Golf Central

"Look like a woman, but play like a man." So said Jan Stephenson, a no-nonsense, good-looking blonde Aussie who won 16 times on the LPGA tour, including three Majors. Her we like for her looks and charm; Muffin Spencer-Devlin we like for her name and ability to court controversy. Other stuff we like because we don’t get out much, and that tends to warp your sense of humour. Well, sense of perspective on everything, if we’re honest…

On this day in 1978 the lovely Jan  Stephenson won the LPGA Women’s International Golf Tournament but we remember her best for posing for a picture in a bathtub full of golf balls.

We love Muffin Spencer-Devlin too, but for different reasons to Jan. In 1986 she won the United Virginia Bank Golf Classic but we remember her fondly for two other moments. First, at an official golf dinner she sat herself at the top table and then refused to move, saying she was ‘a freakin’ American’ who could ‘sit anywhere I freakin’ like.’ Second, she was the first woman pro golfer to come out as a lesbian. Several hundred more were expected to follow but as yet, nothing.

On this day on 2006 a team of scientists at the University of Illinois were successful in their attempts to turn pig manure into crude oil. Please supply your own punchline. Football fans will always remember this day in 1985 because of the fire that swept through Bradford City stadium, killing 53 people but damaging far more, in all sorts of ways.

In 1960 Adolf Eichmann, the most prominent Nazi war criminal still at large, was capture in Buenos Aires by Israeli soldiers. And in 1812 the waltz introduced into English ballrooms and was immediately branded disgusting and immoral. Not surprisingly, it quickly became the nation’s favourite.

‘Van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag’ as they say in Holland to Bobby Cole (60) the golfer who won the Buick Open in 1977. It was also have been the birthdays of an odd but entertaining trio - Baron Munchausen (288 years old), teller of tall tales, Salvador Dali (104), painter of bent clocks and Phil Silvers (96), aka Sergeant Bilko - had they not gone to a better place some time ago...

Anything else? Yes...
In 1927 Belgium beat England 9-1 in a friendly football match
In 1970 the Beatles released their Let it Be album.