1981 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• 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 activity between men over twenty-one years of age through the Criminal Justice 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 Ltd cease trawler operations.
• Undated
• * Last manufacture of coal gas in the UK, at Millport, Isle of Cumbrae.
• * Invergordon aluminium smelter closes.

  Births

• 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
• Catriona Shearer, television news presenter

  Deaths

• 6 January – A. J. Cronin, novelist
• 23 February – Nan Shepherd, novelist and poet
• June – Wendy Wood, nationalist campaigner
• 22 August – Mairi Chisholm, nurse and ambulance driver in World War I, one of "The Madonnas of Pervyse"
• 8 September – Bill Shankly, football manager
• 19 October – Johnny Doyle, footballer

  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 is published in Edinburgh.
• Perrier Comedy Awards first presented to the best shows on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
• The Bluebells formed.
• First Fèis Bharraigh.