A Perthshire schoolboy was near the head of the queue to meet two of his idols when they visited the area this month.
Two Glaswegian pensioners may not seem like the stereotypical heroes of a nine year-old but Leatham Bilsland is a huge fan of characters Jack and Victor from hit comedy Still Game.
The Muthill Primary School pupil was given the surprise of his life when he got to meet actors Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who play the iconic Scots pair, when they visited Auchterarder as part of a promotional tour celebrating the popular show’s 20th anniversary.
Leatham’s mum, Michele, said: “When I picked him up from school I pretended that Crieff Co-op had none of the unsalted butter that I needed for baking.
“I told him they said the Auchterarder Co-op had it. Luckily, we got there 45 minutes before they were due so were near the front because the queue ended up being huge.
“He asked why we had to queue, so I told him it was a surprise. He kept trying to guess.”
Leatham was over the moon when he spotted the comedy duo sitting at the table and couldn’t believe it when his mum told him he was there to meet them.
She continued: “He started panicking about what he should say to them; he was a nervous wreck. I told him to quote one of their sayings that he knows, but he wasn’t confident enough.”
Leatham got into Still Game by watching it with his dad, Rob.
Michele added: “It’s ‘their programme’. As soon as he came out he phoned Rob, who is offshore, and said: ‘Dad I’ve just had the best thing of my life!’
“Rob was in on the surprise but went along with pretending to not know, and kept telling Leatham how jealous he was. Both guys were so lovely with him.”
