First love

Young offers some reflections on first loves

ETCHED in the minds of most of us is the precise moment we first fell

in love. It could have happened at any age, anywhere, any time. Often

for the oddest, the funniest of reasons. There are the memories of the

happiness, the pain of feelings unrequited.

For some it is like a red red rose. For others like a heart that

bleeds. A completely random selection from a few people in the public

eye reveals all of that.

FLOWERS AND POETRY

*THERE is the classic true-life romance of Iain Sutherland, conductor

of the City of Glasgow Philharmonic Orchestra, and former conductor of

the dear departed Scottish Radio Orchestra. And of his love for Barbara

Williams, once a leading fashion model.

''Barbara was at the pinnacle of a glamorous career at Harrods when

first we met,'' he says. ''One of her contemporaries became the Lady

Astor, and a predecessor had become Baroness Von Thyssen. Most married

money, or into the aristrocracy. Or both. I was a penniless, but

hopeful, young violinist from Glasgow, doing National Service in the

Grenadier Guards. When Barbara told the other girls who her boyfriend

was they said she was mad.

''We were married in 1961 and had known each other since 1958 -- 36

years ago. In all that time we've never missed a St Valentine's Day. I

share her love of flowers and she shares my love of poetry. And these

are the two most important aspects of the St Valentine's Day message.

''But it's not a once-a-year message for St Valentine. It must be

there all year and always. For instance, last summer our son, Sean,

celebrated his 31st birthday. On the morning of that very day, Barbara

gave me a gift of the collected poems of Mary, Queen of Scots,

Bittersweet Within My Heart, translated and edited by Robin Bell. It was

a wonderful surprise, yet typical of her. And I know that on this

Valentine's Day we will exchange cards, send flowers, and choose some

favourite verses to send to each other.''

ONE BIG ANNIVERSARY

*A ROMANCE that has lasted with the help of much laughter is that of

comedian Jack Milroy and his wife Mary Lee. ''It certainly wasn't love

at first sight. Or, if it was, I didn't realise it.'' says Mary. ''Not

long after the war Jack had been demobbed from the Black Watch. I was

appearing in the spring show at the old Empire Theatre, Belfast, when I

got a phone call from the Gault agency in Glasgow to say they were

sending this young fellow over. Would I show him the ropes as second

banana on the bill that was being topped by Bert Denver?

''I will always remember my first sight him. He arrived wearing an old

raincoat. His legs were that thin, looked like he'd tossed with a

sparrow and lost. But he was so good looking. Had such a wonderful face.

He was a quick learner. A charmer. He really was, always has been. He

has the most beautiful nature. He wanted to be a Jack Buchanan. But we

soon sorted him out, got the red nose on him, taught him how to do

double acts.'' It was a working partnership that grew into love.

After Belfast they went their separate ways. Then Jack got the chance

to top the bill at the Tivoli, Aberdeen. Who better to feed him than wee

Mary? It was not until their third summer at the Tivoli they were

married, in 1952.

''I was just making sure it wasn't a passing fancy. We were married in

the morning, had our reception in the Imperial Hotel in the afternoon

and did two shows that night. ''The funny thing is that neither of us

remembers our anniversary until it has been and gone. Maybe our life is

one big anniversary.''

CHECK MATE

*JAMES MacPherson, who plays Taggart's sidekick, remembers what he

thought was his first love. ''Very much a case of the unrequited kind. I

was nine, at Barncluith Primary, Hamilton. Fell madly for a smasher. Her

name was Norma. Bright, rosy cheeks.

''There was a chess tournament. You had to go to the person's house at

night. I couldn't believe my luck. Beat her three times. Got a kiss,

then another and another. But there was a price. I had to go to school

next day and say that she had won. She used me.

''I never got another kiss after that. They definitely cost me, those

kisses. One of those little lessons in life. But they were well worth

it, I think.''

OH BROTHER!

*TAMARRA Kennedy, who is in Scottish Television's Take the High Road,

playing Johanna Ross Gifford, co-

owner and manager of the Ardnacraig Hotel, remembers how she was

forced to go on her first date, aged 14. ''We lived in Edinburgh and

were on holiday in Aberdeen. My parents insisted I go to this ball. I

met a young man of the same age who fell madly in love with me.

Foolishly, I gave him my phone number and address. Thereafter he

bombarded me with letters.

