1996 in Scotland

Events from the year 1996 in Scotland.

← 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1996 in Scotland → 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1996 in: The UK • England • Wales • Elsewhere Scottish football: 1995–96 • 1996–97 1996 in Scottish television

Incumbents

Further information: Politics of Scotland and Order of precedence in Scotland

• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Michael Forsyth

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Lord Mackay of Drumadoon
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Paul Cullen

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Hope until 1 October; then Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Ross
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Philip, then Lord McGhie

Events

• 13 March – Dunblane school massacre – a gunman kills sixteen children, their teacher and himself at a primary school in Dunblane, Stirling. The killer, who wounded thirteen other children and another teacher, is quickly identified as 43-year-old former scout leader Thomas Watt Hamilton.
• 1 April – The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 takes effect with 32 unitary councils replacing the 9 Regional Councils, 53 District Councils and 3 unitary authorities that had been established under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
• 18 May – Rangers F.C., who have already won the Scottish Football League title, complete the Scottish double by beating Hearts 5–1 in the Scottish Cup final.
• 5 July – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at The Roslin Institute in Midlothian.
• October – The Shetland Times and The Shetland News become involved in a landmark legal case over alleged copyright infringement and deep linking in their websites.
• 9 November – Irvine, North Ayrshire, is designated a New Town, the last of the five created in Scotland.
• 30 November (St. Andrew's Day) – The Stone of Scone is installed in Edinburgh Castle 700 years after it was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England.
• Edinburgh Old Town and New Town become the first World Heritage Site in mainland Scotland.
• First of the Maggie's Centres for drop-in cancer care in the UK opens in Edinburgh.

Births

• 13 January – Craig Storie, footballer
• 8 February – Jaison McGrath, footballer
• 1 March – Lizzie Arnot, footballer
• 15 March – Seonaid McIntosh, sport shooter
• 19 March – Kaiya Jones, actress
• 9 May – Grace Reid, diver
• 3 August – Robert MacIntyre, golfer
• 10 August – Lauren Tait, netball player
• 7 October – Lewis Capaldi, singer-songwriter

Deaths

• 23 January – Norman MacCaig, poet (born 1910)
• 6 March – Stanley Booth-Clibborn, retired bishop of Manchester (born 1924 in London)
• 19 March – W. H. Murray, mountaineer and writer (born 1913)
• 13 April – George Mackay Brown, poet (born 1921)
• 14 April – David Brand, Lord Brand, advocate, sheriff and Senator of the College of Justice (born 1923)
• 16 August – Eric Cullen, actor famous for playing "Wee Burnie" in Rab C. Nesbitt (born 1965)
• 25 August – Caroline Glachan, murder victim (born 1982)
• 24 November – Sorley MacLean, poet (born 1911)

The arts

• January – Indie pop band Belle and Sebastian is formed in Glasgow; on 6 June their debut album Tigermilk is released.
• James MacMillan's first opera Inés de Castro is premièred by Scottish Opera in Glasgow.
• Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow opens.

See also

• 1996 in Northern Ireland