There was a reason Sean Connery made the perfect James Bond - and it wasn't just for his movie star good looks and cracking delivery.
The late Edinburgh-born acting legend famously boasted an impressive physique that made him ideal for the role of the burly 007.
In the 1950s, a good few years before his film career took off, the man who would one day earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame undertook a wide variety of different job roles in his hometown.
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Connery's time as a milkman is well-known, but his bodybuilder's frame also gained him employment as a lifeguard, an artist's model and a doorman.
And it was in the latter role as a bouncer that all six feet and two inches of Sean, or 'Tam, as he was then known, were particularly effective.
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Sean worked various doors over the years, but one of the busiest was undoubtedly the Palais de Danse at Fountainbridge. Situated within a mile of the tenement where he was born, the young Tam Connery worked the door of the once massively-popular dancehall on numerous occasions.
And it was a door that was not for the faint of heart. At that time, the nearby Tollcross district could be a rather dangerous and violent place to be at night.
The Valdor gang
The entire area was ruled over by a notorious group of thugs known as the Valdor Gang, who took their name from the Val D'Or café, a local hang-out spot they frequented.
The Valdor were a particularly ruthless and vicious lot. They carried all manner of weapons, including knives and open razors, and bicycle chains, which they wore around their necks. Members even sewed razors into their clothing so that if anyone grabbed them by the lapels, they'd sustain a nasty cut to their hand.
The gang made a point of targeting weekend patrons at the Palais - especially when US sailors were visiting. Terrible and bloody fights were a regular occurrence.
The Palais' owners knew well the need to have robust security personnel like 'Tam' Connery on the door, and, having grown up in Fountainbridge, the young bodybuilder was already well-acquainted with the Valdor gang.
Legend has it that Connery was once approached by gang members at a local snooker hall, where he prevented them from stealing his jacket.
One night, while working the door of the Palais, he was followed by half a dozen of the Valdor members to an upper balcony at the dancehall, where the razor gang attempted to do him in. Connery, who was all on his own and heavily outnumbered, was having none of it.
In those days, the future 007 icon trained regularly at the Dunedin Amateur Weightlifting Club in the Meadows, and as a fighter, he was said to have been a match for just about anyone - and so it would prove that evening with the Valdor.
He grabbed one of the thugs by the throat and another by the arm and smashed their heads together. From that day on, it's said the Valdor never went near him again.
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