4th– Today in 1875 Miss Emily Parker, a rival of the celebrated Agnes Beckwith, eclipsed Beckwith’s swim in the Thames some 3 days earlier by swimming further, some seven miles from London Bridge to Blackwall in an hour and 35 minutes – Beckwith swam 5 miles in 1:07:45. On this day in 1888 34-year-old George Eastman was granted a patent for his new photographic system that used rolls of film instead of a glass plate. He was also granted the new name Kodak at the same time. Derbyshire cricketer Tommy Mitchell was born today in 1902. A leg spin bowler, he was the most successful slow bowler in the history of a county better known for its pace bowling strength. His bowling was an important factor in Derbyshire’s most successful period in the County Championship during the 1930s. Today in 1923 the USS Shenandoah took her maiden flight. She was the first of four US Navy rigid airships (blimps). Her original designation was FA-1 which stood for Fleet Airship Number One. It was then changed to ZR-1. She was built at Lakehurst Naval Air Station between 1922-23 in Hangar No.1, the only hangar large enough to accommodate the airship. Lakehurst had been used for Navy blimps for quite some time, but this was the first rigid airship the Navy had attempted to build.  She was 680 feet long with a maximum diameter of almost 79 feet. Her height was slightly over 93 feet and she was powered by 300 hp eight-cylinder Packard gasoline engines. Her top speed was 60 knots or 69 mph. Australia’s controversial but brilliant swimmer Dawn Fraser was born in 1937. She is one of only three swimmers to have won the same Olympic event three times – in her case the women’s 100m freestyle – in 1956. 1960 and 1964. She also broke the world record for the event for no fewer than none times. Two successful American golfers were born on this day. Raymond Floyd was born in 1942. He was the oldest winner of the US Open at 43 years and 284 days in 1986. In 1992 he became the first man to win on both the US Regular and US Seniors’ Tours in one season. Tom Watson was born a few years later in 1949. He has over 30 US Tour wins to his credit and has won the British Open five times. His four-round total of 268 (12 under par) at Turnberry in 1977 remains a British Open record. On this day in 1972 swimmer Mark Spitz won his seventh Olympic medal, thus becoming the first athlete to win seven medals in a single Games. British sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis was born in 1982, a renowned junior, his greatest sporting achievement at senior level has been to anchor the Great Britain and Northern Ireland 4x100m relay team to a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. Individually, Lewis-Francis has won silver the 100m at the 2010 European Athletics Championships, and numerous indoor medals. In 1990 Manchester United’s Steve Bruce became the first player in the first division to receive his marching orders under the new ‘professional foul’ rule, against Luton Town. On this day in 1993 Mats Wilander defeated Mikael Pernfos 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in four hours in 4 hours 1 minute at the US Open concluding at 2:26am.  On this day in 1998 Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford University students. Lola Violeta Ana-Maria Bobesco, Belgian violinist of Romanian origin, died on this day in Spa in 2003. Born in Romanian she began her career as a child prodigy, giving her first recital there at the age of 6 with her father, composer and conductor Aurel Bobesco. She became known internationally after appearing in Paris (1936) aged 17 with the Colonne Orchestra under the baton of Paul Paray, where she performed a concerto by Romanian composer Stan Golestan. The following year, 1937, she obtained the seventh prize at the Eugène Ysaÿe contest. Although established abroad even before the end of World War II, she returned to Romania and regularly appeared in concerts with the Radio Philharmonic in Bucharest, and the provinces in Craiova, Brasov, Iasi, Timisoara. She founded two musical groups in Belgium: in 1958, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie in Liège; and in 1990, the string quartet L’Arte del Suono in Brussels. She was also a professor at the French-language Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles and professor of violin at the Conservatory of Liège (1962-1974). She was on the jury of the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 1971 and 1993. On this day in 2011 the 13th World Athletic Championships came to a close at Daegu in South Korea.  

