I share my birthday today with a lot of people from history that I have never heard of. Not a very inspiring bunch really at face value but no doubt contributing individually and collectively to the resilience and fortunes of the human race.
I do them a great disservice in dismissing their achivements in such a flippant way but the usual entry in today's press for 'born on this day in history' does look a bit spartan and more of a who's who of who's that.
I expect that those currently reading up on planning a family may try to avoid an early to mid October conception specifically to evade giving birth on the 17th of July in the following year. They may see this as an essential course of action to give their child a head start in life, as important as getting them into the best pre-school french language class, best preparatory cuisine school and private financial embezzlement stream at secondary level.
I can only really relate to persons of the more modern era born on this day and these include James Cagney, Kiefer Sutherland's Dad, Camilla Parker Bowles and Tim Brooke Taylor.
There is a definite or at least a 75% bias in this short and selective list for fame or notoriety from some form of dramatic and performance based career. I would have hoped for some members of the 17th July club to hail from a scientific background , the humanitarian sector, the realm of engineers and the ranks of sports persons.
If only Mrs Indurain had been able to hold on for a few more hours I would have had the great cyclist and athlete Miguel for company.
It is however a good day and a good time of year to celebrate. It may even be a strong candidate for the best ever birthday day of the year. I will take any representations on this from disgruntled or aggrieved parties.
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