(11 November), the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Births 4 January – Dave Ulliott, professional poker player (died 2015) 6 January Anthony Minghella, film director (died 2008) Trudie Styler, actress and activist 10 January – John Gidman, footballer and manager 9 February – Kevin Warwick, scientist 16 February – Iain Banks, writer (died 2013) 20 February – Anthony Head, actor 22 January – Paul O'Brien, chemist (died 2018) 4 March – Willie Thorne, snooker player (died 2020) 8 March – David Wilkie, swimmer 13 March – Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, politician 15 March – Clare Marx, surgeon (died 2022) 16 March – Jimmy Nail, singer, songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer 17 March – Lesley-Anne Down, actress 24 March – Jude Kelly, arts administrator 30 March – Kari Blackburn, journalist (died 2007) 1 April – Arnold Sidebottom, footballer and cricketer 19 April – Trevor Francis, footballer 1 May – Archie Norman, politician and businessman 8 May – Gary Wilmot, entertainer 9 May – Andrew Dillon, businessman 14 May – Peter J. Ratcliffe, cellular biologist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 28 May – Andy Hamilton, comedian, director and screenwriter 10 July – Neil Tennant, musician 18 July – Peter Crane, English-American botanist and academic 2 August – Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and football manager 11 August – Joe Jackson, singer 25 August – Elvis Costello, singer 26 August – Steve Wright, disc jockey 1 September – Richard Burden, politician 15 September – Colin Cunningham, swimmer 19 September – Mark Drakeford, Welsh politician 24 September – Helen Lederer, Welsh comedian and actress 3 November – Adam Ant, singer 8 November – Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born author, recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature 5 December – Hanif Kureishi, novelist and screenwriter 8 December – Louis de Bernières, author 25 December – Annie Lennox, singer 31 December – Alex Salmond, Scottish National Party leader and First Minister of Scotland Deaths 18 January – Sydney Greenstreet, actor (born 1879) 20 January – Fred Root, cricketer (born 1890) 8 February – Ronald Stuart, Royal Navy captain, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1886) 4 March – John Dalzell Kenworthy, artist, sculptor and writer (born 1858) 26 March – James Peters, black rugby union international (born 1879) 29 April – K. C. Groom, fiction writer (born 1872) 6 May – B. C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (born 1880) 7 June –