There can be few joys in life to rival giving away other people’s money and Liz Forgan, chairwoman of the Heritage Lottery Fund, sits atop an organisation that has distributed almost £3 billion so far. A former editor of the women’s pages of The Guardian in the right-on! days of women’s lib in the l970s, she is now the sixth chairman of the Scott Trust, which has been dedicated to keeping The Guardian afloat since 1936. In between her spells at the newspaper Forgan was a founding commissioning editor for Channel 4 before rising to be director of programmes. Later she became managing director of BBC Radio, and announced her arrival by sending a chirpy missive to BBC radio staff pledging a great adventure ahead and, incidentally, to keep listening to the pop group Bon Jovi. She stayed for three years under John Birt, before resigning, a victim of his régime’s bureaucracy. Liz Forgan is 60 today.
RGT
Eugene Anderson, chairman and chief executive of Ferranti International, 1990-94, 66; Admiral Sir Brian Brown, Second Sea Lord, 1988-91, 70; Sir Colin Budd, Ambassador to the Netherlands, 59; Sir James Cleminson, chairman of the British Overseas Trade Board, 1986-90, 83; His Honour Alan de Piro, a circuit judge, 1983-91, 85; Sir William Francis, Director of the British Railways Board, 1994-97, 78; Richard Gere, actor, 55; Air Marshal Sir Edward Gordon Jones, Commander of the British Forces Near East, 1967-69, 90; Professor Christine King, Vice-Chancellor of Staffordshire University, 60; Professor Brian Livesley, forensic physician, 68; Clive Lloyd, cricketer, 60; Professor Sir Bernard Lovell, founder and director, 1951-81, of Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, 91; Van Morrison, singer, 59; Edwin Moses, athlete, 49; Bryan Organ, painter, 69; Itzhak Perlman, violinist and conductor, 59; Sir Barry Sheen, High Court judge, Queen’s Bench Division, 1978-93, 86; Clive Standen, osteopath, 52.