Gorbals Diehards: A Wild Sixties Childhood

Enid Blyton famously wrote about the Famous Five - the wholesome kids who were always up to some adventure or other - but during the 1960s Glasgow boy Colin Macfarlane had his own gang: the Incredible Gorbals Diehards. These were young boys trying to survive in one of the world’s toughest areas, the infamous slums of Glasgow.

During the gang’s daily adventures, they came across a plethora of undesirable characters, including foul-mouthed drunks, thieves, conmen, razor-flicking gang members, fly men and street brawlers. Through it all, MacFarlane and his band of brothers retained their sense of humour while roaming the filthy, stench-ridden Gorbals backstreets.

The members of the gang endured considerable deprivation and witnessed many scenes that gave them an undiluted insight into adult life. By the time they had all reached the age of ten, they had experienced so much deviant human behaviour and rampant poverty that they felt far older than their years.
In the third volume of his acclaimed memoirs, bestselling author Colin MacFarlane reveals what it was like to grow up on the streets in the Gorbals during this period. Be prepared to be shocked and entertained at the adventures of the gang that called themselves the incredible Gorbals Diehards.