1966 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1966 in Scotland.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Willie Ross

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Gordon Stott
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Henry Wilson

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Clyde
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Grant
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Birsay

Events

• 1 February – Heriot-Watt College in Edinburgh is designated Heriot-Watt University.
• 9 February – construction of a prototype fast breeder nuclear reactor at Dounreay on the north coast of Scotland is announced.^[1]
• 28 March – Ballachulish branch railway officially closed; Connel Bridge becomes a road-only crossing.
• 11 April (Easter Monday) – Scottish clearing banks observe today as a bank holiday for the first time, aligning them with those in England.
• May
  • Pioneering west coast roll-on/roll-off ferry Isle of Gigha enters service.
  • Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland (chaired by Lord Wheatley) appointed.
• 27 June
  • Glasgow Airport officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
  • Glasgow St Enoch railway station officially closed.^[2]
• 18 July – Old Man of Hoy first climbed, by Chris Bonington, Rusty Baillie and Tom Patey.^{[3] [4]}
• 18 August – the Tay Road Bridge opens linking Dundee with Fife.
• 29 August – Scottish clearing banks observe this last Monday in August (rather than the first) as a bank holiday for the first time.
• 28 October – first Red Road Flats in Glasgow officially opened.
• 9 November – Irvine is designated as a New Town.
• 11 November – MV Isle of Gigha capsizes on a Gigha–Port Ellen crossing.
• Scottish Grand National first run at Ayr Racecourse.

Births

• March – Jamie Oag, entrepreneur
• 18 March – Joanna Cherry, Scottish National Party politician and lawyer
• 28 May – Roddy Lumsden, poet (died 2020)
• 7 August – David Cairns, Scottish Labour politician, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and MP for Inverclyde (died 2011)
• 20 September – Douglas Gordon, visual artist
• 12 October – Rhona Martin, curler
• 26 October – Steve Valentine, actor
• 8 November – Gordon Ramsay, celebrity chef
• 23 November – Kevin Gallacher, international footballer
• Laura Hird, fiction writer

Deaths

• 1 January – Alexander Carrick, sculptor (born 1882)
• 7 January – Allan Chapman, lawyer and politician (born 1897)
• 16 July – Agnes Dollan, suffragette, political activist and leader of the Glasgow Rent Strikes (born 1887)
• 6 November – Hugh Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of Allander, retailer (born 1903)
• 24 December – Sir Donald MacGillivray, last colonial governor of Malaya (born 1906)

The arts

• 7 January – school-based television drama series This Man Craig is first screened by BBC Scotland with John Cairney in the title rôle.
• The Bay City Rollers and The Incredible String Band form in Edinburgh.

See also

• 1966 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. News: New nuclear reactor for Dounreay. 2008-02-03. 9 February 1966. BBC News. https://web.archive.org/web/20080216120425/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/9/newsid_2730000/2730083.stm. 16 February 2008. live.
2. Book: Butt, R. V. J.. 1995. The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present. Sparkford. Patrick Stephens Ltd. 1-8526-0508-1.
3. Web site: Adrian. Crofton. Mountaineering Council of Scotland. 1966 climb: The Old Man of Hoy. A Climb Through History. 2014-04-09. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090810022955/http://www.mountaineering-scotland.org.uk/climbthru/1966hoy.html. 10 August 2009.
4. Book: Thompson, Simon. Simon_Thompson_(businessman)

   . Unjustifiable Risk? The Story of British Climbing. 2011. Cicerone Press. Milnthorpe. 9781849653138. Simon_Thompson_(businessman). 231. 893659566.