Birthdays

Mr Mikhail Botvinnik, chess player, 83; Mr Ian Brindle, Senior Partner, Price Waterhouse, 51; Mr Robin Cousins, ice-skater, 37; Mr Edward Cowie, lecturer and composer, 51; Mr Robert De Niro, actor, 51; Mr David Donne, chairman, Argos plc, 69; Professor Sir Geoffrey Elton, historian, 73; Sir Leonard Figg, former diplomat, 71; Mr James Gulliver, chairman, James Gulliver Associates, 64; Dr Josef Hodin, art historian, 89; Mr Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, 64; Mr John Humphrys, broadcaster, 51; Miss Elizabeth Llewellyn- Smith, Principal, St Hilda's College, Oxford, 60; Mr Ian McAllister, chairman and managing director, Ford Motor Company, 51; Mr Seamus Mallon MP, 58; Professor Sir Leslie Martin, architect, 86; Mr George Melly, jazz singer, 68; Mr Alan Minter, middleweight boxer, 43; Sir Alan Munro, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 59; Sir Vidiadhar Naipaul, novelist, 62; Mr David Nicholson MP, 50; Miss Maureen O'Hara, actress, 73; Mr Hamish Orr-Ewing, former chairman, Rank Xerox, 70; Dr Ewan Page, former Vice-Chancellor, Reading University, 66; Mr Nelson Piquet, racing driver, 42; M Jean-Bernard Pommier, pianist, 50; Mr Barry Sheerman MP, 54; Mr Richard Stott, editor, Today, 51; Miss Alfreda Thorogood, teacher of dancing, 52; Mr Anthony Valentine, actor, 55; Mr Guillermo Vilas, tennis player, 42; Mrs Susan Williams, former Lord-

Lieutenant of South Glamorgan, 79; Professor Michael Wise, geographer, 76.