Jack McLean (journalist)

McLean first began writing columns for The Times Educational Supplement in the 1970s about his experiences as a teacher.[https://www.thisisopus.com/celtic/contributors/ Biography, The Official Celtic Opus] From the 1980s he went on to write columns for the Glasgow Herald, with a brief move to The Scotsman in 1998 before returning to The Herald. He also contributed to the Glasgow Evening Times.'Glasgow legend Jack McLean - author of The Sporting Urban Voltaire - dies as Nicola Sturgeon pays tribute', in The Scotsman, 27 December, 2023

A collection of his columns was first published as The Bedside Urban Voltaire in 1990. More Bedside Urban Voltaire followed a year later. These were expanded and supplemented as Hopeless But Not Serious: An Autobiography of the Urban Voltaire in 1996.[https://theafterword.co.uk/jack-mclean-the-urban-voltaire/ 'Jack McLean – The Urban Voltaire', in The Afterword, 28 July 2015] The City of Glasgow, with photographs by Colin Baxter, was published in 1994. The Compendium of Nosh (An A-Z of Food) appeared in 2007. In 2011 he wrote the preface for a new edition of The Heart of Glasgow (1965) by Jack House.[https://books.google.com/books?id=DIuu6IvTv8AC Jack House: The Heart of Glasgow, Neil Wilson Publishing (2011)]

At the Leveson Inquiry in 2011 he was criticised for his writing about the 1991 murder of Diane Watson by Barbara Glover (both schoolgirls), in which he had portrayed the victim as a bully.[https://discoverleveson.com/evidence/Witness_Statement_of_Margaret_Watson/9246/media The Leveson Inquiry: Witness Statement of Margaret Watson, 2 November 2011][https://www.thetimes.com/article/jack-mclean-dies-glasgows-urban-voltaire-and-herald-columnist-95hldkbdg 'Jack McLean, Glasgow's 'Urban Voltaire'], in The Times, 28 December, 2023 The Herald later apologised to Watson's family.{{Cite web|url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2011/news/scottish-daily-apologises-to-family-of-murdered-schoolgirl/|title=Scottish daily apologises to family of murdered schoolgirl - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage|access-date=27 December 2023|website=HoldtheFrontPage}}[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/22/leveson-inquiry-herald-watson 'Leveson inquiry: Herald apologises to Watson family'], in The Guardian, 22 November, 2011

Educated at Allan Glen's School, McLean worked for 20 years as a secondary school art teacher,Kenneth Roy. 'Urban Voltaire', April 1990, reprinted in The Best of Scotland on Sunday (1990), pp. 47-51 but was dismissed for assaulting a pupil, as he later recounted in his column.

McLean was a well-known resident of Glasgow's South Side, where he lived for over 35 years, and where he could often be found in the pubs along the Pollokshaws Road.[https://twitter.com/YourWullie/status/1401572813551644674 Photograph of Jack McLean outside of Heraghty’s Bar] in 2021, X

He died on 27 December 2023, at the age of 77. After his death, tributes were paid by Nicola Sturgeon and others.{{Cite web|url=https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottish-news/24013780.tributes-pour-following-death-glasgow-writer/|title=Tributes pour in following death of 'legendary' Glasgow writer|date=27 December 2023|access-date=27 December 2023|website=Glasgow Times}}

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• [https://www.instagram.com/p/B7iMgziFEZd/ Jack McLean, photographed by Simon Murphy in 2020]
• [https://twitter.com/YourWullie/status/1401573855848697858/photo/1 The Bedside Urban Voltaire], cover art

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Category:1940s births

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Journalists from Glasgow

Category:People educated at Allan Glen's School

Category:Scottish schoolteachers

Category:Voltaire