THE ambition of STV News anchor, John MacKay, when he was young, was, first, to go university, and then join the Evening Times newspaper, followed by The Herald.
The revelation appears today in a full-page interview in The Herald, by Brian Beacom, as MacKay – who also co-presents STV’s late night current affairs programme, Scotland Tonight – describes how his Glasgow University days were not about a degree, but writing for the student newspaper.
Writes Beacom: “The single-minded student became editor of the paper (he took it a little more tabloid, in terms of layout) and set about gathering by-lines and contacts. ‘I even write to Archie Macpherson for advice, even though I wasn’t interested in broadcasting, and he wrote a nice letter back.’
“MacKay’s determination won out. He was offered a job with The Sunday Post in the days when reporters used phone booths at the end of the corridor. But was Fleet Street ever a dream? ‘No, never. Had I gone to private school perhaps I wouldn’t have feared getting ahead of myself. But I have no regrets. I love Scotland.'”
