The director Sam Mendes became the toast of Hollywood after winning five Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture, for his debut film American Beauty (1999). He had his first break in 1989 when a director walked out on a production at the Chichester Festival Theatre; Mendes took over and the play transferred to London. Within a year he was directing Dame Judi Dench — who described him as a “brilliant boy” — in The Cherry Orchard. In May he married the actress Kate Winslet and earlier this week the couple revealed that they are expecting their first baby in the new year. He is 38 today.
Derek Birdsall, graphic designer and typographer, 69; Sir Ronald Cohen, founder of Apax Partners, 58; Janet Gough, High Mistress of St Paul’s Girls’ School, 1993-98, 63; Frank Hauser, theatre director, 81; Sir Richard Lloyd Jones, Permanent Secretary, Welsh Office, 1985-93, 70; Professor M.S. Losowsky, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, 72; Major-General R.C. Macdonald, Deputy Chief of Staff, Headquarters Land Forces, Central Europe, 1962-65, 92; Sir Edward Osmotherly, Chairman of the Commission for Local Administration in England, 1994-2001, 61; Professor Sir John Pattison, Vice-Provost of University College London Medical School, 1994-2000, 61; Professor Benjamin Roberts, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, 86; Yves Saint Laurent, fashion designer, 67; the Right Rev Professor Stephen Sykes, Bishop of Ely, 1990-99, 64; Sir Quentin Thomas, Head of the Constitution Secretariat, 1998-99, 59; Lord Tomlinson, MEP for Birmingham, 1984-99, 64.