IT WAS the year our city decided “Glasgow’s Alive” – but in 1992, not everyone was happy about the new slogan.
Least happy of all was Mr Happy himself, ditched in favour of a snazzy new logo and global message.
Replacing Glasgow’s Miles Better was the result of a £200,000 promotion aimed at enhancing Glasgow’s status around the world, but former Lord Provost Dr Michael Kelly, one of the men behind the Mr Happy campaign, said: ''I think they should have stuck with Glasgow's Miles Better and revamped it because it was a tremendous message recognised throughout the world.''
He was correct - Glasgow's Alive was short-lived, and Mr Happy was brought back from the dead.
Thirty years ago, there was lots Glasgow-ing on (to borrow another city marketing slogan), captured as ever by our photographers here at the Glasgow Times and our sister newspaper The Herald.
At the Sub Club, tributes were being paid to Iain Paterson, the co-founder with Trevor Price of the nightclub’s hugely influential Cool Lemon night.
It was the 19th birthday of the popular venue, and Cool Lemon was a Friday night staple.
On the day before the 1992 General Election, Labour’s big guns Gordon Brown, Robin Cook and Donald Dewar landed at Glasgow Airport with the man who would go on to be the party leader, and who was widely tipped to be the country’s next Prime Minister, John Smith.
Sadly, Smith died in May 1994, just two years later, and there was widespread shock at the news.
The Modern Homes Exhibition was a Glaswegian family favourite at the SECC for many years (now, it’s known as Ideal Homes, and the SECC is the SEC, proving nothing ever stays the same…)
In this picture from October 1992, legendary comedian and actor Johnny Beattie is larking about with Lorraine Kelly at the launch.
Paul Lambert and Roy Aitken are best known in Glasgow as Celtic legends - so why are they posing here in front of a St Mirren FC sign in March 1992?
The two men both played for the club - Lambert entered the professional game with St Mirren in 1985 and as a 17-year-old won his first senior winner's medal courtesy of the 1987 Scottish Cup Final. (Legend has it he was sent home from the boozy celebrations early by manager Alex Smith.)
Aitken joined St Mirren for the 1991-92 season having left Newcastle United the previous year. (He had joined Newcastle for a £500,000 fee in January 1990, following a spell at Celtic which began when he was 16 years old.
He left St Mirren, signing for Aberdeen for £100,000 to act as player-assistant manager to Willie Miller.
Do these photos take you back?
Share your memories with Times Past by emailing ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.
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