On 1 June 1841 Sir David Wilkie, the Scottish painter, died.

Noted for his portraits and genre subjects, his most famous works include, Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Gazette of the Battle of Waterloo. Wilkie was born in Cults manse in Fife in 1785. His 1806 painting, The Village Politicians, was a great success and he then left to settle in London. In 1817, he painted Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, which now hangs in the Scottish National Gallery. His painting is mainly in the Dutch style, although he later changed his style, choosing more historical subjects, like The Preaching of John Knox before the Lords of Congregation, 10 June 1559. In 1840, for health reasons, he took a tour of Egypt and the Holy Land, but sadly died on the voyage home.

In this day in 1679 the Battle of Drumclog was fought in Avondale Parish, Lanarkshire, between Covenanters attending a Conventicle and Royalist troops under Graham of Claverhouse. The Covenanters easily routed the government forces. However, the euphoria which followed this victory was short-lived, as the authorities brought in a large Royalist army, which defeated a largish Covenanter force at Bothwell Bridge, exactly three weeks later.

Today in 1872 James Gordon Bennett, the Scottish-born American journalist, died.

Bennett was the founding editor of the New York Herald, the first newspaper to carry regular financial articles on Wall St. He was one of a core group of publishers and editors who transformed and modernized journalism in the mid-nineteenth century.

James Gordon Bennett was born in Keith, to a Roman Catholic farming couple. After an unsuccesful time training for the priesthood, he renounced his faith. In May 1835 Bennett began publishing the New York Herald, which combined public-interest stories, sensational reports of crimes and disasters, and coverage of national and international news. In April 1836 the Herald shocked readers with front-page coverage of the murder of a prostitute, Helen Jewett. During this episode, Bennett is credited with conducting the first newspaper interview. That same year the Herald initiated a cash-in-advance policy for advertisers, which would soon become standard newspaper practice.

By the end of the decade the Herald and the Sun were the two highest-circulation dailies in America, a distinction the Herald carried until Bennett's retirement.

Today's recipe: classic Italian risotto make made with Portobello, chestnut or wild mushrooms.