Portrait of George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen

Birthday profile

George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen

George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, Scottish politician and diplomat, 10th Secretary General of NATO

Born
April 12, 1946
Age in 2026
80
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1946

About George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen

George Islay MacNeill Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen (born 12 April 1946) is a British politician who served as the 10th secretary general of NATO from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Labour Party, he previously served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1997 to 1999 and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland from 1993 to 1997. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Hamilton South (formerly Hamilton) from 1978 to 1999 and was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2000. He currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Dundee. == Early life and education == Robertson was born on 12 April 1946 in Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Scotland, the son of George Philip Robertson (1916–2002) and Marion Isabella Robertson (née MacNeill; 1913–1996). His mother taught French and German, and his father was a policeman. His maternal grandfather Malcolm McNeill was the police sergeant at Bowmore during World War One, and wrote about the kindness of local people in shipwreck tragedies of SS Tuscania and HMS Otranto. Robertson was educated at Dunoon Grammar School and studied economics at Queen's College, Dundee. When he was 15 years of age, he was involved with protests against US nuclear submarines docking in Scotland. During Robertson's time at Queen's College it broke away from the University of St Andrews to become the University of Dundee, of which Robertson was one of the first graduates (MA, 1968), and one of a minority of graduates that year who opted to take a Dundee, rather than a St Andrews, degree.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen timeline

  1. Robertson entered the House of Commons as a Labour MP in 1978, having won the Hamilton by-election in May of that year, caused by the death of the incumbent Labour MP Alex Wilson that March.
  2. After Labour won the 1997 general election and Tony Blair became the prime minister, Robertson was appointed Secretary of State for Defence.

The world when George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen was born

George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen was born in 1946. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1946

  • #1 song"The Christmas Song" – Nat King Cole
  • Top movieThe Best Years of Our Lives
  • Best-selling bookThe King's General – Daphne du Maurier

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst NBA (BAA) season begins
  • Top headlineUnited Nations General Assembly holds its first session
  • Technology milestoneENIAC — first general-purpose electronic computer
  • Defining fadBaby boom begins
  • Notable inventionTupperware
  • World population2.43 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population141.4M

1946 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19462026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,600$435,000
Average income$4,300$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.35$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population141.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.