On this day in 1756 John McAdam, the surveyor who introduced the macadam system of road surfacing, was born in Ayr.

MacAdam spent his childhood in New York but returned to Scotland in 1783 having made enough money to purchase an estate in Ayrshire. He noticed that the roads on the estate were in very poor condition and undertook a series of experiments to find a better material to surface roads with. MacAdam moved to the south coast of England in 1798 after being forced to sell his estate to pay business debts, where he continued his experiments and in 1815 was appointed Surveyor to the Bristol Roads.

His works, Remarks on the Present System of Road-Making (1816) and A Practical Essay on the Scientific Repair and Preservation of Roads (1819) document his work and a parliamentary enquiry of 1823 led to the adoption of his ideas by public authorities.

The picture shows a silhouette by Augustin Edouart from 1827, the year that McAdam was appointed general surveyor of roads.

The novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott died aged 61 on this day in 1832.

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771 but was sent to live on his grandfather's farm near Kelso after he contracted poliomyelitis at the age of 18 months. He stayed there until 1777, and it is thought that it during his period of convalescence that he absorbed the historical and literary culture of the Borders, having heard the traditional ballads and legends about the Border heroes and reivers. Scott is best known for his novels such as The Heart of Midlothian, Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, and The Fair Maid of Perth. However, he also published translations, reviewed extensively, and wrote historical tracts. Regarded in his day as one of the greatest writers, Scott's reputation since then has been subject to intense scrutiny and he has been criticised for presenting a mythical, overly romantic image of Scotland.

On September 21 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart emerged victorious at the Battle of Prestonpans. The Jacobite army of just over 3,000 under Bonnie Prince Charlie heavily defeated the English Royal forces led by Sir John Cope. This episode gave rise to the famous Jacobite song Johnnie Cope.

Today's recipe: this in-season beetroot and coconut soup is warming, spicy - and bright pink!