1981 in Scotland

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
 * 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)
 * 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.