On this day in 1912, Alexander MacKendrick, the US born Scottish film director, screenwriter and teacher was born.

MacKendrick was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and his family emigrated to Scotland soon after his birth. "Sandy" grew up in Glasgow and entered the world of cinema following an art school education and working on information productions during wartime. He was responsible for some of Ealing Studio's most classic works, and in 1949 he directed Whisky Galore!, an adaptation of Compton MacKenzie's iconoclastic tale set, and largely filmed, in the Hebrides. After the satirical wit of The Man in the White Suit (1951), and the dark, macabre comedy The Ladykillers in 1955, MacKendrick was enticed to America. In the U.S. he directed the critically acclaimed The Sweet Smell of Success, a sharp satire on the world of a New York gossip columnist. The film was a box-office failure, however, and the tensions between MacKendrick and the film's star, Burt Lancaster, undermined MacKendrick's subsequent career. He happily abandoned his cinematic career, after directing three more films, including A High Wind in Jamaica, in favour of teaching film at the California Institute of Fine Arts.

This day in 1820 saw the hanging and beheading of John Baird and Andrew Hardie in Stirling, following the Battle of Bonnymuir in April. The Radicals, who were on strike from the weaving communities in outrage at decreased wages, had marched from Glasgow towards the Carron Iron Works in Falkirk. However, their ranks had been infiltrated by government agents and they were in fact being guided to an ambush with troops outside the village of Bonnybridge. During the battle, a Lieutenant of the 10th Hussars received a wound to the hand, a sergeant was severely wounded, and four Radicals were wounded. Following the skirmishes, 88 charges of treason were brought against men from across central Scotland, but Hardie and Baird were made an example of. Nineteen other radicals, including the 15 year old Alexander Johnstone, were transported to the penal colonies of New South Wales. Hardie's declaration "I die a martyr to the cause of truth and liberty", signalled the end of the "Radical War".

Today's recipe: apple crumble is a no-nonsense British classic.