Burns 250th anniversary: The Worlds Burns supers

But perhaps the most unusual Burns Supper will be held in war-torn Helmand. Around 800 service personnel will sit down to a Burns-themed evening "scran" in the camp galley tent at Task Force headquarters in Lashkar Gah. Festooned with saltires for the occasion, and with the pipes playing on the stereo, the galley will serve haggis, neeps and tatties, while copies of readings and poems will be given out. Whisky, however, will be conspicuous by its absence.

Some of the other Burns supper plans in 2009 include a supper on the highest structure, in the CN Tower, Toronto; the most chilled out supper, hosted by a Clan Chief on Balmoral Beach in Australia; and possibly the most remote supper, to be held by the Scientific Exploration Society in the east of Bolivia.

In Azerbaijan, the Baku Caledonian Society celebrate their 12th Burns Supper with 200 international guests.

In Switzerland, balloonists at the annual balloon fiesta in Chateau d'Oex will munch communal trays of haggis while overshadowed by the tallest piper in the world – a 155ft balloon in the shape of a piper.

South Africa will see a clan chief and 360 guests toast Scotland at the Cape Town Burns Supper attended by the Cape Town Highlanders, who are a fully operational 125-year-old mechanised infantry unit with strong links to the late Gordon Highlanders and the current Royal Regiment of Scotland.

In Canada the Tam O' Shanter Dancers will perform "A Portrait Of Burns" in front of 300 guests as a giant Celtic framed painting comes to life when a Burns actor steps forth from it to recite his songs and poetry.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, boasts a "Community Tam" when guests share the reading of Tam O' Shanter.