17th

  • This first issue of the magazine Vogue was published today in
  • Playing for Victoria against Queensland at Melbourne in 1927, Bill Ponsford scored 437 runs to beat his own world record of 429 set nearly five years earlier.
  • The Danish athlete Charles Winckler passed away today in 1932, he was born in 1867. He competed in the 1900 Olympic Games in the Shot Putt in which he was 10th and the Discus in which he was placed eight. He was also part of the Danish-Swedish Tug-of-War team which the Gold medal against France. He was the Danish national Discus record holder for 10 years until 1907, with a distance of 32.14, as well as national shot putt record holder between 1896 and 1903.
  • Ray Wilson, a member of the England team that won the World Cup in 1966, was born today in 1934. A full-back, he was responsible for West Germany’s opening goal in the final, although that didn’t much matter in the end! After hanging up his boots in 1971 Ray became an undertaker until he retired in 1997, now at 81years old he sadly suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Australian media magnate Kerry Packer was born in 1937. He turned the world of cricket upside down in 1977 by announcing plans to launch a World Cricket series. Ian Chappell of Australia and Tony Grieg of England were signed up to lead the teams which would compose of the world’s best players. Alarmed by the prospect of losing leading players from the Test arena, the authorities threatened to ban from Test cricket all those who joined Parker’s circus. Though some players who took part never found favour with the selectors again the circus folded fairly quickly.
  • New Zealand middle-distance runner Peter Snell was born in 1938. He won the 800m at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Four years later, in Tokyo, he retained his title and also won the 1500m to become the first post-war athlete to both events at the same Games. He broke the world mile record held by Herb Elliott in 1962, with a time of 3mins 54.4secs, and bettered this two years later.
  • Paula Radcliffe, long-distance runner and world marathon record holder, was born on this day in 1973. The IAAF recognizes two world records for women, a “Mixed Gender” record currently 2:15:25, set by Paula in April 13, 2003 at the London Marathon, and a “Women Only” record, also held by Radcliffe – 2:17:42 – set on April 17, 2005 in the London Marathon. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and won the 2002 Chicago Marathon. Radcliffe is a former world champion in the marathon, half marathon and cross country. She has also been European champion over 10,000m and in cross country. On the track, Radcliffe won the 10,000m silver medal at the 1999 World Championships and was the 2002 Commonwealth champion at 5000m. She represented Great Britain at the Olympics four times consecutively (1996 to 2008), although she did not win a podium position in these events. Her running has earned her a number of accolades including the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Laureus World Comeback of the Year, IAAF World Athlete of the Year, AIMS World Athlete of the Year (three times) and a Member of the Order of the British Empire. She has also been nominated for World Sportswoman of the year on several occasions. In 2010, she was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame. She ended her competitive running career at the 2015 London Marathon.
  • On this day in 2013 Australia on the 3rd Test to win the 2013/14 Ashes Test series.
  • Jose Mourinho was sacked as the manager of Chelsea Football Club today in 2015

