Birthdays

Mr Mikhail Botvinnik, chess player, 82; Mr Ian Brindle, Senior Partner, Price Waterhouse, 50; Mr Robin Cousins, ice-skater, 36; Mr Edward Cowie, lecturer and composer, 50; Mr Robert De Niro, actor, 50; Mr David Donne, chairman, Argos plc, 68; Professor Sir Geoffrey Elton, historian, 72; Sir Leonard Figg, former diplomat, 70; Mr James Gulliver, chairman, James Gulliver Associates, 63; Dr Josef Hodin, art historian, 88; Mr Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, 63; Mr John Humphrys, broadcaster, 50; Miss Elizabeth Llewellyn-Smith, principal, St Hilda's College, Oxford, 59; Mr Seamus Mallon MP, 57; Professor Sir Leslie Martin, architect, 85; Mr George Melly, jazz singer, 67; Mr Alan Minter, middle-weight boxer, 42; Sir Alan Munro, ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 58; Sir Vidiadhar Naipaul, novelist, 61; Mr David Nicholson MP, 49; Miss Maureen O'Hara, actress, 72; Mr Hamish Orr-Ewing, former chairman, Rank Xerox, 69; Dr Ewan Page, Vice-Chancellor, Reading University, 65; Mr Nelson Piquet, racing driver, 41; Lord Sharp of Grimsdyke, former chairman, Cable and Wireless, 77; Mr Barry Sheerman MP, 53; Mr Richard Stott, editor, Daily Mirror, 50; Miss Alfreda Thorogood, teacher of dancing, 51; 54; Mr Guillermo Vilas, tennis player, 41; Mrs Susan Williams, former Lord- Lieutenant of South Glamorgan, 78; Professor Michael Wise, geographer, 75.