HAPPY BIRTHDAY

KEIR DULLEA, 82. The Golden Globewinning American actor was dismissed by Noel coward, on the only occasion they met, with the phrase: ‘Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow’. Three years later, in 1968, Dullea appeared in his biggest film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. His line: ‘Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL,’ was listed by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time. HELEN SHARMAN, 55. The astronaut (right), from Sheffield, became the first Briton in space, aged 27 in 1991, inside the Soviet Soyuz TM-12 space capsule — after answering an advert on the radio which declared: ‘Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary’. She is one of only 59 women ever to have gone into space.