X-Man's boogie nights of shame in legwarmers

Published on Saturday 11 April 2009 20:13

HE IS known to millions around the globe as the suave and sophisticated face of A-list Caledonian cool.

But Scotland on Sunday can reveal that Alan Cumming's first foray into the world of showbusiness was more red face than Goldeneye.

The US-based former Bond villain and X–Men star returned to Scotland to pay a nostalgic visit to his first work place.

But on arriving in Dundee, where he was employed as a trainee magazine journalist, Cumming was astonished to be confronted with toe-curling and long-forgotten images of him posing for teen photo-romance stories.

The Cabaret actor, who last weekend led the annual Tartan Day in New York, went back to his roots for a TV documentary exploring humour in his homeland.

His journey to the centre of Scottish mirth led him back to the headquarters of Tayside publishing empire DC Thomson where, as a gauche 16-year-old, he was briefly employed in the early 1980s.

While there, he was shown evidence of his role as a model for the now defunct teenage titles Blue Jeans and Patches.

In a Kids From Fame-inspired photo-story entitled Dance Yourself Dizzy!, perhaps named after the disco hit by Liquid Gold, the teenage Cumming posed in a headband, vest and legwarmers. The 44-year-old revealed that appearing in the photo strips was part of his day-to-day duties.

"There was absolutely no choice. I was a sub editor/model."

Cumming also told how he ended up working for the firm that produces the Beano and the Dandy.

"I grew up in a really isolated part of Perthshire, but my first job took me out of the country and into the glamorous metropolis that is Dundee.

"It is slightly scary being back, because when I used to work here there was a Mr Thomson on each floor.

"Each week when a mock-up of the magazine was produced, they'd send me along to see him, because I was the little 16 or 17-year-old."

"It was like going over the trenches in a war. If they lost me it would be fine."

The documentary also shows Cumming being taken back to the office where he interviewed stars including Toyah and Bucks Fizz for the short-lived pop magazine Tops.

He laughs: "Oh my God, they've got computers and everything in there now.

"We worked on a top international magazine, but there was only one telephone in the office that we all had to share."

After being shown vintage comic strips of Minnie the Minx, Dennis the Menace and the Bash Street Kids, Cumming concludes their irreverent insubordination sums up Scotland's uneasy role as junior partner in the Union.

He said: "For so long England has been the bossy teacher telling us Scots what to do.

"It is no wonder we have taken on a naughty, rebellious strain.

"The idea of Scotland seeing itself as an underdog, always fighting against the authority figure and being mischievous, but never really naughty, makes so much sense."

The graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), who also interviews comediennes Una McLean and Karen Dunbar for the documentary, claimed the humour of his homeland was the finest in the world.

"The longer I'm away I realise the main thing I miss about Scotland is it unique sense of humour. It's dark, surreal, rude and sweary and I am proud of it."

Bill McLoughlin of DC Thomson said the company was delighted to welcome their famous former colleague back.

He said: "Alan was too young to go to university or drama college so he came and worked here for 18 months.

"He was here in 1981 and 1982 and worked on the girls' teenage magazines Blue Jeans, Patches and Tops. Alan really seemed to enjoy his visit and I found him to be very pleasant and down-to-earth."

McLoughlin said the actor revealed his own healthy sense of humour when he confronted the ghosts from his past.

"Alan had a good laugh at the photo-story pictures of himself. He is very self-effacing and doesn't take himself too seriously.

"But it is fair to say that some of the pictures were pretty embarrassing."

During his time with DC Thomson, Cumming was also known to readers as Young Alan, the letters -page man. He recalled: "You wrote to Young Alan at 185 Fleet Street, London and we were all in Dundee.

"I used to think: why not put the Dundee address. It's this inferiority complex."

Alan Cumming's My Brilliant Britain will be shown on the digital satellite channel Blighty, formerly UKTV, throughout this month.