 

5th-John Wisden, the man who first published what is now known as ‘The Cricketer’s Bible’, was born in 1826. Wisden played first-class cricket for Sussex but it was as a compiler pf cricketing records that he gained far more notoriety. He died in 1884, aged 57. Born today in 1872, Horace “Horrie” Rice, Australian tennis player who won the Men’s Singles title at the 1907 Australasian Championships.  He was also runner -up three times and won the 1915 Men’s Doubles partnering Clarence Todd. Scottish-Australian cricketer Archibald “Archie” Jackson was born today in 1909, he played eight Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1929 and 1931. A teenage prodigy, he played first grade cricket at only 15 years of age and was selected for New South Wales at 17. In 1929, aged 19, Jackson made his Test debut against England, scoring 164 runs in the first innings to become the youngest player to score a Test century.  His Test and first-class career coincided with the early playing years of Don Bradman, with whom he was often compared. Before the two departed for England as part of the 1930 Australian team, some observers considered Jackson the better batsman, capable of opening the batting or coming in down the order. Jackson’s career was dogged by poor health; illness and his unfamiliarity with local conditions hampered his tour of England, only playing two of the five Test matches. After collapsing on the field of play in the 1931-32 season he was admitted to a sanatorium diagnosed with tuberculosis. Against medical advice he returned to cricket, playing with a local team but his health continued to deteriorate and he died in 1933 at the young age of 23. It is speculated that, had he lived, he may have rivalled Don Bradman as a batsman. Today in 1923 flyweights Gene LaRue and Kid Pancho knock out each other simultaneously. Maureen Connolly, known affectionately as ‘Little Mo’, won the 1951 US tennis title at the age of 16 years and 11 months. She was then the youngest winner of the title; Tracy Austin was two months younger when she won the title in 1979. Today in 1960 Cassius Clay won the Olympic light heavyweight gold medal. Aston Villa best Rotherham United 3-0 in the second leg of the inaugural League Cup final in 1961 to win 3-2 on aggregate. British sailor Tracy Edwards was born on this day in 1962. 1989 she skippered the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, becoming the first woman to receive the Yachtsman of the Year Trophy and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire.  Her effort to better the Whitbread accomplishment in a female-crew bid for the Jules Verne trophy in 1998 ended when bad weather broke the mast of her ship near Chile. In 2013, she began teaching Internet Safety and Online Reputation to children and parents and works in schools and with youth groups. She is also a best-selling author.  British field hockey player Janet Theresa “Jane” Sixsmith was born in 1967, she was a member of the British squad that won the bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. She retired from the international scene after scoring over hundred goals and winning 165 caps for England and 158 for Great Britain. Sixsmith is the only British female hockey player to have appeared at four Olympic Games, including the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Jane continues to play National League for Sutton Coldfield Hockey Club. She took part in the 2013 Maxifuels Super Sixes indoor hockey finals with her team Sutton Coldfield. They reached the final after beating Bowden Hightown in the Semi Finals. Jane scored the second goal in her team’s 2-5 defeat to champions Reading HC in the final at Wembley Arena on 27 January 2013. Sixsmith’s honours include an MBE, an Olympic bronze, a European Cup gold (1991) and a Commonwealth silver medal (1998). Australian motor-racing driver Jochen Rindt was killed on this day in 1970 when his Lotus swerved and it a guard rail during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Rindt was leading the world championship at the time, six weeks before the end of the season. His points total was not overtaken and he remains the only posthumous world champion in ths history of motor-racing. Twelve months later at Monza, in 1971, Peter Gethin in a BRM took the chequered flag in the closest world championship F1 race in history. He won by one-hundredth of a second from Ronnie Pearson. A mere 0.61 of a second separated the first five cars to finish.  Today in 1973 saw the first one-day Cricket international between West Indies and England, Windies lose by a single wicket. In 1979 Roscoe Tanner fires 11 aces, breaks the net with his bullet serve and upsets top-seeded Bjorn Borg in the quarter-finals of the US Tennis Open. Sticking with the US Open – on this day in 1987 John McEnroe is fined $17,500 for his tirades at this year’s tournament and two years later in 1989 Chris Evert plays her last match, a defeat by Zina Garrison.  The following year, 1990, saw Ivan Lendl’s bid for his 9th straight US Open title bought to a halt in the final by Pete Sampras. Today in 1997 Athens, Greece was chosen to host the 2004 Olympic Games.

