Birthdays

TODAY: Mr Alan Ayckbourn, playwright, 58; M Raymond Barre, economist and politician, 73; Mr Ian Butler, former chairman, Cookson Group, 72; Miss Monserrat Caballe, operatic singer, 64; Mr David Cassidy, singer, 48; Mr Brian Connell, writer and broadcaster, 81; Miss Elspet Gray (Lady Rix), actress, 68; Mr Lionel Hampton, bandleader, 84; The Right Rev John Hughes, former Bishop of Croydon, 89; Mr Uwe Kitzinger, former President, Templeton College, Oxford, 69; The Earl of Limerick, chairman, Pirelli UK, 67; Mr Alfred Mabbs, archivist, 76; Mr Bryan Magee, writer, 67; Air Marshal Sir Harold Maguire, 85; Miss Ann Miller, actress and singer, 74; Mrs Wendy Savage, obstetrician and gynaecologist, 62; Dr Kennedy Simmonds, Prime Minister, St Kitts-Nevis, 61.

TOMORROW: Air Vice-Marshal Sir Bernard Chacksfield, 84; Mr Frank Chamberlain, former chairman, Test and County Cricket Board, 72; The Hon Alan Clark, former government minister, 69; The Right Rev Roderic Coote, former Bishop of Colchester, 82; Mr Liam Cosgrave, former leader of the Fine Gael party in Eire, 77; Lord Davidson, a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, 68; Mr Peter Davison, actor, 46; Mr Stanley Donen, film director and producer, 73; Mr Edward Fox, actor, 60; Professor Albert Halsey, sociologist, 74; Sir Jeremiah Harman, High Court judge, 67; Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Hayr, former Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence, 62; Mr Seamus Heaney, poet, 58; Sir Peter Heap, former ambassador to Brazil, 62; Mr Garry Kasparov, chess player, 34; Mr Howard Keel, singer and actor, 78; Mr Jonjo O'Neill, racehorse trainer, 45; Dame Margaret Price, operatic singer, 56; Sir Stephen Roberts, former chairman, Milk Marketing Board, 82; Mr Christopher Strauli, actor, 51; Lord Wedderburn of Charlton, Professor Emeritus of Commercial Law, London School of Economics, 70; Miss Eudora Welty, novelist, 88; Sir John Weston, ambassador amd UK Permanent Representative to Nato, 59; Lt-Gen Sir James Wilson, former chief executive, Tobacco Advisory Council, 76.