1971 in Scotland

Centuries:	18th; 19th; 20th; 21st; ;
Decades:	1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s;
See also:	List of years in Scotland; Timeline of Scottish history; 1971 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere; Scottish football: 1970–71 • 1971–72; 1971 in Scottish television

Events from the year 1971 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Gordon Campbell

Law officers

Lord Advocate – Norman Wylie
Solicitor General for Scotland – David Brand

Judiciary

Events

2 January – 1971 Ibrox disaster: a stairway crush at the Rangers vs. Celtic football match at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow kills 66 and leaves many more injured.^[1]
10 March – 1971 Scottish soldiers' killings: three young off-duty Royal Highland Fusiliers are lured from a bar in Belfast and shot by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
23 May – "The Unknown Bairn": The drowned body of a young boy is found washed up onshore at Tayport; he is never identified.^[2]
25 May – production begins at the Invergordon aluminium works.
15 June – Upper Clyde Shipbuilders enters liquidation.^[3]
2 July
- Royal Scots Dragoon Guards formed as the senior Scottish regiment of the British Army at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by amalgamation of the Royal Scots Greys and 3rd Carabiniers.
- Erskine Bridge opened over the River Clyde.
30 July – Upper Clyde Shipbuilders workers begin to take control of the shipyards in a work-in under the leadership of Jimmy Reid.^[4]
c. August – Kyle of Tongue Bridge and causeway opened, replacing a ferry.
16 September – Stirling and Falkirk by-election: Labour retains the seat but the Scottish National Party takes second place with a surge of 20% in their support.
21 October – Clarkston explosion: a gas explosion in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire kills at least twenty people.
22 November – Cairngorm Plateau disaster: Five children and one adult on an expedition die of exposure in the Highlands.^[5]
2 December – last resident families leave the island of Scarp.^[6]
Expansion of Erskine as a planned community begins.
Spey Bridge at Aviemore opened.
Tom Farmer opens the first Kwik Fit car servicing centre, in Edinburgh.

Births

21 January – Alan McManus, snooker player
23 March
- Kate Dickie, actress
- Gail Porter, television presenter and model
27 March – David Coulthard, racing driver
31 March – Ewan McGregor, actor
1 April – Karen Dunbar, comedian
5 April – Charles Cumming, espionage novelist
18 April – David Tennant, actor
31 July – Craig MacLean, track cyclist
19 August – Paul McGrillen, footballer (suicide 2009)
30 August – Julian Smith, Conservative politician
6 October – Brian Conaghan, young adult fiction writer
7 October – Aasmah Mir, journalist and presenter
8 October – Michelle Mone, entrepreneur
13 November – Alberto Costa, Conservative politician

Deaths

16 June – John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, broadcasting executive (born 1889)
25 June – John Boyd Orr, physician and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1880)
28 August – Edith Hughes, architect (born 1888)
12 December
- Torrance Gillick, Rangers F.C. winger (born 1915)
- Alan Morton, Rangers outside left (born 1893)
22 December – D. Alan Stevenson, lighthouse engineer and philatelist (born 1891)

The arts

26 March – BBC Scotland television begins a serialisation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song, starring Vivien Heilbron.
18 November – Stewart Conn's play The Burning, concerning King James VI of Scotland, premieres.
Douglas Hurd and Andrew Osmond's political thriller Scotch on the Rocks, concerning a terrorist group fighting for Scottish independence in the near future, is published by Collins.
English composer Peter Maxwell Davies settles in Orkney, initially on Hoy.

References

^ "1971: Sixty-six die in Scottish football disaster". BBC News. 2 January 1971. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
^ "Tayport remembers 'The Unknown Bairn' 40 years after his body was found on beach". The Courier. Dundee. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
^ "Provisional liquidator is appointed for Upper Clyde Shipbuilders". The Times. No. 58200. London. 16 June 1971. p. 18.
^ Murray, Ian (31 July 1971). "Workers seize control of shipyard on the Clyde". The Times. No. 58238. London. p. 1.
^ "1971: Six dead in Scottish mountain tragedy". BBC News. 22 November 1971. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
^ "The Lost Islands". Stornoway: Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. 29 August 2013. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.

[1] "1971: Sixty-six die in Scottish football disaster". BBC News. 2 January 1971. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.

[2] "Tayport remembers 'The Unknown Bairn' 40 years after his body was found on beach". The Courier. Dundee. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2015.

[3] "Provisional liquidator is appointed for Upper Clyde Shipbuilders". The Times. No. 58200. London. 16 June 1971. p. 18.

[4] Murray, Ian (31 July 1971). "Workers seize control of shipyard on the Clyde". The Times. No. 58238. London. p. 1.

[5] "1971: Six dead in Scottish mountain tragedy". BBC News. 22 November 1971. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.

[6] "The Lost Islands". Stornoway: Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. 29 August 2013. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.

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17th century	1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 1610 1611 1612 1613 1614 1615 1616 1617 1618 1619 1620 1621 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 1630 1631 1632 1633 1634 1635 1636 1637 1638 1639 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649 1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700
18th century	1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
19th century	1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
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21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Incumbents

Law officers

Judiciary

Events

Births

Deaths

The arts

See also

References