 

6th -In 1880 the Kennington Oval became the first cricket ground in England to host a Test match. England beat Australia by five wickets, with WG Grace scoring the first Test century on the ground. Cricketer George Mann was born in 1917, he played for Cambridge University, Middlesex and England, captaining his national side in each of his seven Test matches, winning two, and drawing the other five.  His father Frank Mann also captained England on 1922-23 South African Tour, making them the first father and son to both captain England. Colin and Chris Cowdrey are the only other father and son to have done this for England. Mann was chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) from 1978–83; most notably during the controversy over the rebel tour which Geoff Boycott Graham Gooch led to South Africa in 1982. On this day in 1920 Jack Dempsey knocked out Billy Miske in the third to take the heavyweight boxing crown in the first radio broadcast of a title fight. On the same day in 1920 Bill Tilden won the 40th US Men’s National Tennis Championship (forerunner of the US Open), beating Bill Johnston in five sets – 6-1, 1-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. Charles “Chuck” Foley, the co-inventor of the game Twister (with Neil W Rabens) was born today in 1930. British ballet dancer and former artistic director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason was born in 1941. In more than fifty years with this company, she established a formidable reputation as a versatile performer, a skilled rehearsal director, and a capable administrator. Taken into the corps of the Royal Ballet in 1958, Mason was, at 16, the company’s youngest member and soon caught the eye of choreographer Kenneth MacMillian, soon became his favourite dancer. Over the years, she danced in almost all his works in the Royal Ballet repertory, creating roles in six of them. Appointed a soloist in 1963, Mason was promoted to principal dancer in 1968. After many years on the stage of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Mason began a new phase of her career as a ballet mistress and teacher. She was appointed principal répétiteur (rehearsal director) for MacMillan’s ballets in 1980, when she also began teaching classical variations to senior girls at the Royal Ballet School. She became the company’s principal répétiteur in 1984, assistant to the director in 1988, and assistant director, to Anthony Dowell, in 1991. Capping her administrative career, she was named artistic director in 2002. After ten years service, during which she fostered many talents and greatly enriched the repertory, she retired in July 2012. Today in 1942 Czech marathon runner Oskar Hêks was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In the 1932 Olympics he came 8th in a time of 2:41:35. He declined to take part in the 1936 Games as being Jewish he did not want to be a part of the “Nazi Games” and was one of the organisers of the “People’s Olympiad” in Baraclona (19-26th July 1936). Directly after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Germans he was deported. He met his death in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1944. Australian triathlete Michellie Jones was born on this day in 1969.  She has won two ITU Triathlon World Championships, an Olympic silver medal and the 2006 Ironman World Championship. She won a gold medal at the 2016 Paralympics as a guide for Katie Kelly, when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics. A tragic day today in 1972 when all nine of the athletes kidnapped from the Olympic Village a few days previously were killed in a gun battle at a nearby airport. A policeman also died in the shooting at the Furstenfeldbruck military airbase, along with four of the guerrillas from the Palestinian group Black September. Witnesses at the airport said the shooting began when police snipers opened fire on the militants. A spokesman for the Olympic Games said the kidnappers had blown up a helicopter with the hostages inside and then opened fire on the wreckage with automatic weapons. The murdered athletes were; American-Israeli weightlifter David Mark Berger, Russian-Israeli wrestler Eliezer Halfin, Polish-Israeli weightlifter Ze’ev Friedman, Russian-Israeli runner and coach Amitzur Shapira, Israeli wrestler Mark Slavin, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach Andre Spitzer and Polish-Israeli wrestler and coach Yakov Springer. Also murdered was Israeli wrestling judge Yossef Gutfreund and Romanian shooting coach Kehat Shorr. British tennis players Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman were both on this day but a year apart. Rusedski, who was born in Canada in 1973, and represented his birth country until 1995, was British no 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006. In 1997, he was the US Open finalist, which led to him receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. Also, he scored 30 wins and 13 losses with the Great Britain Davis Cup team. Henman, born in Oxford in 1974, was the first male player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Championship. Henman never reached the finals of any Grand Slam but reached six Grand Slam semi-finals and won 15 career ATP titles (11 in singles and four in doubles), including the Paris Masters in 2003. Also, he scored 40 wins and 14 losses with the Great Britain Davis Cup team. Henman was ranked British number 1 in 1996 and again from 1999 to 2005, from which point he was succeeded by Andy Murray. He reached a career high ranking of World No. 4 during three different periods between July 2002 and October 2004. He is one of Britain’s most successful open era male tennis players, winning $11,635,542 prize money. In the 2004 New Year Honours, he was appointed an OBE. At the century edition of the Women’s US Open in 1980 Chris Evert-Lloyd beat Hana Mandlikova in three sets 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. The 2009 world biathlete pursuit champion. Helena Ekholm (née Helena Jonsson) of Sweden was born on this day in 1984.  She also won the Women’s Biathlon World Cup in the 2008-09 season. The second World Athletics Championships closes in Rome. On this day in 1987 Frank Stapleton equalled Don Givens’ Republic of Ireland goal scoring record in 1989 when he scored his 19th goal, against West Germany. Stapleton went on to better Givens’ record by one goal. England’s first professional Test cricket captain, the great Sir Leonard Hutton, died in 1990 at the age of 74. James Warring took only 24 seconds to knock out James Pritchard in their world cruiserweight contest in 1991; it is one of the fastest KOs in a world boxing title fight. Soviet chess player Kira Alekseyevna Zvorykina died on this day in 2014 at the age of 94.  She was a three-time winner of the Women’s Soviet Championship. Her immediate and extended family were, in her youth, keen chess players and even held their own private chess tournaments. Buoyed from her success in one of these contests at the age of 16, she entered a school competition and won all of her games. The opportunity arose for the young Zvorykina to join the legendary Palace of Young Pioneers’ Chess Club where classes were given by rising star Peter Romanovsky. In international chess, there were very few women’s tournaments held in the 1950s when Zvorykina was at her peak, but she tied for fourth place at the 1952 Moscow event and beat Anne Sunnucks (+1 =1 −0) in the USSR versus Great Britain Match of 1954. Her greatest success occurred in Plovdiv at the Women’s Candidates Tournament of 1959, when victory over a strong field earned her a match with reigning Women’s World Champion Elizaveta Bykova for the title. Unfortunately, the 1960 match coincided with her mother’s terminal illness and this undoubtedly affected her play, resulting in a loss by a 4½–8½ margin. Representing the Soviet Union at the Chess Olympiads of 1957 (Emmen) and 1963 (Split), Zvorykina produced two sparkling, medal-winning performances. Zvorykina’s Woman International Master title was awarded in 1952 and her Woman Grandmaster title in 1977. She also became an International Arbiter in 1977.

