The Herald January 2000 A brief history of John Reid; Labour MP and Minister

So what do you do now? 'Funnily enough,' and he laughs, 'deep beneath this apparently sombre-suited gentleman is somebody who used to play in a band. I play rock'n'roll on the piano. I play folk music. All types of music.' At school he was the lead singer in a rock band called The Graduates. The previous band he was in went on to become fairly well-known as The Poets. He tells me he's a singer, plays the guitar 'reasonably well' and plays 'a bit of the mouthie'. He's a big fan of Woodie Guthrie and Tom Paxton. (Before Cathie died he played a session with Paxton back-stage at one of his concerts.) 'I've still got a Gibson acoustic. My youngest son Mark, he's got three guitars and we sometimes play at home together.'