The One O'Clock Gang/members

The members of Scottish Television's The One O'Clock Gang. The male side of the Gang never varied much, with only Charlie Sim replacing Brian Douglas. But the women on the show came and went.

Larry Marshall (Sep 1957–64)

2 Sep 1958–Dec 1964. Larry Marshall was a 31 year-old comic, writer and actor, who was familiar to fans of the Rutherglen Repertory, and who had appeared in the music hall star Tommy Morgan's Glasgow shows. The summer prior to him joining STV, Marshall had been entertaining holiday audiences in Girvan, Ayrshire, as compère of the summer show Holiday Haywire. Marshall wrote most of his own stage material. Marshall was more or less in charge of the The One O'Clock Gang, introducing the others, keeping the fun going and bringing the studio audience into the game from time to time.

James Nairn (Sep 1957–64)

James Nairn (1927–2019) was the Gang's 'straight man' and a popular member from the beginning. Nairn had been employed by STV as its first station announcer, but he gradually became exclusive to the Gang.

Shelia Matthews (Sep 1957–Aug 1958)

Shelia Matthews (1930–2020), a 28 year-old singer from London, was the wife of STV's head of design, Charles Reading. The pair married in the spring of 1957 after Reading picked her out from several girls auditioning for Associated-Redifussion's "Friday's Girl" programme. She had appeared in Scotland only once before — when she was 14, speaking one carefully-rehearsed line in an Edinburgh pantomime. Matthews went on maternity leave in early 1958 to have a baby daughter, Sally, who received a great deal of publicity as the “Gang baby”. Matthews returned to the show on 28 April 1958. She finished her stint with The One O'Clock Gang on Friday 1 August 1958, to feature on a weekend show for ABC Television in Manchester, commuting by air from her home in Glasgow. She was replaced in the Gang by theatre star Fay Lenore. In the years that followed she popped-up regularly in television commercials filmed in London, many of which were seen on STV.

Brian Douglas, (Sep 1957–Feb 1958)

Brian Douglas Johnson, a 25 year-old singer from Carmyle, Lanarkshire, was just making his mark in Scottish variety. A former pupil of Hamilton Academy, he, like Kenneth McKellar before him, won a singing scholarship in 1950 to the Royal College of Music in London. He was ‘seized’ on his graduation by the BBC's Scottish variety producer, Eddie Fraser, and sang in the Scottish Home Service series, Jim and Mary, which ran from August 1955 to February 1956. He then toured every main city and town in Great Britain for the better part of a year in the stage version of the musical The King and I, playing s the juvenile lead, Lun Tha, the young lover, in no fewer than 407 performances. At the time of his hiring by STV he was singing in the Morgan Show at the Pavilion, Glasgow, and had signed-up for the Howard and Wyndham pantomime Babes in the Wood at the King's, Edinburgh, that Christmas. He resigned from the Gang to go to Ayr Gaiety. His last billed appearance was on Friday 28 February 1958. He tragically died a few months later on 21 October 1958 from a rare virus, survived by his wife and their newborn baby, Tim Douglas.

Alistair McHarg (Mar–Apr 1958)

Alistair McHarg (Mar 1958–) was the tall brawny singer from Ayr with the baritone voice who had toured the world before joining the Gang. He deputised for Brian Douglas from 2–6 December 1957, able to do only one week as he was about to go into pantomime with Dickie Valentine at Newcastle. However, he returned again from 3 March 1958 He said of his experience on the show:

I've never had so much fun out of work before. It's like going to a party every day. Rehearsals are so casual that nobody ever quite knows what's going to happen next!

Charlie Sim (Apr 1958–1964)

Charlie Sim, a singer and actor, joined the Gang on 7 April 1958, replacing Brian Douglas. Sim's long experience in the theatre began in 1945 when he was 13 years old. By the time he was 15 he was a veteran of variety, having played in provincial theatres throughout Scotland. He went on to be part of the Tommy Morgan Show. Sim first met Larry Marshall on the BBC Scottish Home Service show, Almost Brand New. In the Friday schoolroom sketch he became known for his catchphrase "I want my nana", which annoyed teachers across the country because kids everywhere were going about saying it! Ted Williamson, a producer with STV, said a lot of its popularity was down to Charlie: "The One O'Clock Gang would not have been the success it was without Charlie's flexibility and experience in doing practically anything in a comedy sketch." He also acted in pantomime and his more recent roles included playing the barman in the BBC Scotland television comedy Rab C Nesbitt.

Fay Lenore (Feb 1958–Mar 1958)

Fay Lenore was the auburn-haired singer who took over from Sheila Matthews on 4 February 1958 after Matthews went on maternity leave. Mary Leonora Faith Dodwell, to give her real name, was originally from Jesmond, considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne. As a child she toured with her showbusiness father. She was an experienced principal boy in pantomime and was appearing as principal boy in Mother Goose at the Glasgow Alhambra when she joined STV. She was planning to get married to 28 year-old farmer Jay Scott and settle down on his family farm on the Isle of Inchmurrin. She left the gang to sing in the Five-Past Eight show at the Glasgow Alhambra, her last appearance being on Friday 14 March 1958. After a gap of a week she was succeeded by Hilary Paterson.

