Birthdays

TODAY: Miss Maria Aitken, actress and stage director, 47; Sir Lindsay Alexander, former deputy chairman, Lloyds Bank, 72; Miss Chili Bouchier, actress, 83; Col Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, chief of the clan, 82; Mr Alan Cathcart, chairman, Avis Europe, 49; Vice- Admiral Sir Peter Compston, 77; Mr Esme Gordon, architect, 82; Miss Linda Gray, actress, 51; Mr Wesley Hall, cricketer and politician, 55; Miss Han Suyin, doctor and author, 75; Dr Basil Herbertson, former president, Hughes Hall, Cambridge, 71; Mr Ian Holm, actor, 61; Mr Gerald Howarth MP, 45; Mr Freddie Jones, actor, 65; Mr Donal Lenihan, rugby footballer, 33; Mr Kenneth Lo, restaurant and tennis player, 79; Mr Neville Mead, heavyweight boxer, 44; Lord Milner of Leeds, solicitor and politician, 69; Mr Patrick Mower, actor, 51; The Right Rev Alan Rogers, assistant bishop in Kensington, 85; Sir Arthur Sugden, former chief executive, CWS, 74; Sir Gervas Walker, former chairman, Avon County Council, 72; Mr Max Walker, cricketer, 44; Miss Rachel Ward, actress, 35; Professor George Zarnecki, art historian, 77.

TOMORROW: Miss Carol Barnes, television newsreader, 48; Miss Jacqueline Bissett, actress, 48; Lt-Gen Sir Derek Boorman, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, 62; Miss Claudette Colbert, actress, 89; Sir John Coulson, former Secretary-General of EFTA, 83; Sir George Engle QC, former first Parliamentary Counsel, 66; Baroness Fisher of Rednal, former MEP and local government councillor, 73; Lord Flowers, physicist and former vice-Chancellor, London University, 68; Professor Sir John Gunn, natural philosopher, 76; Lord Kenyon, former President University College of North Wales, Bagnor, 75; The Hon Colin Moynihan, former MP, 37; The Most Rev George Noakes, former Archbishop of Wales, 68; Mr Colin Pickthall MP, 48; Sir Thomas Risk, former governor of the Bank of Scotland, 70; Mr Robert Sheldon MP, 69; Mr John Smith MP, Leader of the Opposition, 54; Mr James Stuart- Smith, former Judge Advocate General, 73; Professor Sir Malcolm Sykes, anaesthetist, 67; Mr Mel Torme, singer, 67; Lord Weidenfeld, publisher, 73; Air Marshal Sir Peter Wykeham, 77.