Dianne Hayter says the older she gets the less she likes to be reminded of her birthdays “though in truth I mark them in great style. I usually share a celebration with two friends who got married on my birthday 32 years ago.” She published her second book Men Who Made Labour in May. There are chapters from 21st-century successors in the 29 seats, including Jack Straw, Hilary Benn and Ruth Kelly. A former trade union researcher, Channel 4 journalist and general secretary of the Fabian Society, she is planning to speak at the Labour Party conference on party governance rather than government policy. Dianne Hayter is 57 today. RGT
Kevin Curran, cricketer and cricket coach, 47; Peter Gill, stage director, 67; Lord Jenkin of Roding, Secretary of State for Industry, 1981-83, 80; Sir Douglas Lovelock, First Church Estates Commissioner, 1983-93, 83; Professor Sir Brian Pippard, physicist, 86; Lord Stone of Blackheath, joint managing director of Marks & Spencer, 1994-99, 64.