Jack House

Scottish writer and broadcaster
the Scottish writer and broadcaster

John House (16 May 1906 – 11 April 1991) was a prolific and popular Scottish writer and broadcaster, with a significant attachment to the City of Glasgow.

House was born in Tollcross, then in the County of Lanark, just outside the Glasgow city boundary. This, together with the fact that both of his parents were born in England, would come as a surprise to those who knew him as "Mr Glasgow", so thoroughly did he identify himself with the culture and people of that city. He felt that Glasgow was a fairly autonomous "city state". That his father, also John, was a prosperous company secretary and Jack himself trained as an accountant would only add to the surprise, given Glasgow's "Red Clydeside" reputation. The family rapidly moved to Dennistoun where Jack (and subsequently his four brothers and three sisters) attended Whitehill Secondary School. At his father's insistence he began training as an accountant. Accounting did not suit Jack's temperament, nor did it challenge his abilities, which lay towards writing, spinning yarns and acting.

In 1928, he got a job as a reporter on the Glasgow Evening Citizen, where he was involved in a number of sensational stories – including a tragic blaze at the Glen Cinema in Paisley in which 80 children had perished. He also attended an early demonstration of mechanical television by John Logie Baird. Meanwhile, he continued to act – mostly light parts (in the Scottish National Players as well as for BBC Radio). He worked also for the city's other papers the
Evening News and the Evening Times, being the last of the city's three evening papers, and contributed to The Bulletin, Glasgow Herald and the Scottish Field.

During the second world war he attained the rank of captain in the cinematographic unit, for which he wrote scripts (in the company of Peter Ustinov and David Niven). He was well connected with the media classes of both Glasgow and Edinburgh,. He was also active politically, standing unsuccessfully in a 1962 by election for Liberal Party in the Glasgow Woodside constituency, where he then lived. He also campaigned against the Glasgow Inner Ring Road and the construction of Glasgow's peripheral housing estates, such as Easterhouse and Nitshill, which resulted in the decline of traditional inner city districts, a phenomenon known as Counter urbanisation.

It is, though, as a writer that he is best known. He published 54 books, and possibly even more. Many of his books had been commissioned and some were obviously meant to be "fun" books. Several others had been commissioned by local authorities or tourist boards with a view to promoting their areas. Large companies – especially builders and whisky distillers – commissioned histories of their success from him, as did the locally renowned "Western Baths". All of these commissions are testimony to his engaging style, as well as an investigative prowess derived from his journalism. He produced other substantial works closer to his personal interests, such as Heart of Glasgow. However, one of his biggest successes was Square Mile of Murder. In this he described and analysed several notorious 19th century murders, and miscarriages of justice, in the middle class districts in the west of the city. Among these were the cases of Madeleine Smith, (played, like the rest of the cast, with a perfect English accent by Ann Todd in David Lean's 1949 film Madeleine) and Oscar Slater. He tried his hand as a novelist in House on the Hill, with limited success (although it was later dramatised by Scottish Television). However, his sparkling journalism never went out of fashion – despite the fact that he had always warned that he never let a concern for facts get in his way if there was a good story to be told. His "'Ask Jack" column in the Glasgow Evening Citizen gave lively answers (most of them true) to readers' questions on all aspects of the City. He was often on television, with STV and BBC Scotland, and formed a winning partnership with Sir James Fergusson in the long running radio series Round Britain Quiz. Pavement in the Sun is an attempt at autobiography.

He regularly acted as restaurant critic for that paper, where, as usual, his partisanship for the city over ruled any more nuanced judgements. The view from one restaurant table looked down along the Great Western Road. "Like the Champs Elysées – only better! ", was Mr Glasgow's considered verdict. He spent a great deal of time in the "Ubiquitous Chip" restaurant and there is a caricature of him – buck teeth and all – by Emilio Coia still hanging over his habitual table. The restaurant was close to Jack's last home – a flat in a classic Glasgow tenement. His substantial Edwardian flat in Beaumont Gate, was in Dowanhill, where he had always aspired to stay. This, like his birth and childhood homes was of striking red sandstone – a Glaswegian architectural/visual code for "extremely well off".

He married Jessie Lottimer Bennett Miller, herself an outstanding journalist (who died in 1974). They had no children. He was awarded the St Mungo Prize Glasgow's top honour, in 1988, and Glasgow University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Laws. The St Mungo Prize is awarded to the individual who has done most in the previous three years to improve and promote the city of Glasgow. He died in Glasgow Western Infirmary on 11 April 1991.