Angus John Macdonald, Baron Macdonald of Tradeston, (born 20 August 1940) is a Scottish television executive,

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

and former Labour member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Early life

Macdonald was born in Larkhall, Scotland. His father, a Highlander, had poor health and gambled. His mother, who was from a local mining family, worked multiple jobs to support and raise the family. He won a scholarship to

Allan Glen's School Allan Glen's School was, for most of its existence, a State school, local authority, selective Secondary education, secondary school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland, charging nominal fees for tuition. It was founded by the Allan Glen's Endowment ...

, Glasgow, but left at 14 to become an apprentice marine engineer at Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyard in Linthouse on the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

and where he was one of the leaders for the apprentices' strike in 1959 along with fellow members, Billy Connolly and

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

. Macdonald was leader of the Govan and Gorbals branch of the Labour Party's Young Socialists. He moved to London in 1962 where he was briefly involved in revolutionary socialist politics as a member of the International Socialists, living at the London home of its foremost member, Tony Cliff. He has said that he returned to his political roots working at the Labour weekly ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'' around 1964, where he was appointed as the circulation manager by

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Foot beg ...

Television

He has worked as a journalist on ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' and as a member of the Insight team on ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. Originally taken on as a researcher, he was with

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

from 1967 to 1986 where he was soon appointed joint editor of ''

World in Action ''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its product ...

'' with

John Birt John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television and ...

; Macdonald had an association with the programme for many years. He also presented Granada's '' What the Papers Say'' as well as ''

Right to Reply ''Right to Reply'' (sometimes called ''R2R'') is a British television series shown on Channel 4 from 1982 until 2001, which allowed viewers to voice their complaints or concerns about TV programmes. It featured reports, usually presented by a ...

'' and "Union World" on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Macdonald returned to Scotland in 1986 as Director of Programmes for

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

. After four years he became managing director, replacing William Brown in 1990. While at STV he overhauled the station's Current Affairs output and cut the core workforce from 800 to 330 and the market value of the company grew from £50m to around £500m. The company took over two newspapers, ''The Herald'' and the ''Evening Times'', plus the other ITV contractor in Scotland,

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...

. He became non-executive chairman of Scottish Media Group plc at the end of 1997, and Chairman of Taylor and Francis plc in 1998. He was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) for services to broadcasting in the 1997 Birthday Honours.

House of Lords

A year after the Labour won the

United Kingdom general election United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...

Macdonald was made

on 2 October 1998 as Baron Macdonald of Tradeston, ''of

Tradeston Tradeston () is a small district in the Scotland, Scottish city of Glasgow adjacent to the city centre on the south bank of the River Clyde. The name (a portmanteau of "Trades Town") reflected its role as a primarily dockland area with a lar ...

in the City of Glasgow''. As a member of the

he was then appointed to be Minister for Business and Industry in the

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

(1998–99), followed by Minister for Transport in the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions, in attendance at cabinet (1999–2001) and Minister for the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

and

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. Excluding the prime minister, the chancellor is the highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the prime minister ...

(2001–03) Member of Cabinet Office Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. Also member of

' Select Committees on Economic Affairs (2004–2008), and Communications (2009–2012).Chair of the All Party Parliamentary

Humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

Group. He retired from the House of Lords on 27 April 2017.

Other interests

In 2004, he was appointed as an adviser to fund managers Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Europe) Limited in relation to a new European Infrastructure fund which aimed to invest in road and rail projects. He is on Steering Group of the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

Futures Programme on Infrastructure and advisory board of OECD

International Transport Forum The International Transport Forum (ITF) is an inter-governmental organisation within the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) system. It is the only global body with a mandate for all modes of transport. It acts as a ...

. In 2011, he was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the

Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland The Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IES) is a multi-disciplinary professional body and learned society, founded in Scotland, for professional engineers in all disciplines and for those associated with or taking an interest in their work. I ...

and chose the subject "Bridging the Infrastructure Gap". Macdonald was installed as Chancellor of

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University, informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley (), is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and Glasgow Polytechnic (originally Glasg ...

in October 2007, succeeding

Magnus Magnusson Magnus Magnusson (born Magnús Sigursteinsson; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was an Icelandic-born British-based journalist, translator, writer and television presenter. Born in Reykjavík, he lived in Scotland for almost all his life, al ...

. He also served as a Governor of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

, a member of the council (2006–2008) and of Court (2009–) at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

and is Patron of the Dystonia Society.

References

Publications

* "Camera: A Victorian Eyewitness", B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1979,

External links

Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords
House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 8 October 1998. , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Gus 1940 births Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) life peers Living people Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People associated with Glasgow Caledonian University People educated at Allan Glen's School People from Larkhall Scottish businesspeople Scottish humanists Scottish Labour politicians Socialist Workers Party (UK) members Scottish journalists Scottish television presenters Scottish television executives Scottish trade unionists Life peers created by Elizabeth II Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 Governors of the British Film Institute