18th

  • Championships belts, now very much part of world boxing, were introduced in 1810 when Tom Cribb, the popular champion bareknuckle boxer, was presented with one after beating Tom Molineaux at Copthall Common, England. The belt was presented by King George III, a keen fan of pugilism.
  • Matt McGrath, member of the Irish American Athletic Club, the New York Athletic Club, and the New York City Police Departmentwas born on this day in 1875. At the time of his death at age 65, he attained the rank of Inspector, and during his career received the NYPD’s Medal of Valour twice. He competed for the U.S. team in the Olympics in 1908, 1912, 1920 and 1924 (at age 47). He won Gold in 1912 and silver in both 1908 and 1924. An off day at the 1928 Final Olympic trials just kept him off the 1928 Olympic team. There was a public outcry over McGrath’s omission and although he went to Amsterdam after a subscription fund had been raised to pay for his transportation, he was, not surprisingly, not allowed to compete. In his prime, he was known as “one of the world’s greatest weight throwers”, he remained in the world’s top ten up to the age of 50, making his career one of the longest and most consistent in the history of the sport.
  • Born on this day in 1910 was Eric Tindill, New Zealand sportsman. Tindill held a number of unique records: he was the oldest ever Test cricketer at the time of his death in 2010 , the only person to play Tests for New Zealand in both cricket and rugby union (a so-called “double All Black”), and the only person ever to play Tests in both sports, referee a rugby union Test, and umpire a cricket Test: a unique “double-double” While Tindill is the only person to have played Tests in both cricket and rugby union for New Zealand, six other players have represented New Zealand in both rugby union and cricket. Tindill became the oldest living Test cricketer on 16 February 2004, on the death of Don Cleverley. On 8 November 2009, he surpassed Francis MacKinnon, who played one Test for England in 1879 and lived to 98 years and 324 days, as the oldest Test cricketer in history.  His Test longevity record was surpassed on 23 March 2011 by Norman Gordon. He became the oldest living All Black on 8 October 2001, on the death of Raymond Williams and was the last surviving All Black who played a Test before World War II. The oldest ever Test rugby player remains Scotland’s Mac Henderson, who died on 5 March 2009 aged 101 years and 309 days. After Tindill’s death, the oldest living Test cricketer became former South African fast bowler Norman Gordon, and the oldest living All Black was Maurice McHugh.
  • In 1961, for the 2nd consecutive year the Associated Press named Wilma Rudolph as female athlete of the year. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.
  • Top American amateur golfer Bobby Jones died on 1971 after a long illness. On the same day in 1971, Stan Mellor became the first National Hunt jockey to ride 1000 winners when Ouze crossed the finishing line first at Nottingham.
  • In 1988, Australia defeated England by 8 wickets to win the Women’s World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

19th

  • In London on this day in 1924 the last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was sold.
  • In 1932 the BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.
  • Born on this day in 1951 was the British mountaineer Alan Rouse, who was the first British climber to reach the summit of the second highest mountain in the world, K2, but died on the descent. In August of 1986 Rouse, who was attempting to climb a more difficult route up the mountain with a British team, eventually teamed up with two of Austrian climbers, Willi Bauer and Alfred Imitzer, reached the summit together on 4 August 1986. On the descent a snow storm with 160kph winds and freezing conditions hit, with no food and no gas to heat snow for water, the climbers started to suffer from high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). All were in a much-weakened state and Rouse, who was either unconscious or in agony was unable to continue, so the others took the difficult decision to leave him in order to save their own lives. Rouse is presumed to have died on 10 August 1986. He was survived by his girlfriend, Deborah Sweeney, who gave birth to their daughter, Holly, three weeks later. The library of the British Mountaineering Council is named in honour of Alan Rouse.
  • Liverpool played their first game under new manager Bill Shankly on this day in 1959. Shankly had been appointed manager a few days earlier after being released by Carlisle United. The new partnership did not get off to a good start, the second-division side losing their match 4-0 at home to Cardiff City in front of 27,291 fans, Shankly’s first Liverpool team was: Slater, Molyneux, Moran (later managed the side), Wheeler, White, Campbell (later managed Fulham and Chelsea), Morris, Hunt, Hickson, Melia (the man who guided Brighton to the 1983 FA Cup Final) and A’Court. Shankly would be instrumental in building the Merseyside club into one of the most successful sides in Europe.
  • Born today in 1985, Italian foil fencer Andrea Baldini, who was the world champion in 2009 and team Olympic champion in 2012.
  • Gary Kasparov beat fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov in 1987 to retain the world chess title he won in 1985.
  • The Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams was jailed for nine months, five of them suspended, on this day in 1990 following a drink-driving offence.
  • On the same day that Adams was sent down, the East and West German international football teams underwent ‘reunification’, playing as a United German Team, the first for 40 years, in a friendly against Switzerland, Germany won 4-0.
  • The Spanish bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez died today in 1998. He was one of the top bullfighters of his time. As a matador, Ordóñez came face to face with over 3,000 bulls. He finally retired in 1968, having fought over 60 bullfights in that year alone, but came back until finally retiring in 1988. He was honoured with a monument at the gates of La Malaguetabullring in Málaga and his ashes lie beneath the “toril” gate, opened to allow the bull to enter, in the oldest bullring in the world, in his home town of Ronda. His family owned the arena and there is a statue of him outside.
  • English football professional and personality Jimmy Hill died on this day in 2015. His career included almost every role in the sport, including player,trade union leader, coach, manager, director, chairman, television executive, presenter, analyst and assistant referee. He began his playing career at Brentford in 1949 and moved to Fulham three years later. As president of the Professional Footballers’ Association, he successfully campaigned for an end to The Football League’s maximum wage in 1961. After retiring as a player, he took over as manager of Coventry City, modernising the team’s image and guiding them from the Third to the First Division. In 1967, he began a career in football broadcasting, and from 1973 to 1988 was host of the BBC’s Match of the Day.

