With his pleasant, distinctive voice a singular asset, he became STV’s continuity announcer as well as sports reporter. And in tribute to one of his famous catchphrases, the Rev Graeme Wilson said he’d hoped everyone had made it through the “stramash” at the church gates, referring to a throng of press photographers. While there he covered numerous sports, but it was football that became his main sport, and he was asked by the BBC’s well-known producer Peter Thomson to do some match reports for radio. The Maryhill Burgh Hall is an unlikely place to start your television career, but I was invited up there to do an audition because I was working at the Evening Times on the sports desk at the time.

Golfing friend Ken Wallace said Arthur had insisted his funeral should be on a Monday or Wednesday, so as not to clash with the pair’s outings on a Tuesday and Thursday at Glasgow Golf Club where Arthur was a member for 42 years. He interviewed all the greats from Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan to Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. With his pleasant, distinctive voice a singular asset, he joined Scottish Television in August 1957 as a continuity announcer and sports reporter, where Montford shared the opening night announcing duties with Jimmy Nairn, [4] He was then chosen to present STV's new sports programme, Scotsport (originally Sports Desk), where he remained as anchorman for 32 years. My father told me that no matter how poor the game was, whether you were writing it, describing it on radio, or commentating on it, you must look for something worthwhile to talk about and do not be negative. Though again he did not shout about it, his politics in the 70s favoured the SNP, and he helped the late Margo McDonald in her campaign in Govan in 1973.He tackled the controversy quietly, preferring to show by example that a Christian need not take sides. He would often read the evening Scottish news bulletin, announce the evening programmes and, on Wednesdays, present the midweek magazine programme, Scotsport. Montford told the academy rector, Mr William Dewar, that he would become a journalist and, after national service in the army, he joined the News as an office boy, before making the graduation through the ranks to reporter, working for the News, then the Daily Record before joining the sports desk of the Evening Times. In a moving tribute his daughter Vivienne, 58, told how her dad would read her bedtime stories which were largely made up and involved a cast of characters including her teddies.

With over 2000 episodes of Scotsport to his name, Arthur Montford’s voice is synonymous with Scottish football’s triumphs and tragedies. Montford remembers “very often we went to air on a Wednesday night while the film was still being processed.He was an actor, known for Charles Endell, Esq (1979), The Big Match (1968) and This Is Your Life (1955). Then, at the age of 28, he was signed-up as an announcer with the new commercial broadcaster Scottish Television ahead of its launch on 31 August 1957. He also presented the Scottish version of World of Sport on STV and Grampian - with live coverage from England of events which were often not shown in their entirety due to the regional sporting events taking place in Scotland, Scotsport Special was also aired on Cup Final day, when the Scottish Cup Final was taking place on the same day as the Wembley event, with the Wrestling also being moved from its pre-lunchtime slot on Cup Final days back to the expected 16:00 slot in Scotland.

For a man who reckoned he had failed his television audition, Arthur Montford proved to be an unmitigated success in the medium in Scotland, presiding over STV’s Scotsport for 32 years, during which he became part of the fabric of the nation. He chose a hymn - The Day Thou Gavest Lord, is Ended - because it was played at his mother Peggy’s funeral in 1977. During the 1978 FIFA World Cup, a technical fault with the feed from Argentina prevented ITV from broadcasting Hugh Johns' commentary on the Scotland-Peru game, so Montford's commentary, originally only intended for Scottish viewers, was used on the entire network (the same fault affected the BBC in reverse, with Scottish viewers having to listen to David Coleman instead of Archie MacPherson). Arthur Montford died at his home on 26 November 2014 at the age 85, after battling illness intermittently over a couple of years. After retiring from television at the age of 60, Montford left STV and continued to comment on Scottish football, both in the national press and in the matchday programme at Morton, he also concentrated on playing golf at Glasgow Golf Club at Killermont.

LEGENDARY broadcaster Montford died last week aged 85 and famous faces from the worlds of TV and football paid tribute to the "ultimate gentleman" at a church service this afternoon.

After stepping down as a director, Montford continued his affiliation with the club as an Honorary Vice-president. I met him on 2 January many years ago when I played junior football for Downfield Juniors in Dundee.Montford was President and captain of Glasgow Golf Club, and was Rector of the University of Glasgow, 1974-1977. These went well as a radio broadcaster, and, when BBC sports editor John Wilson joined Scottish Television in 1957, he asked Montford to join him in the new commercial visual age. He became a sports journalist and radio broadcaster before joining Scottish Television in 1957 to present its new sports programme, Scotsport. While there he covered numerous sports, but it was football that became his main sport, and he was asked by the BBC's well-known producer Peter Thomson to do some match reports for radio. Indeed, with Archie McPherson and others at the BBC, he was one of the pioneers of sports broadcasting in Scotland, his career covering the era of canned film of games that were rushed to the Glasgow studios to be broadcast to cathode ray tubes, up to the age of constant live satellite transmissions, electronic video machines and instant replays.