The Paris-born actress Juliette Binoche has made more than 40 films and kept a flourishing stage career. Her big film success was as the nurse in The English Patient (1996) which won her an Oscar and a Bafta as best supporting actress. Four years later Chocolat confirmed her A-list reputation. She won the Best Actress Award in Cannes for her latest film Certified Copy. In France she is known simply as La Binoche and says: “I live for the present. I don’t deny the past, but it’s a page to turn.” RGT
Birthdays today
Bill Beaumont, England rugby captain, 59; Dr Michael G. Brock, Warden St George’s House, Windsor Castle, 1988-93, 91; Ornette Coleman, saxophonist, 81; André Courrèges, fashion designer, 88; Teo Fabi, racing driver, 56; Major-General J. P. Groom, director-general, Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, 1983-89, 82; Martin Johnson, England rugby team manager, 41; Sir Norman Lindop, principal, British School of Osteopathy, 1982-90, 90; David Matthews, composer, 68; Howard Shelley, conductor, 61; Lord Thurlow, Governor, the Bahamas, 1968-72, 99; Robin Trower, guitarist, 66; Professor Sir David Weatherall, Regius Professor of Medicine, Oxford University, 1992-2000, 78.