Golf Central

On this day in 1945, a grateful Britain, still partying at the end of the WWII like it was an extended hen-night, heard the crackly news announced from Royal and Ancient HQ in St Andrews that 'normal golf service shall resume'.

This meant that the Open Championships, cancelled from 1940-45 due to the war, would be played at St Andrews again the next summer (won by Sam Snead), and where it had last been played in 1939, won by Richard Burton (not the actor). Touchingly, in the spring of 1946, Burton wrote to the R&A, 'Dear Sirs, Please find enclosed my fee of five guineas for this year's Open. I will bring the trophy back when I come.'
   
It was the end of an era in 1975 today for Spain's Generalissimo Franco, whose dictatorship ended after 36 years with Prince Carlos taking charge. In 1982, Aussie mum Lindy Chamberlain of 'the dingo ate my baby' fame went down for the murder of her 9-week-old daughter, giving Meryl Streep another chance perhaps her most truly annoying acting turn.

And it's Suba Upan Dinayak Vewa! as spin-master Muttiah Muralitharan might say, to English Test cricket captain and Michael Vaughan OBE (b.1974), stealing celeb Winona Ryder (b.1971), the amazingly-hot Yasmin Le Bon (b.1964), annoying American idol judge, Randy Jackson (b.1961) and sublimely talented ice hockey phenom, Eric Staal (b.1984).