20th

  • Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman was born on this day in 1886. She is among the most influential figures in tennis and founder of the Wightman Cup, an annual team competition for British and American women. She dominated American women’s tennis before World War I, and won 45 U.S. titles during her life. In recognition of Wightman’s contributions to tennis, the USTA Service Bowl was donated in her honour. In 1973 The Queen named Wightman an honorary Commander of the British Empire.
  • On this day in 1894 England beat Australia by 10 runs in the 1stsix-day Test cricket, Australia needed 177 to win but were all-out for 166 on the 6th
  • The former Belgian professional cyclist Rik Van Looy was born in 1933. Nicknamed the King of the Classics or Emperor of Herentals, after the small Belgian town where he lived, he was twice world professional road race champion, and was the first cyclist to win all five ‘Monuments’: the most prestigious one-day classics – a feat since achieved by just two others (both also Belgians: Roger De Vlaeminck and Eddy Merckx). With 379 road victories he’s second to Merckx only. He is ninth on the all-time list of Grand Tour stage winners with thirty-seven victories.
  • American motor-cycling ace Freddie Spencer was born in 1961.  The world 500cc champion in 1983, he became the first man to win the 250 and 500cc titles in the same season two year later, all his titles were won on a Honda. His grand prix career was short, only lasting four seasons (1985-85), but in that time he won 27 races.
  • Yugoslav midfielder Dejan Savicevic became the world’s most costliest footballer in 1991 when he moved to AC Milan from Athletico Madrid for £11.5million. Under the deal Savicevic would receive about £7 million over four years.
  • The American dog-breeder and trainer Anne Rogers Clark died today in 2006.  She was one of the few people licensed to judge all 165 breeds and varieties recognized by the American Kennel Club. She was also the first woman to win best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show as a professional handler, and she tied for second there among all handlers with three best in shows. Her 22 judging appearances at Westminster matched the record

21st

  • Walter Hagan, one of golf’s most flamboyant characters, was born in 1892. He helped to popularise the game in the 1920s and played a considerable role in elevating the status of the professional golfer in both the USA and Britain. He won the US PGA title five times, the British Open four times and the US Open twice. This total of 11 Majors has caused some debate among golf historians, some of whom think that Hagan should actually be credited with 16 major championships, second only to Jack Nicklaus and two ahead of Tiger Woods. However, counting the US Amateur, which is no longer considered a major championship, Woods’s three Amateurs titles gives him a total of 17, three behind Nicklaus’s 20. Hagen captured the Western Open five times (1916, ’21, ’26, ’27, and ’32), at a time when the Western Open was considered one of the premier events on the world golf schedule, second only to the U.S. and British Opens. Hagan died in 1969, aged 76.
  • On this day in 1913 Arthur Wynne‘s “word-cross”, the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
  • Irish golfer Christie O’Connor was born in 1924  A veteran of ten Ryder Cup contests between 1955 and 1973, he came closest to winning a Major in 1965 when he was runner up to Peter Thompson in the British Open at Birkdale.
  • British flat-race jockey Greville Starkey was born in 1939. He rode Shirley Heights to victory in the 1978 Epsom and Irish Derbies. He also won the Arc de Triomphe on Star Appeal in 1975.
  • US tennis player Chris Evert was born in 1954. She won 157 tournaments (at the time a world record) including 18 Grand Slam singles titles. She won her first Wimbledon singles title in 1974, her second in 1976 and her third in 1981; she was also runner-up seven times.
  • American track star Florence Griffith Joyner, better known as Flo-Jo was born in 1959. The darling of the track at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, she won 100m and 200m gold medals and added third in the sprint relay. Some have cast suspicion on how the Los Angeles-born sprinter had managed to knock almost half a second off her pre-1988 best to clock 10.49s and set a new 100m record at that year’s US Olympic trials. A few weeks later, Flo-Jo followed that up with a new 200m world record in the Seoul final. Her time of 21.34s was an improvement of 0.62 in one year. To put that into perspective, Carmelita Jeter’s 10.64s for the 100m in 2009 and Marion Jones’s 21.62s in 1998 for the 200m are currently the second-best marks on the all-time list. Her sudden death in 1998 as the result of an epileptic seizure at the age of 38 added further fuel to this suspicion.
  • Cricketer Jack Hobbs died on the day in
  • The Spanish National football side has one of its most amazing results on this day in 1983. The team went into a European Championship qualifying match against Malta at Seville needing to win by 11 clear goals to reach the finals. They won 12-1, qualified, and set a record for the highest score in the championship.
  • Vincenzo “Enzo” Bearzot, Italian professional football manager and former footballer died today in 2010. He played as a defender/midfielder. He led the Italian national team to a triumph in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Nicknamed Vecio, he holds the record for most appearances on the bench of the Italian national team at 104 from 27 September 1975 to 18 June 1986. A year after his death, an award was named in honour of the 1982 World Cup winning coach, the “Enzo Bearzot Award”, for the best Italian coach of the year

