What was going on when I was born?

Under this heading, The Times amplifies articles or rectifies what the editors consider significant lapses of fairness, balance or perspective.

Anne McGill Burford, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has told aides that she has advised President Reagan to give members of the House unconditional access to disputed agency documents and that his course in trying to end his dispute with Congress is doomed to failure. In wide-ranging conversations, Mrs. Burford told the aides that the President failed to follow her advice because he was getting poor guidance from his White House staff and the Justice Department. Tonight, Deputy Attorney General Edward C. Schmults told Mrs. Burford that the Justice Department would no longer represent her or the agency in matters related to Congressional subpoenas, Administration officials said. The decision affects Mrs. Burford directly because she is under a contempt-of-Congress citation for withholding certain documents at the direction of Mr. Reagan, who said they were covered by executive privilege. A Conflict Is Cited A knowledgeable Administration official said the Justice Department could no longer represent the agency or its officials because the President, acting at Mrs. Burford's request, had ordered the department to investigate charges of agency mismanagement. Therefore, to represent Mrs. Burford and the agency would constitute a conflict of interest, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

Despite what the Bowery Savings Bank says, you can buy a pizza here at 2 A.M. Bank officials were informed of that fact by none other than Mayor Angelo R. Martinelli. He took exception to a television commercial that he said ''denigrated the city and its people'' and that ''erred'' when it suggested a person could not get a pizza at 2 A.M. ''DeFemio's Restaurant and Bar on Tuckahoe Road serves pizza until 3 A.M.'' Mr. Martinelli said. The Bowery said today that it would withdraw the commercial and issued a public apology to the Mayor and the people of Yonkers. ''We never meant to insult Yonkers or its people,'' said Diane Tracy, vice president and director of communications for the Bowery. ''The commercial was meant to be humorous in nature, and we regret if it offended the people of Yonkers.''

''You, my beloved children have the grave responsibility to break the chain of hate that produces hate, and of violence that engenders violence.

The three major stock market indicators closed yesterday at record levels for the third consecutive session as stock prices gained strong support from continued heavy buying by pension funds and other institutions. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3 points, to 1,138.06. The New York Stock Exchange's composite index of 1,500 common stocks rose 0.70, to 88.48, while Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced 1.18, to 153.48. Since the beginning of February, the Dow has climbed almost 80 points, mainly because of an improving economy and because investors believe that falling oil prices will keep down inflation and interest rates.

International The Pope spoke of human rights in Central America and called for increased international action to curb abuses. Hours before John Paul II's statement in San Jose, Costa Rica, the Guatemalan Government, rejecting a request from the Vatican, executed six men found guilty of subversive acts by a secret military tribunal. The Vatican denounced the action in a statement that gave no hint the Pope would change his plans to visit Guatemala next week. (Page A1, Column 1.) Advanced elections in El Salvador have been scheduled, according to Salvadoran politicians. They said that the provisional Government had decided to hold the presidential elections in December instead of next March. The Reagan Administration had pressed for such a change. (A1:2-3.)

Arthur Koestler, an archetype of the activist Central European intellectual who drew on his Communist background for the antitotalitarian novel ''Darkness at Noon,'' was found dead with his wife at their London home yesterday. Police officials said their deaths were apparently by suicide. Scotland Yard said the police, alerted by a maid, found the bodies of Mr. Koestler, who was 77 years old, and his wife, Cynthia, believed to be in her 50's, seated in chairs in the living room of their home in the Knightsbridge section. The maid, Amelia Marino, had found a note instructing her to call the police. Police officials said they believed Mr. Koestler suffered from leukemia and Parkinson's disease but that his wife was not known to have had any grave ailment. The police said the deaths appeared to be from an overdose of barbiturate tablets. Autopsies were to be conducted today.

Pope John Paul II called today for a strengthening of international action against human rights violations in Central America. The Pope's remarks came hours after Guatemala, rejecting a request from the Vatican, executed six men whom a secret military tribunal had found guilty of subversive acts. (Page A9.) In a statement issued here, the Vatican denounced the action as deplorable and ''incredible for its possible grave repercussions at the world and national level as well as at the level of the Holy See.'' The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Romeo Panciroli, said the Pope had expressed ''profound sadness'' at the news, which the Vatican described as ''dramatic, unexpected and incredible.''

Stock prices swept upward again, with the three major indicators closing at record levels for the third consecutive session. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3 points, to 1,138.06, while the Big Board's composite index rose 0.70, to 88.48, and Standard & Poor's index rose 1.18, to 153.48. Turnover increased to 114.4 million shares in the third 100 million-plus session in a row. (Page D1.) Interest rates rose and prices fell in all maturities of the Treasury market. Investor demand was said to be weak. (D6.) Citicorp is selling a $750 million issue of floating rate notes. (D6.) Assets of money market funds declined $1.5 billion during the week ended Wednesday, Donoghue's Money Fund Report said. (D8.)

An article in Business Day Feb. 23 incorrectly reported the status of Steelmet Inc. on the American Stock Exchange. A spokesman said the exchange had halted trading in shares of Steelmet, which filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Act, but had not yet decided whether to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the issue.

A group of 29 House members, mostly Democrats from the Northeast and Middle West, offered a plan today to roll back the price of natural gas to January 1982 levels and generally tighten Government control over the industry. The proposal seemed likely to become the main alternative to a vastly different Administration bill, which calls for complete decontrol of gas prices in 1986. That bill went to Capitol Hill Monday. ''It is the feeling this is going to be the other vehicle,'' said an aide to Dan Glickman, a Kansas Democrat who is one of the sponsors.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is venturing out of its hometown in West Germany for the first time to offer a German Book Fair in New York. More than 500 publishers, mostly from West Germany, will be exhibiting some 17,000 titles today through Monday at the Sheraton Centre, Seventh Avenue and 52d Street. In addition, exhibits, readings and talks are scheduled at the hotel and at other sites. For instance, a panel discussion with Max Frisch, Gunter Grass, John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates and others on ''The Responsibility of the Writer in an Endangered World,'' moderated by Ted Solotaroff, is scheduled for Sunday at 7 P.M. at the New School for Social Research, 66 West 12th Street. It's all free. Information: 765-9124.