The actor Patrick Stewart has received rave reviews for his Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre. All future performances are now sold out, and he is currently rehearsing as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, which opens next week. The CFT has pioneered a scheme by which members of the audience can, for a chunky donation, sit in on rehearsals and production meetings. One member of this year’s “commissioning circle” describes Stewart as “an actor without ego, showing infinite patience and respect for the director, never pulling rank over other actors”. The Yorkshire-born actor remains best known for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and once remarked: “All those years in the RSC playing kings and princes and speaking blank verse and bestriding the landscape of England was nothing but a preparation for sitting in the captain’s chair of SS Enterprise.” Patrick Stewart is 67 today. RGT
Sir David Blatherwick, Ambassador to Egypt, 1995-99, 66; Thierry Boutsen, racing driver, 50; Professor D.S. Brewer, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1977-90, 84; Sir James Craig, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 1979-84, 83; Colin Cullimore, chairman, Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes, 1993-96, 76; Harrison Ford, actor, 65; Vice-Admiral the Hon Sir Nicholas Hill-Norton, chairman, King George’s Fund for Sailors, 68; Ian Hislop, Editor, Private Eye, 47; Sir Peter Job, chief executive, Reuters Group, 1991-2001, 66; Peter Kindersley, chairman, Dorling Kindersley, 1974-2000, 66; Professor Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, Director Emeritus, Research Centre for International Law, Cambridge University, 79; His Honour Judge Kenneth Machin, Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda at the UN, 71; Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, director, Eden Project, and director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1988-99, 70; Dr Patricia Rodgers, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Bahamas, 59; His Honour Judge Rubery, circuit judge, 70; David Storey, writer and dramatist, 74; Canon Professor A.C. Thiselton, theologian, 70; Professor Jeff Thompson, educationist, 69; Professor Sir Bernard Tomlinson, pathologist, 87; Viscount Torrington, chairman, Baltic Mills, 64; Simone Veil, President, European Parliament, 1979-82, 80;