4th 

  • American golfer Bryon Nelson was born in 1912. His 52 wins on the US tour put him in fifth place in the all-time table of total number of victories at that time. Twenty-six of his wins came in just two seasons, 1944-45, with 18 of them achieved in the latter year. Between March and August 1945 he won all 11 events he entered, including the PGA Championship. Nelson won the Masters twice the PGA Championships twice, and in 1939 won the US Open after a three-way play-off. He retired officially at the age of 34 to be a rancher, later becoming a commentator and lending his name to the HP Byron Nelson Championship, the first PGA Tour event to be named after a professional golfer. As a former Masters champion he continued to play in that annual tournament, placing in the top-10 six times between 1947 and 1955 and as high as 15th in 1965. In 1974, Byron  received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He became the second recipient of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. He received the 1994 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA’s highest honour and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006.
  • This day seems to have been a lucky one for Malcolm Campbell. In 1927 he set a new world land speed record of 174.88 mph (281km/hr) in his famous Bluebird at Pendine Sands in Wales. Exactly twelve months later, in 1928, he increased it to 206.96 mph (333 km/hr) at Daytona Beach, Florida.
  • The 3rd Winter Olympic Games opened in Lake Placid, USA today in 1932. 
  • In 1962 the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that baseball was an old Russian game. ‘Lapta’, a Russian folk-game played with a bat and ball was claimed to be the inspiration for American baseball, this backed up an early claim, made in 1925 by the Russian magazine Smena which referred to ‘beizbol’, an intimation, as a game that was played in Russian villages when “the United States was not even marked on the maps”.
  • In 1976 the 12th Winter Olympic Games were opened in Innsbruck, Austria.
  • At Wellington in 1991 a record-breaking Test partnership between New Zealand batsman Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones ended at 467 when Crowe dismissed with the last ball of the day for 299. The pair had been at the crease for two days, helping their side to a total of 671 runs for 4 wickets against Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankans’ first innings total of 497-9 declared was also a record, their highest in Test cricket. The match ended in a draw.
  • Also on this day in 1991 the RFU rejected a plea by Wimbledon FC to play their home matches at Twickenham.
  • Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-American composer, died on this day in 2010 aged 90. She was the youngest daughter of Estonian composer, Rudolf Tobias, seven months after his death. She studied music composition at the Tallinn Conservatoire, which is now known as the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, under Artur Kapp and Heino Eller. She graduated from the Conservatoire as an organist in 1943. She later studied at the Berlin University of Music. During World War II, she met her future husband, William Duesberg, a journalist who was repeatedly imprisoned for writing stories critical of Adolf Hitler. Shortly after the war, Duesberg died of a heart attack in a Stuttgart courtroom while preparing to testify against several Nazi war criminals. Tobias-Duesberg moved to the United States from Estonia, which was then part of the Soviet Union, in 1951. She began composing music and performing at several churches in New York City.  She composed chamber, vocal and symphonic pieces, the most famous of which may be Requiem, which was composed for orchestra, mixed choir and soloists. During the Civil Rights era, she played the organ at Friendship Baptist Church in Harlem when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. served as a guest preacher. Meanwhile, she composed violin and cello sonatas, string quartets, song cycles, concertos, and a wide range of choral works. Her compositions have been performed on major concert stages in the U.S., Canada, and Europe as well as the Aspen, Ravinia and Spoleto festivals.
  • Henry Bird Glasgow, Scottish footballer and manager died on this day in 2016. Born on 20th June 1939, he began his career with Falkirk, where he made four appearances, all in cup competitions. He spent a season on loan at Arbroath, before joining Clyde. He spent nine years at Shawfield Stadium, making 282 appearances, scoring nine goals. He was captain during his time at the club, and is one of Clyde’s greatest servants. He joined Stenhousemuir in 1972, where he played for three seasons before retiring, after which he managed the team until 1981.

