Birthdays

TODAY: Mr Kriss Akabusi, Olympic athlete, 40; Professor Giovanni Aquilecchia, linguist, 75; Miss Fiona Armstrong, television presenter, 42; Sir Gordon Beveridge, president and former Vice-Chancellor, Queen's University of Belfast, 65; Vice-Admiral Sir David Brown, naval consultant, 71; Mr Geoffrey Clarke, artist and sculptor, 74; Miss Cecilia Colledge, former champion skater, 78; Sir David Croom-Johnston, former Lord Justice of Appeal, 84; Mr Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Social Security, 45; Mr Terence Frisby, actor and playwright, 66; The Right Rev Michael Hare Duke, former bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, 73; Miss Hope Lange, actress, 67; Mr Peter Leaver QC, Chief Executive, Football Association Premier League, 54; Professor Claude Levi-Strauss, social anthropologist, 90; Lord Macdonald, Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdonald, 51; Mr Gordon Marsden MP, 45; General Sir David Mostyn, 70; Miss Dervla Murphy, writer, 67; Mr Randy Newman, singer and songwriter, 55; Sir Idris Pearce, surveyor, 65; Professor Sir Lewis Robertson, industrialist and administrator, 76; Mr Stephen Roche, cyclist, 39; The Right Rev Patrick Rodger, Assistant Bishop, Edinburgh, 78; General Sir Robert Ross, former Commandant General, Royal Marines, 59; Sir Brian Smedley, High Court judge, 64; Mr Randolph Stow, novelist and poet, 63; Sir Raymond Whitney MP, 68.

TOMORROW: Professor Sir Ivor Batchelor, psychiatrist, 82; M Jacques Chirac, President of France, 66; Sir Derek Day, former High Commissioner in Canada, 71; Mr Ryan Giggs, footballer, 25; Professor Sir Michael Howard, historian, 76; Mr Derek Jameson, radio presenter and former editor, 69; Professor Frank Kermode, literary critic, 79; Mr James McCulloch, ambassador to Iceland, 58; Mr John Mayall, rhythm and blues musician, 65; Mr Geoffrey Moorhouse, writer, 67; Sir Alan Moses, High Court judge, 53; Dame Shirley Porter, former Lord Mayor of Westminster, 68; Professor David Rhind, director- general and chief executive, Ordnance Survey, 55; Mr David Rintoul, actor, 49; Mr Toby Robertson, theatrical director, 70; Mr David Rogers, chief executive, Amstrad, 52; Dame Janet Smith QC, High Court judge, 58; Sir David Steel, former chairman, the Wellcome Trust, 82; Sir Dennis Weatherstone, former chairman and chief executive, J.P. Morgan & Co, New York, 68; Mr Alan Lee Williams, director, Atlantic Council, 68; Miss Louise Winter, operatic mezzo-soprano, 38.