(1652-1715) Irish poet. He wrote an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear with a happy ending. He also produced a version of the psalms and hymns; among his poems is ‘While shepherds watched’. He became British poet laureate 1692.

(1943-) English conductor. He was appointed chief conductor and artistic director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra 1991. He assisted at Covent Garden, London 1970–77 and under Boulez at Bayreuth, S Germany 1976 before making a remarkable operatic debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera 1980 with Berg’s expressionist masterpiece Lulu.