The guitarist and singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, of the Bee Gees, married on his birthday 36 years ago. His wife, Linda, had been co-presenting BBC1’s Top of the Pops, and they met when he sang his hit Massachusetts live on the show. They have five children — four boys and a girl. The Bee Gees had six consecutive No 1 hits in America and have sold millions of records over four decades. The two surviving brothers, Barry and Robin, had been estranged for some years, but after playing together at a charity event in February they are determined to get together again. When the brothers were in London to pick up an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting this year Barry said: “We might well be going back on the road next year, but dates won’t be announced until everything’s concrete.” Barry and his wife bought Johnny Cash’s old house near Nashville this year and are planning to use it for songwriting. Barry Gibb is 60 today.
RGT
D. A. Baldwin, director emeritus, Hewlett-Packard, 70; Sir Kenneth Bradshaw, Clerk of the House of Commons, 1983-87, 84; Alan Carr, senior partner of Simmons & Simmons, 1992-96, 70; Professor Sir David Carter, clinical surgeon, 66; Professor Sir Ronald Cooke, Vice-Chancellor of York University, 1993-2002, 65; Joe Earle, arts management consultant, 54; Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Freer, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Strike Command, 1978-79, 83; the Earl of Lisburne, president of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, 1976-97, 88; Baroness Park of Monmouth, Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, 1980-89, 85; Lord Parkinson, chairman of the Conservative Party, 1981-83 and 1997-98, 75; Donald Piggott, director-general of the British Red Cross Society, 1980-85, 86.