On this day in 1568 at the Battle of Langside, Mary, Queen of Scots, was finally defeated in her attempt to regain the throne from her son, James VI, and his supporters.

Mary fled to England and was imprisoned until her execution in 1587. The 18m (58 feet) tall Langside Battlefield Memorial (1887-8, Alexander Skirving) marks the site of Glasgow's most important military encounter.

On 13 May 1685 James Kirk was executed near Dumfries as a Covenanter refusing to swear the oath, one of the last of the wave of deaths of the "Killing Times".

Today's recipe: transform leftover lamb into a mouth-watering meal.