On this day in 1512, King James V was born at Linlithgow Palace. He was the only surviving son of James IV and Margaret Tudor and inherited the throne at the age of 18 months. Between 1526 and 1528, he was held prisoner by his step-father, Archibald Douglas. Once he escaped James set about asserting control of the country, and was unswerving in his hatred of the Red Douglas clan and their English allies. His second marriage was to the French Mary of Guise, who was to bear him a daughter, the future Mary, Queen of Scots.

However, James cannot have been too confident in his heir as he uttered the famous quote, "It cam wi' a lass and it will gang wi' a lass", at her birth, believing that a female heir spelled the end of the Stuart dynasty.

On 10th April 1840, Alexander Nasmyth, the Scottish painter, died.

Nasmyth, born in Edinburgh, was noted for his portraits and landscapes. He studied under Allan Ramsay the younger, and spent many years painting in Italy. Although he is most well known today for his most famous work, the portrait of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, his real passion lay in landscape painting. Poignantly, his last painting, completed only weeks before his death, was entitled 'Going Home' and featured an old labourer winding his way home at the end of the day.

Today's recipe: a taste of Scotland suitable for non-meat eaters! Vegetarian haggis stuffed mushrooms.