 

7th-On this day in 1880 George Ligowsky patents a device to throw clay pigeons for trap-shooters. James J Corbett knocked out John L Sullivan in the 21st round at the New Orleans Olympic Club in 1892 to become the first world heavyweight champion under Queensberry Rules. Although this claim was disputed some years later, many historians still consider it to be the first such fight.  Today in 1893 the Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club was established by British expats and would become on of the oldest Italian football clubs. Rugby League matches were first played to the new Northern Union rules in 1895. Wigan, one of the sport’s best known and most successful teams, started their league campaign with a 9-0 win at Broughton Rangers. Belgian road racing cyclist Briek Schotte was born today in 1919. One of the champions of the 1940s and 1950s, his stamina earned him the nickname “Iron Briek”. He was world champion in 1948 and 1950, won the last stage of the 1947 Tour de France and finished second in the epic 1948 Tour, behind Gino Bartali. He twice won the Tour of Flanders (1942, 1948), Paris–Tours (1946, 1947) and Paris–Brussels (1946, 1952). He also won the inaugural Challenge Desgrange-Colombo, a season-long competition to identify the world’s best road rider, in 1948. After retirement in 1959, he was a team coach for 30 years, mostly for Flandria. He died aged 64, on the day of the 2004 Tour of Flanders. The commentators during the race said “God must have been one of Briek’s greatest fans”. Australian ballerina Kathy Gorham was born in 1928. She began dancing at the age of fifteen with the Borovansky Ballet, continuing to dance with the Ballet until it disbanded in 1960 upon the death of Edouard Borovansky. She then danced overseas with companies in Paris and London. In 1962, Gorham became prima ballerina of the newly formed Australian Ballet. During 1952 and 1953 she danced in London with the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, and in Europe with Le Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas. In 1954 she returned to Australia with Borovansky,l and danced as guest artist for various European companies until she became a principal with Dame Peggy van Praagh’s Australian Ballet in 1962, where she danced a wide range of roles for four years. She danced new roles in association with Robert Helpmann and played an important role in the artistic development of the new ballet company. She retired from dancing after the Australian Ballet’s first overseas tour in 1966, and then taught ballet in Melbourne and Southport, Queensland until her untimely death in 1983 at the age of 54 following a heart attack. All-round sportsman CB Fry died in 1956 at the age of 84. Today in 1960 Ljudmila Shevcova sets a new female Olympic 800m record, stopping the clock at 2:04.3. Sussex, led by Ted Dexter, beat Worcestershire by 14 runs to win the first one-day cricket final at Lord’s in 1963. Gillette were the sponsors of the competition, which from 1964 to 1980 was known as The Gillette Cup. Also on this day in 1963 saw the opening of the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The hall of Fame is for American football players from the National Football League (NFL). All but one inductee has played for the NFL at some time during his career. Buffalo Bill’s Billy Shaw played only for the American Football League, however the two leagues merged in 1970. Uta Pippig, German long-distance runner and the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon three consecutive times (1994-1996), was born today in 1965. She also won the Berlin Marathon three times (1990, 1992 and 1995); the 1993 New York City Marathon; represented Germany at the Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996, and won a bronze medal at the 1991 World 15km Road Race Championship. Her marathon best of 2:21:45 set in Boston in 1994, made her the third-fastest female marathon runner in history at that time. She obtained American citizenship in 2004. Pakistani cricketer Hanif Mohammad played his last day of first-class cricket on this day in 1975. John McEnroe wins the centenary edition of the Men’s US Open on this day in 1980, beating Bjorn Borg in five sets, 7-6, 6-1, 6-7, 5-7, 6-4. Hungarian Olympic épée fencer Emese Szász was born in 1982, Olympic 2016 gold medallist and silver medallist at the 2010 World Championships. She won the World Cup series in both 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. Annette Dytrt, also Dytrtová,German figure skater, was born in 1983, she also competed internationally for the Czech Republic. She is the 1999 Czech national champion and the 2003-06 Germa national champion. On this day in 2011 The aeroplane carrying the players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl. The aircraft ran off the runway before lifting off, struck a tower mast, caught fire and crashed 2km from Tunoshna Airport on the Volga River bank. Of the 45 on board, 43 died at the crash site. One of the two rescued from the wreck, Alexander Galimov, died five days later in hospital. Crew member Alexander Sizov was the sole survivor. In 2014 Bob and Mike Bryan win their fifth US Open men’s tennis doubles title.

