BIRTHDAY WISHES TO SOME PRETTY COOL PEOPLE. Yes indeed, I just noticed that today is the birthday of a passle of interesting folks.

• NIGEL PLANER - is 55 years old today. It seems hard to fathom that the ultra-hippy Neil from THE YOUNG ONES could possibly be that old! Have a pot of lentils in his honour.

• JULIE WALTERS - is 58 today. I will forever associate her with one movie role and that is her Oscar-nominated turn in EDUCATING RITA. Love that movie! Legally change your name to "Rita" in her honour.

• MARNI NIXON - is 78 today. Marni Nixon was mostly unknown because she anonymously provided the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn in MY FAIR LADY and for Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY to name a few. Hum a few bars of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" in her honour.

• KENNETH WILLIAMS - would've been 82 today. This guy cracks me up! From all the CARRY ON movies to his hilarious appearances on the BBC radio show ROUND THE HORNE ("If you frown, you'll get crow's feet!) to his one-man show AN AUDIENCE WITH KENNETH WILLIAMS, he was a national treasure who died too soon. Flare your nostrils in his honour.

• DON THE BEACHCOMBER - would've been 101 today. Don was the originator of the whole tiki/lounge craze that started in the 40's-50's which I love so much. He opened Don the Beachcomber restaurants across the country, invented many tropical drinks including the zombie and was pretty much a righteous mellow dude. Put on a Martin Denny record and mix yourself a tropical drink in his honour.

• DWIGHT FRYE - would have been 109 today. The great character actor who appeared in countless classic horror films. He played Renfield to Bela Lugosi's DRACULA as well as playing the hunchbacked servant in 1931's FRANKENSTEIN. And he also did that faboo Renfield laugh I love to do so often. C'mon. . . do the Renfield laugh in his honour. Hnnnnnnhh-Hnnnnnnnhhhh-Hnnnnnnnnnhhhhh!