1983: When Scotland last beat England at Twickenham
Not only have they failed to register a win in the tournament so far — Vern Cotter’s side has lost to France, Wales and Italy — but they have not won a match against England at Twickenham since 1983, where they won 22-12 in the Five Nations.
So, the last time the Scots beat the English on their own turf, M*A*S*H had just ended, the compact disc had gone on sale in Britain, and the use of seatbelts became a legal requirement. Meanwhile, in Scotland, in the same year...
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Hide Ad• Aberdeen beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the European Cup Winner’s Cup final after extra-time at the end of the 1982/83 season — they are, to date, the last Scottish team to have won a major European honour, claiming the European Super Cup in the same year, beating Hamburg 2-0 over two legs.
• Killer, a pilot for a Glasgow-set police show screened by ITV and produced by Scottish Television, was screened. Plot twist: when the pilot was deemed a success, it was later called Taggart. The show was finally axed in 2011, but not before more than 100 episodes were broadcast.
• Local Hero, one of Scottish cinema’s most well-loved films, was given its big screen debut. Director Bill Forsyth’s tale sees an American oil exec visit the fictional Scottish town of Ferness to buy it up on behalf of his firm — only to realise that he quite likes it there.
• Some legendary — though musically disparate — bands formed in Scotland in 1983. Del Amitri came together in Glasgow two years before their self-titled debut album via approval by John Peel; The Jesus and Mary Chain took the same amount of time to release the portentiously-titled Psychocandy in 1985, two years before they began playing (and fighting) on stage; The Proclaimers, an altogether gentler duo, were barely in their twenties when they first forged ahead with their sweet, folky anthems.
C’mon Scotland, get it together.
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