Birthdays:

TODAY: Mr Geoffrey Bayldon, actor, 71; Mr Alan Butcher, cricketer, 41; Miss Hazel Counsell, circuit judge, 64; Mr Hunter Davies, author and broadcaster, 59; Mr Gerald Durrell, author and naturalist, 70; Sir Peter Graham QC, First Parliamentary Counsel, 61; Mr Stuart Hampson, chairman, John Lewis Partnership, 48; Mr Tom Kiernan, rugby player, 56; Mr Ian La Frenais, screenwriter and producer, 58; Mr Malcolm MacDonald, football manager, 45; Mr Ross Norman, squash champion, 36; The Viscount of Oxfuird, a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, 61; Sir John Page, former chairman, National Ports Council, 80; Sir Alastair Pilkington, president, Pilkington plc, 75; Professor Keble Sykes, Emeritus Professor of Physical Chemistry, Queen Mary's College, London, 74;Lord Taylor of Hadfield, founder of the Taylor Woodrow Group, 90; Air Commodore the Hon Sir Peter Vanneck, former Lord Mayor of London, 73; Mr Will Wyatt, managing director, BBC Network Television, 53.

TOMORROW: Miss Shirley Bassey, singer, 58; Mr David Bowie, singer and actor, 48; Mr John Cahill, chairman, British Aerospace, 65; Mr Stuart Cameron, former chairman, Gallaher Ltd, 71; Professor Stephen Hawking CH, mathematician, 53; Maj-Gen John Holden, 82; Lord Hollenden, former chairman, I. & R. Morley, 81; Mr Andrew Hunter MP, 52; The Right Rev Edward Knapp-Fisher, Honorary Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Chichester, 80; Air Commodore Joan Metcalfe, former director, RAF Nursing Services, 72; Mr Ron Moody, actor, 71; Mr Robert Parry MP, 62; Mr Kenneth Purchase MP, 56; Miss Imelda Read, MEP, 56; Professor Brian Reddaway, economic consultant to the World Bank, 82; Professor Charles Tomlinson, Emeritus Professor of English, Bristol University, 68; Miss Galina Ulanova, former prima ballerina, 85; Mr Geoffrey Whalen, managing director and deputy chairman, Peugeot Talbot, 59; Professor Alan Wilson, Vice-Chancellor, Leeds University, 56.