TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Dean Ashton, former footballer, 35; Pete Best, drummer (The Beatles), 77; Sir Ian Botham, broadcaster and former England cricket captain, 63; Clem Burke, drummer (Blondie), 64; Willy Claes, former secretary-general, Nato, 80; Billy Connolly, comedian and actor, 76; Denise Crosby, actor, 61; Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England and chief medical advisor to the UK government, 69; Patric Dickinson, genealogist and Clarenceux king of arms, 68; Gregory Doran, artistic director, Royal Shakespeare Company, 60;
Elizabeth Filkin, campaigner against domestic abuse and former parliamentary commissioner for standards, 78; Susan Gilmore, actor, 64; Shirley Henderson, actor, 53; James Holloway, art historian and former director, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 70; Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, prime ministr of Bahrain, 83; Nick Knight, fashion photographer, 60; Emir Kusturica, film director and musician, 64; General Sir Richard Lawson, former commander-in-chief, Allied Forces Northern Europe,
91; Stephen Merchant, writer, comedian and actor, 44; Margaret Mountford, businessperson, broadcaster and chair, Bright Ideas Trust, 67; Tom Odell, singer-songwriter, 28; Sean O’Loughlin, rugby league player, 36;
Graham Price, former rugby union player, 67; Arundhati Roy, novelist and human rights activist, 57;
Dwight Schultz, actor, 71; Dave Sinclair, keyboardist (Caravan), 71; John Squire, guitarist and songwriter (The Stone Roses), 56; Edward Stourton, broadcaster and writer, 61; Mark Taylor, chief executive, Society of Homeopaths, 60; Paul Thorburn, former Wales rugby union player, 56; Russell Watson, tenor, 52; Robin Williamson, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter (The Incredible String Band) and storyteller, 75.