# 1981 in Scotland

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Events from the year 1981 in Scotland.

## Incumbents

* Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – George Younger

### Law officers

* Lord Advocate – Lord Mackay of Clashfern
* Solicitor General for Scotland – Nicholas Fairbairn

### Judiciary

* Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Emslie
* Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Wheatley
* Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Elliott

## Events

* 1 February – Decriminalisation of homosexual acts between men over 21 years of age through the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, Section 80, which enters into force on this day.
* 5 March – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer manufactured by Timex in Dundee, is launched by Sinclair Research, going on to sell over 1.5 million units worldwide.
* May
** Peugeot closes the Talbot car plant at Linwood, Renfrewshire, which was opened by the Rootes Group eighteen years earlier as Scotland's only car factory.
** Buchan Oil Field production begins in the North Sea.
* 23 May – Scotland beat England 1-0 at Wembley.
* 11 December – Closure of Bedlay Colliery, Glenboig.
* 21 December – George Wood (Aberdeen) Ltd cease trawler operations.
* Undated
** Last manufacture of coal gas in the UK, at Millport, Isle of Cumbrae.
** Invergordon aluminium smelter closes.
** Livingston Skatepark opens, the first in Scotland.

## Births

* 15 January – Sean Lamont, rugby player
* 16 February – Alison Rowatt, field hockey midfielder
* 19 February – Mark Boyle, snooker player
* 28 February – Mark Brown, footballer
* 25 March – Emily Smith, folk singer
* 5 May – Harry Weld-Forester, cricketer
* 11 June – Alistair McGregor, field hockey goalkeeper
* 14 June – Alastair Kellock, rugby union player
* 11 August – Sandi Thom, pop singer-songwriter
* 28 August – Kezia Dugdale, leader of the Scottish Labour Party
* 7 September – Natalie McGarry, MP convicted of embezzlement
* 16 September – David Mitchell, field hockey defender
* 20 November – Scott Hutchison, indie rock singer-songwriter and visual artist (suicide 2018)
* 9 December – Gemma Fay, international football goalkeeper
* Catriona Shearer, television news presenter

## Deaths

* 6 January – A. J. Cronin, novelist (born 1896)
* 23 February – Nan Shepherd, novelist and poet (born 1893)
* June – Wendy Wood, nationalist campaigner (born 1892 in England)
* 22 August – Mairi Chisholm, nurse and ambulance driver in World War I, one of "The Madonnas of Pervyse" (born 1896)
* 8 September – Bill Shankly, football manager (born 1913)
* 19 October – Johnny Doyle, footballer (born 1951)
* 1 December – James Monteith Grant, herald and Lord Lyon King of Arms (born 1903)

## The arts

* 30 March – release of historical drama film Chariots of Fire that tells the story of devout Christian Eric Liddell competing in the 1924 Olympics.
* 23 April – release of romantic comedy film Gregory's Girl.
* Alasdair Gray's first novel Lanark: A Life in Four Books is published in Edinburgh.
* Perrier Comedy Awards first presented to the best shows on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
* The Bluebells formed.
* First Fèis Bharraigh.