Birthdays and anniversaries

Birthdays

Prince Henry of Wales, 13; The Rev Professor Peter Ackroyd, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament Studies, London University, 80; Mr Richard Arnell, composer, conductor and film maker, 80; Mr Charles Bone, painter and lecturer, 71; Professor John Russell Brown, professor of theatre, 74; General Eva Burrows, Salvation Army, 68; Mr Jackie Cooper, film actor, 75; Mr Thomas Duggin, diplomat, 50; Lord Eden of Winton, former government minister, 72; Professor Brian Fender, chief executive, Higher Education Funding Council for England, 63; Mr Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, conductor, 64; Dr Richard Gordon, novelist, 76; Sir Philip Harris, chairman, Carpetright of London, 55; Mr David Lepper MP, 52; Miss Jessye Norman, soprano, 52; Viscount Norwich, architectural writer, 68; Mr Abdul Qadir, Pakistan cricketer, 42; Mr Glen Renfrew, former chief executive of Reuters, 69; Sir Clive Rose, former diplomat, 76; Sir Konrad Schiemann, a Lord Justice of Appeal, 60; Lady Soames (Mary Soames), author, daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, 75; Sir Peter Studd, former Lord Mayor of London, 81; Sir Richard Way, former university principal, 83; Professor Alan Whitehead MP, 47; Mr David Wilmott, radio newsreader and presenter, 66.

Anniversaries

Births: Trajan, Roman emperor, 53; Titus Oates, impostor and fabricator of the "Popish Plot", 1649; Hans Arp, painter, engraver, sculptor and poet, 1887; Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, detective story writer, 1890; Jean Renoir, film director, 1894. Deaths: William Huskisson, statesman, run down by the locomotive Rocket, 1830; Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer, 1859. On this day: tanks were first used in battle by the British Army at the Somme, 1916; traffic wardens went on duty in London, 1960. Today is the Feast Day of St Achard or Aichardus, St Catherine of Genoa, St Mirin, St Nicetas the Goth and St Nicomedes.