Aidan Smith: When Fergus McCann upstaged Kirk Douglas' haggis

So long, Kirk Douglas, the last man standing from Hollywood’s golden age and the star of more than 80 movies, including the greatest-ever depiction of newspapermen at their most scurrilous, Ace in the Hole.
Fergus McCann: Baby news trumped Kirk Douglas' haggis-eating. Picture: SNSFergus McCann: Baby news trumped Kirk Douglas' haggis-eating. Picture: SNS
Fergus McCann: Baby news trumped Kirk Douglas' haggis-eating. Picture: SNS

Lucky me, I met him once. Mid-1990s, Glasgow’s Hilton Hotel, a swanky dinner, and the tartan tabloid where I worked at the time had hired me a monkey suit for my exclusive one-to-one.

I was pretty pleased with how the interview went, with Douglas name-dropping gloriously about his kiss-kiss-bang-bang life on the silver screen and – this was a prerequisite – answering the “Have you ever eaten haggis?” question in the affirmative, which in his case was confirmation he had once made a film in Scotland (the 1971 caper To Catch a Spy).

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But as I was phoning my story to the copytakers the newsdesk interrupted the call: “Fergus McCann’s going to become a dad,” blarted the night editor. “He’s at your event – get some words from him now!”

You can probably guess what happened. My encounter with Kirk was spiked in favour of “Celtic chief in baby sen-say-shun – he’d better check the Parkhead biscuit tin for rusks”.

Movie glamour is fine and dandy but in Glesca Toon football’s football – the ace in the hole.