BIRTHDAYS
Alan Alda, actor, 82
Bobby Ball, comedian, 74
Roy Clarke, comedy writer (Last of the Summer Wine), 88
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, heptathlete, 32
David Lodge, author, 83
Claes Oldenburg, sculptor and pop artist, 89
Will Poulter, actor, 25
Nick Price, golfer, 61
Rakim, rapper, 50
Nicolas Sarkozy, former president of France, 63
Frank Skinner, comedian, 61
Elijah Wood, actor, 37
Robert Wyatt, singer, 73
ANNIVERSARIES
814 Death of Charlemagne, first Christian emperor of the West
1457 Henry VII born
1547 Death of Henry VIII
1813 Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice published
1873 Birth of French novelist Colette
1912 Birth of artist Jackson Pollock
1953 19-year-old Derek Bentley hanged for shooting dead PC Sidney Miles, although his juvenile partner in crime pulled the trigger. His conviction was quashed in 1998
1986 Challenger space shuttle explodes a minute after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing all seven astronauts on board