#BrigInColour
As part of the university’s #BeConnected programme the University Archives is going live! Every Thursday at 1pm we’ll delve into the Brig Digital Archive and post a historic cover from the university’s student newspaper on this page. Each week we’ll focus on a different year in the university’s history, posting articles from Brig, photos from the archives and stories from the University Archives and Art Collection. We’ll also be curating a Spotify playlist of tunes from the featured year to soundtrack the hour.
Join in every Thursday lunchtime, share your memories of life on campus and post your coloured-in Brig covers! Join us for live updates during the #BrigInColour hour at https://twitter.com/unistirarchives or https://www.facebook.com/unistirarchives/
Thursday 4 June
Our featured #BrigInColour hour this week is 1981. This week’s colour-in cover is taken from the October 1981 issue of Brig, the University of Stirling’s student newspaper, and is available to download below:
Your 1981 Playlist: A year of classic number ones, including the song chosen by The Guardian as No. 2 in its list of the greatest 100 number ones of all time.
In 1981 the university was hit by decision of the University Grants Committee to slash its funding – staff and students were united in opposition – read full report here:
Thursday 27 May
Our featured #BrigInColour hour this week is 1976. This week’s cover is taken from the September 1976 issue of Brig, the University of Stirling’s student newspaper, and is available to download below:
Your 1976 playlist: a good year for the pop charts with some classic number ones. Meanwhile punk was stirring with the Ramones crossing the Atlantic and a new electronic sound was emerging from Germany… Listen at:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6pLx2IqjkKcB3rB9CAXrbO
Missed this #BrigInColour event? You can catch up with it on our Wakelet pages.
In Spring 1976 Brig reported on Portugal, a country emerging from decades of authoritarian rule. Read their eye-witness report here:
The issue of Scottish devolution was a major topic of discussion in 1976. Read Brig’s take on events here:
Music: while the big names of previous years were absent the university’s Pathfoot building was still in regular use as a live music venue. Read Brig’s review of local punks and visiting steel bands here:
Thursday 21 May
Our featured #BrigInColour hour this week is 1989. This week’s cover is taken from the December 1989 issue of Brig, the University of Stirling’s student newspaper, and is available to download in two versions below:
Missed this #BrigInColour event? You can catch up with it on our Wakelet pages.
Your 1989 playlist: While the charts were dominated by novelty singles and the Stock, Aitken & Waterman hit machine exciting new sounds were emerging from the acid house scene. Listen at:
Politics: in 1989 Brig reported on the contrasting visits of Tony Benn (Labour) & Michael Forsyth (Conservative) to the university. Read the full reports here:
Politics: in 1989 the environment was becoming a major political issue & was covered in depth in the December issue of Brig. Read the full report here:
The October 1989 issue of @brignewspaper included a review of the first 20 years of the paper. Read the full article here:
Music: In praise of Stock, Aitken & Waterman, read the full article from March 1989 issue of Brig here:
Thursday 14 May
Our featured #BrigInColour year this week is 1974. This week’s cover is taken from the February 1974 issue of Brig, the University of Stirling’s student newspaper, and is available to download below:
Your 1974 playlist: In 1974 Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest and Steely Dan released NME’s album of the year. Was it a classic year for music? Have a listen at:
In 1974 the University of Stirling produced a new promotional film featuring footage of life on campus. The full film can be viewed here:
In the early 1970s the university’s football team played a series of friendlies against teams including Celtic, Dundee, Hibs and Hearts. In October 1974 they welcomed Partick Thistle to the campus. Read the full match report here:
Thursday 7 May
Our featured #BrigInColour year this week is 1985. This week’s cover is taken from the November 1985 issue of Brig, the University of Stirling’s student newspaper, and is available to download below.
Missed this #BrigInColour event? You can catch up with it on our Wakelet pages.
