Scotland's national bard, Robert Burns, was born on 25 January, 1759, in the village of Alloway, Ayrshire.

Burns was a very spontaneous writer - evidenced by poems scrawled on a Guinea note and on a window pane. Both are now on display in Burns's Cottage, in Alloway.

He wrote his first song, Handsome Nell, for fellow farm worker Nellie Kirkpatrick when he was just 15 years old.

Burns was passionate about women and is believed to have had a number of affairs resulting in children - including one with family servant Betty Paton.

He almost emigrated to Jamaica with lover Mary Campbell in 1786 but decided to stay in Scotland after his wife Jean Armour gave birth to twins Robert and Jean.

At the age of 27, the poet was already a national celebrity after publishing his first collection The Kilmarnock Edition.

From 1786-1788, Burns lived in Edinburgh where he mingled with a host of wealthy and important people and enjoyed celebrity status.

It took Burns just 18 months to spend most of his earnings from publishing poems and he took up a job in the Dumfries Excise Office in 1789 to help make ends meet.

After moving to Dumfries, his politics became increasingly radical and fuelled a number of works including 'A Man's A Man For A' That and Scots Wha Hae.

He died at the age of 37 on 21 July, 1796 and was buried on the day his son Maxwell was born.

On the fifth anniversary of his death, in 1801, the first ever Burns Supper was held in the cottage of his birth.

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