Latest news with #Malky
The Herald Scotland
03-07-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Judy Murray leads tributes after death of 'Scottish tennis legend'
Watt also represented Scotland on the international stage and played for Great Britain at the ITF World Team Championships in Spain in 2009 before being diagnosed with incurable frontal lobe dementia two years later. Read More: Despite the condition, he continued to play tennis at a high level and added more titles to his collection – including the Scottish Senior Championships 40 & Over singles title as part of the ITF Masters Tour. His death, at the age of 56, was announced on Wednesday. Judy Murray said on social media: "A Scottish tennis legend. Gone but not forgotten." Blane Dodds, the chief executive of Tennis Scotland, was a close friend of Malky and said: 'I think I speak for us all, that if your path crossed with Malky you would remember not only his talent as a tennis player and athlete, you would also remember his extremely kind and big heart, his selflessness and his unique sense of fun. "Whether you played tennis with Malky, or travelled to tournaments, or just spent time apres tennis, we all remember how he made the experience better, and we all remember laughing with Malky. "Malky had such a significant impact on Scottish tennis as a player and coach, but it was his sense of making everything better and more enjoyable that we will all miss the most." "The thoughts of everyone at Tennis Scotland are with Malky's family, including his parents Tommy and Pam, his brother Stuart, sister Shona and his son Leo."
The Herald Scotland
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Exhibition is proof Malky was drawn to the funny side of life
'Discovering Malky McCormick' is more than just an exhibition, however. It's also a behind-the-scenes look at how a museum prepares to celebrate the life and legacy of an artist whose work has brought smiles to generations. This preview exhibition marks the beginning of a journey toward the highly-anticipated and larger scale 'Malky McCormick: A Life in Colour' event, scheduled for 2026 in the museum's Main Gallery. In the meantime, 'Discovering Malky McCormick' invites the public to explore some of Malky's most iconic pieces and learn more about the process of cataloguing and curating his expansive body of work. Malky, widely regarded as Scotland's best-known cartoonist, was born in Glasgow and later settled near Kilmarnock – a move that deeply influenced his artistic output. Through his humorous illustrations, Malky captured the quirks and charms of Scottish life, often drawing inspiration from his surroundings in Ayrshire. His distinctive use of the Scots language and clever observations on everyday life earned him admiration across the country. With a career that spanned decades, Malky's work featured in newspapers, magazines, books and even television. His illustrations are known not only for their humour but also for their warmth, wit, and insight into Scottish culture. This exhibition brings together examples from across his career, highlighting the breadth of his talent and the lasting relevance of his work. (Image: Curator Jestein Gibson and intern Ruby Davidson) What makes 'Discovering Malky McCormick' especially engaging is its interactive approach. The exhibition has been designed with families in mind, making it a lively and participatory experience. Young visitors, and those young at heart, can explore the Future Malkys Art Station, where art materials are provided for anyone inspired to create their own cartoon masterpiece. Completed artworks are proudly displayed on the gallery wall, celebrating the creativity Malky's work continues to inspire. In the Win, Lose or Draw area, visitors can step into the shoes of a gameshow contestant. Based on the popular 1990s STV television show where Malky was the resident artist, this hands-on section allows friends and families to test their drawing and guessing skills in a playful homage to his television days. For quieter moments, the exhibition also includes a cosy mini-library filled with Malky-inspired books for all ages. Visitors can relax and enjoy stories that echo the humour and heart of Malky's illustrations. The exhibition trail, Whaurs Malky?, adds another layer of fun, encouraging visitors to spot hidden Malkys scattered throughout the gallery. It's a playful way to explore the exhibition and keep younger guests engaged. Every Saturday from 12.30pm to 2.30pm, visitors can meet with members of the museum team in the gallery. These informal sessions offer insight into the curatorial work involved in preparing a major exhibition. From cataloguing Malky's archive to selecting and preserving artworks, it's a rare opportunity to learn what goes on behind closed doors in a museum setting. 'Discovering Malky McCormick' is now open at The Dick Institute, Kilmarnock. Entry is free
BBC News
19-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Thelin will double down on his playing style'
We asked for your views on a potential change of approach from Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin next season after his tactical masterstroke in the Scottish Cup what some of you said:Malky: I don't think we're signing the personnel to adopt that new style. Thelin will double down on his style with said personnel and hopefully have more joy with it. Topi Keskinen can't play through the middle, he isn't remotely effective there, but out wide he can really be effective. Add Shayden Morris, Nicolas Milanovic etc. and we should be more productive. My concern is the lack of fight and aggression against teams like St Mirren and Dundee United, whose sole game plan revolves around winning throw-ins, corners, free-kicks and long balls over the top. This is what we need to focus on to give ourselves the best chance of finishing as high up as possible. Hopefully Thelin's naivety with this will be gone come the new This isn't Football Manager. Real matches demand adaptability. A good coach should have two or three tactical set-ups that can be switched between, not just one rigid system. Having a philosophy is important, but blindly sticking to it when it's not working isn't tactical discipline, it's stubbornness. The best managers evolve based on the opponent and match context. As the saying goes, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is Due to inferior budgets and fixture demands, uncommon sense dictates the tactics and formation changes required across all Thelin's change of shape was incredibly unexpected and also remarkably effective. He has shown himself to be an astute tactician with his half-time and second-half improvements and it will be fascinating to see whether this can be extended into first-half performances with his new team next season.
