The car slammed to a halt outside the shop and Charlie stared as three men exited the car. Two from the back and one from the front passenger seat. Hoods. They all had hoods on. Black hoods on top of black jumpers. Black was the dress code for the day. Black trousers and black shoes and each of the three were carrying a clutch of black canvas bags. The three men in black hammered through the shop door leaving the Mercedes to pour exhaust into the cool morning.

Charlie sat there. Stunned. Confused. Wondering what in the hell was going on. The scene in front of him had the feel of some old gangster movie. The lads out on a hit. But this was a distillery – not a bank. The shop wouldn’t have anything other than the morning float and that was hardly worth getting all ‘Goodfellas’ on the place. Maybe what he was witnessing had a more innocent explanation. A plausible reason to haul an E class Merc into the distillery and empty out three men top to tail in black. A movie? The distillery was a set and Charlie hadn’t been informed? But where were the cameras, the filmmakers – the production crew?

A mistake. It can happen. Some drugged up team who had mistaken a whisky distillery for the local branch of RBS?

April Fool – but a bit late?

The Merc spun its rear wheels and headed up stream.

Charlie’s heart beat hard and he squatted down.

He also took the opportunity to learn as much as possible from as many people as would indulge him. ‘Quick Question Charlie’ had been his nickname. ‘Sorry Pete? Just a quick question?’ ‘Mary I’ve got a quick question.’ Quick question had become QQ and the balloons in the swanky hotel had all been printed with a double Q. Even the solid silver Quaich had been engraved ‘To QQ the answer is we will miss you.’

When Charlie was offered a small promotion two years later he took it but he already had his eye on the visitors. Questions worked both ways and Charlie had a natural way about him that visitors loved. No question too hard or too trivial and before long he had taken up the role of tour guide. A rare position back then. Sure, nowadays, there could be up to twenty of them on the go. After all fifty thousand people a year came to see the magic going on inside the copper and wood. But back then he had been king. Still was. Or rather would be until five o’clock today. The king is dead. Long live the king.

The day was cranking up for a hot one but in the shade of the glen there was still a touch of ground frost from a chilly mid summer snap the night before. Charlie swung his legs against the wooden barrel, beating out a rhythm with his heels.

Charlie jumped when the black Mercedes screamed into sight.

He drifted up towards the shop, passing the white buildings, some built when Queen Victoria was still one monarch in the future. He looked up at the ventilator that sat above the old malting rooms and smiled. His Japanese Crown. No longer used, the pagoda shaped ventilator was a well kent sight for the whisky enthusiast.

He reached the shop but didn’t enter. He didn’t want to look at the rows of fine whisky, lit by spotlight, cocooned in fine wood. It would just remind of him of what he would miss. He passed the visitor centre with its balcony hovering above the waters of a small lake and followed a stream up to the bottom of the waterfall that poured down at the far end of the distillery.

Hidden from view he planked himself on one of the wooden barrels that lay scattered on the banks of the stream and stared back at the place he had worked for most of his adult life.

Twenty four he had been when his father’s friend told him that Glengoyne were looking for some manual labour. He had been lean and fit back then. Six feet tall and not a scrap on him but muscle and bone. A sharp dresser and one for the girls. Labouring at Glengoyne had provided the pennies he had needed to lord it up in Glasgow city centre once a week. He loved the new job.

Charlie took to Planet Whisky like a child to a toy.

1980 brings with it a certain amount of death and disaster: only three days into the year, Joy Adamson – best-selling author of the Born Free trilogy – is murdered in Africa by a disgruntled ex-employee; and at the back end of the year, on December 8^th, John Lennon is shot  dead in New York by Mark Chapman, who stands idly by reading a copy of Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, until police come and take him away. Despite being sentenced to only 20 years imprisonment, he is still in Attica today, having being denied parole on six separate occasions.

In between these bookends, the world also sees off Alfred Hitchcock, Steve McQueen, George Raft, Peter Sellers, Mae West, and Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

As if the very earth were heaving at these losses, Mount St Helens erupts in the US,  with a colossal column of ash rising twelve miles into the sky, and an accompanying explosion that could be heard 200 miles away.

In happy geological coincidence, it is also the year that father and son team Luis and Walter Alvarez announce their theory  that mankind only got the chance to take over the world because a giant meteorite strike killed off the dinosaurs. It’s been one of the biggest scientific controversies of the last thirty years, an international panel of experts deciding only in 2010 that the Alvararez’s were right all along.

There is also the Iranian Embassy siege in London, ended after 6 days by an SAS assault led by Stirling-born John McAleese, which precipitate action is so dramatic that it interrupts the TV coverage of the final of the World Snooker Championships between Cliff Thorburn and Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins. Many snooker fans still resent that interruption  to this day, though it was not enough to deny  John McAleese earning the Military Medal for his service to his country, including being Bodyguard-in-Chief for no less than three British Prime Ministers .

On the cuter side of the news – and Edinburgh Zoo might want to take notes here – a giant panda in Mexico gives birth to the first cub born naturally in captivity, and, in other animal-related news, Stirling’s own resident celebrity bear, Hercules, who lives with his wrestler owner Andy Robin and his wife Maggie at their pub, the Sheriffmuir Inn, creates global media interest, by wandering off while filming an Andrex commercial on Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, and going missing for 24 days. Quite how he could remain hidden for so long a place so small and flat as Benbecula is a mystery, but he is eventually spotted and recaptured, and is rewarded by getting a part in the James Bond movie Octopussy, is featured on the cover of Time Magazine, and even caddies for Bob Hope at Gleneagles.

And last, but not least, the WHO declares that the scourge of smallpox has finally been eradicated from the world – except of course in Hollywood, where it is routinely resurrected for filmic purposes,  to give hardworking actors a bit of cash.  Hercules Fights Horrible Dieseases in the Hebrides hasn’t yet made it to the big screen, but if it ever did, I’d be first in the queue for a ticket.

Make the most of your Jubilee weekend!

Britain’s best loved home event and the Consumer Show of the year, The Ideal Home Show is returning to the SECC in Glasgow from 2nd­5th of June. The Glengoyne team along with Olly Smith will be there offering some wonderful whisky tasting tips too. And for all our friends we are delighted to have a 241 ticket offer just for you.

There is no shortage of brilliant and inspirational things to see to buy, from exploring the spectacular Prince¹s show home, expert advice, stunning interior room sets, celebrity chef live cooking demonstrations, ideal woman pampering, tasty treats, brilliant show gardens, the latest gadgets and gizmos, and all the shopping you could wish for!

Not only a great day out for the family but you can see a whole host of celebrity ambassadors at the show from Lorraine Kelly, Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, Gregg Wallace, George Clarke, Diarmuid Gavin, Suzi Perry and John Amabile.

To claim your 241 tickets (£15 full-price adult tickets) simply call the 24 Hour Box Office on 0844 894 2010  and remember to quote WH241 Or alternatively, visit www.idealhomeshowscotland.co.uk, where you can also claim tickets quoting WH241