More than two-thirds of stars belong to multiple stellar systems. Binary stars are considered now as one of the best constraints on stellar formation models. Not only do binaries keep memory of their birth conditions but their orbit will also be subjected to changes by tidal effects, wind accretion and encounters in clusters. Certainly the correlation between orbital eccentricity and period is a clue to our understanding of double star history. The most recent observations are discussed in these proceedings with the aim of disentangling evidence of stellar formation from later physical evolution. Each article is a paper that was read at a September 1991 meeting organized to honour Dr Roger Griffin of the University of Cambridge for his pioneer work in galactic astronomy, dynamics of clusters and study on binary stars due to his cross-correlation technique to determine stellar radial velocities.