Bill Shankly, arguably the greatest football manager ever, was born in Glenbuck, Ayrshire on this day in 1913.

His early career saw him winning seven caps for Scotland as a professional footballer. At the age of 33, Shankly was approaching the end of his playing days, so when the 1946-47 season brought professional football back post-war, Shankly embarked on a new career as a manager. After spells at the helms of northern clubs such as Grimsby and Huddersfield, he was appointed chairman of Liverpool in 1959. At this time Liverpool was languishing in the Second Division, with a crumbling stadium, and disorder in the committee ranks. Shankly turned this situation around and elevated Liverpool to the top of the league, the envy of all other clubs. Liverpool became synonymous with football, as well as music, in the sixties, when Liverpool F.C. won the F.A. cup in the 1965 season. A European trophy followed in the form of the UEFA cup. Bill Shankly, who died of a heart attack in 1981, will always be remembered as a charismatic legend of British football.

This day in 1834 saw the death of Sir Thomas Telford, the pioneering engineer, road, bridge and canal builder. From humble beginnings in Westerkirk, Dumfrieshire, an encouraging patron supported Telford 's appointment to supervise the construction of the Ellesmere Canal in 1793. Nicknamed "The Colossus of Roads", he became chief civil engineer of an innovative scheme to improve communications in the Highlands, following a survey of the military roads created by General Wade during the Jacobite Rebellion.

Telford also oversaw the construction of the Caledonian Canal, linking 60 miles of freshwater inlets, as well as building nearly 1,000 miles of roads and 120 bridges over a 20 year period. He gained a reputation as the finest civil engineer of his day. Work outside Scotland included the construction of the Menai suspension bridge, the Gotha canal in Sweden, and the aqueduct at Pont Cysylite, on Ellesmere Port, proclaimed by Sir Walter Scott as, the most impressive work of art I have ever seen. Telford was buried in Westminster Cathedral, having died penniless, the result of a prodigious talent who often undertook projects without being paid.

Today's recipe: kale comes into its own at this time of year; add it to onion and goat's cheese tart for a lovely light lunch.