5th 

  • On this day in 1923 at Melbourne, Victoria became the first side on first-class cricket to amass a four-figure total of runs. Bill Ponsford scored 429 of Victoria’s 1059 runs, against Tasmania, to establish an individual world record.
  • Baseball player Henry Louis ‘Hank’ Aaron was born in 1934. He held the record for the most home runs in major league baseball, in 1974 he beat ‘Babe’ Ruth’s 40-year old record of 714 and ended his career with a total of 755.
  • Today in 1948 Dick Button became the first US figure skating Olympic champion.
  • In 1949 Huaso set an official world equestrian high-jump record of 2.47m or 8ft 1in, ridden by Chilean Captain Alberto Larraguibel in Viña del Mar, Chile, one of the longest-running unbroken sport records in history (70 years). When they broke the world record Huaso was already 16 years old, quite old for a result of that magnitude. After the record, the horse was retired and never ridden again. He roamed freely until he died naturally on August 24, 1961, at the age of 29. Huaso is buried on the same Cavalry Academy where he spent his last years.
  • Today in 1953 children all over the country started emptying their piggy banks and headed straight for the nearest sweet-shop as the first unrationed sweets went on sale. Toffee apples were the biggest sellers, with sticks of nougat and liquorice strips also disappearing fast. One firm in Clapham Common gave 800 children 150lbs of lollipops during their midday break from school; and a London factory opened its doors to hand out free sweets to all comers. Adults joined in the sugar frenzy, with men in the City queuing up in their lunch breaks to buy boiled sweets and to enjoy the luxury of being able to buy 2lb boxes of chocolates to take home. The government and manufacturers were quick to reassure the public that there would be no repeat of the first attempt to de-ration sweets, in April 1949, when demand far outstripped supply and they were put back on ration after just four months. This time, the Minister of Food, Major Gwilym Lloyd-George, told the House of Commons that he had no doubt that stocks were sufficient. He had ordered a one-off allocation of extra sugar to manufacturers to help them meet the anticipated surge in demand. Sugar itself was still rationed.
  • On this day in 1956 the 7th Winter Olympic Games closed at Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.
  • Jüri Tamm was born on this day in 1957, a former Estonian hammer thrower, representing USSR, he won a bronze medal in both the 1980 and 1988 Olympics and silver in the 1987 World Athletic Championships.
  • José María Olazábal Manterola, Spanish golfer was born today in 1966, he has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships, both at The Masters. In 2012 he captained Europe’s Ryder Cup team to a narrow victory over the USA, which seemed improbable at the start of the final day’s play when the Europeans trailed 10–6. They came back to win 14½–13½. Olazábal was very emotional with the win, saying in an interview that that was his number one happiest golf moment and happiest moment of his life. The win was inspired by his late friend Seve Ballesteros, to whom he dedicated the win.
  • Jo Zwaan died on this day in 2012 aged 89. He was a Dutch sprinter who competed in the Men’s 100m and 4×100 m relay events at the 1948 Olympics. Two years earlier he had competed at the 1946 European Athletics Championships as part of the Dutch 4×100m relay team, that finished 4th position. His brother Jan was also an Olympic sprinter; he participated in the 110m hurdles at the 1948 Games.
  • Richard Doughty, English cricketer who played as primarily a bowler for Gloucestershire (1981-1984 and Surry (1985-1987), died today at the age of  57 in 2018.  Richard spent some time in the Sporting Chance Clinic following a period of severe depression and then re-trained as a counselor, from 2006 onwards worked with a number of professional sports associations and organisations mentoring and advising professional athletes with addictive or psychological issues. He spoke extensively on behalf of the Professional Cricketers’ Association and featured heavily in their Health and Wellbeing programme. Richard also worked with The Prince’s Trust mentoring children who were experiencing difficulties including bullying. 

6th 

  • The most famous baseball player of all-time ‘Babe’ Ruth was born in 1895, as George Herman Ruth. Originally a pitcher, he went on to become the greatest batter in the history of the game, and helped establish the New York Yankees as one of the top teams in the 1930s. He scored 2174 runs and 714 home runs during his career.
  • Former England football captain Billy Wright was born in 1924. The first man to win 100 international caps, he captained England a record 90 times (later equalled by Bobby Moore).
  • Former fast bowler Fred Trueman was born in 1931. The first man to take 300 Test wickets, he played for England 67 times.
  • In 1932, the first Olympic Dog Sled race took place, as a demonstration sport in Lake Placid.
  • Adolf Hitler opened the 4th Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany today in 1936. 
  • This day in 1958 was one of the blackest in British football history, when eight members of the Manchester United team moulded by Matt Busby perished in an air crash at Munich Airport. Busby’s ‘Babes’ were on their way home after beating Red star Belgrade to reach the semi-final of the European Cup when their BEA Elizabethan crashed on take-off after refuelling at Munich.
  • In 1961 footballer Danny Blanchflower became the first person to refuse to appear on This Is Your Life. 
  • Paris and London agree to build a rail tunnel under the English Channel on this day in 1964.
  • Stanley Matthews played his last Football League game in 1965, at the age of 50 years and six days.
  • The 10th Winter Olympic Games were opened in Grenoble, France on this day in 1968. 
  • Today in 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard became the first person to play golf on the moon, using a ball and golf club head he had smuggled on board inside his space suit. He hit two balls just before lift-off, and drove them, as he put it, “miles and miles and miles”.
  • Major Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt, died today in 2008, aged 89. He was a British racing driver, soldier and engineer. A war hero, Major Rolt maintained a long connection with the sport, albeit behind the scenes. The Ferguson 4WD project he was involved in paid off with spectacular results, and he was involved in other engineering projects. At his death, he was the longest surviving participant of the first ever World Championship Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950. He was one of the last pre-war winners remaining too – he won the 1939 British Empire Trophy, aged just 20 in 1939 – this was after he started his career in 1935, as a 16 year old, in a 3-wheeler Morgan in speed trials. He won the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix.
  • the Swedish rower and Olympian Ivar Mauritz Aronsson , who was born on 24th March 1928 died on this day in 2017.  He competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the coxed fours and finishing fourth in the eights.  He also won two silver medals in these events at the 1955 European Championships

