Golf Central

On leap day in 1916, the sultry-voiced singing starlet of the 1940s and '50s Dinah Shore was born in Tennessee, and in addition to her entertainment career Shore became a key figure in the popularisation of ladies golf and founded the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the LPGA's four majors.

A huge solo success in a time which also featured Doris Day and Patti Page, Shore was also known for a string of romantic involvements: she was married to popular actor George Montgomery but was linked to Frank Sinatra, Gene Krupa, James Stewart, US General George Patton, and Burt Reynolds. But Dinah, who died of cancer in 1994, was a keen golfer and is best known for founding the LPGA major that still unofficially bears her name ...

In 1972, Shore helped found the Colgate Dinah Shore golf tournament in the Southern California desert, now the Nabisco. The "Shore" is still best known for the tradition of the winner taking a plunge into the pond surrounding the 18th green. Morgan Pressel took the leap last year. Oddly, considering its founder's man-chasing ways, the "Shore" is also known as a popular break for the lesbian community, who flock to the desert for a week of spring break-like parties ...

And in the rest of the world: On this day in 1940, Bob Hope, another golf patron, hosted the first Oscars banquets, with the epic Gone With The Wind sweeping eight awards, including a Best Picture of 1939, Best Actress for Vivien Leigh, and a Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar (although leading man Clark Gable did not impress the academy enough for a statue) ...

And strangely enough: On this day in 1288, this leap day was established in Scotland as one day when a woman can propose to a man; the tradition is kept alive to this day in the Highlands. In the old days, if a man refused a proposal he was subject to paying a fine (some might argue that accepting the proposal is the same thing).

And in sport: On this day in 1972, the great baseball slugger Hank Aaron signed a record deal with the Atlanta Braves, becoming the league's highest paid player. Hammerin' Hank became baseball's all-time home run king two years later; his mark was broken last season by the steroid cheat Barry Bonds ...

That said, it's tavalodet mobarak!, as they say in Farsi, to a smattering of leaplings: tough-guy mobster-cop actor Dennis Farina of Miami Vice is 64; Italian stallion actor Antonio Sabado Jr is 36; hip-hopper Ja Rule (Jeffrey Atkins) is 32; and Charlton Athletic attacking midfielder Darren Ambrose is 24.

It also would have been a birthday for the brilliant naval designer John Philip Holland (b. 1840), "the father of the modern submarine" who was anti-war, had it not been "all engines stopped" for him in 1914 before his subs were used in actual warfare ... 'Til tomorrow ...