in both internationals against France and Wales. His first try for Scotland came against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the Parc des Princes on 7 March 1987. On 4 April he started a match against England but suffered a recurrence of a knee injury and was substituted early in the second half. The injury ruled him out of playing in the inaugural Rugby World Cup. He did not play for Scotland again and the knee injury cut short his playing career.

Coaching career

For a brief period, Beattie was assistant coach at

. Ahead of the 2004–05 season, Beattie was appointed as coach of Premier One side Biggar along with Gary Parker. He coached West of Scotland during their rise from Premier Division 3 to Division 1.

Broadcasting and journalism career

After retiring from rugby, Beattie moved on from civil engineering and retrained as a chartered accountant, before moving into broadcasting in 1995. He works as a commentator or presenter for rugby on television and radio. He hosts a lunchtime show of news, comment and discussion on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

, and is a host of the sports magazine programme ''Sport Nation'' on both radio and TV. He writes a rugby blog on the BBC's rugby union website, and has written for The Herald,

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

and Scottish Rugby Magazine. In 2003 Beattie was chairman of the Scottish government physical activity taskforce to improve the health of the nation through exercise and oversaw a review in 2008, 'Let's Make Scotland More Active'. In 2010, Radio Scotland announced that he would host the "John Beattie Show", a 75-minute show four days a week. Since 2019, Beattie serves as a presenter on BBC Scotland's news programme '' The Nine''.

Personal life

Beattie's son, Johnnie, is also a Scottish international rugby player, who has won 38 caps since 2006. One of his daughters, Jen, plays football for

, having more than 100 caps, and Arsenal and previously for Celtic F.C. Women. In 2004, Beattie was a candidate for

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. In 2015

Abertay University , mottoeng = "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom." , established = 1994 – granted University Status 1888 – Dundee Institute of Technology , type = Public , chancellor = Alice Brown , principal = Liz Bacon , head_label = Chair of C ...

awarded him an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

. He received another honorary doctorate from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

one year later.

References

External links

''Drivetime''
(BBC Radio Scotland)
John Beattie's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beattie, John 1957 births Alumni of the University of Glasgow BBC Radio Scotland presenters BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists Scottish radio presenters British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Glasgow Academicals rugby union players Heriot's RC players Living people People of British Borneo Rugby union number eights Scotland international rugby union players Scottish radio personalities Scottish rugby union coaches Scottish rugby union commentators Scottish rugby union players Rugby union players from Glasgow Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Glasgow District (rugby union) players Scottish Districts (combined) players