Events from the year 2007 in Scotland.

Incumbents

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

and Keeper of the Great Seal –

Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as first minister of Scotland and leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister f ...

until 16 May;

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024) was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Sc ...

(from 17 May) *

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

–

Douglas Alexander Douglas Garven Alexander (born 26 October 1967) is a British politician who has served as Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security since 2024, having previously held the role from 2004 to 2005. He has also served as Minister o ...

until 28 June;

Des Browne Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton, (born 22 March 1952) is a Scottish politician who served in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Defence 2006 to 2008 and Secretary of ...

Law officers

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

–

Elish Angiolini Lady Elish Frances Angiolini (; born 24 June 1960"Angiolini, Elish Frances" in ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', A & C Black.) is a Scottish lawyer currently serving as Lord Clerk Register, the first woman to hold the role since its creation in th ...

Solicitor General for Scotland His Majesty's Solicitor General for Scotland () is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Lord Advocate, whose duty is to advise the Scottish Government on Scots Law. They are also responsible for the Crown Office and P ...

– John Beckett until 24 May; Frank Mulholland *

Advocate General for Scotland His Majesty's Advocate General for Scotland is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, whose duty it is to advise the The Crown, Crown and His Majesty's Government on Scots law. The Office of the Advocate General for Scotland is a Departments o ...

– Lord Davidson of Glen Clova

Judiciary

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General () is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. ...

and

Lord Justice General Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

– Lord Hamilton *

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. The current Lord Justice Clerk is Lord Beckett, who was appointed to the position on 4 February 2025, succeeding Lady Dorr ...

–

Lord Gill Brian Gill, Lord Gill, Order of St. Gregory the Great, KSG Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, FRSAMD Royal School of Church Music, FRSCM (born 25 February 1942) is a retired Scotland, Scottish ju ...

Chairman of the Scottish Land Court The Scottish Land Court () is a Scottish court of law based in Edinburgh with subject-matter jurisdiction covering disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies, and matters related to crofts and crofters. The S ...

– Lord McGhie

Events

* 17 January – Queen Margaret University College at

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

is granted full University status as

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a public university located wholly within the county of East Lothian on the outskirts of Musselburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret (1045–1093). The university can trace its ...

, becoming Edinburgh's fourth university. * February – Scottish Voice (provisionally named Scottish Democrats) is launched as a

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

by Archie Stirling. * 23 February – Grayrigg derailment: a high speed ''Pendolino'' train on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

from London to Glasgow derails on faulty pointwork in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

of England, killing one person. *

28 February Events Pre-1600 *202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty. * 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. *1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed ...

– the Cathedral Church of Saint Margaret in Ayr replaces the Good Shepherd Cathedral as the

Mother Church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...

for the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway The Diocese of Galloway () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Scotland. The pre-Reformation Diocese of Galloway, founded by Ninian in the fifth century, had broken allegiance with Rome in 1560, and ...

and seat of the Catholic

Bishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7 ...

(formal dedication 14 September). * 7– 9 March –

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

signalworkers strike, causing rail services in Scotland to be severely curtailed. *

3 May Events Pre-1600 * 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. * 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. ...

** Scottish Parliament election. The SNP win a

plurality Plurality may refer to: Law and politics * Plurality decision, in a decision by a multi-member court, an opinion held by more judges than any other but not by an overall majority * Plurality (voting), when a candidate or proposition polls more ...

of seats and go on to form the

Scottish Executive The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

. ** Scottish local council elections. *

16 May Events Pre-1600 * 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. * 1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. *13 ...

– the UEFA Cup Final is held at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

defeat

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

on penalty kicks. **

is elected

First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland () is the head of government of Scotland. The first minister leads the Scottish Government, the Executive (government), executive branch of the devolved government and is th ...

, becoming the first

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

to hold the role. *

17 May Events Pre-1600 *1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. *1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. *1527 – Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Fl ...

–

is officially sworn-in as

at the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in front of 15 of Scotland's most senior judges. * 27 June –

Giffnock Giffnock (; ; , ) is a town and the administrative centre of East Renfrewshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies east of Barrhead, east-southeast of Paisley and northwest of East Kilbride, at the southwest of the Greater G ...

