On this day in 2002 George Bruce, the Scottish poet, broadcaster and critic, died at the age of 93.

Bruce was one of the poets of the Scottish literary renaissance, initiated by Hugh MacDiarmid in the 1920s, which brought to prominence Sorley Maclean, Norman MacCaig, George Mackay Brown, Hamish Henderson and Iain Crichton Smith. He became well-known as the producer of Counterpoint, Scotland's first television arts programme.

In 1970 he left the BBC, becoming Glasgow University's first fellow in creative writing. As well as publishing poetry and anthologies, he was for 12 years a theatre and literary critic for The Sunday Times.

Over a period of 60 years he was to publish eight books of poetry in both English and Scots; he also edited six anthologies of poetry, and seven books on Scottish art and culture.

On 25 July 1843 Charles Macintosh, inventor of the plastic mac, died.

Macintosh discovered the first rainproof cloth in 1818, by joining two sheets of fabric together with dissolved indiarubber. Although Macintosh is best known for his eponymously titled coats, he made significant advances in many fields of chemistry.

As well as inventing a revolutionary bleaching powder with Charles Tennant, he also discovered a fast method of using carbon gases to convert iron to steel, and devised a hot-blast process which produced high quality cast iron.

Today's recipe: want to create a classic Italian dish? Follow this recipe for perfect pizza.