Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays

Mr Michael Blackburn, chief executive, Halifax Building Society, 55; Mr Norman Blamey, painter, 82; Mr Arthur C. Clarke, science writer, 79; Mrs Myrella Cohen QC, circuit judge, 69; Professor Bernard Crick, Emeritus Professor of Politics, London University, 67; The Hon Peter Dickinson, writer, 69; Miss Jacqueline Duncan, Head, Inchbald Schools of Design and Fine Arts, 65; Mr Christopher Ellison, actor, 50; Mr Joel Garner, cricketer, 44; Mr Robert Gunn, former chairman of Boots, 71; Sir Jasper Hollom, former Deputy Governor, Bank of England, 79; Mrs Jacqui Lait MP, 50; Miss Stephanie Lawrence, singer, 43; Lord Mottistone, former Lord- Lieutenant and Governor of the Isle of Wight, 76; Sir Victor Pritchett, author and critic, 96; Lt-Gen Sir David Scott-Barrett, chairman, Army Cadet Force Association, 74; Mr Graham Stevenson, cricketer, 41; Miss Liv Ullmann, actress, 58; Mr William Whatley, former trade union official, 74; Lt-Gen Sir Roger Wheeler, General Officer Commanding and Director of Military Operations, Northern Ireland, 55.

Anniversaries

Births: Jane Austen, novelist, 1775; Sir Noel Pierce Coward, playwright and actor, 1889. Deaths: Wilhelm Grimm, philologist and folklorist, 1859; Charles-Camille Saint-Saens, composer, 1921; Alton Glenn Miller, dance band leader, lost after an air flight 1944; William Somerset Maugham, novelist, 1965. Today is the Feast Day of St Adelaide, St Ado, St Albina, Saints Ananiah, Azariah and Mishael (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) and St Irenion.