Robert Burns – aka Robbie Burns, aka Rabbie Burns, aka Scotland’s Favourite Son – was a Scottish writer and lyricist. Born into rural poverty in a two-roomed cottage in Alloway, near Ayr, on 25 January 1759, he became a prolific poet who wrote about everyday life using a Scottish vernacular that was already under threat from English in his own lifetime.

On 21 July 1796, Burns died at the age of 37, leaving behind a body of work that “recorded and celebrated aspects of farm life, regional experience, traditional culture, class culture and distinctions, and religious practice and belief in such a way as to transcend the particularities of his inspiration”, the Poetry Foundation said.

Two and a half centuries later his work is still celebrated in Scotland and beyond – although few people now know more than a handful of his poems.