''My parents, who seemed worried about my lack of interest in the

opposite sex, were over-encouraging. Suggested he come and have dinner

with us. Seemed to think he had the right credentials. He was the

epitome of good manners. So the boy I couldn't bear travelled all the

way down from Aberdeen. My father asked him what he would like to drink

and he said a rum and coke. Most fathers would have been put off but

mine thought this was impressive. The meal was full of downwards glances

from me to him, and Heavenward glances to my parents.

''Afterwards they suggested we should go for a walk along the canal. I

agreed, so long as my young brother, aged six, came too. And he was the

perfect chaperone, insisted on removing this boy's arm from around my

shoulders or anywhere else they happened to land. It was successful in

thwarting any feelings of romance on the boy's part and we didn't see

each other after that.''

STARS IN HER EYES

*FOR Paul Young, one of Scotland's leading actors and an expert angler

who writes on fishing for The Herald, love or something masquerading as

it, blossomed early. Both in real life and on the big screen. He played

the schoolboy version of Bill Travers in the film Geordie, about a Scot

going to compete in the Melbourne Olympics. To this day people in the

street still shout to him: ''Come on, my wee Geordie!'', the words of

encouragement used by the schoolgirl who had a crush on him.

But it hadn't been exactly like that immediately before, when as a

nine-year-old he was attending Parson's Green primary in Edinburgh. The

girl in his class he really fancied acted as though he did not exist. It

was different after he had been away to appear in the film and came back

with tales of having met stars like Robert Mitchum. Then she was all

over him. ''But somehow my feelings had changed. Time had wrought its

doctorly hand upon my heart. I had been deeply in lust, although I

didn't realise that at the time.'' A gold digger, he suspects.

WHIRLWIND ROMANCE

*LOVE was in the air, it was the time of flower power and singer Terry

Neason was 14 when the buds of spring started to blossom. ''Fell madly

in love with a guy aged 20 at the Dennistoun Rollerina. That romantic.

Came up and said: 'Hey, can a' take ye roon?' Obviously wasn't 'Are ye

dancin?' because I was on roller skates. And, wheech, we were away.

''I don't know what the appeal was. I couldn't see his face because he

had very long hair, looked like a sheep dog on wheels. Probably because

he was older and his voice had broken. We looked fairly similar, me with

my long hair, and the flowers, and a cowbell round my neck. Used to meet

him every week, much to my mother's chagrin when she found out. A very

mobile romance. But he never did get his skates under the table.''

A FIRST KIND OF LOVE

*GOLD medal winner at the 1991 Dingwall Mod, Wilma Kennedy, who has

been co-presenting Grampian's Scots Away travel show as well as Gaelic

education television programmes for BBC, remembers the excitement of her

first Valentine card. Her parents are from Skye and Tiree. She was

brought up in Glasgow and says: ''I was only six when I knew there were

such things as St Valentine cards. And, oh, the excitement of going to

school at Pollokshields and wondering if I would get one.

''Sure enough, there was one tucked into my desk, decorated with the

kind of woolly hat with pompom I wore. It was a first kind of love and

ever since St Valentine's has been a very special day for me.''

A girl called Lynda

*THERE are the bitter-sweet memories of Steven Moffat, the Scot who

wrote the television series, Joking Apart, with an underlay of the

humour, the hate, the sadness and the love that still lingers when

couples split. The original series is about to be repeated and a new one

has been completed for showing later in the year.

''I only vaguely remember my first real love,'' he confesses. ''I was

14, a time of the awakening of the senses, and perhaps I was not fully

awake. On a family holiday in Cornwall I met a girl called Lynda. We

were inseparable for a week. Then she went back to Malvern. We exchanged

letters for a few years. But that was it. I never saw her again. But the

memories of Lynda will always be with me. Many years later when I was

writing the television series Press Gang I called the lead character

Lynda. Spelt with a Y, the same as the girl of my holiday romance. Which

just goes to show I can't ditch a relationship without making it into a

television series.''

Because of the strength of her personality as Lynda, actress Julia

Sawalha was chosen to appear in Absolutely Fabulous as the daughter of

the Edina of Jennifer Saunders. So, it seems, first loves can inspire

offspring the likes of which you would never have imagined.

Moffat's first love might have blossomed into a many splendored thing.

''We were equally passionate, but so young at the time. I don't know.''

Were Romeo and Juliet not of a tender age? ''They died before they could

go off each other. A great advantage in young love,'' he says with what

could be a line from Joking Apart.