The late Fraser Urquhart, golf champion and former Howdens garden Centre owner.
He was the Inverness golfing prodigy renowned for his double birdies.
Far fewer will have heard about Fraser Urquhart’s infamous encounter with 007.
In 1962, at the age of 18, talent with a club in his hand would see the Inverness Royal Academy pupil crowned the best in Scotland, winning the Scottish Boys’ Amateur championship at North Berwick.
Fraser Urquhart, 1962 Scottish Boys Champion, after defeating S MacDonald (Kirkcaldy High School) 3&2 in the final.
The exceptional young local golfer turned professional for a few years, rubbing shoulders with greats of the era like British Open winner Tony Jacklin and Ryder Cup captain Dai Rees.
It was while journeying to compete all over the UK in a stylish, British-manufactured sports car of the era that the future owner of Howdens Garden Centre in Inverness unexpectedly became entangled with silver screen spies and villains.
Recounting the hilariously surreal episode, Fraser’s elder son Hugh, an aeroplane pilot and farmer, explained: “Dad, as a young man, turned pro at golf and toured the country in a tiny grey Mk1 Triumph Spitfire.
“While doing so, he became one of the first 20 drivers to cross the newly-opened Forth Road Bridge.
“Back in 1963, while arriving in the car at the Stoke Park Golf Club at Stoke Poges near Slough, he suddenly heard a loud shout of ‘STOP!’
“Slamming on the brakes, he then saw a sculpted bust on a plinth topple over nearby, within the gardens.
“It turned out that the radio aerial of dad’s Spitfire had snagged a wire carrying Oddjob’s ‘flying’ bowler hat.
“Dad had accidentally interrupted the filming of the James Bond movie Goldfinger with Sean Connery!”
Sean Connery as James Bond, with Tania Mallet as Tilly Masterson in 007 GoldfingerBond villain Oddjob’s infamous bowler hat from the film Goldfinger
Shaken, but not stirred, Fraser had the time of his life plying his talents competitively on the fairways and greens, a passion he never lost.
Ultimately, though, in an era when earning a reliable living in the sport was no easy matter, he chose security over the quest for golfing glory, returning home to make a life in the Highland capital.
It was a return to family roots for Fraser, who passed away peacefully in the care of Cameron House last month, aged 81.
For generations, the family’s plumbing family business, Wm Urquhart and Son, had been based at 53 Eastgate in Inverness, now the site of the Eastgate shopping centre underpass, with another outlet in Kingussie.
Born and raised at Bellfield Park, Inverness, Fraser was very sporty as a child, as younger son Murray – a teaching golf professional at Nairn Golf Club – described: “He enjoyed probably what most boys of his age did in those days, just getting their teeth into as many sports as possible, and getting out and about.
“But his father Hugh passed away suddenly to an unexpected illness when he was 15, which was obviously a huge blow for him.”
Overcoming that loss, he channelled time and energy into golf and the success that ensued.
Fraser Urquhart’s excellence in golf saw him turn professional for a spell in the mid-1960s.
Back home, Fraser married maternity nurse Roz MacKintosh in 1969.
They started their family in 1971 while he was working as a seedsman for Messrs Howden and Co, a firm of horticulture nurseries run by his uncle and aunt, Don and Nan MacKinnon.
Aside from golf, Fraser is best remembered as a highly-respected businessman who played an inspirational role in turning Howdens into an Inverness institution, trusted and valued for expertise and reliability of service.
As Hugh recounted: “Under Fraser’s charge the business on Telford Street later diversified into the garden centre it is known as today.
“The business was sold to Klondyke in 2000, marking the end of an era in Howdens’ 200 years of trading at the Telford Street site.
Howdens Garden Centre in Inverness was built up into a highly successful, well-loved and respected business by the late Fraser Urquhart.
“The towering poplar trees to the rear of Lidl Supermarket serve as the only reminder of what was once a vast site of Howdens’ greenhouses and flower beds, predating Caley Park and the houses of Telford Street and Cameron Road.”
Fraser joined the business initially as an employee with, the family admits, no particular love of gardening.
“It was just something he learned about, an opportunity to build the business,” Murray explained. “When his uncle Don died in the mid-seventies, dad then took over the running of it until he and mum (Roz) sold up in 2002.
“It became an extremely successful business. He worked very hard at it.
“Both my mum and dad put in long hours, and I was told many years ago by other people within the industry that it was regarded as one of Scotland’s most respected garden centres, a trusted establishment very much carrying on an old tradition at the site previously known as Muirtown Nurseries.”
National chain Klondyke Garden Centres continued for two or three years at Telford Street before relocating to Stoneyfield, off the A96, where they remain owners to this day.
Caley Thistle fans of a certain Caledonian FC vintage will remember affectionately what was known as The Howden End at Telford Street, where a trip to the garden centre was often part and parcel of the matchday experience.
Fraser and Roz later moved the family base to Mayfield Road in the 1980s, then Drumblair Crescent in the 1990s, before moving to Blackpark at Upper Leachkin.
Fraser Urquhart.
“My father played golf his whole life, winning a lot of titles across the north of Scotland,” Murray recalled.
“He was a Scottish boys champion in 1962, then went on to become a professional golfer for three or four years in the mid-1960s.
“He played across the UK with some of the best, but in those days it was tough to make a living out of it, so the opportunity to then work at Howden’s came along and he took it.
“It was a family decision, really, bringing him some security.
“Without a doubt, he instilled the love of golf in me. He was a huge influence in my life and Hugh’s, very much a guiding light. Because of him, I first picked up a club from the age of four or five.
“He taught and instilled in me the real etiquette of the game, the sportsmanlike element needed within golf.
“He was someone that people naturally gravitated to, but he was quite a quiet man who always spoke very eloquently and articulately, never really being one for bluster.
“Golf was just a huge part of his life, socially and competitively. He loved the sport with a passion, the social aspect and the competitive side of golf, which was always huge for him.”
In mid and later life, Fraser would predominantly be spotted at Inverness Golf Club, where he was a six-time club champion.
But he also spent over 50 years a member of Nairn and Royal Dornoch golf clubs, among a great many courses he loved passionately.
Fraser Urquhart, former golfing champion and past owner of Howdens Garden Centre in Inverness.
Humble in nature, he was never one to shout about golfing success but always exuded a great love for, and pride in, his family.
“I’m very proud of the fact that we still drive past Howdens regularly, knowing that, without my father, it probably wouldn’t be there,” Murray said.
“He’s left a big legacy locally with Howdens and in golf in the Highlands. He was well-respected in the business community for his work in building up the business to the level it got to.”
As well as beloved sons Hugh and Murray, Fraser is survived by grandchildren Maddie and Harrie, daughter-in-law Iona and many other great friends and close family members.
His distinguished life was celebrated at a service at Inverness Crematorium on Monday, July 28.
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