ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1254 Marco Polo, merchant traveller; 1881 Ettore Bugatti, Italian-french automotive designer and manufacturer; 1857 William Howard Taft, 27th president of USA 1909 to 1913; 11891 Agatha Christie, writer of detective stories; 1923 Hank Williams, country music singer. Deaths: 1716 Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, soldier, essayist; 1859 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer; 2006 Raymond Baxter OBE, TV presenter and commentator; 2007 Colin Mcrae MBE, rally driver (helicopter crash); 2008 Rick Wright, musician (Pink Floyd).