Tonight's the night for remembering Burns

Scotland, and Scots around the world, will tonight celebrate the birthday of the poet Robert Burns, who symbolizes the Scottish obsession with the metaphysical and the earthly. Burns was a self-taught philosopher as well as a serial whisky drinker and devoted womanizer. According to Robert Crawford, who wrote The Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography, the poet was incapable of keeping his "guid weely-willy" in his pants. He fathered an impressive number of bastards, as well as several legitimate children.

Last year's Homecoming Scotland event led to a big increase in tourist visits and contributed £19 million to the Scottish economy. Philip Riddle of VisitScotland is hopeful that the success of the venture will be felt for many years to come. "It has generated a new pride in Scotland at home and abroad," he told The Scotsman.

So, wherever you are in the world tonight, pour yourself a whisky, and raise a toast to the Scottish Bard, Robert Burns: Slàinte mhaith!