We find houses celebrities used to live in
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HOLLYWOOD hunk Dougray Scott can afford Scotland's most luxurious hotels when he jets home from Los Angeles - but he prefers to stay with his mum at the council house where he grew up.
Proud Elma Scott still lives in the modest mid-terrace home where she raised the Desperate Housewives star and his three brothers and sisters.
And Mission Impossible actor Dougray makes a beeline for their hometown of Glenrothes, Fife, whenever he's back in Scotland - even though his mum admits the 43-year-old has outgrown his old bedroom.
Ex-nurse Elma, 76, said: "He recently came over and stayed for a week.
"This time he stayed with his sister on the other side of town but he used to stay with me.
"He had the biggest bedroom - he was far too big for his old bedroom.
"He has a house in London but spends most of his time in LA. It's Glenrothes where his true home is though. He comes here as often as he can."
Elma - who calls her son Stephen, the name he was christened with - told how he can completely relax when he's back home in Fife.
She said: "Stephen's a very down-to-earth person and has always had his feet on the ground.
"He can be himself here. He can breathe. He's Stephen Scott, not Dougray Scott. He just wants to be my son, not a famous actor. He's always joking with his friends and family."
Elma revealed the area around her three-bedroomed home is packed with precious memories for her son, who was recently back on the big screen in Scots-made thriller New Town Killers.
She said: "This is where he spent all his childhood until he went off to drama college. At school he performed in lots of musicals and he knew then that he wanted to be an actor.
"I'm very proud of him and my other three children. You are a good parent if your children achieve more than you do, so I consider myself a good mother."
Like Dougray, actor Gerard Butler has also carved out a successful career in Hollywood.
The 300 star was raised in a two-bedroomed ground floor flat in Paisley by his mother Margaret and grandmother May after his parents divorced.
Former care home worker Catherine Fairbrother, 74, moved into the apartment when Gerard's gran died. But the 39-year-old star never forgot his childhood and came back for a surprise visit.
Catherine said: "There was this man outside looking around and wandering through the garden, so I went outside and asked him what he was doing.
"He said his gran used to live here and he grew up here, so I invited him in and we had tea and biscuits.
"This was when he was only just becoming famous - I only found out afterwards who he was."
Butler - who has been romantically linked to Friends beauty Jennifer Aniston, co-star of his new flick The Bounty - still has family ties in the area.
Neighbour Robert Shaw, 89, said: "His mum had four sisters and one of them still lives just around the corner.
"I remember his mum - she used to work in the school nearby. They were a great family and his mum was a nice girl. My grandchildren used to play with Gerard and his brother and sister in the street. I only saw him on TV just the other day. It's strange to think he was the boy that I knew."
As well as Butler and singer Paolo Nutini, Paisley was also home to Dr Who star David Tennant.
The 38-year-old was born in Bathgate, West Lothian, but grew up in the Renfrewshire town after his father - a Church of Scotland minister - was transferred there.
While he was at Paisley Grammar School, David even wrote an essay about how it was his dream to play Dr Who.
Another famous Scot brought up in a manse is Prime Minister Gordon Brown, raised with his brothers John and Andrew in Kirkcaldy, Fife.
But some of the homes where Scotland's biggest stars grew up are simply no longer around.
The block of flats where Full Monty star Robert Carlyle, 48, lived in Townhead, Glasgow, has been demolished.
And last year comedy legend Billy Connolly was spotted making a trip back to the street where he was born in the city's Anderston area.
But the tenement he lived in was also demolished decades ago.
Gail Bradley, 51, who runs a pub at the end of the street, said: "He was here with a couple of friends. He was obviously having a trip down memory lane and showing his friends his roots."
DUNCAN BANNATYNE
IT doesn't quite look like a millionaire's mansion but this is the cosy Clydebank council house where fitness tycoon Duncan Bannatyne was raised.
And he ran his first money- making venture - a paper round - in the nearby streets, at the age of 11.
In his autobiography Anyone Can Do It, the star of BBC hit show Dragons' Den recalled how his family struggled to make ends meet as his dad, who worked in the local sewing machine factory, battled to bring up Duncan, his sister and his three brothers.
He left home at the age of 15 to join the Navy. But by the time the 60-year-old dad of six visited the old place again, things had changed - these days he's worth a staggering £320MILLION thanks to his successful care home and health club empires.
Billy Steele, 62, moved into the house in a council exchange with Duncan's parents. The Forestry Commission worker (left) said: "Duncan came to have a look 18 months ago and had a walk around the house.
"He was chatting and was saying how on one hand it had changed a lot but on the other, it hadn't really. He's done well for himself though."
PAOLO NUTINI
THESE Streets hold some happy memories for Paolo! The 22-year-old, whose parents own a fish and chip shop nearby, grew up in this first floor three-bedroom flat in Paisley.
Parents Alfredo and Linda then got a house on the town's outskirts when he was eight.
Mum-of-two Anne Shepherd now has the £150,000 property. The 50-year-old said: "It's amazing. I'm a Paolo fan."
JAMES McAVOY
WHEN the Last King Of Scotland star was a tot, he lived in this tenement in Glasgow' s Whiteinch.
He moved to the flats as a two-year-old with his waitress mum Elizabeth and bus driver dad James. They divorced when he was seven and his mum moved to the Drumchapel area.
Now 30, the Atonement actor is one of Hollywood's brightest stars.
And the flat's current occupant Ruth Sturton, 35, was thrilled to hear he'd been there. She confessed: "I've never heard this before."
EWAN McGREGOR
GOOD Crieff! This well-to- do semi-detached on the outskirts of the Perthshire town was once home to Hollywood heart-throb Ewan McGregor.
And the three-bedroom home has hardly changed since the Moulin Rouge star, now 38, moved out in the 1980s.
Old schoolpal James Cameron is working at the house while the owners are on holiday. He told us: "Ewan's dad James was my gym teacher.
"He came round one day and said he was amazed at how little of the outside has altered since their time."
The McGregors moved into the house in 1975 when Ewan was four. He left when he was 16.
Graphic designer James, 40, added: "Ewan lives just outside Crieff now.
"He can be seen quite often driving around on his motorbike and goes to the local pub for a fruit juice.
"He likes his privacy so people around here just leave him alone.
"The fuss has died down a lot since when he first became famous. He's a small town boy done good."
LULU
WONDER if the neighbours ever heard any Shout-ing from upstairs?
This is the top-floor two- bedroom flat in Glasgow's Dennistoun where Lulu - real name Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie - grew up with her parents, her sister and two brothers.
As a schoolgirl Lulu, now 60, sneaked out of the flat to go and see Alex Harvey - his version of Shout inspired her 1964 hit single,
Mum-of-one Julie Craig, 31, has it now. She said: "It was lovely to find out she lived here."
ANDY MURRAY
TENNIS ace Andy, 22, and his brother Jamie spent hours practising the game at home - this £375,000 villa in Dunblane, Perthshire.
But when new owners Roddy and Karen Gunn, both 38, moved in six years ago they found the three-bedroom property was littered with BALLS.
Pharmacist Karen said: "They were all over the roof, in the guttering and in the flowers."
But Roddy said: "Our 11-year-old daughter is chuffed she has Andy's old room."
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