Saddam Hussein, Winston Churchill and the Queen have two things in common. They are or were all leaders, and the first-born children in their families.
Tony Blair and John F Kennedy are defined as negotiators and were both middle-born. Mahatma Gandhi and Andy Warhol were last-born, and born to be rebels.
If you have wondered whether birth order might explain why you or your children are leaders, followers or rebels, the answer may be found in Me First (World, 10pm), which explores the effect the position in our family has on our past and futures, and asks whether genes or birth order are more important.
Many maintain that such studies are assumptions, either flawed or superfluous. The examples quoted are certainly flawed. Another programme could define Blair, Kennedy and Gandhi as leaders. But the subject is intriguing, especially for parents watching their youngest children strive to match their elders, and their eldest lord it over their siblings.
Statistics show that many pilots, statesmen and policemen are eldest children, while the more older brothers a boy has, the greater the chance he has of being gay. I am not sure whether Pedro Almodovar is first, middle or last born, but he is most certainly a leader and rebel in the film industry.
Tonight Cable viewers can enjoy his hilarious, irreverent Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Movie 2, 10.30pm), a superb tonic for anyone who suspects they could be losing it. In Almodovar's post-Franco Spain, everyone is passionately mad.
Almovodar's homemade short films were famous in the Spanish counter-culture of the 1970s, and his subsequent movies have long entertained those with a taste for the outlandish. Only this year has he won Hollywood's official seal of approval, taking home the Best Foreign Film Oscar for All About My Mother.