ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1878 John Masefield, Poet Laureate; 1907 Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of jet engine; 1926 Marilyn Monroe, film actress; 1928 Bob Monkhouse, comedian; 1930 Edward Woodward OBE, actor; 1935 John Mcgrath, playwright, producer, director. Deaths: 1953 Alex James, footballer; 1968 Helen Keller, blind and deaf author; 1999 Sir Christopher Cockerell, inventor of the hovercraft; 2008 Yves St Laurent, fashion designer; 2015 Charles Kennedy, MP, leader, Liberal Democrats 1999-2006.