On April 4, 1406 King Robert III died, he once described himself as, the worst of kings and the most miserable of men.

The eldest son of King Robert II and grand-son of Robert the Bruce, he was crippled following a riding accident in 1388. Robert succeeded his father to the throne in 1390, but was not really suited to being monarch, with his ambitious brother, the Duke of Albany, in reality running the kingdom. Robert's eldest son, the Duke of Rothesay, was imprisoned at Falkland by Albany, where he starved to death. Robert sent his younger son, who would become King James I, to safety in France, but the news that James had been captured by the English killed Robert. Robert is buried in Paisley Abbey where, in the 19th century, Queen Victoria paid for the construction of a memorial to him.

Today in 1617 John Napier, the mathematician, died. Napier was educated at St Andrews University, entering in 1563 at the tender age of 13, although the likelihood is that he completed a degree somewhere in Europe, probably at the University of Paris. Napier was a fervent Protestant in a time of religious trouble, and he considered his most important work a religious tract entitled The Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John, which he wrote in 1593.

Napier regarded mathematics only as a hobby to be fitted in between his theological works. He is best known today for his invention of logarithms, but he also made further advences in the field of mathematics, including the introduction of decimal notation for fractions.

On 4th April 1661 Alexander Leslie, the Earl of Leven, died. Leslie commanded the Scottish forces which fought against Charles I in the English Civil War. The King surrendered to Leslie at Newark in May 1646, but when Cromwell executed Charles he changed sides to support the new king, Charles II. Leslie later defended Scotland against the invasion of Oliver Cromwell.

Today's recipe: a very British take on baked camembert by Scottish chef Michael Smith. Baked brie with Struan bread