Birthdays

TODAY: Mr Eric Ambler, novelist and screenwriter, 88; Mr Howard Barker, playwright and poet, 51; Mr Correlli Barnett, author, 70; Mr Stan Barstow, writer, 69; Dr John Black, former director and secretary, Wolfson Foundation, 75; Mr Mel Brooks, author, actor and director, 71; Mr Charles Bush, Headmaster, Eastbourne College, 45; Mr Jamie Cann MP, 51; Sir Robert Carswell, Lord Chief Justice, Northern Ireland, 63; Mr Kenneth Cooper, former chief executive, British Library, 66; Mr David Duckham, rugby player, 51; Mr Harold Evans, editor, author and publisher, 69; Sir Thayne Forbes, High Court judge, 59; Sir Peter Gadsden, former Lord Mayor of London, 68; Mr Roger Godsiff MP, 51; Mr Jack Gold, film director, 67; Mr Charles Golden, chairman and managing director, Vauxhall Motors, 51; Sir John Gorst, former MP, 69; Lord Gray of Contin, Lord-Lieutenant of Inverness, 70; Sir Peter Gregson, former Permanent Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry, 61; Professor Martin Harris, Vice-Chancellor, Manchester University, 53; Mr Malcolm Horsman, former chairman, Ralli International, 64; Mr John Inman, actor, 61; Mr George Lloyd, composer and conductor, 84; Miss Deborah Moggach, author, 49; Sir David Scholey, chairman Swiss Bank Corporation International Advisory Council, 62; Sir Cyril Smith, former MP, 69; Sir Garry Sobers, cricketer, 61; Mr David Tatham, High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, 58; Viscount Whitelaw, former government minister, 79; Lord Wright of Richmond, former Head of the Diplomatic Service, 66.

TOMORROW: Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, 86; Mr Ian Bannen, actor, 69; The Hon Charlotte Bingham, author, 55; Lord Cornwallis, former chairman, Town and Country Building Society, 76; Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton, chairman, Association of County Councils, 76; Sir Frank Gibb, president, Taylor Woodrow Construction, 70; Lady Greengross, Director-General, Age Concern England, 62; Mr George Howarth MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office, 48; Sir Rex Hunt, former Governor, Falkland Islands, 71; Lord Hutton, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, 66; Sir Miles Irving, Professor of Surgery, Manchester University, 62; Professor Martin Jones, archaeologist, 46; Viscount Kemsley, former deputy chairman, Kemsley Newspapers, 88; Mr Rafael Kubelik, conductor, 83; Mr Michael McIntyre, yachtsman, 41; Mr Nigel Richardson, Headmaster, The Perse School, Cambridge, 49; Vice- Admiral Sir John Roxburgh, 78; Mr Geoffrey Woolley, journalist, 82.