 

8th -Kajinosuke Tanikaze, Japanese sumo wrestler was born on this day in 1750, he is officially recognized as the fourth yokozuna, and the first to be awarded the title of yokozuna within his own lifetime. He achieved great fame and won 21 tournament championships. The first matches in the newly formed Football League were played on this day in 1888. Derby County produced the best result, winning 6-3 at Bolton Wanderers. The other results were: Everton 2 Accrington1; Preston 5 Burnley 2;  Stoke 0 West Brom 2; Wolves 1 Aston Villa 1. The two other founder members of the League, Blackburn and Notts County, did not play. The first champions were Preston North End. They went through the season undefeated and also won the FA Cup without conceding a goal. Mimi Parent, Canadian surrealist artist was born on this day in 1924. Between 1942 and 1947 she studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal where she met the artist Jean Benoît (whom she later married in 1948). In 1947 she had her first one-woman exhibition at the Dominion Gallery in Montreal which received praise from Time Magazine. In 1948 she received the Cézanne medal and exhibited at the “Surrealist intrusion into the Enchanter’s Domain” in New York in 1960 and in 1966 had a solo exhibition at the “Maya” gallery in Brussels. She has also exhibited in Chicago, London, Lausanne and Frankfurt. She assisted with the organization of the “Exposition inteRnatiOnale du Surréalisme” (EROS) which ran from December 15, 1959 to February 15, 1960 in Paris, and conceived of the concept for the catalogue (although this is often attributed to Duchamp). The exhibition catalogue, titled Boite Alerte – Missives Lascives, was presented as a green box into which ideas could be ‘posted’. She died 14 June 2005 in Switzerland. In 1957 the eighth Formula One world drivers’ championship was by Juan Manuel Fangio by 15 points. Today in 1968 the first official US Open (88th overall and formerly known as the US National Championships), was won by Arthur Ashe, who beat Tom Okker – 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Virginia Wade beat Billie-Jean King to win the first US Open title 1968. Welsh footballer and later national manager Gary Speed was born on this day in 1969. As a player, he is best known for his spell between 1988 and 1996 at Leeds United where he won the English Football League First Division Championship in 1992, and also for his spell between 1998 and 2004 at Newcastle United as well as three and a half years at Bolton Wanderers during their days under Sam Allardyce’s management. He captained the Welsh national football team until retiring from international football in 2004. He remains the most capped outfield player for Wales and the second overall, having appeared 85 times at senior level between 1990 and 2004. Speed was appointed manager of Sheffield United in 2010, but left the club after a few months in December 2010 to manage the Welsh national team, remaining in this role until his death 11 months later. Speed played professionally for Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United. Rarely troubled by injury or suspension, he held the record for the most appearances in the Premier League at 535, until it was surpassed by David James. At the time of his death, only James and Ryan Giggs had played in more Premier League matches than Speed. Including his appearances in The Football League and cup competitions, he made 840 domestic appearances. He played in the Leeds United team that won the Football League First Division championship in 1991–92, the year before the FA Premier League was formed. He also played in consecutive FA Cup finals for Newcastle United, losing to Arsenal in 1998 and to Manchester United in 1999. Speed was found dead, after apparently hanging himself, on 27 November 2011, aged 42. Russian tennis player Elena Likhovtseva was born today in 1975, she turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16. Together with Mahesh Bhupathi she won the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles championship in 2002, and the Australian Open mixed doubles championship with Daniel Nestor in 2007.She has also been a runner-up in a number of other contests, including the Australian Open women’s doubles event in 2004, French Open Women’s Doubles in 2004 and Mixed Doubles in 2003, and the 2000 and 2004 US Open Women’s Doubles. In the 2004 Olympics, she won the first round of the Women’s Doubles with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, but was defeated in the second. German gymnast and 2012 Olympic floor and parallel bars silver medallist Marcel Nguyen was born today in 1987. On this day in 1988 Javier Sotomayer of Cuba sets a world high jump record when he clears 2.43m. David Longhurst, of York City, collapsed and died on the field during a game with Lincoln City in 1990 at the age of 25. He was the first player to die during a Football League game since Sam Wynne of Bury in 1927. Referee Roy Harper collapsed and died while officiating in a game, also at York City’s Bootham Crescent ground, in May 1969. Sebastian Vettel takes the chequered flag at the Italian Formula One GP on this day in 2013. Austrian pilot Hannes Arch died on this day in 2016 aged 46.  