Happy Birthday Rabbie Burns! January is such a busy time for us Scots. Even before we've all recovered from Hogmanay celebrations, along comes Burns Supper season! This year has been no exception. We're bang in the middle of it at the moment with today marking the 248th Anniversary of the Birth of Scottish Poet Robert Burns.

For well over a week now, Scots and Rabbie supporters the world o'er have been raising glasses and toasting Scotland's Bard...and Scots In London will continue to do so until our big SIL Quarterly Drinks Bonniest Burns Supper bash on Tuesday 6th February! (Ed: Tickets have been flying oot of the SIL doors quicker than Tam's horse Meg over the Brig so get a bend on and book now to avoid disappointment!).

To mark Rabbie's Birthday, Scots In London thought we'd ask a Burns expert to give us a run down on how to have "The Ultimate Burns Supper", so we asked none other than Clark McGinn, a Scots In London (SIL) supporter, described by BBC Radio Scotland as one of the foremost Burns speakers in the world, to give us a run down.

Clark, a fellow Council Member of the Burns Club of London, has spoken at Burns Suppers around the world, for the last thirty years and he's just published a great new book entitled "The Ultimate Burns Supper" is published by Luath Press (GBP7.99). Here are Clark's thoughts:

"I've only myself to blame. Me and a million other Scots will have hangovers tomorrow morning because of one poet. Robert Burns. On or about Burns Night on 25th January every year, all sorts of people gather to have the best party you can have with your clothes on (and if you are a guy in a kilt, you'll be wearing fewer clothes than usual!).

The Burns Supper is a genuinely popular celebration - right across the globe: our growing band of Scots In London (SIL) members, other Scots men, women and children, employees of Scottish companies, alumni of Scottish schools and universities, ex-service men, golfers (good bad or indifferent) and whisky lovers (connoisseurs or drunks) or folk who just like a great party! - all of them join up to cheer the memory of the ploughman who was born 248 years ago today and is beloved as Scotland's national poet.

A lot of my friends get put off by two worries the haggis (that's mainly the English and the Americans) and the mumbo-jumbo (a lot of my Scots chums hate the stuffy formality) - but you needn't be concerned with either if you follow some good advice! The real secret about haggis is that it is delicious!

To overcome your fear, take a stiff glass of whisky (Ed: preferably Whyte and Mackay!) and sip it when you try your first mouthful of haggis - I know you'll have a second (whisky, probably...). Don't ever worry about what's in haggis or how it is made! (The recipe is pretty easy -

1. Buy a sheep;
2. Sell the wool;
   
3. Cook the rest.
   

And there's no obligation to hold a very formal banquet either! Burns was a man who liked a party - large or small - it's the company that counts! You can celebrate his memory with three or four mates around your kitchen table just as easily as having a thousand black ties at the Grosvenor House. We capture a lot of fun at Scots In London (SIL) nights - take that into your next Burns Supper!

All you need to do to ensure you have a real and enjoyable Burns Supper is to:
        (a) Invite as many friends as you want;
        (b) Order in as much food and drink as you can afford and
        (c) Have a haggis, read a poem by Burns (or sing one of his songs); and
        (d) toast his Memory like so many have done in so many places since 1801.
I gave an Immortal Memory last night and the ceilidh dancing burnt off a fair bit of the post speech alcohol, but it was a slow start this cold morning! I am on the train to speak at another Burns Supper tonight and the refreshments trolley is coming down the carriage - let's see if he has a wee whisky there to toast Rabbie one more time! Try this at home and I'll see you next year!"
Clark McGinn, 25th January 2007. Copyright. For more go to www.seriousburns.com.

Have a great Burns Supper / Toast to Rabbie wherever you are. And if you're feeling the urge, why not join the Burns Club of London if you fancy a bigger dose.

Photo: Copyright Scots In London Ltd. Image: Copyright Luath Press. 

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