Birthdays: 24 December

Christmas Eve

Birthdays: Mr Alistair Baillie, former diplomat, 63; Mrs Mair Barnes, former managing director, Woolworths, 51; Mr John Barron, actor, 75; Professor Anthony Clare, psychiatrist, 53; Sir Colin Cowdrey, consultant, Barclays Bank, and former cricketer, 63; Sir Gerald Elliot, former chairman, Christian Salvesen, 72; Mr Jeremy Hindley, horse-racing trainer, 52; Dame Joan Kelleher, former director, WRAC, 80; Sir Ivan Lawrence QC, MP, 59; Dr John Marek MP, 55; Miss Suzy Menkes, fashion editor, International Herald Tribune, 52; Miss Thea Porter, fashion designer, 68; Mr Norman Rossington, actor, 67; Mr John D. Taylor MP, 58; Miss Carol Vorderman, broadcaster and writer, 35; Mr Philip Ziegler, author and editor, 66. Born on this day: Matthew Arnold, poet and critic, 1822; Howard Robard Hughes, millionaire and recluse, 1905; Ava Lavinia Gardner (Lucy Johnson), actress, 1922. Died on this day: William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist, 1863; Peter Lawford, actor, 1984; John James Osborne, playwright and actor, 1994. On this day: Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida was performed for the first time, Cairo, 1871; the Apollo 8 spacecraft orbited the moon and sent back a Christmas message, 1968.