BIRTHDAYS
Sir Alan Ayckbourn, playwright and theatre director, 82; Johnny Beerling, former controller, BBC Radio 1, 84; Flavio Briatore, motor racing and football entrepreneur, 71; Bill Bryden, film director and screenwriter, 79; Sarah Cracknell, singer-songwriter (Saint Etienne), 54; Claire Danes, actor, 42; Jelena Dokic, coach, commentator and former tennis player, 38; Andy Garcia, actor, 65; Lisa Gerrard, singer (Dead Can Dance) and composer, 60; Fabian Hamilton MP, shadow minister for peace and disarmament, 66; Herbie Hancock, pianist and composer (Miles Davis Quintet), 81; Tama Janowitz, novelist, 65;
John Kay (Joachim Krauledat), singer-songwriter and guitarist (Steppenwolf), 77; Uwe Kitzinger, political analyst and founding president, Templeton College, University of Oxford, 93; Jon Krakauer, author and mountaineer, 67; David Letterman, television broadcaster, 74; Brian McFadden, singer-songwriter (Westlife) and broadcaster, 41; Keith Moffatt, professor emeritus of mathematical physics, University of Cambridge, 86; Vice Admiral Charles Montgomery, former second sea lord and director general, UK
Border Force, 66; Chi Onwurah MP, shadow minister, digital, culture, media, and sport, 56; Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, former secretary-general, Nato, 75;
Saoirse Ronan, actor, 27; Dr Nick Sackman, composer, 71; Carlos Sainz, rally driver, 59; Wendy Savage, obstetrician, gynaecologist, and women’s rights campaigner, 86; Will Sergeant, guitarist and songwriter (Echo & the Bunnymen), 63; Mark Thompson, stage designer, 64; Scott Turow, novelist, 72; Robin Walker MP and minister of state, Northern Ireland Office, 43; Jane Withers, actor, 95.