22nd

  • Myer Prinstein, Polish-American track and field athlete and member of the Irish American Athletic Club was born today in 1878. He held the world record for the long jump and won gold medals in three Olympic Games for the long jump and triple jump. He won the silver medal in the long jump at the 1900 Summer Olympics losing to Alvin Kraenzlein after being denied permission by Syracuse officials to compete in the final because it was contested on a Sunday – despite the fact that Prinstein was a Jew, and Kraenzlein, who was a Christian, did compete. The two had had an informal agreement not to compete on Sunday, and when Prinstein learned that Kraenzlein had competed he became angry and, depending on the account, punched Kraenzlein in the face or was restrained from doing so. The following day, he won the gold medal in the hop, step and jump (forerunner of the triple jump), beating 1896 champion James Connolly with a leap of 14.47m which simultaneously set the Olympic Record. Competing as a member of the Irish American Athletic Club in St. Louis 1904 he won the long jump (setting a new Olympic record) and the hop, step and jump on the same day, the only athlete ever to win both events in the same games. He also came 5th in both the 60m and 400m events. In Athens 1906 he again won the long jump competition, beating the world record holder, Peter O’Connor. The only judge for the competition was Matthew Halpin, who was manager of the American team. O’Connor protested, but was overruled. He continued to protest Halpin’s decisions through the remainder of the competition. The distances were not announced until the end of the competition. When they were, Prinstein had won with his very first jump.
  • The first modern-type speedway race around a short track was held at West Maitland, New South Wales on this day in 1923. The races were organised by a 31-year-old New Zealander, John Hoskins.
  • Born on this day in 1931 was Giorgio Oberweger, Italian discus thrower who won a bronze medal at the 1936 Olympics and a silver at the 1938 European Championships. He was sixth at the 1934 European Championships and 15th at the 1948 Olympics. Oberweger won five national titles, in the discus throw (1934 and 1936–1938) and 110m hurdles in 1939. He graduated in law from the University of Bologna, but later favoured engineering related occupations. In 1938 he obtained a pilot license, and fought as a fighter pilot during World War II, receiving three medals for bravery. Between 1946 and 1960 he was head coach of the Italian athletics team. Then until 1967 he worked at the Italian Athletics Federation and until 1972 at the Italian Central School of Sport.
  • Born in today in 1970 was Gary Anderson the Scottish professional darts player. He currently is playing in the Professional Darts Corporation, and a former BDO and WDF world number one. He is the reigning PDC World Champion and is nicknamed The Flying Scotsman. Anderson is renowned for his heavy scoring in the game and having one of the smoothest throws. He is the reigning two-time PDC World Champion after defeating Adrian Lewis 7–5 in the 2016 final, while he was also a finalist in 2011. His other career highlights include winning the International Darts League in 2007, the World Darts Trophy in 2007, the Zuiderduin Masters in 2007 and 2008, the Premier League in 2011 and 2015 and the Players Championship Finals in 2014. Between the BDO and PDC, Anderson is a nine-time major winner.
  • Leigh Halfpenny, Wales and British Lions international rugby union player was born today in 1988. Halfpenny is the third highest record points scorer for Wales after Neil Jenkins and Stephen Jones.
  • Elina Mukhina, a former Soviet gymnast passed away today in 2006 aged 46. She won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships with her career was on the rise and widely touted as the next great gymnastics star, in 1979 a broken leg left her out of several competitions, and the recovery from that injury combined with pressure to master a dangerous and difficult tumbling move (the Thomas salto) caused her to break her neck just two weeks before the opening of the 1980 Summer Olympics, leaving her permanently quadriplegic just one month past the age of 20. After Mukhina’s paralysis and several other close calls with other Olympic-eligible female gymnasts, the Thomas salto has been removed from the Code of Points as an allowed skill for women. Her condition notwithstanding, Mukhina was a guest columnist for Moscow News in the late 1980s. Her injury was a featured topic in the 1990 A&E documentary More Than a Game; and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastics’ Greatest Stars. Mukhina took a keen interest in children and young gymnasts both before and after her injury. She died of apparent complications from quadriplegia. As a memorial to one of the greatest Soviet-era gymnasts ever, the biggest sports newspaper in Russia, Sovietskij SPORT, dedicated the cover of their Christmas 2006 issue to her. A memorial service was held in her honour on December 27, and she was buried at the Troekourov Cemetery in Moscow.

