Thank you for the help on this one.
I had been trying for a couple of hours, before remembering to read the Forum. And, I just realized the difference between the marks:
' and `
If you have difficulty in seeing the difference, as I do, the first tick is vertical, and the second is slanted from top left to bottom right.
banner 'date +%x' does not work, but banner `date +%x` does.
-Wes