Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon on the successful Apollo 11 mission 40 years ago, tells in his second book of memoirs Magnificent Desolation, published last year, of the depression and alcoholism that followed his return to Earth. He says: “I was a celebrity on a pedestal and I had to live up to that. Like actors and writers who are on and off again in terms of employment, I had a very unstructured life.” He is still a celebrity, making a rap single last year, and internet sites are sending him thousands of birthday greetings. He remains excited by space exploration, urging the Government to ignore the Moon. “Mars is there, waiting to be reached,” he says. Buzz Aldrin is 80 today. RGT
Birthdays today
Tom Baker, actor, 76; the Very Rev D. L. Edwards, Provost Emeritus of Southwark Cathedral, 81; Liza Goddard, actress, 60; David Lynch, film director, 64; Christopher Martin-Jenkins, chief cricket correspondent, The Times, 1999-2008, 65; the Countess of Wessex, 45; Professor N. C. Wickramasinghe, astronomer, 71; John Witherow, Editor, The Sunday Times, 58.