Early Life
McLeish was born in Methil, Fife into a coal mining family. Educated at Buckhaven High School, he left school in 1963 at the age of 15 to become a schoolboy professional football player at Leeds United and represented Scotland as a youth international. However, after six weeks he was suffering from homesickness and moved back to Scotland, where he joined Scottish Football League club East Fife. Unforunately, his footballing career was cut short by injury, and he then returned to education, studying at Heriot-Watt University, where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Urban Planning.
After graduating, McLeish worked as a research officer at Edinburgh Corporation's department of social work 1973-1974, then as a planning officer for Fife County Council 1974-1975 and Dunfermline District Council 1975-1987. He also worked as a part-time lecturer and tutor at Heriot-Watt University 1973-1986.
Read more about this topic: Henry McLeish
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Our instructed vagrancy, which has hardly time to linger by the hedgerows, but runs away early to the tropics, and is at home with palms and banyans—which is nourished on books of travel, and stretches the theatre of its imagination to the Zambesi.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“There is a delicate balance of putting yourself last and not being a doormat and thinking of yourself first and not coming off as selfish, arrogant, or bossy. We spend the majority of our lives attempting to perfect this balance. When we are successful, we have many close, healthy relationships. When we are unsuccessful, we suffer the natural consequences of damaged and sometimes broken relationships. Children are just beginning their journey on this important life lesson.”
—Cindy L. Teachey. “Building Lifelong Relationships—School Age Programs at Work,” Child Care Exchange (January 1994)