3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Glen Michael's daughter hails 'touching' outpouring of love after death of Scots TV icon
Yonnie McInnes, eldest child of Cartoon Cavalcade icon Glen who died last week aged 99, said recent days had been a 'rollercoaster'.
The daughter of TV icon Glen Michael says she's touched by the outpouring of love for the children's entertainer since he passed away last week at the age of 99.
The showbiz legend was loved by a generation who grew up watching his weekly Cartoon Cavalcade shows and TV companions including Paladin the talking lamp, Totty the Robot and dogs Rudi and Rusti which ran on STV for 26 years.
Last week, dad-of-two Glen passed away peacefully at his cottage in Maidens, in Ayrshire where he'd lived alone since the loss of wife Beryl in 2015.
News of his death sparked a flood of glowing tributes from Scottish stars like Marti Pellow, Midge Ure and Grant Stott along with thousands of fans online.
Despite being a household name, to his children Yonnie McInnes and award-winning film editor son Chris Buckland, his daughter has said he was just their loving dad.
Yonnie, 74, who in 1970 appeared on a Christmas special of Cartoon Cavalcade as a youngster with her brother, now 66, said: 'It's been an up-and-down roller coaster for all of the family.
'One minute, you're sad, the next minute, you're feeling touched and overwhelmed and happy because people are coming up to you with their happy memories of their childhood watching our father's show.
'That's pretty precious. To have that kind of influence on a whole generation of families, we've found it quite overwhelming and mind-boggling, to be honest.
'To us he was just Dad.'
Retired features journalist Yonnie, who now works part-time as a guide at King Charles's Dumfries House, added: 'Now he's died, you realise what he did really did count,
'Going online and seeing the wonderful messages has been uplifting. I've been sitting in floods of tears reading everything.'
Glen was born Cecil Edward Buckland in Devon in 1926, to parents Mabel and Arthur Buckland.
However he later changed his name to Glen Michael early in his showbusiness career which he began by performing on stage for British troops during World War II alongside Beryl.
Glen then appeared as a trainee police officer in the classic Brit crime flick The Blue Lamp with Jack Warner and Dirk Bogarde in 1950.
But it was in 1952 when Berly suggested a holiday to Scotland that things took a dramatic turn.
Glen went on to forge a new career, working alongside Stanley Baxter, Jimmy Logan, Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy in the Five Past Eight Show.
But it was in 1966, that Glen became a name in his own right with the launch of Cartoon Cavalcade.
The show offered for many Scots children an introduction to cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Spider-Man pulling in huge audiences in its run to 1992.
Glen also went on to become one of the original presenters on Radio Clyde in 1974.
Until six weeks ago when he got ill, Yonnie said her dad was still active in the community - heading to Souter's Inn in Kirkoswald for breakfast every morning where he was a much-loved regular.
He was also a stalwart Ayr United fan, regularly popping up at Somerset Park for home games.
Maddeningly for Yonnie, he also insisted on continuing to drive his own car everywhere at 99.
Yonnie joked: "He was driving me crazy.
"At one point he said, 'I might be 99,' and he tapped his forehead, 'but up here I'm still 45'.
"That was him. He was never happier than when he was performing.'
Glen, who lost his wife and Yonnie and Chris' mum Beryl in 2015, became a keen advocate for charity Age Scotland's campaign on loneliness and also took on a role as ambassador for veterans charity Erskine.
Yonnie said: "He was never physically lonely because so many people wanted to talk to him. He was never a depressive person, he was always ready to tell a tale.
"But he said the worst thing was at night-time when he was on his own, just about to go to bed.
"He still had the ashes of my mother in his living room and he would talk to her regularly, as if she was in the room, because that for him was a comfort.
"His last wishes were for his ashes and Mum's ashes to be scattered together."
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She also told of the quirks of growing up in a "showbiz family" - and meeting Scottish comedy icons like Scotch and Wry star Rikki Fulton and Ronnie Corbett.
Yonnie recalled: "When I was in primary school I remember being taken to a restaurant called the Woodville just up the road from the King's Theatre in Edinburgh.
"This was late at night after a show one Friday, a big treat.
"I'm looking around the table and there's Rikki Fulton, Jack Milroy, Stanley Baxter and Ronnie Corbett...
"The next week at school, as you do, I said to my pal I went for dinner and all these names rolled out, and the look on my friend's face was just like, 'What a liar.'
"So I learned to keep my mouth shut and not say too much, because they just didn't believe me!"
Yonnie says anyone who wishes to give a fitting tribute to her dad should consider donating to Age Scotland or Erskine.
Glen's funeral will be at 3.30pm on Wednesday, July 16, at Masonhill Crematorium in Ayr, with the family hoping to livestream the service for his legion of fans.