7th

  • In 1818 the first successful US educational magazine, Academician, begins publication in New York City.
  • Today in 1914 Charlie Chaplin debuts ‘The Tramp’ in Kid Auto Races at Venice. 
  • Gerald Davies, one of the finest all-round rugby players, was born in 1945. His acceleration and sidesteps were as fine as any seen in the game and were a major factor in the success of the Welsh international side in the 1970s. He played for Wales 46 times and scored a then record 20 tries. He also toured with the Lions in 1968 and 1971.
  • On this day in 1964 Cassius Clay converts to Islam and is renamed Muhammad Ali.
  • Top German swimmer Kristin Otto was born in 1965. At Seoul in 1988 she set a women’s Olympic record by winning six gold medals, just one short of Mark Spitz’s the all-time record haul at one Games. She took gold in the 100m freestyle, butterfly and backstroke, 50m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle and medley relays. Previously she had won seven gold medals at the World Championships in 1982 and 1986.
  • Two women made history today in 1976 when Joan Bazely made history at Croydon, Surrey, by becoming the first women to referee a football match between two male teams (namely Croydon Old Boys and Saints Athletics) and Diana Thorne became the first woman jockey to win under National Hunt Rules on Ben Ruler at Stratford. 
  • Ill-health forced Bob Paisley to quit the Liverpool Board of Directors in 1992, ending a relationship with the club that had lasted since he joined them as a player, from Bishop Auckland in 1939. He had to wait until after the war before making his debut. A successful playing career was followed by a stint on the coaching staff and, in 1974, the call to replace Bill Shankly as manager. Paisley went on to become one of the most successful managers in English football.
  • Today in 1995 saw the last day Test Cricket for both Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting.
  • The 18th Winter Olympic Games opened today at Nagano, Japan in 1998.
  • Today in 2005 Britain’s Ellen MacArthur sailed into record books when she completed her single-handed round-the-world voyage in record-breaking time. She crossed the finish line beating the previous mark set by Francis Joyon of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 mins and 22 secs. The Isle of Wight-based yachtswoman completed the 27,000-mile voyage in 71 days and under 15 hours. After achieving the record time, MacArthur said: “I feel exhausted but I’m elated to be here.”She added: “It has been an unbelievable journey. “The whole voyage has been very draining, and there’s a lot of things going round in my head. “But it’s great that I can finally switch my brain off and relax in the company of others, which I’ve really missed.” Two months later she became the youngest person to date to receive a damehood.
  • On this day in 2014 the 22nd Winter Olympic Games opened at Sochi in Russia.
  • Valerii Ivanovich Postoyanov, Russian Olympic rifleman, died tday in 2018 at the age of 76. Born on 11th October 1941, he was the winner of the Honored Master of Sports of the USSR in 1970.  He competed in the 50m running target event at the 1972 Summer Olympics, where he finished in fourth place, just two points shy of achieving a bronze medal.

