A biographical birthday cake.

My friend Iain McKie, with whom I wrote "The Price of Innocence", our account of the Parliamentary and public campaign in the now celebrated fingerprint case involving his daughter Shirley,  is 80 on Tuesday.  

He and Marie were kind enough to invite us to the celebration party which was held at lunchtime today at the Lochgreen House Hotel in Troon's Southwoods which also  allowed me to  have a nostalgic drive through the town where I was brought up (my extra photo shows the corner of York Road and Bentinck Drive - the house I was brought up in is the furthest away half of the corner building). 

I hadn't seen Iain , or Marie or Shirley for ages so it was good to catch up, to hear some very fine and heartfelt tributes paid to Iain by his family and friends  (which also include my colleague Alex Neil and his wife) and to admire this birthday cake that illustrated some of the many aspects of Iain's extraordinary life.  

This is him explaining it to Cathleen before the meal started.