Your 1985 #BrigInColour playlist: In 1985 ‘You’re the one that I want’ by Olivia Newton John & John Travolta was still the most popular song at the university’s student discos; bands like U2, Simple Minds and Depeche Mode were becoming stadium giants; Madonna arrived in the charts; and Wham! became the first western band to play China, a curious tale recorded in our Lindsay Anderson Archive…
The biggest event of the summer of 1985 was Live Aid – our @WeAreTheMU Archive provides lots on info on the event while @brignewspaper reported on the causes of the crisis in Ethiopia in Oct 1985:
Student politics in 1985 was dominated by the anti-apartheid movement and nuclear disarmament – read Brig’s reports on marches in Stirling and London here:
In March 1986 a team from @StirUni travelled to Manchester to appear on University Challenge – read the full report at:
The May 1986 issue of Brig featured the detailed results of the biggest survey of @StirUni students carried out to date. Read the full report at:
American Football arrived @StirUni in 1985 – read more at:
Thursday 30 April
Our featured #BrigInColour year this week is 1971. This week’s #BrigInColour cover is taken from the April 1971 issue of Brig, the University of Stirling’s student newspaper, and is available to download below.
Missed this #BrigInColour event? You can catch up with it on our Wakelet pages.
Your 1971 Playlist: 1971 was a memorable year for music at Stirling with a number of notable artists playing in Pathfoot including Yes, Elton John, Free, the Bonzo Dog Band and Pink Floyd. In March 1971 two buses of Stirling students also travelled to Glasgow to see the Rolling Stones play Green’s Playhouse.
In 1971 Brig reported on a turbulent year in politics both within universities and further afield. The extracts below report on the controversial Conservative MP Enoch Powell’s visit to Stirling, Irish Republican marches in London and Glasgow and the plans of the then Minister for Education, Margaret Thatcher, for reforming student unions.
In March 1971 two busloads of Stirling students travelled to Glasgow to see the Rolling Stones play. Read Brig’s review:
A full programme of events was on offer for students arriving for Freshers Week in September 1971. Read Brig’s report:
Thursday 23 April
Our featured #BrigInColour year this week is 1977. This week’s #BrigInColour cover is taken from the May 1977 issue of Brig, the University of Stirling’s student newspaper and is available to download below:
Missed this #BrigInColour event? You can catch up with it on our Wakelet pages.
Your 1977 Playlist: Disco and Punk hit the charts, The Damned and the Tom Robinson Band played Pathfoot, Brig declared new releases by the Sex Pistols and Talking Heads as albums of the decade, and Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, died aged 42.
In April 1977 Brig’s reporters ventured off campus to see that the residents of Bridge of Allan thought of the new university on their doorstep:
The May 1977 issue of Brig provided a full report of the day that punk came to the university in the guise of a concert by the band The Damned:
An interview with Tom Robinson (Tom Robinson Band) and review of their concert in Pathfoot featured in the December 1977 issue of Brig:
Literature: In 1977 Brig featured interviews with Scottish poets Edwin Morgan and Robert Garioch, Nobel-winner Saul Bellow and the unique talent that was Ivor Cutler – read the full articles below:
Thursday 16 April
Our first #BrigInColour hour looked back fifty years to focus on the year 1970. Our colour-in cover comes from the May 1970 issue of Brig and is available to download below.
Missed this #BrigInColour event? You can catch up with it on our Wakelet pages.
The Brig 1970 playlist is compiled from a selection of bands and artists featured in the paper along with some of the biggest hits of the year. 1970 also saw The Beatles announce the break-up of the band.
The May 1970 issue of Brig reported the views of a visiting student from the University of Dundee on the new university. Read the full article:
The September 1970 issue of Brig reported on the building work which was expanding the campus beyond the original Pathfoot building. Read the front page story:
Fashion featured heavily in 1970 issues of Brig as these pages show:
We hope you’ve enjoyed the #BrigInColour hour. Here’s an additional colouring sheet – a cartoon from the March 1970 issue of Brig:
