Weekend birthdays
Today: Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, President of the Supreme Court, 2009-12, is 85;
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass, former Ulster Unionist MP, 85; Mr Jack Nicklaus, former professional golfer; three-time Open Champion, 83; Mr Placido Domingo, tenor and conductor, 82; Dr Alan Borg, Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1995-2001, 81; Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, former Labour Government Minister, 81; Dame Rosemary Butler, Presiding Officer, National Assembly in Wales, 2011-16, 80; Lord Turnbull, Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service, 2002-2005, 78; Mr Paul Potts, Group Chief Executive, PA Group, 2000-10, 73;
Sir Michael Bear, Lord Mayor, 2010-11, 70; Mr Robert Brinkley, former diplomat, 69; Lord Justice Newey 64; Miss Tracey Neville, former netball player; Head Coach, England Netball Squad, 2015-19, 46; Mr Brian O’driscoll, former rugby union player; Captain, Ireland rugby team, 2004-13, 44; Mr Rob Williams, former rower; Olympic silver medallist, men’s lightweight four, London 2012, 38; and Miss Laura
Robson, former tennis player; Olympic silver medallist, mixed doubles, London 2012; Wimbledon Junior Girls’ Champion, 2008, 29.
Tomorrow: Baroness Shephard of Northwold, former Conservative Government Minister, will be 83; Mr J.W. Last,
arts patron, 83; Sir Robert Scott,
Chairman, Liverpool Culture Company, 2003-05, 79; Mr Colin Graves, Chairman, ECB, 2015-2020, 75; Prof Lord Bew,
Professor of Irish Politics, Queen’s University Belfast, 1991-2014, now Emeritus, 73; Mr John Barclay,
President, MCC, 2009-10, 69; Sir Jan du Plessis, Chairman, BT Group plc, 2017-21, 69; Prof David Latchman, Vice-chancellor of Birkbeck, University of London, 67; Mrs Justice Foster 66; Mr Francis Wheen, author and journalist, 66; Lady Wise, a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, 60; Mr Richard Hills,
former flat racing jockey, 60; Dr Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta, 2013-2020, 49; and Mr Joseph Calleja, tenor, 45.
Today is the anniversary of the death of George Orwell in 1950, and of the first Concorde flight carrying commercial passengers in 1976.
Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the birth of Francis Bacon, statesman and writer, in 1561, and of the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. It is also the anniversary of the first Labour Government in Britain in 1924.