Birthdays

Birthdays

Mr Robert Altman, film director, 71; Mr Roy Beggs MP, 60; Mr Gordon Brown MP, 45; Professor Andrew Fabian, astronomer, 48; Dr Ruth Gipps, composer and conductor, 75; Mr Jimmy Greaves, television commentator and former footballer, 56; Mr Eddie Hemmings, cricketer, 47; Mr Ian Irwin, executive chairman, Scottish Transport Group, 63; Sir Owain Jenkins, former company director in India, 89; Commandant Dame Marion Kettlewell, former Director, WRNS, 82; Mr Roger Knapman MP, 52; Mr Mike Leigh, playwright and theatre director, 53; Mr Donald Longmore, cardiac surgeon, 68; Lord McNally, head of Public Affairs, Shandwick Consultants, 53; Mr Norman Miscampbell QC, a Recorder of the Crown Court and former MP, 71; Mr John Murphy, chairman, Interbrand Group plc, 52; Mr Phil Neal, former England footballer, 45; Mr David O'Dowd, HM Inspector of Constabulary, 54; Sir Frederick Page, former chief executive, British Aerospace, 79; Dr Valerie Payne, former Headmistress, Malvern Girls' College, 56; Mr Sidney Poitier, actor, 69; Vice-Admiral Sir Cameron Rusby, former chief executive, Scottish SPCA, 70; Mr William Walker MP, 67; Mr George Waring, actor and director, 69. Mr Barry Wordsworth, conductor, 48.

Anniversaries

Births: Honore Daumier, caricaturist and painter, 1808; Dame Marie Rambert (Cyvia Rambam, later Miriam Ramberg), founder of the Ballet Rambert, 1888. Deaths: Nathan Field, actor and playwright, buried 1633; Percy Aldridge Grainger, composer, 1961; Robert Oxton Bolt, playwright and screenwriter, 1995. On this day: Austria declared herself to be bankrupt, 1811; a great storm raged in England, with much damage to the Crystal Palace, while the steeple of Chichester Cathedral was blown away, 1861; poisonous fumes from a volcano in Java resulted in 175 deaths, 1979. Today is the Feast Day of St Eleutherius of Tournai, St Eucherius of Orleans, St Sadoth, Saints Tyrannio, Zenobius and their Companions and St Wulfric.