Today’s birthdays

Mrs Beth Chatto, horticulturist, is 93; Lord Hope of Craighead, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, 2009-13, 78; Mr Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, publisher and literary agent, 77;

Lord Lang of Monkton, a former Conservative Cabinet Minister, 76; Mr R.N. Hambro, company chairman, 73; Mr D.D.

Robinson, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, 2002-12, 73;

Mrs Mary McAleese, President of the Republic of Ireland, 1997-2011, 65; Ald Sir Alan Yarrow, Lord Mayor of London, 2014-15, 65; Vice-Adml Sir Richard Ibbotson, Deputy C-in-C Fleet, 2009-11, 62; the Rt Rev James Langstaff,

Bishop of Rochester, 60; the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Lord Great Chamberlain, 56; Mr Robert King, conductor, 56; Mr Michael Ball, singer and

actor, 54; Mr Simon SebagMontefiore, writer, historian and novelist, 51; the Hon James Byng, Publisher and Managing Director, Canongate Books Ltd, 47; Mr Kevin Pietersen, former England cricketer, 36; and Mr Dale Steyn, South Africa cricketer, 33. Today is the anniversary of the birth of Helen Keller, the blind and deaf scholar and author, in 1880.