1995 in Scotland

Events from the year 1995 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Ian Lang until 5 July; then Michael Forsyth

Law officers

Lord Advocate – Lord Rodger of Earlsferry; then Donald Mackay
Solicitor General for Scotland – Thomas Dawson; then Donald Mackay; then Paul Cullen

Judiciary

Events

Early – The Deep-fried Mars bar originates at Haven Chip Bar in Stonehaven.
6 April – 1995 Scottish local elections are held for the 29 new mainland unitary authorities that will replace the Regional and District Councils next year.
7 April – Rob Roy, starring Liam Neeson as Robert Roy MacGregor, is released.
18 April – Caledonian MacBrayne Ullapool-Stornoway ferry is launched at Ferguson Shipbuilders' Port Glasgow yard.
24 May – Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson as William Wallace, is released; it goes on to win five Academy Awards at the 68th Academy Awards.
25 May – Perth and Kinross by-election: Roseanna Cunningham wins for the Scottish National Party with a swing of 11.6%.
16 June – FirstBus is formed by merger of Badgerline with GRT Group of Aberdeen.
17 June - Pride March The first Pride march in Scotland gathers on Barony Street in Edinburgh on 17 June.
19 July – The Children Act, which seeks to put into legislation the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, receives the Royal Assent.
17 August – Arran distillery opens.
11 October – Duncan Ferguson, the 23-year-old Everton F.C. striker, receives a three-month prison sentence for assaulting an opponent while playing for Rangers F.C eighteen months earlier. Ferguson is the first British footballer to be jailed for an on-field offence.
12 October – Boxer James Murray suffers serious head injuries in a fight at a Glasgow hotel, leading to a declaration of brain death on 15 October, sparking calls for boxing to be banned.
16 October – Skye bridge opened.
November – The first onshore wind farm in Scotland, Hagshaw Hill in South Lanarkshire, is commissioned.
8 November – Criminal Procedure Act 1995 passed.
24 November – Duncan Ferguson is released from prison after serving half of his three-month sentence.
30 November – Scottish Constitutional Convention publishes its blueprint for devolution, Scotland's Parliament, Scotland's Right.
30 December – Altnaharra matches the lowest temperature UK Weather Record at −27.2 °C.

The arts

Dunedin Consort formed.
Andrew O'Hagan's first novel, The Missing, is published.
Alan Warner's first novel, Morvern Callar is published; it is a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1996.

Births

21 January
*Chloe Arthur, footballer
*David McNeil, footballer
22 February – Ryan Christie, footballer
31 March – Fiona Brown, footballer
11 April – Thomas Muirhead, curler
21 April – Thomas Doherty, actor and singer
20 June – Caroline Weir, footballer
14 July – Megan Cunningham, footballer
6 October – Ross Muir, snooker player
1 December – Jenna Fife, footballer
11 December – Abbi Grant, footballer
19 December – Lewis Vaughan, footballer

Deaths

14 January – Alexander Gibson, conductor and opera intendant
February – Robert Stewart, textile designer
19 February – Nicholas Fairbairn, lawyer and Conservative politician
19 April – Neil Paterson, writer and footballer
9 October – Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Home of the Hirsel, Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
15 October – James Murray, boxer
24 October – Ronnie Selby Wright, Church of Scotland minister