Sorry, a day late for any birthday fuss on their behalf, but there’s little to celebrate in these troubled times and the kind of people whose passing birthdays I noticed yesterday aren’t really the types who would end up being denounced for inappropriate partying anyway. Anyway, let’s have a bit of astrological nonsense and make an extravagant claim concerning the astral and planetary alignment determining that people born on on 12 January are unusually blessed with the creative literary insights to ensure success. Happy Capricorn?

Waldemar Januszczak

David Mitchell

Walter Mosely

Haruki Murakami

William Nicholson

Issa Rae

Simon Russell Beale