On this day in 1914, Harbourne Stephen, the Scottish World War II fighter pilot, was born.

Stephen was a Battle of Britain fighter ace who went on to forge a career for himself as a newspaper executive. On his way to a tally of 23 registered kills (though it was almost certainly higher) he shot down five enemy aircraft in a single day in August 1940. That December he became the first airman to be awarded a DSO in the field. Returning after the war to the field of newspapers, in which he had been a junior before he was called up in 1939, Stephen worked successively for the Beaverbrook press and for "Thomson Newspapers" before becoming managing director of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph in 1963.

On 18 April 1937, Sir Edward "Teddy" Taylor, the Scottish Conservative politician, was born. MP for Rochford and Southend since 1997, Taylor is a noted Euro-sceptic, who resigned from his government post in 1971, protesting against Britain joining the EEC.

Today's recipe: an unusual combination makes for an intriguing amuse-bouche. Rhubarb spaghetti