BBC News
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Archive of newspaper artist Malky McCormick saved
It was an appearance on the Parkinson show in 1975 that is widely seen as starting Billy Connolly on the path from Scottish sensation to international comedy his appearance he explained, "in Scotland they call me Big Yin, and I'm not very big, but everyone up there is awful wee, you know".For his iconic nickname he could thank Scottish cartoonist and fellow banjo player Malky performed with his band The Vindscreen Vipers in the same Scottish folk clubs as Connolly, and together they created The Big Yin cartoon strip for Scotland's Sunday Mail newspaper - taking the name from a famous Connolly routine at the time which reimagined the Last Supper as taking place in Glasgow. Original artwork for the strip, which ran until 1977, is part of a huge personal archive which has just been given to East Ayrshire Leisure Trust."Malky settled in Ayrshire and adopted Kilmarnock as his home," says Lyndsay Jess, the trust's museums development officer."He was a very creative individual, and we want to celebrate that and introduce our community and especially our young people to the comic art of Malky McCormick." Born in Glasgow in 1943, Donald Malcolm McCormick grew up in the shadow of Hampden Park. His love of football and cartooning began at an early age and continued all his was just six years old when his grandmother sent one of his cartoons to a newspaper, and 13 when the first one was published in the Glasgow Mercury and trained as a commercial artist and worked for DC Thomson, the Dundee publisher of comics like the Dandy and the Beano where he was required to "ghost" established cartoon strips, mimicking the style of the original worked for a number of newspapers north of the border but it was his time at the Scottish Daily News, a short-lived workers' co-operative which planted the seed for his most famous cartoon strip The Big Yin. "I had known Billy for a few years through the folk clubs and we promised each other we would do this strip together," he told BBC Radio Scotland in collaboration sparked interest from other newspapers including the Glasgow-based Sunday Mail."It was a colour tabloid with a much bigger audience so a much better vehicle for the Big Yin strip," he recalled."It was the big break for me, no question about it."The first strip was published in 1975 and Malky and Billy began to map out a future for their meet on a Monday, either at Billy's home in Drymen or Malky's home in Ayrshire, as Billy Connolly recalled."It was a strange affair to explain to people, doing a strip cartoon in two different towns," he says."He used to turn up at my house on his motorbike. He would be flabbergasted that I hadn't done anything. I was supposed to be writing the Big Yin."I never sat in when it was being drawn. I loved being part of it, but he did his bit and I did my bit – him in Ayrshire and me in Drymen. "He would turn up on his motorbike fed-up and I would say 'come on we'll go for a pint', so we would go for a pint and talk about stuff, roaring and laughing and I would say 'that's this week – yeah, we'll do that'." The sessions more than often ended up in a pub, as Malky remembered."There was a drawing in Dick's bar in Kilmarnock of us, one of the many places we were thrown out of celebrating the success of the I mostly did it myself. He saw it occasionally and would chip in an idea but he was away so much."Connolly's career eventually took him hundreds of miles away from Malky and their Monday sessions. The Big Yin's run ended in 1977 and Malky moved onto other characters and made caricatures of every Scottish football manager from the 1970s onwards, which are all on display at the Scottish Football helped set up a cartoon festival in also spent three years at Scottish Television as a graphic artist and designer and later returned to the TV studios as the resident artist on the ITV show Win Lose or Draw. Legacy remembered Since his death in 2019, his family have been considering what to do with his substantial archive."It was something which kept me and my brothers up at night," says his daughter Jane McCormick."The media of newspaper is not there anymore and it would have been a shame for it to drift away and him and his legacy not to be remembered."Archivists Ruby Davidson and Jestein Gibson have already started work on the Malky McCormick Project at the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock."My dad had pictures and postcards on his wall so I knew who Malky McCormick was," says Ruby."And everyone knows Billy Connolly, so it was lovely to see all those Big Yin cartoons." Malky acknowledged the influence of other Scottish cartoonists - including Bud Neil and Ewan Bain - but it seems he too encouraged a new generation."We've spoken to a lot of people in our local area who were inspired by his work and went on to become comic book artists themselves," says the plan now is to use Malky's work to encourage even more young people to take up their pencils. Jane says she's delighted that a public engagement project is planned around the archive."He loved young people to be drawing," she says."He judged art competitions in schools and took any opportunity to get young people into art." 'We were always in trouble' Fragile newspaper strips and early drawings will be digitised as part of the project and the public can view the process at the Dick Institute as well as the final exhibition."My dad loved his work to be seen, more than anything, so I'm over the moon to know that other people are going to be able to value it and appreciate it," says old friend and collaborator Billy Connolly is also to the archive from his home in Florida he said: "We were always getting in trouble and we did (the Big Yin) to get away with stuff – we could blame this non-existent person, who looked like me and behaved like me, but wisnae me… we could say wild, wild things… we broke a lot of ground."We pushed art. People don't look at cartoons as art. But it is art – and it's very important."
