It was a forward-line that struck fear into the hearts of opposition defenders, but rolled off the tongue for a generation of Scottish football fans: Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull and Ormond.
Now, BBC ALBA looks at the magical story of Hibernian’s Famous Five who helped catapult the Leith club to a host of trophies in the post-war period.
Produced by purpleTV, the creators of a series of BBC ALBA sports documentaries including Jim Baxter and the award-winning Jock Stein, the programme examines how the Famous Five were revered at home and abroad and continue to live on in Scottish football folklore.
Speaking to family members, fellow players, historians, broadcasters and acclaimed author and Hibs’ fan Irvine Welsh, we hear the influence the quintet had upon the game, leading Hibs to break the stranglehold of the Old Firm in the early 1950s.
Alastair Alexander, football commentator, said: “The fact that they won three titles was just unbelievable because up until then, the titles had never really escaped from the clutches of Rangers or Celtic. There were other teams from time to time but it was significant for the dominance of the Old Firm to be broken at that time - and be broken by playing good football. The quality of their play, it really was remarkable and everybody really enjoyed it.”
Alastair watched the Famous Five play when he was a youngster and they were appreciated no matter which team in Scotland you supported.
He continued: “Every schoolboy in Scotland knew Hibs’ Famous Five: Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull and Ormond. It just tripped of the tongue and no matter what team you supported, you looked to this forward line that was magical. They played in the W formation. With two wingers wide, Lawrie Reilly in the centre and Bobby Johnstone and Eddie Turnbull advancing wing halves or centre forwards. All in all they were a marvellous team!”
For Pat Stanton, who watched as a boy from the terraces and went on to become a legend at Easter Road in his own right, their magic left an indelible mark.
Pat said: “I stood on the terrace watching these players. I was in awe of them.
“Gordon Smith: an outside right, a terrific footballer, very quick, elegant; Bobby Johnstone: my dad’s favourite. A great player and a real thinker. He added the craft.
“Lawrie Reilly: centre forward, just an absolute terrier of a man, very quick, strong, great eye for the goal. Inside that you had Eddie Turnbull: a really good player with a terrific shot. He was a great foil for Smith. Outside left: Willie Ormond. Very quick, tremendous left foot and a great goal scorer. They could all score goals.”
Tom Wright, Hibernian historian, said: “They would have been one of the first forward lines to have interchanged positions. In those days you usually stuck to your position and your defender would be sticking against you. But it wouldn’t be unusual for Gordon Smith to be on the left wing and Eddie Turnbull on the right.”
Using beautifully shot archive footage commissioned by the club in the late 1940s as a backdrop to the story, The Famous Five celebrates Hibernian’s post-war decade and also uses drama reconstruction to recreate some of the most famous moments in their story.
The programme also travels to Chicago to hear from Trainspotting writer Irvine Welsh, who praises the lasting influence the Five had on the Leith club for decades. And, as the celebrity Hibbee explains, despite never seeing them on the park, he did get to meet some of them in later life…
Welsh said: “I met Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond and I actually got barred from all three of their pubs.
“I remember Lawrie Reilly who had the Bowlers’ Rest pub and he didn’t want any young whipper snappers getting up to their shenanigans. So I was flung out of that one by Lawrie. And Eddie Turnbull had Fox’s in Junction Street, and me and my uncle Jimmy had been on the p**s and we were making a bit of a pest of ourselves. Eddie told us to get lost basically and he said: ‘you should know better, Jimmy, and take that wee dipstick of a nephew with you.’
“Willie Ormond had a pub in Musselburgh and it was quite a rowdy day out. Eventually he said we had to get out of there. But that’s quite a nice hat-trick; it’s like Willie Ormond’s hat-trick of broken legs, my hat-trick of getting banned from three of the Famous Five pubs.”
Produced for BBC ALBA by award-winning production company purpleTV, The Famous Five is presented by sport broadcaster Alex O’Henley and is produced and directed by Margot McCuaig. The same team produced Jock Stein, the factual entertainment documentary that won the Royal Television Society Scotland award for Best Sport Documentary in 2015. The Famous Five will be shown on BBC ALBA on Sunday 24th January at 9.00pm until 10.00pm.