What was going on when I was born?

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's election triumph in Britain, after the conservative victory in West Germany's elections three months ago, could persuade the Kremlin to reassess its approach to the Geneva talks on medium-range missiles, Western diplomats here believe. The British election result, returning a Government that has been staunch in its support of Washington's stand in the Geneva talks, effectively closes the door on Soviet hopes of achieving a favorable outcome in the talks through the processes of Western European politics, in the view of a number of well-placed European diplomats who have been monitoring Soviet negotiating strategy. Although elections are to be held next month in Italy, a third nation that has agreed to accept United States medium-range missiles if no agreement is reached in Geneva, the diplomats believe the outcome there is likely to have little impact on Soviet thinking, even if it strengthens left-wing parties opposed to the proposed cruise missile deployments in Sicily. Soviet 'Twin Track' Approach In the diplomats' view, the Kremlin has been pursuing its own version of the West's ''twin-track'' approach to the missile issue - negotiating tentatively at Geneva, while hoping that public opposition to the American missiles would overwhelm the governments that agreed to accept them, eliminating the necessity for substantial Soviet concessions.

In an article Saturday on a possible takeover bid for Sotheby Parke Bernet, the number of shares in the art-auction house held by A. Alfred Taubman was incorrect. Mr. Taubman owns more than 5 percent of the total stock, which is 11 million shares.

The Yankees struggled evenly with Mike Caldwell for 11 innings today before he went reluctantly to the showers. But they still lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5, in the 12th as Jim Gantner singled home Cecil Cooper with the bases filled, two out and Rudy May pitching with the count at 3-2. The result was a disappointment not only to the Yankees, who have started a long stretch of games against Eastern Division rivals, but also to May, who was scheduled to make his first start since last August on Tuesday in Cleveland. Teammates came over to the veteran and tapped him on the shoulder as he stared, speechless, in the clubhouse after the game. In the Brewer clubhouse, Caldwell was not smiling, either. He has the finest career mark of pitchers who have defeated the Yankees at least 10 times - 12-3, an .800 percentage. But he was lifted after the 11th with the score 5-5.

The United States, Britain, West Germany and Japan should expand their economies more quickly to help avert an international debt crisis and foster world recovery, the Bank for International Settlements said in its annual report. By doing so, the bank said, the four nations would raise demand for the exports of developing countries, enabling them to repay their heavy debts. (Page D1.)

Ever since 1870, when George Garvin Brown sealed the first bottle of Old Forester bourbon and affixed a handwritten label to it, the Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation has not strayed from its basic spirits and wine business. It has been steadfast even through Prohibition, when the Government allowed Brown-Forman to sell its products only by prescription, and more recently, during a slowdown in the growth of industry sales to less than 2 percent a year. But last week, the distiller made its first attempt to diversify. William Lee Lyons Brown Jr., Brown-Forman's 47-year-old president and the great grandson of its founder, announced an offer to acquire Lenox Inc., a maker of fine china, luggage, crystal and rings for an indicated price of $413 million.

Severiano Ballesteros, the Spaniard whose flair for dramatics has been an exciting addition to golf in recent years, won another tournament in just that manner today as he eagled the final hole to break a three-way tie and capture the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic. Tied for the lead with Andy Bean and Craig Stadler as he walked to the 18th tee, the 26-year-old Ballesteros knew he had to birdie the 535-yard, par-5 18th at the Westchester Country Club's West Course to prevent a playoff. Stadler and Bean were in the clubhouse by then. Ballesteros, one of the longest hitters in the world, hit a drive slightly more than 300 yards into the fairway and then hit a spectacular 3-iron shot of 225 yards over a front bunker that put his ball 6 feet from the cup. He dropped that putt, beat Stadler and Bean by two shots gained on the eagle 3 and earned the first prize of $81,000.

The Baldwin-United Corporation plans to sell its savings and loan subsidiary, the Empire Savings, Building and Loan Association, as part of a divestiture program aimed at raising $500 million by the end of the year, the company's president said yesterday. In a telephone interview, Victor H. Palmieri said the company also planned to sell off its interest in a joint venture with Kroger Inc., a grocery-store chain; six mortgage banking companies, and some small life insurance subsidiaries. Mr. Palmieri had stated earlier he expects to raise between $85 million and $100 million from the sale of the mortgage banks. Empire Savings, based in Denver, lost $1.5 million in 1982, according to Baldwin-United's 1982 form 10K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In terms of total assets, it ranked third among savings and loans operating in Colorado last year.

For years, whenever Canh Tran saw a dress at a bargain price, he would buy it for his eldest daughter, Thuy, planning to give it to her on the day she arrived in America. But eight years passed, Thuy remained in Vietnam, and each time his second daughter grew big enough to wear one of the dresses, Mr. Tran would know that Thuy had outgrown it. Thuy was 5 years old when the Trans fled Vietnam. The girl who stood at the arrival gate at Kennedy International Airport on Friday night was 13.

Later this week, Ariela Gross is to meet President Reagan. The President will give her a medallion. In return, Miss Gross plans to give the President a petition urging that he support a proposed Congressional resolution calling for a nuclear freeze. Miss Gross, a 17-year-old from Princeton, N.J., is one of 141 high school seniors chosen this year as Presidential Scholars, a group of young people honored for high academic and artistic achievement, as well as proven interest in community social issues.

Since the appearance of penicillin during World War II as the first of the ''miracle drugs,'' antibiotics have helped tame many of the terrors of human health. They have helped to cure countless victims of tuberculosis, scarlet fever, pneumonia and other dreaded killers, and people have come to ask for them - and doctors to prescribe them - for almost any ailment. Today, antibiotics have expanded into a $1.6 billion business in the United States, the biggest prescription drug market. The hunt for new compounds has developed a furious intensity, as has the marketing rivalry among the pharmaceutical giants.

''I was still looking for a little girl. I said: 'No that is not her.

A resurgent demand for big cars has forced the nation's two biggest auto makers, General Motors and Ford, into violating Federal minimum mileage standards, confronting them with a potential liability of millions of dollars in fines. The General Motors Corporation is liable for fines of $420 million this year, while the Ford Motor Company's liability is an estimated $163 million. Although the 1983 penalties would be largely offset by credits from past years in which the auto makers surpassed Federal standards, Detroit faces even stiffer fines in the 1984 and 1985 model years, without the benefit of offsetting credits. The Federal mileage standard for this year is 26 miles per gallon, meaning that the companies must each produce a fleet of cars whose average fuel consumption does not exceed that ceiling. The standard increases to 27 miles per gallon in the 1984 model year and to the final level of 27.5 miles per gallon in 1985.