For those who lived it, with big hair, shoulder pads, garish shell suits and the threat of being obliterated by a nuclear – or IRA – bomb, the 1980s may well be the decade they would rather forget. 

At least the relentless international political turmoil, miners’ strikes, Margaret Thatcher’s doe-eyed glances towards Ronald Reagan – and Diana Spencer’s awkwardness around Prince Charles before and after their 1981 wedding – the Falklands War, Live Aid, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Joan Collins’ meltdowns in Dynasty, meant life was rarely dull. 

Now generations far too young to have experienced the spine-chilling delivery of a Protect And Survive leaflet, the thrill of knowing a pal had a video recording of Thursday’s Top Of The Pops or the joy of preening their mullet to a perfect spiky peak, can discover for themselves just what made 1980s Britain so different. 

The decade is set to be explored by the National Library of Scotland in a summer of nostalgia spanning Edinburgh and Glasgow, with events designed to rewind the years to an  exciting age of technical enlightenment, social change, industrial upheaval, political turmoil... and Pac-Man. 

Throughout next week visitors to the National Library at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, can discover the kind of cutting-edge technology that had 80s’ children enthralled for hours as they attempted to battle Space Invaders, and revolutionised communication, business and entertainment with ground-breaking Commodore 64, the ZX Spectrum home computers.

There will also be the chance for those who lived through the decade to feel very old indeed: 1980s showreels described as “vintage” have now been digitised and will be screened alongside classic movies such as Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero. 

Back To The Future: 1979-1989 also includes an 80s treasures display at the National Library in George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, featuring texts and ephemera related to the miners’ strike, the dawning of the age of HIV and Aids, alongside the rise of the self-help book and fitness class. 

A series of “in conversation” events aimed at examining the decade and its impact is planned for autumn. 

In perhaps a perfect example of how perfectly odd the 1980s managed to be, there will be exhibits related to the Cold War, the Northern Ireland troubles and a piece of the Berlin Wall, alongside a Peter James catalogue no doubt showcasing easy-to-buy rara-skirts, Miami-Vice style jacket – with sleeves already rolled up – BMX bikes and electric typewriters. 

The events and displays complement the Library’s Back To The Future: 1979–1989 website, featuring long reads and 1980s’ films. It will eventually include essays from former BBC correspondent Kate Adie – who narrowly escaped death as she reported from Tiananmen Square, Beijing – crime authors Val McDermid and Ian Rankin, musician Evelyn Glennie and television’s That’s Life! presenter Esther Rantzen reflecting on the era.

According to Graeme Hawley, the library’s head of general collections, the decade was a particularly vibrant age that laid the foundations – and raised the warning signs – for today’s political, social and industrial landscapes. 

“The 1980s was a time of change, with many things feeding off each other that have led us to where we are now,” he says. 

“You might watch repeats of Top Of The Pops on television now and the focus is on frothy fun and retro party shirts, but at the same time there was the Iranian revolution and the Cold War. 

“I was convinced as a child that between nuclear war, IRA bombs and the Russians we were all doomed. 

“There was the assassination of Indira Ghandi, massive turbulence between 
Sikhs and Hindus, while we also had the rise of the self-help book and mail order catalogues.”

Few decades surpass the volume of material received by the library during the 1980s – its collection spans 2.9 million publications from the decade. They 
include key texts that underpin the era’s new economic thinking with the age of Thatcherism and Ronald Reagan’s politics, to copies of Smash Hits and Jane Fonda’s Workout Book, both of which feature in the Edinburgh display. 

“The conflicts of the decade, the cultural changes, the endless 
developments in science, pharmaceuticals, the novels, the newspapers, the government leaflets. It’s bewildering,” says Mr Hawley.

“My favourite item is the Peter Craig mail order catalogue, one of which will be on display at George IV Bridge. This once ubiquitous, now rare artefact would give anyone researching 80s culture an overview of how we once lived or aspired to be.”

Every household had one but few survived - they would be thrown out and replaced as soon as the new catalogue arrived. 

For Mr Hawley, flicking through the library copy brought a wave of personal nostalgia: “My old duvet cover was in it – I hadn’t thought about for over 30 years!”

Mr Hawley, who grew up in Oldham, near Manchester, during the 1980s and witnessed the turmoil of miners’ strikes on his own community, says compiling the initiative had forced him to rethink his own memories of Britain at the time.

“Studying the decade through a 21st century lens has made me reconsider what I thought I knew or believed. 

“Futurologist Alvin Toffler’s book The Third Wave was published in 1980 and talks about how the changes at the time would affect society – the growth in minorities, the difficulty for political parties to appeal to the majority because it just doesn’t exist anymore because people are all having different experiences. 

“You realise we should probably have learned from these changes then instead of being surprised by it all.”

Meanwhile the NLS dedicated Back to the Future website will feature additional essays and moving image clips cove topics from the rise of pulp horror fiction, the 1984 LA Olympics and women’s protest culture., state funerals and the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole.