The film actress Sigourney Weaver made her name in four Alien sci-fi films in which she played the astronaut Ellen Ripley. It is 11 years since the last one but she talks about a possible Alien 5: “If sixty-somethings like Harrison Ford can do it then so can I.” She is busy preparing five new movies and claims that she is looking forward to being 80: “I can play Miss Marple like Margaret Rutherford.” Sigourney Weaver is 59 today. RGT

Other birthdays

Martin Landau, theatre producer, 84; Alasdair Milne, Director-General BBC, 1982-87, 78; Bel Mooney, writer and broadcaster, 62; Dame Merle Park, Principal, Royal Ballet School, 71; Sir Peter Ramsbotham, Ambassador to the United States, 1974-77, 89; Albert Roux, chef and restaurateur, 73; His Hon Edgar Stewart Fay, QC, circuit judge, 100; Sir Ray Tindle, chairman, Tindle Newspapers, 82.