Golf Central

It's Christmas, but in the world of golf December 25 is a bit of a sad day. Because on this day in 1995, the singer/actor and all-round cool little old wine drinker Dean Martin passed away at the age of 78 of lung cancer and emphysema.

Dino was a keen golfer, of course. Like most of the Vegas-based Rat Pack, the handsome crooner loved his golf and once said he would rather be a professional golfer than an entertainer; the pity of it was Martin wasn't a great player. But he supplied once of golf's best quotes ever when he quipped: "If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt."

And, kindly, Martin lent his name to the PGA Tour's Tucson, Arizona stop for four years. From 1972-75, the tournament with the funny conquistador's helmet as a trophy was known as the Dean Martin Tucson Open and Miller Barber, Bruce Crampton, and Johnny Miller (twice) were the champions.

It's a pity Dino is no longer with us, because he could have spared us the agony of the upcoming 2008 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which used to be known as the PGA Tour's Las Vegas stop ...

It was a sad day for golf as well in 1875, when four-time British Open champion Young Tom Morris died - it was said of a "broken heart" - at the age of only 24. Young Tom, who was the Tiger Woods of that ancient era, died only three months after his young wife died in childbirth ...

Of course on this day in the year 0000 is recognised by Christians worldwide and 99.9 percent of US PGA Tour players as the day of the birth of Jesus Christ. Which is why Christians and non-believers alike still celebrate Christmas Day today ... so Merry Christmas to everyone from IGWT! ...

It was on this day in 1066 that William the Conqueror interrupted everyone's Christmas lunch to be crowned as King of England at Westminster Abbey in London. Typically rude Froggy behaviour, of course ...

But on the plus side, today in 1223, St Francis of Assisi showed he wasn't just handy with miracles and the like, and broke out his DIY toolbox to assemble the first Nativity scene (so says Wikipedia). ...

And on this day, cruising along in the Indian Ocean in 1643 on the East India Company ship Royal Mary, Captain William Mynors spotted an island on the horizon 300 miles south of Jakarta, Indonesia and had a really bright idea: "Hey, I know! Let's call it Christmas Island!" (these ship captains don't rise to command for nothing, you know) ...

And, it was on this day in 1818, that Stille Nacht (Silent Night), the carol written by Father Josef Mohr and Franz X. Gruber, was performed for the first time, in the Church of St Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria ... and everyone got a warm and fuzzy feeling ...

And in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II delivered her first Christmas broadcast since ascending to the British throne. And despite there have been 54 Queen's speeches since and this year's is even broadcast on YouTube for the benefit of the far-flung Commonwealth, it is still not determined that anyone has ever listened to the whole thing ever ...

Today is not just a good day to be born if you are the Son of God; plenty of mere mortals have shared their birthday with JC and had to suffer the lifelong complex of getting all their birthday and Christmas pressies on the same day:

So it's plain-old happy birthday!, as they say in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to a host of musicians, including hippie rocker Jimmy Buffett (61); country chanteuse Barbara Mandrell (59); the mega-throated Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox (53); Shane MacGowan (50) of the Pogues, whose Fairytale of New York with Kirsty MacColl is one of the greatest Christmas anthems ever; and hiccupy English vocaliste Dido (36).

On the sporting front, it's a happy 50th today to former journeyman defender and current excitable Sky Sports football analyst Chris Kamara, who is probably shouting "Good God it's hit the crossbar!!!" around the Christmas lunch table; to cocky Rickey "I Am The Greatest" Henderson (49), baseball's all-time stolen-base King; to former Leeds United and Scotland hardman Gary McAllister (43); and troubled but brilliant England batsman Marcus Trescothick (32).

It also would have been a birthday for the great actor Humphrey Bogart (b. 1899, d. 1957), who is a first-ballot selection on the Manly Man's Hall of Fame simply for being married to Lauren Bacall ... but let's face it, Bogie, smoking 100 a day just ain't good for you.