BORN ON THIS DAY

GEORGETTE HEYER (1902-1974). The novelist from Wimbledon, the ‘queen of Regency romance’ (pictured), once said: ‘I think myself I ought to be shot for writing such nonsense, but it’s unquestionably good escapist literature.’ By the end of her life she was selling a million copies a year in the uK, and over her 50-year career gave only one interview — in which she refused to discuss her books. JAMES CASEY (1922-2011). The comedian and radio producer from Stockton-on-Tees discovered les Dawson in a Manchester club and Ken Dodd at the Sunderland Empire. Casey joined the Army at 18 and landed in france on D-Day, eventually reaching Berlin. He went on to produce the long-running BBC radio comedy show The Clitheroe Kid.