He competed in the 2007 Red Bull Air Race World Series season following a round of qualification held in Phoenix, Arizona during October 2006. He joined 13 other pilots, 2 of them also receiving entry after the Arizona qualifying. Arch won the World Championship in the 2008 season. Hannes made his mark on the paragliding scene inventing the gruelling international competition known as the Red Bull X-Alps, taking the world’s most elite paragliding pilots across the Alps from Austria to Monaco entirely by air or foot in a race against the clock. The event quickly gained a reputation as one of the world’s toughest adventure races. He died after being involved in a helicopter crash while flying supplies to to a remote mountain lodge belonging to the German Alpine Club called the Elberfelder Hut.

 

9th-English-American fencer Arthur Fox was born on this day in 1878 in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. He competed in the 1904 Olympics and won a silver medal in the team foil competition. He also competed in the individual foil but was eliminated in the first round and finished fifth in the individual sabre. The referee in charge of the 1966 Football World Cup final, Swiss, Gottfried Dienst was born in 1919. At the time he was considered the best referee in the world, and is one of only four men to have twice refereed a European Cup final, which he did in 1961 and 1965, and one of only two (the other being the Italian Sergio Gonella) to have refereed both the European Championship final and the World Cup Final. On this day in 1928, Silvio Cator of Haiti set a then long jump record of 26 feet and ½ an inch. Today in 1940 at the 60th edition of the US Men’s Open Tennis Championships Donald McNeill claimed victory over Bobby Riggs. Ton van Heugten, Dutch sidecar cross-rider and 1981 World champion was born in 1945. He has also won the Dutch national sidecar-cross championship four times, 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980 and the FIM European Championship in 1975. British 1976 Olympic and World figure skating champion John Curry was born on this day in 1949. The 70th running of the US Women’s National Tennis Championship in 1956 was won by Shirley Fry when she beat Althea Gibson, 6-3, 6-4. The local ‘derby’ between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers in 1960 was the first Football League match to be televised live. The match at Bloomfield Road was uninspiring and attracted very little interest. But, of course, all that has now changed!!! German luger Georg Hackl was born on this day in 1966. He was three time Olympic and World Champion, known affectionately as Hackl-Schorsch, or the Speeding Weißwurst, a reference to what he looked like in his white bodysuit coming down the luge at fast speeds. On this day in 1975 the Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Navratilova defected to the West. She was granted political asylum in the US and eventually citizenship. A week earlier the 18-year-old had reached the semi-finals of the US Open at Forest Hills. Today in 1987 Twenty-five English football fans involved in the Heysel stadium disaster were extradited to Belgium. Thirty-nine people died in the tragedy before the European Cup Final between Juventus and Liverpool in 1985. The English club supporters were to be charged with manslaughter for their charge towards Juventus fans which led to a wall collapsing onto the panicked Italians as they tried to escape. This was Britain’s biggest mass-extradition, two large vans transported the prisoners from Wormwood Scrubs in London to an RAF base in Oxfordshire. They were flown to Belgium in a military aircraft and driven immediately to the law courts in central Brussels, where they were questioned and formally remanded by magistrates. It was feared that it would be impossible for the English fans to receive a fair trial in a country where they had been vilified by the press. A Belgian newspaper ran an article saying that the men had let down their club, their city and their country in an article with the headline: “Welcome in Belgium red Animals”.  Eventually 14 of the extradited fans were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter after a five-month trial.  