[Mike]

On this day in 1567 King James VI was crowned at Stirling. Regarded as 'The Wisest Fool in Christendom,' he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. He subsequently only revisited his northern kingdom once. One-year-old Charles James was crowned King James VI of Scotland in a Protestant ceremony in the Church of the Holy Rude, close to Stirling Castle; John Knox preached a sermon. It was exactly two years since Mary married Darnley.

29 July 1946 saw the birth of Bill Forsyth, Scottish film director and screenwriter. Born in Whiteinch in 1946, the son of a plumber, Forsyth wrote the script of Gregory’s Girl (1981) to showcase the talents of Glasgow Youth Theatre. Lack of funding prompted him to make That Sinking Feeling (1979) instead, the success of which led to him being given the go-ahead to make Gregory’s Girl. The quirky and touching tale of teenage love became one of the true classics of Scottish cinema, and Forsyth received the British Academy Award for Best Screenplay. He further explored his distinctive style of gentle, character-driven humour in the internationally acclaimed Local Hero (1983).