George H. Kirkland

One of my earliest interests was the cinema and film-making, since my father was a keen amateur film-maker.    However, good teaching in maths and science at school led me to the Department of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow.    In 1963, I almost joined the BBC as a television engineer but decided to go to Jordanhill College of Education to train as a teacher. In 1964, I joined the physics department of Stirling High School, a pilot school for the new physics syllabus and an exciting place to start. I stayed there for almost 10 years, becoming Head of Physics during that time.

I moved back to Jordanhill College as a Lecturer in Audio-Visual Media in 1972, helping students to use media effectively in their teaching.   I was Director of a post-graduate diploma in Educational Technology (a systems approach to teaching and learning) taught largely by distance learning. Eventually, I became head of department and spent a lot of my time as a television producer. I also got involved in the early days of interactive video and early interactive media platforms like compact disc interactive (CD-i). Alongside this, I worked as a freelance writer for STV and a writer and producer/director for a number of independent TV production companies.

From there I moved back to University of Glasgow as Director of Media Services in 1989. The department provided all kinds of media production and support services for the whole university as well as medical illustration and clinical photography for local hospitals. I continued to develop the interactive media area of the department and, when I had the opportunity to take early retirement in 1996, I was able to set up my own business producing interactive learning materials for a wide range of clients and on a variety of platforms. Eventually I became heavily involved in the Digital Inclusion initiatives of the Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland government.   However, the pressure of production and completion deadlines intensified and I decided to retire for the second time in 2010.

I have been married twice and am now living with my partner Irene in Bearsden. We have six offspring between us and two grandchildren to keep us young.  I now devote my time to golf (and the physics of the golf swing), music on piano and organ and have just started to learn the violin and the phono fiddle. I enjoy writing (comedy) and still dabble in photography, film history and video – which brings me back to where I started!