<i>The Bill McLaren Centennial Exhibition</i>, Hawick Museum, Scotland

Bill McLaren (1923–2010) retired from a celebrated career as a rugby commentator for the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2002. His key qualities were his love of the game and a singular ability to convey that passion with his distinctive Scottish brogue and a narrative flow that was equal parts informed detail and idiosyncratic patois.He was born in Hawick, Scotland, and as a teenager was a well-regarded wing-forward. Today that position is known as flanker. He went on to play for Hawick Rugby Football Club. In World War II, he served in the Royal Artillery and saw action in the Battle of Monte Cassino. In 1947, he took part in a Scottish rugby trial, but a severe bout of tuberculosis prevented him from achieving his dream of playing for Scotland. His recovery took nineteen months. In his “get well” sanatorium, he called table tennis competitions over the hospital radio and found that pastime afforded him much satisfaction.In Aberdeen, he attended college and studied physical education and then taught until 1987. He coached three players who played for Scotland. He began his BBC career in 1953 with radio broadcasting and began TV commentating in 1959. He was awarded the Member of the British Empire in 1992, the Order of the British Empire in 1995, and became a Commander of the British Empire in the 2003 honors list. In 2001, he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. At his final BBC TV broadcast in 2002—Wales versus Scotland—the Murrayfield crowd sang, “For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.”1In the summer of 2011, there was the unveiling of a proposed Bill McLaren rugby museum to be situated in his hometown of Hawick. His daughter, Linda Lawson, commented, “He loved Hawick and if he can bring people to Hawick and provide something that helps the community to thrive he would be absolutely delighted.”2In November 2013, a bust of Bill McLaren was unveiled at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, the home of the Scottish Rugby Union. He was an inaugural member of the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame in 2010.The site chosen was the Hawick Museum, which is opposite the McLaren family home in Hillersden. The Hawick Museum is housed in an eighteenth-century mansion that became, in 1910, the oldest museum in the Scottish borders. For many years its athletic heritage was maintained by exhibitions devoted to the lives and achievements of Jimmy Guthrie and Steve Hislop, who were motorcycle champions. However, its focus on October 4, 2023, was the opening of the Bill McLaren Centenary Exhibition.While this immersive digital gallery is geared to welcome and entertain visitors, the heart and soul of the exhibit is a recreation of the commentator's study, which is a virtual rabbit warren. With a sea of cuttings, books, and magazines laying siege to McLaren's desk chair, it is a vision of chaotic splendor. Visitors are allowed to sit behind a BBC broadcast microphone—in front of a TV monitor—and record their comments as Tony Stanger scores for Scotland in a 1990 game. This was a game for the ages as it signaled a “Grand Slam” triumph: Scottish victories over England, Wales, and Ireland. The setting showcases one of McLaren's famous stage props: a “Big Sheet.” These were meticulously prepared background reports in which McLaren documented player biographies, all manner of historical details and telling asides that were memorable blends of wit, insight, and gravitas. Accompanying the “Big Sheet” is a painting of this 1990 Scotland rugby team done by Ronnie Brown, a singer in celebrated Scottish folk band The Corries.Such was McLaren's broadcasting flair and commentating craft that he famously earned the sobriquet of “The Voice.” Much has been made of McLaren's Celtic charm. His way of describing rugby action allowed him to transform a contact-collision sport into a shared embrace of men (and women)—players and spectators—doing furious, fantastic, and fun things on a field of green. The final stage of the exhibition is a testament to McLaren's legacy. A concealed speaker has “The Voice” giving his very last recorded interview.Bill McLaren's classic phrases reveal the charm of his homespun prose. Some examples include: “His side-step was marvelous—like a shaft of lightning” (regarding T. G. R. Davies, a noted Welsh running back). “He kicked the ball like it were three pounds o'haggis.” “That one was a wee bit inebriated—just like one of my golf shots” (describing a missed goal kick). “The All Blacks that day looked like great prophets of doom.” “Those props are as cunning as a bag o'weasels.”3The curator of the Bill McLaren Centenary Exhibition, Dr. Murray Watson, delivered a paper titled “De-industrialization and its Aftermath” at Concordia University, Montreal, in 2014. He explains, “I was asked to compare the industrialization here [North America] and Hawick. I argued that unlike Youngstown and the like, that community resilience in Hawick remained strong. I mentioned . . . one of the reasons was the influence of rugby, and coincidentally Bill McLaren.”4Watson, in a book outlining the history of Hawick Rugby Football Club, gives a flowing biographical portrait. However, he notes that “The Voice” was not flawless: “Bill did receive the odd complaint, including one from the Georgia rugby fan who objected to his team being referred to as Russian! This correspondent made a valid point, asking Bill if he would object if the Scottish rugby team was referred to as English! Bill was a total professional. . . . The (museum) archive contains an illuminating exchange between Bill and the BBC Pronunciation Unit about the correct way to say the names of Fijian players.”5The litmus test for any assessment of Bill McLaren's commentating craft is for him to be evaluated by elite performers who “The Voice” viewed and critiqued. John Taylor played rugby for Wales and the British Lions. In his post-rugby life, he was the rugby correspondent for the Mail on Sunday for nearly twenty years and was Independent Television's chief rugby commentator from 1989 to 2007. He notes, “For me, nobody has been as good a rugby commentator as he was—just the right mix of anecdote and technical information—letting the pictures tell the story whenever possible.”6England player John Pallant, master of rugby at Merchant Taylor School (1968–1997), thought his witticisms were priceless. One favorite: “[That] scrumhalf . . . he's as slippery as a wet ferret.”7Gerald Davies, a legendary running back for Wales and the British Lions, and a recent president of the Welsh Rugby Union, says this of McLaren: “His commentary had frequent things of poetry, and, of course, always accurate. Worldwide, the recognizable voice and familiar brogue not only carried but spread the popularity of the game. He was the best of commentators.”8Watson, the Bill McLaren Centenary Exhibition curator, can claim to live up to the reputation embraced by his namesake, the fictional sleuth and sidekick to the celebrated Sherlock Holmes. While doing research, he even went through McLaren's clothes! “I found a lot of fascinating data not available through conventional sources.”9

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