THURSDAY JANUARY 26 Births: Douglas Macarthur, US Army general, 1880; Michael Bentine, comedian, 1922; Jacqueline du Pre, cellist, 1945. Deaths: William Wrigley, chewing gum pioneer, 1932; Edward G Robinson, actor, 1973; Nelson Rockefeller, US statesman,

THURSDAY JANUARY 26 Births: Douglas Macarthur, US Army general, 1880; Michael Bentine, comedian, 1922; Jacqueline du Pre, cellist, 1945. Deaths: William Wrigley, chewing gum pioneer, 1932; Edward G Robinson, actor, 1973; Nelson Rockefeller, US statesman, 1979. FRIDAY JANUARY 27 Births: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer, 1756; Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1832; Jerome Kern, composer, 1885. Deaths: Giuseppe Verdi, composer of Aida and Rigoletto, 1901; Thomas Sopwith, aircraft designer, 1989. SATURDAY JANUARY 28 Births: Henry VII, 1457; Henry Morton Stanley, journalist and explorer, 1841; Jackson Pollock, artist, 1921; Ronnie Scott, jazz musician and club owner, 1927. Deaths: Francis Drake, explorer, 1596; WB Yeats, poet, 1939; Billy Fury, rock singer, 1983. SUNDAY JANUARY 29 Births: Thomas Paine, political writer, 1737; William McKinley, US President, 1843; Anton Chekhov, dramatist who wrote The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya, 1860. Deaths: King George III, 1820; Alan Ladd, actor, 1964. MONDAY JANUARY 30 Births: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, US President, 1882. Deaths: King Charles I, 1649; Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian leader, 1948; Stanley Holloway, actor, 1982. TUESDAY JANUARY 31 Births: Franz Schubert, composer, 1797; Zane Grey, wild west author, 1872; Mario Lanza, singer, 1921. Deaths: AA Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh, 1956; Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood studio boss, 1974. WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1 Births: John Ford, director of Stagecoach and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, 1895; Clark Gable, star of Gone With the Wind, 1901; Sir Stanley Matthews, soccer legend, 1915. Deaths: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, creator of Frankenstein, 1851; Buster Keaton, Hollywood silent movie star, 1966.