BIRTHDAYS

Peter Andre, Australian singer, songwriter & presenter, 48; Baroness Goldie, MSP 1999-2011, 71; Steve Harley, British singer (Cockney Rebel), 70; Viscount Head, racehorse trainer 196883, 84; Dame Barbara Kelly DBE, president, Rural Forum 1992-99, 81; Edward Luciesmith, British poet and critic, 88; Rabbi Baroness Neuberger DBE, 71; Oliver Peter St John, 9th Earl of Orkney, 83; Dame Antoinette Sibley DBE, British prima ballerina, 82; Timothy Spall OBE, British actor, 64; Joanne Woodward, American actress, 91; Bruno Soares, Brazilian tennis player, 39.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1912 Laurence Durrell, author, Alexandria Quartet; 1982-94; 1927 Lois Maxwell, actress; 1932 Dame Elizabeth Taylor DBE, film actress; 1941 Lord Ashdown of Norton-subhamdon KBE, MP 1983-2001, leader of Liberal Democrats 1988-99; 1944 Sir Roger Scruton, British philosopher.

Deaths: 1993 Lillian Gish, actress; 2002 Spike Milligan KBE, comedian (The Goon Show); 2015 Leonard Nimoy, actor (Mr Spock in Star Trek) and director; 2017 Alex Young, Scottish footballer.

The boss of miner Scotgold Resources is stepping down after six years at the helm of the company which reported it is lookingatfundingoptionsafter a delay to ramping-up of production at its Scottish site.

Richard Gray will retire from his role at the end of March and will be replaced by mining veteran Phillip Day. Chris Sangster, Scotgold’s founding chief executive, has also announced his resignation as a nonexecutive director to pursue other business interests.

The boardroom shakeup came as the company announced that although progress has been made on resolving recent technical issues at the Cononish site near Tyndrum, it expects a planned rampup in production will not happen before the end of March which means it has lowered guidance on gold output.

It said the delay has had a negative impact on the company’s cash position and it was investigating possible shortterm debt financing options .