Golf Central

On this day in 1945, Byron Nelson and Jug McSpaden teamed up to win the Miami Four-Ball Championship, beating Denny Shute and Sam Byrd 8&6.

And even though the Miami Four-Ball was a team event, it was an official PGA Tour tournament at the time, which makes Lord Byron's victory all the more significant. Why? Because the victory was the first in Nelson's "unbeatable" string of 11 straight tournament victories - a record which many in golf today still don't think can be broken ...

For the record, The Streak wasn't halted until August 19, 1945, when Nelson finished fourth, six shots behind amateur Fred Haas Jr, in the Memphis Invitational ...

In the real world: On this day in 1942, with Japanese forces on a seemingly inexorable advance across the Pacific, the US general Douglas MacArthur was evacuated to Australia from the embattled Philippines, saying "I shall return" ... MacArthur did just that, when Allied troops landed at Leyte in October of 1944 ...

Strangely enough: It was on this day in 1702 that The Daily Courant, the first regular daily English newspaper, was published from rooms above the White Hart pub in Fleet Street, London, starting a trend for ink-stained wretches enjoying a pint or two to come up with the mad idea of starting a publication. God bless 'em ... There is no truth to the rumour that the headline included the words "RANDY ROMP SHOCKER", however ...

And in a near crime against humanity, it was on this day in 1969 that the Levi-Strauss Company started selling bell-bottomed jeans in the US ... And, according to Shakespeare's writing, it was on this day in the year 1302 that his star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, were secretly married ...

In sport: On this day in 1930, the legendary baseball slugger Babe Ruth signed a two-year contract with the New York Yankees, who are still throwing around money these days like it grows on trees, for the sum of $80,000 (that's $960,274.95 in today's money!) ... and the Babe spend most of it on booze and broads. The rest, he squandered ...

So it's mo swet u en bonlaniverser!, as they say in Mauritian Kreol, to ruthless Aussie media mogul Rupert Mudoch (77); to jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin (58) of Don't Worry, Be Happy fame; to floppy-haired English TV interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (43); to actor Shane Richie (44), the cheeky Alfie Moon of EastEnders; to Denmark and Everton hardman Thomas Gravesen (32); and to Chelsea and Ivory Coast targetman Didier Drogba (30).

And it's also a happy birthday to my lovely sister. Happy birthday, sis!

It also would have been a birthday for the 16th century Italian poet Torquato Tasso (b. 1544), best known for his 1580 masterpiece La Gerusalemme liberata, had he not said "Arrivederci world!" in 1595 ... 'Til tomorrow! ...