Lost video of 90s Glasgow includes famous 'Four Corners'

The cry of “Times! Final Times!” was delivered by our newspaper vendors at locations around the city centre, back when we were called the Evening Times.

The vendors were more than newspaper sellers – they were tourist information booths, helpful city guides, entertainers and part of a tradition that is sadly no more.

In 1993, one of the sellers was captured in this video by Jim Rusk, then a student, now a freelance cameraman.

When he put the footage online recently, it took social media by storm, and he has kindly shared it with the Glasgow Times as we celebrate our 150th anniversary.

Jim with the camera he made the video on in 1993 (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest)

“I filmed it on my very first video camera,” says Jim, smiling. “It’s a piece of history now.”

The footage is striking – it captures a city in motion: shoppers, commuters, cars and buses at the famous “Four Corners” junction at Argyle Street and Union Street.

A screenshot from Jim's video (Image: Jim Rusk)

Buses were orange in 1993, and Central Station’s façade above the Hielan’man’s Umbrella (the railway bridge over Argyle Street where incomers to the city would shelter on arrival) was painted red.

A screenshot from Jim's fantastic 1993 video (Image: Jim Rusk)

Buses were orange in 1993, as seen in this screenshot from Jim's video (Image: Jim Rusk)

On the corner where Tim Horton’s now sits (formerly a Dunkin Donuts) a digital advertising screen blazed with the bold new Evening Times logo, and some of our headlines (‘Come Clean, Mr Smith’; and ‘Tories Plan to Slash Housing Benefit.’)

It also proudly announced our status as Newspaper of the Year.

Jim Rusk (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest)

The screen included other adverts – for Cats, the musical; Irn-Bru; and Arnold Clark – and a plea to Give Blood.

And in the background, throughout the short clip, you can hear the shouts of “Times! Final Times!” as the city goes about its business.

A screenshot from Jim's video shows the Evening Times vendor (Image: Jim Rusk)

Jim was born in Rottenrow, and his parents lived on Agnes Street in Kelvinside. The family moved to Wyndford, where Jim still lives. He is currently documenting the demolition and regeneration of the area.

Jim’s career has taken him around the world – he worked in South Korea, and was one of a team brought in by the V&A to create an archive of British designers, including Alexander McQueen.

“I love the places film making takes you too, the variety of wild and wonderful locations,” he says. “But I wanted to do other things, and in 2017, I went back to college to study 3D design and modelmaking. Now I work mainly in Edinburgh with model railway companies.”

The video was a spur of the moment decision, he explains.

“I had just bought my camera when I filmed that,” he says. “It was a second-hand Sony, semi-professional video camera, and I just went out and about around the city.

“The Four Corners is such an iconic spot, full of vibrant movement. You can see how much Glasgow has changed. Lots more diesel cars on Argyle Street – which was two-way then – for one thing.”

He adds, with a laugh: “Then, the footage sat on a cassette on a shelf in my house for 30 years.”

It was only when he came to start digitising his old videos, that Jim came across the Four Corners footage, complete with Evening Times vendor.

“I thought I’d put it on the Past Glasgow website on Facebook, and it got such a lovely response,” he says, smiling.

“Film matters. You don’t think about it at the time - I certainly didn’t when I was making this video in 1993 - but it becomes valuable later on.

"It’s a piece of Glasgow history.”