Golf Central

It's alright Annika, come down, I won't say anything else

On this day, in 1994, Vijay Singh narrowly squeezed past Miguel Angel Jimenez by one stroke to win the Trophee Lancome.

Vijay Singh was born in 1963 in Lautoka, Fiji and turned pro in 1982. Unless you've been living in a dustbin for the last ten years, you'll know all about Vijay's 3 majors, 31 PGA victories, 32 week stretch at number one and record money winning season – here are five facts however that you probably didn't know about Fiji's finest. (And apologies to those of you that DO live in dustbins.)

1. Fittingly, Vijay's name means victorious lion.
2. He has a son, born in 1990,  named Qass Seth, which as much as it sounds like it, is not a Jedi name.
3. His dad Mohan Singh, who was an airplane technician and golf teacher used to tell a young Vijay that golf balls didn't grow on trees. Vijay proved him wrong though by practising with coconuts.
4. Since turning 40, Singh has won 19 times on the PGA Tour, beating Sam Snead's record by two and proving all those 'life begins at 40' birthday cards right.
5. Although he is right-handed, Singh reckons that he can play to about a six handicap left handed.

Also on this day, in 1066, The Battle of Stamford Bridge marked the end of the Viking era. The English army won a tense battle 7,000 to 2,000 with English manager King Godwinson remarking “The lads done fantastic out there today. We'll be taking it one battle at a time but we're definitely looking forward to Hastings now, which we all know is a difficult place to travel to.”

Meanwhile, in 1976, the band U2 formed at drummer Larry Mullen's home. The original line-up that day included Larry's mum on backing vocals and his dad on the tin whistle but they were later dropped when Larry met Bono and that.

And it's Lu Xun! As they say in Shaoxing, to; shamed celebrity polo-fan and clothes-horse, Jodie Kidd (29), Mrs Michael Douglas - Catherine Zeta Jones (38) and actor-cum-rapper Will Smith (39). It would also have been Ronnie Barker's 79th birthday had it not been "Goodnight from him" in 2005.