Golf Central

On this day in 1935, the legendary Walter Hagen, who first brought showmanship and style to professional golf, won the Gasparilla Open by one stroke, beating Clarence Clark. It was the be the last individual title of Hagen's storied career at the age of 42.

Typically, Hagen finished off his opponent with a flourish, just like he had done most things throughout his life. Smart-dressing and free-spending, Hagen won 45 times on the fledgling PGA Tour, and it's fitting that his last win came in the party atmosphere of the Gasparilla, which coincides with Tampa Bay, Florida's Mardi Gras-like festival. Of course, Hagen finished with a pair of birdies, including a 45-foot bomb on the last, to seal the win ...

And in the rest of the world: Things were certainly different back in 1793, when on this day US president George Washington called together the first Cabinet meeting to debate and discuss affairs of the day. It wasn't one of those hush-hush affairs you hear about with the Bush administration these days: Washington just had the Cabinet members over to his plantation home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, over a few nice glasses of claret, presumably ...

And strangely enough: On this day in 1797, the 1,400 French troops (mostly conscripted convicts) who landed near Fishguard, Wales, in "The Last Invasion of Britain" - a bungled operation which featured little violence but a lot of drunkenness from the troops and their Irish-American colonel William Tate, surrendered to local forces. Fittingly, they signed the surrender treaty in the Royal Oak pub in Fishguard ...

And in sport: On this day in 1964, cocky and stylish 22-year-old Cassius Clay was crowned the world heavyweight boxing champ after a shock technical KO over the experienced champ Sonny Liston. It was one of three heavyweight titles for the boxer that we know all know as Muhammad Ali ...

That said, it's Penblwydd Hapus i Chi!, as they say in Fishguard, to the spiky-haired rocker from Prestatyn, Mike Peters (49) of the '80s rockers The Alarm, who came 11th in a poll of 100 Welsh heroes in 2004; to actress Tea Leoni (42) of Bad Boys; to actor Sean Astin (37) of the Lord of the Rings films; and to South Korean and Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-Sung (27).

It also would have been a birthday for the Beatles guitarist George Harrison (b. 1943 in Liverpool), had the Quiet One sadly not gone to meet My Sweet Lord in 2001 ... 'Til tomorrow ...