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STB’s predecessor the Scottish Travel Association since its formation in 1930.
Michael Glen who was appointed Information Manager by Bill Nicholson in the late 1960s said he was ‘Mr Scotland’.
‘I remember saying to Bill (I called him Mr Nicholson of course) “Why is everyone everywhere you go dressed in tartan? Why can’t we get away from it?”
‘He said, “ Michael, because naebady else has it!” And I have never forgotten that. “If you have a winner stick to it.’”
‘Bill was plucked from journalism to head Scotland’s tourism promotion. He was hail fellow well met and was one of the lads in a nice way.’
The origins of Blue Badge Tourist Guides in the UK goes back to 1949 when the London based Travel Association of Great Britain (TAGB) announced it was compiling a central register which would give the names and qualifications of official guides.
In an article in the Scotsman in June 1949, the TAGB was reported as saying it wished to ensure that overseas visitors ‘were not made the dupes of imposters’ and would have an assurance that the person who offers to act as their ‘guide, philosopher and friend’ was fully qualified. It said that travel agencies and some local authorities had been prominent in training and testing guides, but ‘there was always the difficult of combating the activities of ill-informed touts.’
All guides registered with the Association would be issued with a lapel badge numbered on the inside, on loan to the holder for one year and renewable at the Association’s discretion.
At a later stage the Travel Association, in co-operation with other interested bodies, proposed to draw up a guides’ code of conduct on similar lines to that for motorists.
The first objective was the registration of guides for London and surrounding districts covered by popular excursions, but it was hoped that the scheme would extend to the whole of England.
It was also hoped that the Scottish Tourist Board, the Welsh Tourist and Holidays Board and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board would follow the Association’s lead in their own areas so that eventually there would be a national register.
If the scheme proved successful travel agents and other employers of guides would be asked to consider making the employment of new entrants conditional upon having first obtained the certificate of registration.
Approval of a system of training and registering guides had been expressed by the Home Office.
The following year, in London, seven guides who were the first to qualify, met at the historic George Inn in Southwark and founded the Guild of
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