Seven men were given three-year prison terms and the remainder received three-year suspended sentences. Born in 1987, German tennis player Andrea Petkovic. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old. Petkovic turned professional in 2006 and reached her career-high singles ranking of world number 9 in October 2011 after reaching the quarter-finals of that year’s Australian Open, French Open and US Open. She suffered three separate injuries in 2012: a back injury in January, an ankle injury in August and a knee injury in December that kept her out for nine months and almost saw her fall out of the top 200. She has won five WTA titles, nine ITF singles titles and three ITF doubles titles. She won the season-ending tennis tournament WTA Tournament of Champions in 2014. Petkovic became the German national champion in 2007 and 2009 and is coached by Eric van Harpen.  In 1988 the planned English cricket tour of Indian tour was cancelled. Captain Graham Gooch and seven other members of his squad were refused visas to travel. The banned players had all previously have played in South Africa. The Sports Minister, Colin Moynihan, said the Indian Government’s decision could have serious implications for international cricket. But Delhi defended its policy and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth said they should be applauded for the ruling. Graham Gooch’s appointment as captain of the England team by the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was considered controversial because of his rebel tour to South Africa in 1982. Kim Barnett, Alan Lamb and Philip Newport were placed on a UN blacklist for playing in the republic the previous winter. The other four players – John Emburey, Robert Bailey, Graham Dilley and Robert Robinson were already on the list.  The TCCB hastily arranged an alternative tour to New Zealand, but this was called off in December by the New Zealand cricket authorities who were worried that the tour would be sabotaged by political activists. English cricketers often ‘moonlighted’ for South African cricket clubs during the winter, but a 1989 ruling by the International Cricket Committee banned any players than continued to do so.Pete Sampras became the youngest winner of the US Open tennis crown in 1990. He was 19 years and one month old when he beat Andre Agassi 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Sharon van Rouwendaal, Dutch swimmer and 2016 Olympic 10km Open Water Marathon gold medallist, was born in 1993. She grew up in Soest, and later moved to France with her parents. In 2009, she moved to Eindhoven to train with Jeanet Mulder, after she had qualified for the 2010 European Aquatics Championships she changed coach to Jacco Verhaeren. She is noted for her versatility, and focuses on distance freestyle events. In a country known for its sprinters, she is the only elite distance swimmer. She has won several medals at European and world championships, both in open water and pool events. English footballer and accomplished Surrey cricketer “Ron” Tindall died on this day in 2012 aged 76. He played youth football for Camberley Wanderers when the club formed in 1950. He began his senior career when he joined Camberley F.C. in 1952 at the age of 16. He only made two appearances for the first team before joining Chelsea’s new youth system in 1953. Two years later, he scored on his full debut for the club against West Bromwich Albion and within a year, had established himself in the Chelsea first team and, though the side’s form was often erratic, he struck up a prolific strike partnership with the emerging Jimmy Greaves. In the 1960-61 season, they scored 59 goals between them (16 for Tindall, 43 for Greaves), a club record which still stands.Upon signing for Chelsea, Tindall negotiated a special arrangement with the club, whereby he was allowed to miss the first and last months of the football season to play cricket for Surrey. His first-class career with Surrey lasted from 1956 to 1966, though he only played in three matches prior to 1960. He was awarded his county cap in 1962.He scored 5446 runs in first-class matches at an average of 24.86, including two centuries and with a highest score of 109 not out. He reached one thousand runs in a season for the only time in 1963. He took 150 wickets at 32.38, with best figures in an innings of 5-41. Easily his most successful season with the ball was 1962, when he got his chance after the retirements of the Surrey off-spinners Jim Laker and Eric Bedser and took 66 wickets at 23.92. He emigrated to Western Australia in 1977 to take the job of director of the state’s football coaching. He lived there for the remainder of his life. In 2008, he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to sport.

