Birthdays

Birthdays

Mr Jonathan Agnew, cricketer, 36; Mr Peter Attenborough, former Headmaster of Charterhouse, 58; Sir John Beith, former diplomat, 82; Mr Den Dover MP, 58; Mr Paul Downton, cricketer, 39; Mrs Margaret Dupont, former tennis champion, 78; Dr Christopher Fay, chairman and chief executive, Shell UK, 51; Brigadier Anne Field, former Deputy Controller Commandant, WRACS, 70; Mr John Marley Fleming, general director, Marketing and Product Planning, Cadillac Cars, General Motors, 66; Mr Trevor Griffiths, playwright, 61; Mr Jeremy Hands, journalist, 45; Mr Dave Hill, rock guitarist, 44; Lord Inchyra, former Director General, British Bankers Association, 61; Earl Jellicoe, President, British Heart Foundation, 78; Mr Gregory Knight MP, Treasurer of HM Household, 47; Colonel Sir Bryce Knox, vice-chairman, Lindustries Ltd, 80; Miss Frances Langford, singer and actress, 83; Mr Nick McCarthy, Ambassador to Gabon, 58; Professor David Melville, Vice- Chancellor, Middlesex University, 53; Mr Barry Reamsbottom, general secretary, Civil and Public Services Association, 47; Mr Ian Robertson, Director, National Army Museum, 53; Mr Dave Sexton, football manager, 66; Dame Catherine Tizard, former Governor-General of New Zealand, 65.

Anniversaries

Births: Grinling Gibbons, sculptor and woodcarver, 1648; Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, painter, 1758; Sir Charles William (Karl Wilhelm) Siemens, metallurgist and inventor, 1823; Maurice de Vlaminck, painter, 1876; Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), rhythm and blues singer, 1915; Anthony Perkins, actor, 1932. Deaths: Oliver Goldsmith, playwright, 1774; Sir William Crookes, physicist and chemist, 1919; Andre Michelin, tyre manufacturer, 1931; Martin Luther King, clergyman and civil rights leader, assassinated 1968; Gloria Swanson (Gloria Josephine Mae Swenson), actress, 1983. On this day: Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the world and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I, 1581; gold was discovered in the Yukon, 1896; a Chinese republic was proclaimed in Tibet, 1912; the International Civil Aviation Organisation was established, 1947; the North Atlantic Treaty (Nato) was signed in Washington, 1949. Today is Maundy Thursday and the Feast Day of Saints Agathopus and Theodulus, St Benedict the Black, St Isidore of Seville, St Plato and St Tigernach; and is the first day of Passover.