Kate Livingstone: Bobby McGregor’s success was a moment in time but never forgotten

Well Call the Midwife is set in the early 1960s so everything about it goes back in time: the fashions, the music and the way people lived.

But suddenly Falkirk was part of this BBC drama and it was totally unexpected.

For those who have never watched it, the programme revolves around a group of nuns and midwives who work in London’s east end. Given it’s midwives as you can imagine there are a lot of babies born and focus on the health issues of the day.

However, it also features what was happening to people in the ‘Swinging Sixties’.

Sunday saw the characters avidly following the British team at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 ... and that’s where Falkirk got a mention.

It cut to the original TV coverage from the day and it showed the Falkirk Flyer 
Bobby McGregor bidding for glory in the 100-metre freestyle.

Sadly he was pipped at the line for the gold but still collected an Olympic silver.

It had hardly finished when the phone started to ring.

“Did you see it? The swimmer boy on TV?”

“Yes mother. And he may have been a boy back in 1964 but he is in his seventies now.”

“Oh I remember it so well. Everyone was so proud of him ...”

Mother was off on one of her reminisces and this was one that I’d often heard.

I was very young way back when he was not just Scotland but Britain’s poster boy of swimming but I can still 
remember the atmosphere and pride when he returned home with the medal.

However, those of mum’s generation have much more vivid memories of all the interest surrounding his success.

“He used to live near Mrs Marshall’s son’s mother-in-law ...”

Now that one almost lost me but I think it shows the pride that everyone in Falkirk had for Bobby McGregor and his achievements.

Nowadays he would have made a fortune from endorsements but back then it was more a case of swimming for the glory and the chance to take your place on the winner’s podium, not the lucrative cash deals.

But of course, there was also the chance to become a local hero – and get a mention on a prime time TV programme 55 years later!