The new decade was ushered in with a bang in January as the last remnants of Portobello Power Station were cleared by controlled explosion. New technologies were being introduced. The first payphones with numbers that you pressed were replacing the old dial system. Students at the new Wester Hailes Education Centre (WHEC) were introduced to the latest Apple computers and Edinburgh said goodbye to its last two-man operated double decker buses. The city’s Shandwick Place became the first place in Britain to install a ‘talking’ pedestrian crossing intended as an aid for blind people, while a new interactive videotex system, Prestel, was being promoted in the Capital by British Telecom. A kind of forerunner of today’s internet, it allowed users access to all manner of information services from the comfort of their own homes. It’ll never catch on… More to follow in Part 2 next week.
13. Hearts v Hibs 1980
Action from the Hearts v Hibs Edinburgh Derby football match at Tynecastle in August 1980. | JPIMedia Photo: Bill Newton
14. Bus smash Princes Street 1980
Passengers are stuck upstairs on an Edinburgh bus after it hits a hydraulic platform in Princes Street, smashing in the roof of the bus and bringing down the Christmas decorations in January 1980. | JPIMedia Photo: Denis Straughan
15. LRT conductress Ann Boyle 1980
Ann Boyle, with ticket machine, bus conductress on the last Lothian Region Transport two-man double decker, October 1980. | JPIMedia Photo: Ian Brand
16. Sibbald Travel's Prestel 1980
British Telecom promoted Prestel in Edinburgh in August 1980 - Sibbald Travel used the forerunner of today's on-line information databases. A television set hooked up to a dedicated terminal was used to receive information from a remote database via a telephone line. | JPIMedia Photo: Alan Macdonald