8th

  • Jules Verne, one of the first writers of science fiction was born today in 1828. 
  • Top Italian show jumper Raimondo d’Inzeo was born in 1925. World Champion in 1956 and 1960, he also won the Olympic title on Posillipo in 1960.
  • On this day in 1948 the 5th Winter Olympic Games came to a close in St Moritz, Switzerland.
  • On this day in 1983, the 1981 Derby winner Shergar was kidnapped from his stables in County Kildare. The horse was owned by the Aga Khan. The unidentified kidnappers – numbering at least six – told head groom James Fitzgerald they would telephone a ransom demand. His trainer Michael Stoute said: “Shergar was the best horse I have ever trained and I only hope to God nothing happens to him.” Nicknamed “Shergar the wonder-horse”, he had been valued by Lloyds of London at £10 million at stud and carried an insurance premium of £300,000 when he was in competition. A bay colt with a distinctive white blaze, Shergar was named European Horse of the Year in 1981 and retired from racing that September. The police instigated a nationwide hunt and a ransom of £2million was phoned a few days later. By the end of the day the ransom had dropped to £40,000, the equivalent of £1,000 for each of the 40 stakes in the horse.All the shareholders refused to pay the money because they wanted to deter future kidnappings. Numerous hoax calls and false alarms were received by the police and media about sightings of Shergar, dead and alive. Insurers refused to pay out without evidence of the horse’s death. Shergar has never been found and his kidnappers have never been officially identified. Most evidence points to the involvement of the IRA. Sean O’Callaghan, a former IRA member turned informer, later wrote in his book The Informer that the horse had been killed by his abductors soon after he was taken because they were unable to handle him. O’Callaghan said the IRA had demanded a £5m ransom from the Aga Khan that was never met.
  • In 1984 the 14th Winter Olympic Games opened in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
  • Michael Gross swims an 800m freestyle world record of 7:38.75 in 1985. 
  • The 16th Winter Olympic Games were opened in Albertville, France on this day in 1992.
  • Kapil Dev set a world record for Test cricket wickets with 432 on this day in 1994. 
  • The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history took place today in 1998 when Finland beat Sweden
  • 6-0.
  • In 2002 the 19th Winter Olympic Games were opened at Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
  • On this day in 2014 Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen equals the Winter Olympic medal record with 13 medals.  He is also the most successful biathlete of all time at the Biathlon World Championships, having won 44 medals, double that of any other biathlete. With 95  World Cup wins, Bjørndalen is ranked first all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour, more than twice that of anyone else but Martin Fourcade. He has won the Overall World Cup title six times, in 1997–98, in 2002–03, in 2004–05, in 2005–06, in 2007–08 and in 2008–09, more than any other male biathlete and the same as female record holder Magdalena Forsberg.
  • Gary Seear, All-Black number 8, died on this day in 2018 aged 65. He made his debut for Otago as a 19-year-old as a lock and captained the 1974 Junior All Blacks.  He toured South Africa with the 1976 All Blacks but did not make an appearance until the following year where he played at number eight in two tests in France. He made further appearances in the 1978 home series against the Wallabies, the 1979 French tourists side, four more internationals in Britain and the sole test in Australia in 1979. He played in Italy for the Fracasso San Dona club during the 1979 season. He later worked as a commercial property sales consultant for worldwide real estate firm Colliers International in Christchurch.

