1980 in Scotland

Anderson, Glasgow in 1980

← 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1980 in Scotland → 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1980 in: The UK • England • Wales • Elsewhere Scottish football: 1979–80 • 1980–81 1980 in Scottish television

Events from the year 1980 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Further information: Politics of Scotland and Order of precedence in Scotland

• 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

• 16 April – Glasgow Subway reopened to passengers after a 3-year modernisation project.
• 1 May – Scottish District local elections result in big gains for the Labour Party.
• 7 May – Aberdeen F.C. secures the Scottish Football League Premier Division championship.
• 26 June – The Glasgow Central by-election is held, with Labour retaining the seat despite a 14% swing to the Scottish National Party.
• 1 August – The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 receives Royal Assent.
• 28 August – First clinically useful image of a patient's internal tissues using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is obtained using a full-body scanner built by a team led by John Mallard at the University of Aberdeen.^[1]
• 4–5 September – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to visit Shetland.
• 13 September – Hercules, a bear which had gone missing on the island of Benbecula while filming a Kleenex advertisement, is found.^[2]
• 6 October – West Highland Way opened as the first of the official Long Distance Routes for walkers in Scotland.
• 9 October – Gloagtrotter of Perth, trading as GT Coaches, begins operation of an express coach service from Dundee to London as The Stage Coach, origin of the Stagecoach Group.
• October – Albion Motors' Scotstoun works closes and manufacture of complete vehicles (on Viking VK bus chassis) is moved to Leyland in England.
• 13 November – Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 which would decriminalise private homosexual acts between two consenting persons aged over 21 in Scotland passes at Westminster. It would take effect on 1 February 1981.^[3]

Births

• 5 January – Greg McHugh, television actor and writer
• 5 February – Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats (UK)
• 2 April – Adam Fleming, television journalist
• 30 April – Sam Heughan, actor
• 12 May – Andrew Abercromby, biomedical engineer
• 6 July – Kenny Deuchar, footballer
• 27 August – Caroline Brown, lawn bowler^[4]
• 15 September – Chris Clark, footballer
• 19 August – Darius Campbell Danesh, singer-songwriter and actor (died 2022 in the United States)^[5][6]
• 12 October – Lesley Paterson, triathlete, screenwriter and producer
• 26 October – Khalid Abdalla, actor
• 20 November – Malachy Tallack, journalist and folk rock musician
• 13 December – Gary Innes, piano-accordionist, shinty player and BBC broadcaster
• Kerry Hudson, writer

Deaths

• 19 February – Bon Scott, Australian rock singer (born 1946)
• 29 February – Margaret Morris, choreographer (born 1891 in London)
• May – Isla Cameron, actress and singer (born 1930)
• 23 June – John Laurie, actor (born 1897)
• 6 December – Margot Bennett, crime novelist (born 1912)
• 13 December – R. D. Low, comics writer and editor (born 1895)
• Hector MacAndrew, fiddler (born 1903)

The arts

• 19 February – Scottish Television begins to air the soap opera Take the High Road.
• Spring – Bearsden post-punk band Orange Juice release Falling and Laughing, the first release on the Postcard Records label.^[7]
• June – Peter Maxwell Davies's The Yellow Cake Revue (including the piano interlude "Farewell to Stromness") is premiered at the Stromness Hotel as part of the St Magnus Festival.
• Alexander Moffat paints Poets' Pub.
• Buxton Orr composes A Caledonian Suite.

See also

• 1980 in Northern Ireland

References

1. "John Mallard". Profiles. 27 February 2021.
2. "1980: Missing Scottish bear is found". BBC News. 13 September 1980. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
3. "THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE (SCOTLAND)ACT 1980". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 17 December 1980. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
4. "Caroline Brown". Team Scotland. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
5. "Darius Campbell Danesh: Pop Idol and West End star dies aged 41". BBC News. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
6. "Darius". The Vogue. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
7. Reynolds, Simon (2005). Rip It Up And Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. London: Faber and Faber. p. 353. ISBN 0-571-21570-X.