-born

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

succeeds Edinburgh-born

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

. * 30 June – attempted terrorist attack on

Glasgow Airport Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport () and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019 it handled 8.84 million passe ...

. * 1 August – the University of Paisley and Bell College merge to create the

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland (), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Blantyre, Dumfries and Ayr, as well as a campus in London, England. T ...

. *

20 August Events Pre-1600 *AD 14 – Agrippa Postumus, maternal grandson of the late Roman emperor Augustus, is mysteriously executed by his guards while in exile. * 636 – Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take contro ...

– Loch Lomond Seaplanes begin a scheduled service from

Glasgow Seaplane Terminal Glasgow Seaplane Terminal is a seaplane airport terminal in Glasgow, Scotland. It opened in August 2007. The terminal is located in the 'Princes Dock' adjacent Glasgow Science Centre in the Pacific Quay area of the city. The city also has two ...

Oban Oban ( ; meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William, Highland, Fort William. During the tourist seaso ...

. *

15 September Events Pre-1600 * 994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes. *1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by ...

– rally driver

Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007), was a British rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title. At 27, ...

and three other people are killed when their helicopter crashes near

Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...

. * 1 October –

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' Fags, Mags and Bags'', written by and starring Sanjeev Kohli and Donald McLeary, is first broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. * 15 November – Scotland's First Minister

wins ''The Herald'''s Scottish Politician of the Year award and is also named Parliamentarian of the Year in ''The Spectator'' magazine awards. *

30 November Events Pre-1600 * 978 – Franco-German war of 978–980: Holy Roman Emperor Otto II lifts the siege of Paris and withdraws. 1601–1900 *1707 – Queen Anne's War: The second Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of t ...

– St. Andrew's Day is for the first time a designated bank holiday in Scotland, under the

St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007 The St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament that officially designates St. Andrew's Day (30 November) to be a bank holiday in Scotland. Background The Bill that led to the Act being passed was first ...

(

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

: 15 January). * 29 December – Phil O'Donnell, the 35-year-old

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

footballer, dies from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in a

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

fixture. O'Donnell was capped for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

once in 1993, and had been part of the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

side that won the Scottish league title in 1997–98 season. * Poet Alastair Reid reads his poem "Scotland" publicly for the last time at a literary festival in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

, then burns the manuscript. *

Neil Forsyth Neil Forsyth (born 1978) is a Scottish author, television writer and journalist. He has written and created a number of British television shows including '' The Gold'', '' Guilt'', and '' Bob Servant Independent'', and has won numerous televisio ...

introduces his fictional comic Broughty Ferry cheeseburger tycoon Bob Servant in his book ''Delete This At your Peril''. *

BrewDog BrewDog is a Multinational corporation, multinational brewery, Distillation, distillery and pub chain based in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. With production of over 100 million litres, BrewDog is the seventh-largest beer brand in Britain, ...

is founded as a brewery in

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of th ...

by James Watt and Martin Dickie.

Deaths

7 January Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army, prompting the tribunes who support him to flee to where Caesar is waiting in Ravenna. * 1325 – Afonso IV ...

–

Magnus Magnusson Magnus Magnusson (born Magnús Sigursteinsson; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was an Icelandic-born British-based journalist, translator, writer and television presenter. Born in Reykjavík, he lived in Scotland for almost all his life, al ...

, television presenter and writer (born 1929 in Iceland) * c.

10 January Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. * 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beg ...

– Harry Horse, cartoonist and vocalist in Swamptrash (born 1960 in England) *

9 February Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire * 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. * 1098 – A First Crusade army led by ...

–

Ian Richardson Ian William Richardson (7 April 19349 February 2007) was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Conservative politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's '' House of Cards'' (1990–1995) television trilogy, as well as the pivot ...

, actor (born

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

) * 26 August – Hamish Barber, medical academic (born

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

) * 11 September –

Ian Porterfield John Ian Porterfield (11 February 1946 – 11 September 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coa ...

, footballer (born

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

) *

–

, rally driver (born

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

) * 16 October –

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a Scottish actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first person from Scotland to be no ...

, actress (born

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

) * 8 November – Duncan Williamson, storyteller and singer (born

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

) * 29 December – Phil O'Donnell, footballer (born

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

) * Steven Campbell, figurative painter (born

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

)Obituary to Steven Campbell, ''The Times'' (London) 21 August 2007.

References