Birthdays

Birthdays

TODAY: Professor Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon, 65; Mr Billy Bingham, football manager, 64; Sir Michael Drury, Emeritus Professor of General Practice, Birmingham University, 69; Miss Barbara Flynn, actress, 47; Miss Jacquetta Hawkes, archaeologist and author, 85; Miss Joan Hickson, actress, 89; Lord Hindlip, chairman, Christie, Manson and Woods, 55; Mr Alan Howard, actor, 58; Field Marshal Sir Peter Inge, Chief of the General Staff, 60; Mr Richard Jewson, former chairman, Meyer International, 51; Sir Michael Kerry, former Procurator General, 72; Sir Bert Millichip, chairman, Football Association, 81; Mr John Monks, General Secretary, TUC, 50; Mr Turlough O'Donnell, former Lord of Appeal, Northern Ireland, 71; Mr Rodney Pattison, yachtsman, 52; Mr Keith Pearson, Headmaster, George Heriot's School, Edinburgh, 54; Sir Eric Pountain, chairman, James Beattie, 62; The Hon Miriam Rothschild, zoologist and entomologist, 87; Sir Nicholas Scott MP, 62; Lord Sefton of Garston, former chairman, North West Economic Planning Council, 80; Mr John Spellar MP, 48; Mr Jimmy Webb, songwriter, 49; Mr John Whitaker, showjumper, 40.

TOMORROW: The Countess of Albemarle, former chairman, Development Commission, 86; Mr Chris Bonington, mountaineer, 61; Mr Richard Buckle, ballet critic, 79; Sir Michael Connell, High Court judge, 56; Mr Ronald Davies MP, 49; Mr Michael Deeley, film producer, 63; Col James Ellis Evans, former Lord- Lieutenant of Clwyd, 85; Mr John Evans, Chief Constable, Devon and Cornwall, 52; Mr Frank Finlay, actor, 69; Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Ford, 72; Dame Monica Golding, former Colonel Commandant, QARANC, 93; Sir Howard Hodgkin, painter, 63; Sir Freddie Laker, air travel pioneer, 73; Mr James Lees- Milne, architectural historian, 87; Miss Moira Lister, actress, 72; Sir Donald McCallum, chairman, Laser Ecosse, 73; The Rev William McCrea MP, 47; Air Vice-Marshal Thomas Macdonald, 86; Sir David Madel MP, 57; Mr Dom Mintoff, former prime minister of Malta, 79; Mr Robert Mitchum, actor, 78; Mr David O'Brien, racehorse trainer, 39; Sir Duncan Oppenheim, former president, British-American Tobacco, 91; Judge Valerie Pearlman, circuit judge, 59; Mr John Reid, jockey, 40; Lord Swaythling, chairman, Rothmans International, 67; Miss Barbara Windsor, actress, 58; Mr Charles Wood, television and film writer, 63.

Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Edward John Eyre, explorer of Australia, 1815; Henri-Rene Albert-Guy de Maupassant, author, 1850. Deaths: James Gibbs, architect, 1754; Friedrich Engels, political writer, 1895; Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson), actress, 1962; Richard Burton (Richard Walter Jenkins), actor, 1984. On this day: Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland for England, 1583; the British transatlantic airmail service was started, 1939; a nuclear test ban treaty was signed by Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, 1963. Today is the Feast Day of Saints Addai and Mari, St Afra and St Nonna.

TOMORROW: Births: Matthew Parker ("Nosey Parker"), Archbishop of Canterbury, 1504; Alfred, first Baron Tennyson, poet, 1809; Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, 1881; William Joseph, first Viscount Slim, field marshal, 1891. Deaths: Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, 1623; Ben Jonson, playwright, 1637; Diego Rodrguez de Silva y Velzquez, painter, 1660. On this day: the Savoy Hotel, London, opened, 1889; the Corinth Canal, Greece, opened, 1893; the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 1945. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Transfiguration and the Feast Day of St Hormisdas, pope and Saints Justus and Pastor.