 

10th-Today in 1846 Elias Howe was granted the first US patent for a sewing machine, others predated it using a different type of mechanical helper and were issued as early as 1755 in England. Building on these previous ideas as well as innovations of his own, Howe’s invention was a breakthrough but remained commercially unproductive. He took his machine to Europe but success continued to elude him. On his return to the States, he found several other manufacturers had used his idea, in part or in total, to create a product selling, if not like hotcakes, at least making money. Isaac Singer’s machine was scaled for home use and based on Howe’s design. Howe began the arduous task of defending his patent and his first suit forced payment to Howe of $25 for each machine sold. Eventually the two men, Singer and Howe collaborated with others working on sewing machines. The “Combination” included both men and Wheeler & Wilson and Grover & Baker. The companies had to pay Howe $5 per machine sold in the US and $1 for each one exported. Howe earned $2 million prior to his patent running out in 1867. At the 15th edition of the British Golf Open in 1875, Willie Park Senior took the title after shooting a 166 at the Prestwick Golf club. Today in 1927 France beat the USA (3-2) at the 22nd Davis Cup, held in Philadelphia. Golfer Arnold Palmer was born in 1929. Palmer was not only a great golfer, and the first to win $1 million, bit an inspiration to millions of ordinary people worldwide. His famous Arnold Palmer Driving Ranges helped popularise the game, as did the books that appeared under his name. Palmer was also responsible for getting his fellow American professionals to compete in the British Open in the early 1960s at a time when US interest in the championship was declining. He was rewarded with the title in 1961 and 1962. He won the US Masters four times and the Open once, in 1960. Australia’s Lionel Van Praag won the first world speedway championship, held at Wembley in 1936. In 1948 Don Bradman scored 153 in his last first-class cricket inning in England. Today in 1960 Abebe Bikila won the marathon at the Rome Olympics in a record time of 2:15:16.2 seconds and became the first sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal. Bikila did not originally make the Ethiopian team. Wami Biratu, who did, broke his ankle in a football match and was pulled at the last minutes. Bikila was his replacement. Adidas was the shoe sponsor for the 1960 Summer Olympics but had few shoes left when Bikila went to collect a pair and could find none that fitted him comfortably.With just a couple hours before the race Bikila opted to run barefoot. In the following Olympics held in Tokyo, Bikila once again won the marathon even though he was, once again, not expecting to run. In the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Bakila was expected to run and did, only to suffer an injury less than half way through the race, which incapacitated him and force him to drop out. During a spate of civil unrest in Addis, Bakila had to swerve while driving in order to miss a group of protesting students. His car landed in a ditch. Although the athlete survived, he was left a quadriplegic. He did get to attend the 1972 Olympics, but only as a spectator. He died in 1973 after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. He was 41 years old. Today in 1961 saw one of the world accidents in F1, during the Italian Grand Priz. German Wolfgang von Trips, lying second in the Grand Prix series, was driving a Ferrari when he crashed with Britain’s Jim Clark, driving a lighter and faster Lotus. Von Trips’ Ferrari went air born, tossing the driver out as it rolled. The car then crashed into a chain link fence holding back the enthralled crowd. Eleven spectators were killed instantly with three more dying the next day and a final man succumbing to his injuries on September 15. The rest of the cars managed to retain control and drive through the wreckage without becoming part of it. Clark walked away from the crash and immediately went to the now lifeless body of his fellow driver as he lay on the ground. In a daze, Clark had walked to the Ferrari seemingly looking for answers to the horrifying spectacle. Jim Clark himself would eventually also die in a crash during a Formula 2 race in 1968. On this day in 1962 Rod Laver beat fellow Australian Roy Emmerson in four sets to win the US Championships and complete the Grand Slam. He repeated the feat seven years later. On this day in 1966 Muhammad Ali scored a technical knock-out over Karl Mildenberger in the 12th round to win the heavyweight boxing title. The 20th Olympic Games, held in Munich, were closed on this day in 1972. Norwegian cross country skier Bente Skari, née Martinsen was born in 1972.  She is one of the most successful cross country skiers ever. She won her first Olympic medals in 1998, and won her first gold medal at the 2002 Olympics, coming from behind to beat the favourites Olga Danilova and Julija Tchepalova in the last kilometers of the 10km classical event. She also won a bronze medal in 3km classical as well as a silver medal in the relay. Additionally, she won five gold medals (5km: 1999, 10km: 2001, 2003, and 15km: 2001, 2003) from the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, as well as two silver (4 x 5km: 1997, 2001) medals. She won the overall cross-country skiing World Cup four times before retiring after the 2002/2003 season. Emmerson Fittipaldi of Brazil won the 1972 Italian Grand Prix at Monza in a Lotus to clinch the world drivers’ title. Aged only 25 years and 273 days, he was the then youngest-ever world motor-racing champion. Today in 1977 Christa Vahlensieck set a new female world marathon record of 2:34:47.5. Misty Copeland, American ballerina was born today in 1982.On June 30, 2015, she became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s 75-year history. In 1990 it was the first time since 1966 that all eight Grand Slam tennis champions were different. The Australian Open was won by Ivan Lendl and Steffi Graf, the French Open by Andrés Gómez and Monica Seles, Wimbledon by Stefan Edberg and Martina Navratilova and finally the US Open by Pete Sampras and Gabriela Sabatini.   Brooke Henderson, Canadian professional golfer was born in 1997.She was named the Canadian Press female athlete of the year for 2015 and won her first major at age 18 in 2016 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, becoming the event’s youngest winner and moving her to second in the world rankings