Some celebrities are said to tell white lies about their age but it's rare to find someone doing it for them.

Yet that is exactly what we seem to have been up to with our birthdays column which appears on page 3 each day.

It was Graham Chainey, from Brighton, who prompted my investigation after comparing our entries of April 17 with those of The Times.

He says: "Of the five entries common to you both (you had four that The Times omitted), not one agreed as to age. You said Victoria Beckham was 26, The Times said 28. You claimed James Last was 72, they said 73. You gave both Clare Francis and Henry Kelly as 55, they had them as 56. You marked Sean Bean at 42, they said 44.

"It looks as if you haven't updated them from one year to the next unless you are trying to please these celebrities by making them look younger than they are."

I turned to Jonathan Grun, editor of the Press Association, which supplies our birthdays, for an answer and, somewhat red-faced, he owns up.

He says: "I am sorry to say our features team did get them wrong and the idiot responsible has been taken to task.

"I can only apologise for our stupid mistake which is a great embarrassment to me and the department concerned. Thank you for drawing it to my attention - we will try to do better in future."

So there you have it, Graham, an apology from one of the most important men in what was once known as Fleet Street. I hope the stars won't blank us now we'll be revealing their true ages!

Our story last Thursday on Hove author Stephen Shannon's new book about royal nicknames said it would be launched today at the Kensington Caf in Kensington Street, Brighton. In fact, the caf, as users will know, is in Kensington Gardens.

I have been asked by Springfield County First School in Worthing to point out our news feature on April 22 about school truancy said the names of truants were read out at meetings of their junior governors when in fact it was the names of pupils with 100 per cent attendance. Sorry.

After my corrections last week to our Brighton and Hove Walk of Fame series, I have heard from David Greig, of Goring, who says he noticed there was no complaint from our very own Sage of Sussex, Adam Trimingham.

"I would have thought he had grounds," says David, "since in your nomination (The Argus, April 6), he was described as 'manging', whereas I would have thought from the picture that he was ageing quite gracefully."

He is indeed, David, and of course the word should have been managing (his contacts). Sorry, too, to my fellow columnist.

An article on April 5 about volunteers building an otter holt near Hailsham did not say they were from the South Downs Volunteer Ranger Service, who work hard to protect our natural heritage.

I'm grateful to Melanie Woodland of the Sussex Downs Conservation Board for the information.

In our Weekend cover story on April 20, we said in a caption to a picture that Lewes produce store owner Bill Collinson earned more than £1 million a year. In fact, he had said his turnover was £1 million a year, as the story made clear. Our apologies to Bill.

Finally, Mrs K Jolly, of Hove, writes to thank us for our new Numberwords puzzle, which has replaced the weekly quiz on Saturdays.

If you haven't already tried it, check it out tomorrow.