On this day

Published on Monday 28 January 2002 00:00

Happy birthday

Alan Alda (Alphonso D'Abruzzo Jr), actor, 66; Bobby Ball, comedian, 58; Mikhail Baryshnikov, former ballet dancer, 54; Acker Bilk, clarinettist, 73; Gianluigi Buffon, goalkeeper, 24; Nicolas Carter, pop singer (Backstreet Boys), 22; Sacha Distel, singer, 69; John Edmonds, trade unionist, 58; Lee Latchford Evans, pop singer, 27; David Lodge, author, 67; Sarah McLachlan, singer, 34; Nick Price, golfer, 45; Frank Skinner, TV presenter/ comedian, 45; Prof Sir John Taverner, composer, 58; Elijah Wood, actor, 21; Robert Wyatt, singer/ songwriter, 57.

They said it

"I am comfortable in the suits. I am comfortable out of the suits. I am comfortable with who I am, where I am. I have wished for it. I dreamed it. I worked for it" - James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan.

"Now his next move - if he doesn’t clean himself up. Well, he’s going to go back to jail or he’s going to end up dead" - Larry Holmes, former world heavyweight champion, on Mike Tyson.

"You didn’t get where you are today by answering questions, did you?" - Sir Jimmy Young to the Prime Minister.

"Working is a wonderful way of avoiding life"

- Boy George.

"I had no intention of doing work for the rest of my life, which is why I became an actor" -Reported remark by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

In past

814: Death of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor.

1547: Henry VIII died at Richmond, in a room reeking of the stench from his leg ulcers.

1596: Sir Francis Drake died at sea off Panama.

1807: London’s Pall Mall was the first street in any city in the world to be lit by gaslight.

1829: Body-snatcher William Burke was hanged in front of a huge crowd.

1908: The London Playhouse Theatre opened.

1932: The Japanese occupied Shanghai, start of a full-scale invasion of China.

1935: Iceland became the first country to legalise abortion.

1953: Derek Bentley, 19, was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, despite public protests. Bentley and Christopher Craig, 16, had been found guilty of murdering a policeman, but Craig escaped the gallows because of his age.

1986: US space shuttle Challenger exploded 72 seconds after take-off, killing seven astronauts.

1993: The IRA bomed Harrods for the third time in 20 years. Four people were injured.

From the news

1882: A dinner in celebration of the birth of a son and heir to the Earl and Countess of Roseberry was held in the Royal Hotel, Edinburgh, last night. A letter was read from Lord Roseberry apologising for not being at the dinner, and expressing himself as exceedingly grateful for the kind feeling shown by the tenantry of his estates.