9th

  • Back in 1540 the first recorded horse race meeting in England took place at Chester’s Roodee Fields.
  • Today in 1895 William G. Morgan invents a new game – Mintonette. Morgan was born in New York in 1870. He met James Naismith at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Springfield began as a training centres for Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) professionals. The college opened in 1885. Naismith was a faculty member there and most famous for inventing the game of basketball in 1891. Morgan enrolled in 1892 and was impressed by the older man. Morgan moved on to Holyoke and there he invented his new game. Basketball was too vigorous and older men were not able to keep up on the court. Mintonette was a blend of several sports: basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball. Morgan borrowed a tennis net and strung it across the court with the top of the net 78 inches from the floor – which was just above the average man’s head. The court measured 25 x 50 feet and any number of players were permitted. There were nine innings with three serves for each side. The ball travelled across the net after any number of hits. While watching a game, Alfred Halstead remarked on the way the ball went back and forth. The name for the game was changed to reflect that. Volleyball. In 1896, or possibly 1900, Spalding created a special ball for the new game. Rules changed, too. In 1916 the set and spike play was introduced and by 1920 the three hit limit was put into effect. Scoring also changed and a win was granted at 15 points rather than 21 starting in 1917. The game went international in 1900 when Canadians began playing. An international federation was formed in 1947 and the first world championships were held in 1949 for men and 1952 for women. The game was played as a demonstration event in the 1924 Summer Olympics and became officially part of the Games for the 1964 Summer Olympics.
  • The former England cricketer Jim Laker was born on this day in 1922. He spent most of his career with the great Surrey team of the 1950s. In 46 Test appearances for England, Laker took 193 wickets. His most remarkable year was 1956, at Old Trafford he took 19 Australian wickets for 90 runs and at the Oval, for Surrey, he took another 10 wickets in an innings, also against the Australians. Laker died in 1986.
  • Gallacher and Lyle, the Ryder Cup players not the pop group, both enjoy birthdays today. Bernard Gallacher, who was appointed Ryder Cup captain in 1989 in succession to Tony Jacklin, was born in 1949, Sandy Lyle, the first British Open winner for 16 years in 1985, was born in 1958. Lyle went on to become the first British winner of the US Master in 1988.
  • The 9th Winter Olympic Games closed today at Innsbruck, Austria today in 1964. 
  • Lotte Friis, Danish swimmer was born on this day in 1988. She finished third in the 1500m freestyle at the European Championships 2008 in Eindhoven she won her first major long course medal. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she won bronze in the 800m freestyle competition. At the 2009 World Championships she won silver in the 1500m freestyle competition and gold in the 800m freestyle with the second fastest time ever and a new championship record. At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai Friis won gold in the women’s 1500m freestyle and silver in the women’s 800m freestyle. Friis participated in the women’s 400m freestyle and made it to the final. She ended 5th in the time 4:04.68, which was a new Nordic record.
  • In 1992 Heike Henkel high jumped a female indoor world record of 2.07m.
  • On this day in 1994 Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa.
  •  Keiko Fukuda died on this day in 2013. She was a Japanese American martial artist. She was the highest-ranked female judoka in history, holding the rank of 9th dan from the Kodokan (2006), and 10th dan from USA Judo (July 2011) and from the United States Judo Federation (USJF) (September 2011), and was the last surviving student of Kanō Jigorō, founder of judo. She was a renowned pioneer of women’s judo, together with her senpai Masako Noritomi, being the first woman promoted to 6th dan (c. 1972). In 2006 the Kodokan promoted Fukuda to 9th dan.  She is also the first and, so far, only woman to have been promoted to 10th dan in the art of judo. After completing her formal education in Japan, Fukuda visited the United States of America to teach in the 1950s and 1960s, and eventually settled there. She continued to teach her art in the San Francisco Bay Area until she died at the age of 99.
  • Bruno Mario Rossetti, Italian sport shooter died on this say in 2018. Aged 57 at his death, he was born in Troyes in France on 9th October 1960.  He won bronze for Skeet Shooting at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. His son is Gabriele Rossetti, was a gold medalist in shooting at the 2016 Olympics.

10th 

  • Tennis player Bill Tilden was born in 1893. Tilden was the first US winner of the Wimbledon singles title in 1920. He also won a then record-equalling seven US titles.
  • Today in 1908 Tommy Burns knocked out Jack Palmer in the 4thround to win the heavyweight boxing title.
  • On this day in 1933 a boxing match held at Madison Square Garden in New York City ends in tragedy. Primo Carnera met Ernie Schaaf in the ring. Primo won the fight with a knockout in the 13th round. Schaaf was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1908. He was taller than most boxers at 6’2″ and weighed 207 lbs. He met future heavyweight champion Max Baer on August 31, 1932. During that fight with 2 seconds left in the final round, Ernie was knocked out cold. It took several minutes to revive him and he suffered from headaches afterwards. He had three intervening fights, two wins and one loss, before getting into the ring with Primo. Ernie took another KO loss and suffered another head injury. He was in a coma and although he underwent immediate surgery, he died three days later. He was 24.
  • Mark Spitz, the swimmer who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics, a record haul at the time, was born on this day in 1950. He won nine Olympic golds during his career and set 26 world records.
  • Australian golfer Greg Norman was born in 1958. Known as the ‘Great White Shark’ Norman won the 1986 British Open aided by a round of 63. He regained the title in 1993.
  • The first Oxford-Cambridge University rugby match, at The Parks, ended in a win for the Dark Blues.
  • The quarter final of the southern section of the 1987 Freight Rover Trophy, between Aldershot and Fulham, was decided by a penalty shoot-out of epic proportions. A score line of 1-1 at the end of extra time was transformed into an 11-10 win for Aldershot, after a British record 28 penalties.
  • In 1992, and exactly two years to the day after losing his title to Buster Douglas, Mike Tyson was found guilty of rape.
  • The 20th Winter Olympic Games were opened on this day in 2006 at Turin in Italy.
  • 81 year old Czech gymnast Ludmila Švédová died today in 2018.  She competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics, where she won team silver in the all-around competition.