The birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns, on the twenty-fifth of January, is celebrated the world over by dozens of people who hold ‘suppers’ (a sort of dinner) in his honour.

‘The Ploughman Poet’ was not famously precocious, but I cannot account for the composition of his song ‘Here’s a bottle and an honest friend’ other than by saying: Yes, he was.

Here is my theory, illustrated.

Enjoy the day, everyone.