On 2 July 1903 Scottish Conservative policitian, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, was born.

The aristocrat, who entered No.10 from the Lords and lasted less than a year, was the last Premier to "emerge" from a mysterious system of consultations dubbed the 'Magic Circle'. His appointment, on the advice of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan from his hospital bed, caused a furore. Two leading Tories refused to serve in his administration and he later scrapped the appointment process, introducing leadership election ballots. He was the only man since the Marquess of Salisbury in 1895 to become Premier from the House of Lords. He resigned his six peerages just four days later and, after a by-election, returned to the Commons as MP for Kinross and West Perthshire. His short-lived period of office lasted less than a year from October 1963 to October 1964, spanning the period of the assassination of US President, John F.Kennedy. Following his resignation, he took the title, Lord Home of the Hirsel.

On this day in 1938 Sir John Burnett, the renowned Scottish architect, died. His most famous commissions include the Royal Institute of Fine Arts; the Alhambra, and the Athenaeum, all in Glasgow, and the the North front of the British Museum, the Institute of Chemistry, and the extenstion to Selfridges, all in London.

Today's recipe: this delicious dish of duck breast and courgette tournedos can be cooked outside on the BBQ on sunny days, or inside on a griddle on typical Scottish summer days!