Benny

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Factual: Life Stories

Sport: Boxing

Benny Lynch

29/12/2017

BBC ALBA - Benny

The remarkable story of Scotland's first boxing world champion.

Sgeulachd iongantach a' chiad churaidh bogsaidh chruinneil a bh' aig Alba a-riamh. Documentary telling the story of Benny Lynch, Scotland's first world champion boxer.

Sgeulachd iongantach a' chiad cheatharnaich sabaid-dùirn chruinneil a bh' aig Alba a-riamh, Benny Lynch à Glaschu - sgeulachd a tha an dà chuid togarrach agus tiamhaidh, le soirbheachas agus àmhghar na cois.

Benny tells the remarkable story of Scotland's first boxing world champion boxer, Benny Lynch - a story that is both uplifting and hugely moving, a story of triumph and tragedy. It's an affectionate salute to the people's champion, and features interviews with boxing experts including fellow Glaswegian world champion Jim Watt, sports broadcaster and historian Hugh Dan MacLennan, and boxing writer John Angus MacDonald.

Rarely seen archive footage showing Benny Lynch at the height of his boxing greatness, as well as his status as a celebrity figure outside the ring, are also interwoven in to the film narrative. The film tells Benny's story, from his 1913 birth in the Gorbals, to a family of Irish origin, and charts his journey to becoming the flyweight champion of the world in 1935 at 22.

Thousands of fans turned out to give the fighter a hero's welcome home at Glasgow's Central Station in unprecedented scenes. His fame grew as he continued to enjoy spectacular wins, but by 1939 an increasing reliance on alcohol had put paid to his career. Benny died of malnutrition-induced respiratory failure aged just 33.

Benny - one of the most dramatic and tragic stories to come out of a sport in which drama and tragedy are common currency.

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