Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays

Mr Nigel Aspinall, croquet player, 50; Mr Roger Bone, Ambassador to Sweden, 52; Professor Gustav Born, pharmacologist, 75; Professor Patricia Clarke, biochemist, 77; Sir Michael Davies, former High Court judge, 75; Miss Kay Dick, author, 81; Mr Max Faulkner, golfer, 80; Sir Leslie Fielding, former Vice- Chancellor, Sussex University, 64; Miss Sally Gunnell, athlete, 30; Mr Joe Johnson, snooker player, 44; Miss Diane Keen, actress, 50; Lord Kilpatrick of Kincraig, pharmacologist, 70; Mr Michael Pickard, chairman, London Docklands Development Corporation, 64; Viscount Ridley, Lord-Lieutenant for Northumberland and Chancellor, Newcastle University, 71; Sir John Saunders, banker, 79; Lord Scarman, former Lord of Appeal, 85; Mr Anthony Stevens, veterinary surgeon, 70; Miss Wendy Taylor, sculptor, 51; Mr Mikis Theodorakis, composer, 71; Lord Weinstock, managing director, GEC, 72.

Anniversaries

Births: George Bradshaw, publisher and originator of Bradshaw's railway guides, 1801; Donald Robert Perry Marquis, author, 1878; Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, Italian leader, 1883; Newton Booth Tarkington, author, 1869; William Cameron Menzies, film director and designer, 1896; Hjalmar Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1905; Lord Grimond (Joseph Grimond), politician, 1913. Deaths: Philip I, King of France, 1108; William Wilberforce, campaigner for the abolition of slavery, 1833; Vincent van Gogh, committed suicide 1890; King Humbert (Umberto) I of Italy, assassinated, by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci, 1900; Edward Gordon Craig, actor, designer and director, 1966; Erich Kastner, author, 1974; Luis Bunuel, film director, 1983; James David Graham Niven, actor, 1983; Raymond Massey, actor, 1983. On this day: the Spanish Armada was defeated, 1588; the BBC Light Programme was first broadcast, 1945; the XIVth Olympic Games opened at Wembley, 1948; the Prince of Wales was married to Lady Diana Spencer, 1981. Today is the Feast Day of Saints Beatrice and Simplicius, St Felix II, antipope, St Faustinus and Beatrice, St Lupus of Troyes, St Martha, St Olav, King of Norway and St William of Saint-Brieuc.