Birthdays

Mr Eugene Anderson, chairman and chief executive, Ferranti International, 56; Major Michael Argyle QC, former circuit judge, 79; Admiral Sir Brian Brown, former Chief of Naval Personnel, 60; Professor Robert Hanbury Brown, Emeritus Professor of Physics (Astronomy), University of Sydney, 78; Mr Roy Castle, entertainer, 62; Sir James Cleminson, former chairman, British Overseas Trade Board, 73; Mr James Coburn, actor, 66; Miss Anne Coffey MP, 48; Lt-Gen Sir Napier Crookenden, 79; Mr Alan de Piro QC, former circuit judge, 75; Miss Elizabeth Forgan, managing director, Network BBC Radio, 50; Sir William Francis, chairman, Black Country Urban Development Corporation, 68; Mr Richard Gere, actor, 45; Air Marshal Sir Edward Gordon Jones, 80; Mr Larry Grayson, entertainer, 64; Mr Buddy Hackett, comedian, 70; Mr Charles Kay, actor, 64; Mr Clive Lloyd, cricketer, 50; Professor Sir Bernard Lovell, former director, Jodrell Bank Station, 81; Mr Van Morrison, rock vocalist, 49; Mr Edwin Moses, athlete, 39; Mr Bryan Organ, painter, 59; Mr Itzhak Perlman, violinist, 49; Sir Barry Sheen, former High Court judge, 76.

Anniversaries

Births: Caligula, Roman emperor, 12; Jahangir, Mogul emperor, 1569; Charles Turner, engraver, 1774; Pierre-Jules Theophile Gautier, novelist and poet, 1811; Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, physicist, 1821; Charles James Lever, novelist, 1806; Elizabeth Mary Russell (Beauchamp), Countess Russell ('Elizabeth'), novelist, 1866; Maria Montessori, educationist, 1870; Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, 1880; Edwin DuBose Heyward, novelist and playwright, 1885; Friedrich Adolf Paneth, chemist, 1887; William 'Bombardier Billy' Wells, heavyweight boxer, 1889; Fredric March (Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel), actor, 1897; Roland Culver, actor, 1900; William Saroyan, author, 1908; Richard Basehart, actor, 1914; Alan Jay Lerner, author and lyricist, 1918.

Deaths: Henry V, king, 1422; John Bunyan, author, 1688; Sir Arthur Phillip, first Governor of New South Wales, 1814; Ferdinand Lassalle (Lassal), socialist, killed in a duel 1864; Charles-Pierre Baudelaire, poet, 1867; Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston, explorer and administrator, 1927; Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, novelist, 1931; Harley Granville Barker, actor, playwright and critic, 1946; Georges Braque, Cubist painter, 1963; Rocky Marciano (Rocco Marchegiano), heavyweight boxer, killed in an air crash 1969; John Ford (Sean O'Feeney), film director, 1973; Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, president of Finland, 1986; Henry Moore, sculptor, 1986.

On this day: Henry VI acceded as king at the age of nine months, 1422; at the Battle of Flores, Sir Richard Grenville engaged the whole Spanish Fleet in the Revenge, but was captured and later died, 1591; Mary Anne 'Polly' Nichols, a prostitute, was found dead in Whitechapel, London, the first victim of Jack the Ripper, 1888; the musical show Chu Chin Chow was first performed, London, 1916; the first London production of the musical show Tip- Toes was presented, 1926; Kurt Weill's opera Die Dreigroschenoper was first performed, Berlin 1928; women and children were evacuated from London, 1939; Malaya became independent, 1957; Trinidad and Tobago became independent, 1962; a South Korean airliner was shot down by the Soviet Union, killing 269 people aboard, 1983; over 1,000 people died in a tropical storm in the Philippines, 1984.

Today is the Feast Day of St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Paulinus of Trier, St Raymond Nonnatus and The Servite Martyrs of Prague.

Lectures

National Gallery: Alexander Sturgis, 'Saints (v): Tintoretto, Saint George and the Dragon', 1pm.

British Museum: Dora Thornton, 'The Art of Majolica in Renaissance Italy', 1.15pm.

Tate Gallery: James Heard, 'Hanging on the Telephone: Salvador Dali and Surrealism', 1pm.

Air Chief Marshal Sir John Thomson

A service of thanksgiving for the life of Air Chief Marshal Sir John Thomson GCB CBE AFC will be held in St Clement Danes, Strand, London WC2, on Wednesday 14 September at noon. Dress for the occasion will be: Serving Officers: Full Ceremonial Day Dress; Civilians: Morning Dress or Lounge Suit. Those intending to be present are asked to notify the Ministry of Defence, P1d (Ceremonial) (RAF) on 071-305 7567 or 7314. Enquiries should not be made to St Clement Danes.