23rd

  • One of the finest welterweight boxing champions, Barney Ross (real name Beryl David Rosofsky) was born on this day in 1909. He took up professional boxing as a means of supporting his family after a gunman killed his father in Chicago. Ross won the world lightweight and junior-welterweight crowns in 1933 by beating Tony Canzoneri. In the following year he beat Jimmy McLarnin on a split points decision for the welterweight title. Ross lost the return with McLarnin on another split decision before regaining the title with a unanimous decision. All three contests between the two men were rated as ‘classics’. Ross lost his title to Henry Armstrong in 1938.
  • Serge Reding, Belgian heavyweight weightlifter was born today in 1941. He competed in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won a silver medal in 1968. Between 1968 and 1974 he won four silver medals at the world championships and set six ratified world records: three in press, one in snatch and two in clean and jerk.
  • Born today in 1956, Michele Alboreto, Italian racing driver. He is famous for finishing runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2001 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races. Alboreto competed in Formula One from 1981 until 1994, racing for a number of teams, most notably his five seasons (1984–88) driving for Ferrari. In April 2001, Alboreto was performing straight-line speed tests in an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring, near Dresden, Germany, when a tyre blow-out caused his car to veer off track and crash into a wall, killing him.
  • One of Britain’s finest golfers, Henry Cotton, died on this day in 1987
  • In 1981 Geoffrey Boycott became the then leading run-scorer in Test Cricket with 8033.
  • Agnes Milowka, Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, maritime archaeologist and cave explorer, was born today in 1981. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previous explorers into cave systems across Australia and Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. In February 2011, she ran out of air and died after parting company to explore a tight restriction, which necessitated going solo in the Tank Cave near Tantanoola in the south east of South Australia. In recognition of Milowka’s achievements and legacy, The Agnes Milowka Memorial Environmental Science Award has been established by Mummu Media for underprivileged schools in the area of science, marine studies or exploration. In May 2011 Agnes Milowka posthumously received the Exploration Award, in recognition of the outstanding and dedicated service to the National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section, USA. A number of geologic features have been named in memory.
  • Today in 2007 the Canadian jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson passed away. He was called the “Maharaja of the keyboard” by Duke Ellington, but simply “O.P.” by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won eight Grammy Awards, and received numerous other awards and honours. He is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists and played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years
  • Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the AK-47 assault rifle bearing his name, dies at his home in the city of Izhevsk at the age of 94 on this day in 2013