1968 in Scotland

← 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1968 in Scotland → 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1968 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere Scottish football: 1967–68 • 1968–69 1968 in Scottish television

Events from the year 1968 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 – Willie Ross

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Henry Wilson
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Ewan Stewart

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

• 15 January – 1968 Scotland storm ("Great Glasgow storm") leaves 20 dead across central Scotland including 9 in Glasgow. ^[1]
• February – Upper Clyde Shipbuilders formed with 48.4% government holding by amalgamation of Fairfields, Govan; Alexander Stephen & Sons, Linthouse; John Brown & Company, Clydebank; Charles Connell and Company, Scotstoun; and Yarrow Shipbuilders.
• 1 April – Reporting Scotland , BBC Scotland's national television news programme, is broadcast for the first time.
• 14 May – Murder of Maxwell Garvie: Mariticide in Kincardineshire. ^[2]
• 18 May – Declaration of Perth: Conservative Party leader, Edward Heath proposes a directly elected Scottish Assembly. ^[3]
• 22 May – The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland permits the ordination of women as ministers. ^[4]
• 4 June – General Post Office introduces the first postbus in Scotland, Dunbar–Innerwick–Spott, East Lothian.
• 18 November – James Watt Street fire: A warehouse fire in Glasgow kills 22. ^[5]
• Bluevale and Whitevale Towers, 298 ft (90.8 m) blocks of flats, completed in Glasgow.

Births

• 31 January – John Collins, international footballer
• 4 March – Christina McKelvie, Scottish Government minister (died 2025)
• 16 March – David MacMillan, Scottish-born organic chemist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• 26 April – Daniela Nardini, actress
• 4 July – Ronni Ancona, comic actress
• 5 August – Colin McRae, rally driver (killed in helicopter accident 2007) ^[6]
• 2 September – David Dinsmore, journalist ^[7]
• 6 September – Christopher Brookmyre, detective novelist
• 25 October – Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director of the Scottish Government
• 22 November – Sarah Smith, television and radio news reporter
• 23 November – Kirsty Young, television and radio presenter
• 28 December – Pauline Robertson, field hockey player
• Andrew O'Hagan, writer
• Frank Quitely (Vincent Deighan), comic book artist

Deaths

• 17 February – Alexander Gray, economist, poet and translator (born 1882)
• 7 April – Jim Clark, racing car driver (born 1936; killed in motor racing accident)
• 12 September – Tommy Armour, golfer (born 1894)
• 13 November – Joe Corrie, miner, poet and playwright (born 1894)

See also

• 1968 in Northern Ireland

References

1. "Monday 15 January 1968" (PDF). Met Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
2. "The sins of my mother". The Scotsman . 1 February 2002. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
3. "Four decades on, Declaration of Perth is still fuelling debate". The Scotsman. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
4. "Ordination of women is approved". The Times . No. 57258. London. 23 May 1968. p. 3.
5. "James Watt Street Fire". SunnyGovan. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
6. "Colin McRae" . The Independent. 17 September 2007. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
7. "Birthdays today: Salma Hayek". The Times . 2 September 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2014. David Dinsmore, editor, The Sun, 45