Ian Grant is the oldest man alive.
He is a London Hearts Hero. Ian has
been privileged to watch the Heart of Midlothian (and their worthy
opponents) since 1938 when Andy Black was scoring for fun; since then his heroes have included Archie Kelly, Tommy Walker, Bobby Dougan, Tam McKenzie,
John Cumming and more recently, Wayne Foster and Hugh 'Shuggie' Burns.
He
was one of the founder members of the Legendary Viva Hearts Supporters' Club which travelled in a cramped Vauxhall to (but not always back from) Hearts matches throughout Scotland in the 1980s: his propensity to wear a tie at all football matches earned him the nickname "Mad Dog", hence his son Keith
soon became "Mad Pup". He has taught his young grandson Finlay to sing
songs that call the footballing ability of Hibernian FC into question. But more than anything, we are deeply indebted to Ian for the wonderful memorabilia he has let us display: it speaks of an era when football and the world was something else entirely, and one which is in danger of being
forgotten.
Football history is social history, and these are historical
documents. Ian is something of a monument to the past also: unique and
irreplaceable.
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