Audio Clip
Track Four
Dr David Player
Signing first Scottish non-smoking teams
Doll and Bradford Hill establish this connection in 1950. Further research leads to the UK Health Minister Iain Macleod publicly accepting the link at a press conference in February 1954.
Around 80 per cent of the adult population are smokers at this time.
Richard Doll himself decides to quit during the study. Others don’t. Scotland has consistently higher smoking rates than the rest of the UK throughout the 60 years of the National Health Service – and an estimated 700,000 Scots die prematurely as a result.
Doll goes on to live a very active life until the age of 92. He dies in July 2005 – one month after Scotland votes to ban smoking in public places.