Events making the headlines in 1986 included the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Space Shuttle Challenger breaking apart 73 seconds after liftoff, Halley’s Comet appearing in the night sky, and the start of the mad cow disease outbreak in the UK.
On television viewers were tuning into the first episodes of ‘Lovejoy’, ‘Every Second Counts’ and ‘The Singing Detective’, while at the cinema ‘Crocodile’, ‘Top Gun’, ‘Rocky IV’ and ‘Aliens’ saw film fans queue around the block.
In the music charts The Communards had the best-selling single of the year with ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’, followed by ‘Every Loser Wins’ by Nick Berry, Boris Gardiner’s ‘I Want To Wake Up With You’, ‘Living Doll’ by The Young Ones and Ciff Richard, and Diana Ross’s ‘Chain Reaction’.
And there was plenty going on in Edinburgh, including that year’s Commonwealth Games and plenty of celebrity visits.
Here are 27 pictures to take you back to Scotland’s Capital in 1986.
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13. The write stuff
South American author Mario Vargas Llosa in Edinburgh in August 1986. Photo: Denis Straughan
14. Royal Jools
Jazz musician Jools Holland at the piano in concert at the Assembly Rooms during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1986. Photo: Jack Crombie
15. Presentation
British stage and TV actress Joanna Lumley presents a Muscular Dystrophy fundraising trophy to manager Alan Noble at the Beehive Restaurant in Edinburgh in November 1986. Photo: Albert Jordan
16. Jumping for joy
British athlete David Hemery leaps the 50,000 mile hurdle with the Friendship Scroll, which had journeyed through 25 countries ahead of the Commonwealth Games 1986. Holding the banner (left) is former Lord Provost Kenneth Borthwick, Chairman of the Commonwealth Games executive. Photo: Hamish Campbell