Hilary Paterson (Mar 1958–Sep 1959)

Hilary Paterson, who replaced Fay Lenore as Sheila Matthews' maternity cover from Monday 24 March 1958, was a 24-year-old Glasgow singer who also had experience of acting, from straight actress to principal boy, and of radio. Her family owned a garage across the road from the Theatre Royal. After Sheila Matthews returned on 28 April 1958, Paterson took on a number of theatre, radio and TV engagements, but when Matthews left the show for the final time on Friday 1 August, Paterson took over from the start of the new series on 25 August 1958. She continued until Friday 13 September 1959, after which she was replaced by Rita Ray. Paterson had no desire to go back into the theatre or television and instead lived in a country home in Beith, North Ayrshire, working as a teacher of speech and drama at Crookston Senior Secondary School.

Rita Ray (Sep–Oct 1958)

Rita Ray

Rita Cleland from 29 Jeffrey Place, Kilsyth in Stirlingshire. She changed her name because when she went to entertain in Yorkshire the people there found it hard to pronounce her surname. She attended Kilsyth Academy and began singing at the age of 12. She was in a Clark and Murray show at Aberdeen and had also played shows in Saltcoats. She was spotted by a Jack Hylton scout while she was singing in variety at the famous music-hall, Collins', Islington. That landed her a short holiday season at Torquay. Then she went to Hull for variety, signed-up to sing in a chain of roadhouse hotels in the country. Because she had been performing elsewhere in the country, she had never seen a One O'Clock Gang show before joining it.

Marie Benson (Oct 1958–1960?)

Marie Benson, who joined on Monday 20 October 1958, was an Australian-born performer with a wide-open disregard for the formality demanded by the up-and-coming executives of a television station. She went back to Australia to pursue a successful career in show-business.

Dorothy Paul (Aug 1959–62)

Dorothy Paul, wife of STV's head of programmes, Gerry Le Grove, joined on Monday 24 August 1959, initially as an extra member as Marie Benson was still part of the Gang along with Charlie Sim.

Moira Broidy (Oct 1959–1964)

Moira Broidy (pronounced 'Bryody'), a vertsatile Irish singer and pianist, joined the show in October 1959 at the age of 25 and established herself as a resident member of the Gang alongside Dorothy Paul.

Judy Layne (Aug 1960–

Judy Layne was a cabaret singer from London who joined the show in the autumn of 1960, replacing Hilary Paterson. She was chosen at an audition in London after being sent there by her agent. Layne could sing in French, Spanish and Italian, and had worked in cabaret, films and variety. She had also opened in cabaret in Israel, and sung in concerts in Spain, and appeared in Blue Murder at St. Trinian's. However, Layne found the homespun atmosphere of the Gang show too informal and as soon as possible she took off on a tour of the Far East, telling one journalist that she chose the Far East circuit as it was as far as she could get from the One O'Clock Gang!

The Tommy Maxwell Quartet

Tommy Maxwell with his Quartet

The Tommy Maxwell Quartet played their brand of swing music at the back of the stage, though as time went on they came more to the fore in the show. The members of the band were:

Tommy Maxwell, probably the most professional member of the Gang, led the band on the drums. A burly Scot from Dumbarton with a big smile and a lot of energy, he had been playing drums since he went into the RAF in 1942. From then on, he played in London night clubs, ocean liners and music halls, with big bands like the Squadronaires and the Oscar Rabin Band, and accompanied such players as Winnie Atwell. He had also done a lengthy stint in ATV's Music Box. As of March 1962 he was able to boast that he had never missed a single Gang show on STV. Maxwell was a Rangers fan and he engaged in regular good-natured banter with Larry Marshall on his support for the Ibrox side.

Ron Moore, guitarist, who sported a moustache and a slow grin, was born in Huddersfield and started playing the guitar at 12 years old. He spent his professional life playing plectrum guitar in dance bands, but 12 years before joining the Gang he discovered a hobby that gave him a complete change — playing the Spanish guitar for his own pleasure. As a teacher and performer he was among the most respected British characters in the growing guitar world.

Arthur Jones played the organ and piano. He had previously worked unenthusiastically as a coal chemist before he decided to make music his career. He was resident organist for 11 years at London's Empress Hall, and played nightclubs as a solo pianist and singer. He died in 1962 when working for TV in Southampton.

Frank Harrison played bass. Only 29, he first took up the bass at 22 after hearing Jack Collier playing a bass solo on the radio. He bought an old bass for £20 and began playing at sea and in dance-halls, and was also with the Malcolm Mitchell Trio. He moved to work in London.

Jimmy Robertson took over as bass player in March 1960. After studying the bass fiddle at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, Robertson, who was from Knightswood, Glasgow, joined the Scottish National Orchestra but still kept his part-time jobs with dance bands. "One evening I would be playing Wagner with the SNO, the next rock 'n' roll for teenagers at a local hop," he said.