Birthdays

Birthdays

Sir Anthony Bamford, chairman and managing director, J.C. Bamford, 53; Professor Graeme Barker, head of the School of Archaeological Studies, Leicester University, 52; Mr Johnny Carson, television presenter, 73; Major Edwina Coven, HM Lieutenant, City of London, 77; Miss Maggi Hambling, artist, 53; Lord Hunt of Tanworth, former secretary of the Cabinet, 79; Sir Archie Lamb, former diplomat, 77; Professor Sir Frank Lawton, Emeritus Professor of Operative Surgery, Liverpool University, 83; Mr Iverach McDonald, former Associate Editor, The Times, 90; Pele, footballer, 58; Sir Ralph Riley, former deputy chairman, Agriculture and Food Research Council, 74; Mr Gerry Robinson, chairman, Granada, 50; Miss Anita Roddick, founder, The Body Shop, 56; Mr George Rylands, Shakespearean scholar, 96; The Earl of Shannon, former deputy speaker, House of Lords, 74; Baroness Trumpington, Baroness in Waiting, 76; Baroness Young, former minister of state, Foreign Office, 72.

Anniversaries

Births: Pierre-Athanase Larousse, lexicographer and encyclopaedist, 1817; Douglas Robert Jardine, cricketer, 1900; Diana Dors (Diana Fluck), actress, 1931.

Deaths: Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman emperor, committed suicide 42 BC; William Gilbert Grace, cricketer, 1915; Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson), singer and actor, 1950.

On this day: the first parliament of Great Britain met, 1707; the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time, New York, 1946; Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to end the occupation of Germany, 1954.

Today is the Feast Day of St Allucio, St Elfleda or Ethelfleda, St Ignatius of Constantinople, St John of Capistrano, St Romanus of Rouen, St Severinus or Seurin of Bordeaux, St Severinus Boethius and St Theodoret.