April 6th (from my ex-website)

April 6th and all that..!

I share my birthday with...

Paul Rudd [1969] - Hollywood actor & director

Garrett Brown [1942] - inventor of the revolutionary Steadicam stabilisation system for movie cameras

Zach Braff [1975] - star of my favourite US TV comedy show, the peerless "Scrubs"

Louis Spence [1969] - Artistic Dir, London Pineapple Dance Studios & former Dancing on Ice judge

Paul Daniels [1938] - top UK magician/illusionist

Marilu Henner [1952] - one of the stars of the classic 1970s US sitcom "Taxi"

Gerry Mulligan [1927] - great baritone sax player

René Lalique [1860] - Art Nouveau glass-maker and jewellery-designer

Iain Paisley [1926] - long-time head of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland

Peter Van Hooke [1950] - drummer, "Mike & The Mechanics" (died also on April 6 1998)

Rory Bremner [1961] - ace UK impressionist and satirist

Phil Gayle [1964] - TV newsreader, notably on Channel 4's late, lamented "The Big Breakfast"

Myleene Klass [1978] - Musician and TV presenter, former member of pop group "Hear'say"

Butch Cassidy [1866] - legendary Wild West figure, partner of the Sundance Kid

Sir John Betjeman [1906] - British Poet Laureate

James Fox [1976] - "Fame Academy" contestant, later UK Eurovision entry, 2004

Maria Callas [1905] - World-famous opera singer

Robert Kovac [1974]- Croatian centre-back with Dynamo Zagreb

Henry Kissinger [1905] - former US politician and diplomat

Chuck Yeager [1905] - US fighter pilot and sound-barrier pioneer

André Previn [1929] - classical conductor, pianist, composer and memorable "Morecambe & Wise" show guest

Billy Dee Williams [1937] - actor, played Lando Calrissian in the "Star Wars" movies

Robbie Earnshaw [1981] - Nottingham Forest and Wales football international

John Ratzenberger [1947] - actor, played Cliff in "Cheers"

Barry Levinson [1942] - Oscar-winning director of the Dustin Hoffman/Tom Cruise film "Rain Man"

Merle Haggard [1937] - Country singer/songwriter. Also died April 6 2016

Fabrice Muamba [1988] - former Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers midfielder

Gina Yashere [1973] - Stand-up comedian and writer

Harry Houdini [1874] - legendary escapologist and illusionist

Raphael [1483] - architect and painter during the Italian Renaissance

Julie Ertz [1992] - American World Cup soccer winner and Chicago Red Stars defensive midfielder

Peyton List [1998] - American model and actor

Shaheen Afridi [2000] - Pakistan pace bowler (cricket)

Dudley Sutton [1933] - Actor, played Tinker in Lovejoy

Lord Frederick Windsor [1979] - British aristocrat

Brian Cosgrove [1934] - Animator/Director, co-owner of Cosgrove Hall Films (incl. Danger Mouse)

Tim Hasselbeck [1978] - Former NFL quarterback, now analyst with ESPN

Oh, and before I go any further, may I wish you all a very happy...

Feast Day of:

St Sixtus

St Elstan

St Irenaeus of Sirmium

St Celestine I

St Marcellinus of Carthage

St Prudentius of Troyes

St Eutychius of Constantinople

St William of Eskilsoè

Blessed Notker

Chakri Day (Thailand)

New Beer's Eve (USA)

First day of the fiscal year (UK)

and, of course, Tartan Day (all you Scots in the USA)

...and who could ever forget;

1830 - Joseph Smith formed The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1896 - 8 nations fought it out in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens

1909 - Pearey and Henson claim to be the first explorers to reach the North Pole

1917 - The United States enters WW1

1928 -James Watson discovers DNA

1938 - Roy Plunkett of the Du Pont company invented Teflon

1947 - the inaugural Tony Awards ceremony for US theatre took place

1965 - "Early Bird", the first commercial ComSat, was launched

1968 - US race riots begin following the shooting of Martin Luther King

1973 - Pioneer II launched

1974 - Abba win Eurovision with "Waterloo"

1992 - death of one of my favourite SF writers, the great Isaac Asimov

1994 - The shooting-down of the plane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi triggers the Rwandan genocide

2008 - A general strike in Egypt, organised largely via social media, centres around Mahalla

2017 - death of US comic and actor Don Rickles