Ian Nelson

Born: 27 February, 1920, in Glasgow.

Died: 5 June, 2009, in Dunblane, aged 89.

ALMOST half a century after he sat down with a certain individual named Elvis for his greatest-ever "scoop", John Brown Nelson, always known as Ian, has also left the building. He was a renowned and popular journalist for 66 years, and his passing offers time for reflection on a dedicated career where one interview, among his numerous brushes with royalty, celebrity and sport stars, stands out.

While he was never one to bask in adulation, more content to burrow away and file stories in his own unique, quirky style, his famous sit-down with the rock 'n' roll legend deserves every platitude.

It was 3 March, 1960 when Ian savoured his evening meeting with Elvis Presley at Prestwick Airport as he made a brief stopover en route to the US after completing his military service in Germany.

Those 90 minutes were all Presley ever spent in the UK. Fearing a frenzy, personnel at Prestwick's US Air Force Unit 1631 tried to keep secret the fact "the King" was landing, but Ian, typically, had his sources.

"I lived at Prestwick at the time, a short distance from the airport," the former staffer for the Scottish Daily Mail recalled only last month. "The Americans had a base there and I had met quite a lot of them. The colonel knew I was always looking for stories and he phoned me to say there was a famous name arriving, so I nipped down."

His swift trip was to earn Ian the rare distinction of being the only British journalist to interview – and be photographed with – Elvis on British soil. "Girls were there, shouting," he remembered. "It was about 10pm. Everyone was asking for his autograph and I recall my daughter, Nicola, saying later, 'Why didn't you get an autograph?' But that isn't what journalists do."

Then only 25, Presley was already a global star, every bit the music icon he remains today. But to Ian he was simply another high-profile visitor to Prestwick, a base convenient for A-list types given its greater privacy than the big city airports.

He continued: "Luckily, we had a small lounge to ourselves, and we chatted away for over 20 minutes while the plane was refuelling. I thought he was charming, a very polite young man. He called me Sir. He was just like the kid next door."

Elvis was still in uniform, so he felt compelled to keep his hat on throughout the discussion, before the pair closed with a warm handshake. "His parting words to me when his flight was called were, 'Well, Sir, it's been very nice talking to you. Hope we meet again some time.' But of, course, we never did."

He kept press cuttings of that famous day close until his final days in a nursing home, enchanting caring staff with the tale.

But he was never one to boast, never one flustered among stardom. Famous faces came and went. Other notable interviews included Yuri Gagarin's space comrade, Valentina Tereshkova, and various royalty from countries around the globe who passed through Prestwick. Personal interviews with US president Dwight Eisenhower, who had a residence at Culzean Castle in Ayr in the 1950s, also became a regular Sunday theme.

Ian was never one to follow the journalistic crowd, he consistently sought a different angle for articles and relayed them to the public in a style often full of humour. Nicola recalls one such memorable occasion when an interview with Roy Rogers, the famed actor and country singer, failed to materialise. Instead, Ian achieved his story straight from the horse's mouth, presenting his own story as if spoken by Rogers' palomino, Trigger.

He was an all-rounder, with sport also Ian's beat on the west coast, meaning many regular trips to Somerset Park to pen Ayr United match reports and visits to Troon or Turnberry to cover the Open. The great trio of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were among his favourite interviews, the latter, he described as "a nice, wee boy".

Beloved husband to Joan, father to Nicola, Edward and John, and grandfather to myself, Ian was later to buy a hotel in Galloway, promoting tourism in the area through his own newspaper column. He then headed to north-east England and spent many happy years in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Cleveland, where his reporting continued at the Northern Echo. All manner of stories were religiously battered out on his old-time typewriter or phoned in, but the Elvis exclusive was never to be bettered.

Whenever time allowed, he would venture to the golf course or snooker table. A fine golfer, reaching a handicap of five, he was still knocking putts up and down his room with some ease a few weeks back. Fittingly, given Ian's many old friends within the club, the flag at Saltburn fluttered at half mast on 6 June.

He was proficient, too, on the green baize, yet equally content in his armchair watching the World Championship from the Crucible or tuning in to his much-loved The Bill.

Alas, for a man with a gift for words and love of writing, his worsening dementia was an acute frustration. But close to the family in Dunblane for his last nine months, his spirits were often lifted with regular jaunts near and far. They included dominoes at the local Tappit Hen bar, a trip down memory lane to the streets of his Glasgow childhood and a historic return to Somerset for an Ayr match. It was perhaps fitting that the Honest Men went on to secure promotion to the First Division last season.

A lover of Fridays throughout his life, he celebrated his 89th birthday with a hearty puff out of the candles on that day of the week earlier this year. Poignantly, a Friday also proved his last.