On a beautiful afternoon at the Foot of the Walk, while the sun truly was shining on Leith I sat down with four of Ken Buchanan’s closest friends.
The pals who stood by him, from his time as an amateur boxer through to world fame and beyond, to get an insight into who the man behind the world champion title really was.
Sitting on the wooden tables under the stained glass with sunlight pouring in John Cameron, 56, Jimmy Pake, Russell Hamilton, 65, and John McHendry 73, shared anecdotes from Ken's life while laughing and remembering him fondly.
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He was a good man, they tell me, a gentleman who loved to tell stories and never said a bad word about anyone. He was always well-dressed and took care of himself well.
Kenny Buchanan was a Leith boy at heart and after a decade-spanning career as a world champion boxer wanted nothing more than to return to his old pals in his local boozer to have a laugh.
He was heavily involved in the community and spurred on many young boxers from the side of the ring at local boxing clubs.
A man of many trades, Kenny started out as a joiner with good pal Russell Hamilton, ran pubs and a pool hall, and owned a hotel with his brother.
Close friends said he always knew he wanted to be a world champion boxer not for the fame or the money but for himself and spent years dedicated to this goal not drinking and training hard to achieve this.
Although publicly claiming to support Hearts the Portobello boxer always supported Hibs and went to Easter Road a few times to watch the boys in Green, always cheering them on when they scored a goal.
His pals said he would have been delighted with the derby win on April 15 and would have been sitting side by side with them in the Central Bar buzzing.
Sadly, his health took a turn for the worse after he moved to a care home on Albert Street. Friends visited for years but were saddened when they were no longer allowed to visit and believe this led to his death after he "gave up".
Russell Hamilton said "We've been drinking in here most of our life. Kenny was one of us and he would sit right here next to us. There is only one word for Kenny and that is a gentleman. He wouldn’t say a bad word about anyone.
"I was on the tools with Kenny for five or six years, Kenny was a joiner by trade. It was the first time I met him, we patched all the flats up on Gayfield Square. We were about 21 years old. He was only an amateur boxer then he went professional later on.
When telling me about who Ken really was John Cameron tells me about songwriter Kevin Gore who wrote a song called, "Ken Buchanan, Edinburgh Man and said there is no better way to describe him.
He said: "I met him in a house on the Links, but I didn't know who he was. Kenny was the type to never ever speak about his fame. He was just one of the boys.
Jimmy said: "Years ago I started a boxing club called the Causeywayside Club but I got banned for life for not being disciplined enough. We were all pals with Kenny and a guy called Malcolm McKenzie, we were all good boxers but none of us had the discipline Kenny did.
"We all went out on the bevvy, but not Kenny he was always training and he did say 'I'm going to be a world champion' and he was true to his word.
"Then in 1970 he won it and I was like wow, when he won the world championship he came back to nothing. There were only 30 people at the airport and that included people who were arriving at the airport and didn't know anything about it.
"We didn’t know when he was coming back but Alan his brother called us and said he's back today. I had a Ford Capri at the time and drove out to the airport.
"There were some photos taken but not what it should have been - we were like where is the big crowd?
"When he came back from Vegas in 1971 he came back to a better crowd."
John was there when Ken came back from his win over Ismael Laguna which was described as the greatest win by a British boxer.
He said: "Before he went he was honestly quite bold he was going to win it, there was no if's or but's about it - he knew he was going to do it.
"When he came back the second time that's when he got all the accolades and he lost the plot a bit. He wasn't keeping in touch with all his friends like us for a while.
"He bought the Victoria Hotel and ran it with his brother, but there was a lot of stuff happening in there and Kenny just didn't care about it or what was going on.
"He had his jag with his reg "KO 123" and a house at Queensferry Road which was like a huge American-style condo."
John said: "He adopted Leith as his home which is why we can't understand the funeral arrangements. It's going uptown and down past Sparta but it's not even there anymore it's just housing.
"Everyone in Leith is raging about it."
On which of the capital's football clubs Ken supported, John explained: "Kenny supported Hibs, we went to Easter Road a few times and one time after he came back from becoming the undisputed world lightweight champion in 1971.
"We went and met Eddie Turnball, we introduced Ken to him and he said, 'Ken's just won undisputed championship' and Eddie said: 'So what.'
"From that point on Kenny said he supported Hearts in public but he still loved Hibs and celebrated when they won."
Friend Jimmy Pake met Ken much later in his life after his boxing career and spent time living together on Leith Walk when he came back from Glasgow.
They were introduced by friends "My pal Harry Anderson said have you ever met Ken Buchanan? I said no and he introduced us on a Friday afternoon.
He said: "I mentioned our boxing gym and said he should come along it was nicknamed Hare's Club because the guy who owned it was called Harry Hare.
"He kept to his word and came down that very night.
"I spent about four and half years on Leith Walk living with him around 2003 when he came back to Edinburgh. He just became one of the boys, he worked at the North British Bar with my brother-in-law on the corner.
"He just got on with his life, he didn’t really care about money or the rest. He was approachable, I never heard him say a bad word about anyone."
Jimmy said: "He did miss the boxing when he stopped, he used to go along to the boxing club and would encourage young lads.
"In 1971 he was the best boxer in the world Muhammad Ali was number four, Joe Frazier was number two and Kenny was number one."
"Kenny loved to tell stories, he told me he was down at Maddison Square Gardens and shared a dressing room with Mohamed Ali and he drew a line on the floor and said if you come over to my side of the room you're a done man.
"He was only joking of course and he loved a laugh. He could be quite funny."
John added: "He used to come to the Central every day that or he'd drink in the Alhambra. He was on the whisky for a while but he had to pack that in after a while as he'd be falling about everywhere and I would ken cause I was right there next to him.
"One time we left here on a Sunday and went to Copperfield which was a night club we got these two lassies up dancing, I turned around and he was sparring with the lassie."
He added: "I wish he was still here to tell you himself darling, he was a brilliant man."
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Ken was made an MBE in 1972, with his statue revealed in Edinburgh last year. It was also last year that his son revealed he was suffering from dementia and living in a care home.
The guys spent many years after Kenny retired from boxing as good friends and drinking buddies and stayed in touch till the end when he was in a care home on Albert Street.
Funeral arrangements have been planned for the lightweight champion, who sadly passed away on April 1 at the age of 77. A memorial service will take place at St Giles' Cathedral on April 25.
The procession will pass the former Sparta Boxing Club, McDonald Road and Ken Buchanan statue.
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