On this day in 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie.

All of the 259 crew and passengers on board died, when a bomb exploded. 11 townspeople died when burning wreckage from the fully fuel-laden plane crashed into the town. It took 10 years to bring the Libyans accused of the atrocity to trial. They were tried in a Scottish court, set up in a specially constructed facility, at a Dutch air base.

Today in 1805 Thomas Graham was born in Glasgow. One of the founders of modern physical chemistry, Graham is often considered the father of colloid chemistry thanks to his work on permeable membranes, for which he coined the term "dialysis", and he is known for Graham's Law describing the diffusion of gases. His statue stands in Glasgow's George Square.

Today's recipe: there's still plenty of time to prepare an important part of Christmas dinner. This last-minute Christmas pudding can be made in an hour.