The singer Britney Spears has just returned to the US after completing a successful world tour that ended in Adelaide on Sunday. Two years ago it looked as if her career was in meltdown when she shaved her head, went into rehab and lost custody of her two children. Since then she has made a spectacular comeback with her Circus Tour, which involved 97 shows, and she is starting work on her seventh studio album, scheduled for release next summer. In her ten-year singing career she has sold more than 70 million albums. Britney Spears is 28 today. RGT
Birthdays today
The Hon Nigel Calder, science writer, 78; Sir Richard Carew Pole, president, Royal Horticultural Society, 2001-06, 71; Sir David Green, director-general, British Council, 1999-2007, 61; General Alexander Haig, American Secretary of State, 1981-82, 85; Marshal of the RAF Sir Peter Harding, Chief of the Defence Staff 1992-94, 76; the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal and Chief Butler of England, 53.