Birthdays

TODAY: Mr James Aldridge, author, 75; Mr Tony Baldry MP, Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, 43; Mr Tommy Carmody, jockey, 37; Sir John Cockram, former chairman, Rickmansworth Water Co, 85; Sir Arthur Collins, solicitor, 82; Lord Desai, professor of economics, 53; Mr Dawie de Villiers, South African diplomat and politician, 53; Mr John Dunlop, racehorse trainer, 54; Mrs Winnie Ewing, MEP, 64; Mr Denzil Freeth, former MP, 69; Mr Sunil Gavaskar, cricketer, 44; Mr Graham Johnson, piano accompanist, 43; Sir George Kenyon, former chairman, William Kenyon & Sons, 81; Lord Lambton, former government minister, 71; Miss Evelyn Laye, actress and singer, 93; Professor Ian Lucas, agriculturalist, 67; Sir Kit McMahon, former chairman, the Midland Bank, 66; Mr John Maltby, chairman, UK Atomic Energy Authority, 65; The Very Rev Ivan Neill, former chaplain to the Queen, 81; Sir Leslie Porter, former president, Tesco, 73; Sir Jack Rampton, former senior civil servant, 73; Sir Wyn Roberts MP, Minister of State, Welsh Office, 63; Mr Reg Smythe, cartoonist, 76; Mr Keith Stackpole, cricketer, 53; Dr Gavin Strang MP, 50; Miss Josephine Veasey, mezzo-soprano opera singer, 63; Miss Virginia Wade, tennis player, 48; Mr Ian Wallace, actor, broadcaster and concert singer, 74; Sir Reginald Wilson, chartered accountant and former company chairman, 88; Mrs Rosemary Wolff, member of the Police Complaints Authority, 67; Maj-Gen Sir Brian Wyldbore-Smith, former Director, Conservative Board of Finance, 80.

TOMORROW: Air Marshal Sir Robert Alcock, 56; Sir John Blofeld, High Court judge, 61; Mr Robert Compton, former chairman, Time-Life International, 71; Mr Bill Crozier, radio producer, 69; Mr Peter de Savary, entrepreneur and yachtsman, 49; Mr Greville Janner MP, 65; Mr Toby Jessel MP, 59; Sir Kenneth Jones QC, former legal adviser, the Home Office, 83; Mr Theodore Maiman, physicist and inventor of the laser, 66; Dame Margaret Miles, educationist, 82; Miss Julia Trevelyan Oman, television, film and theatre designer, 63; Mr Terry Patchett MP, 53; Mr Hermann Prey, baritone, 64; Mr Giles Slaughter, headmaster, University College School, 56; Dr Derek Stevenson, former secretary, BMA, 82; Mr John Stride, actor, 57; Mr Gough Whitlam QC, former Australian prime minister, 77.