Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays

Mr Ed Asner, actor, 67; Mr Howard Baker, lawyer and senator, 71; Mr J.G. Ballard, science-fiction writer, 66; Mr John M. Banfield, chairman, Mobil Oil, 49; Mr Daniel Barenboim, pianist and conductor, 54; Mr Andrew Castle, tennis player, 33; Sir Geoffrey Chandler, chairman, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, 74; Miss Petula Clark, singer and actress, 64; Mr Andre Deutsch, publisher, 79; Professor Peter Dickinson, pianist and composer, 62; Mr Martin Hammond, Headmaster of Tonbridge School, 52; Mr John Hobhouse, former chairman, RSPCA, 86; Miss Paula Kahn, former chief executive and chairman, Longman Group, 56; Mr Brian Low, High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, 59; Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish, former MP, 58; Mr David Rae Smith, chartered accountant, 77; Mr Paul Raymond, impresario, 71; Maj-Gen Joseph Shepheard, 88; Canon Eric Staples, former chaplain to the Queen, 86; Mr Sam Waterston, actor, 56; Sir Roger Young, former Principal, George Watson's College, Edinburgh, 73.

Anniversaries

Births: Georgia O'Keeffe, painter, 1887; Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, field marshal, 1891; Aneurin Bevan, statesman, 1897; Hamish Hamilton, publisher, 1900. Deaths: Lionel Barrymore (Blythe), actor, 1954; Tyrone Edmund Power, actor, 1958; Jean Gabin (Jean Moncorge), actor, 1976. On this day: Isaac Pitman published his shorthand system, 1837; London was flooded when the Thames rose by over 28 feet, 1875. Today is the Feast Day of Saints Abibus, Gurias and Samonas, St Albert the Great, St Desiderius or Didier of Cohors, St Fintan of Rheinau, St Leopold of Austria and St Malo or Machutus.