It’s not where you start… by Paul Kelbie
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itting in the conservatory of the Millennium Hotel in Glasgow, overlooking a rain-soaked George Square on a dreary Monday afternoon, it’s clear there are few things in the world capable of dampening the spirit of Scott Kyle. He rattles away nineteen to the dozen, his conversation is full of the famous “Glasgow patter’ and his eyes light up as he talks about the three greatest loves of his life - his wife, his mother and the business of show. The story of how this former latchkey kid from a working class housing estate in Rutherglen became an award winning actor, theatre producer and entrepreneur with almost one million social media followers is both highly amusing and incredibly inspirational. It’s going to make a great book someday! As the second son of a single parent mother working three jobs to keep her family fed, clothed and with a roof over their heads, he learned very early on how to be independent and always knew he would have to work for success. “My mum used to be up and away to work before I even got up in the morning to get ready for school and she wouldn’t get home until after 10pm at night,” said Scott.
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“She would leave a couple pounds on the table for my brother and I to fend for ourselves. It made us quite self reliant and street smart.” Always a natural performer and a bit of a joker Scott admits he wasn’t the most academic of students at school. He left at 16, following a row with a teacher over the wearing of a football shirt during a games lesson, and got a job in a supermarket stacking shelves.
However, at the age of 21, with the encouragement of his girlfriend and future wife Karen, he decided to go back to college and study drama. It was a decision that changed his life but not as he expected. “I was still living at home and contributing to the household bills so I couldn’t just stop working and become a full time student,” said Scott who continued to stack shelves at night while he studied by day.
