Today’s birthdays

Miss Dervla Murphy, author, is 86; Mr Manolo Blahnik, shoe and furniture designer, 75; Lord

Macdonald, Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdonald, 70; Lord Darling of Roulanish 64; Mr Kriss Akabusi, former sprint, hurdling and track athlete; television presenter, 59; Mr Stephen Roche, former professional road racing cyclist; winner of the 1987 Tour de France, 58; Mr John Galliano, fashion designer, 57; Mr Martin Clunes, actor, 56; and Lady Carmichael, a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, 48. Today is the anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society in 1660. It is also the anniversary of the birth of William Blake in 1757.