• May 14 down the years

The genius of Higgins

Alex Higgins made a remarkable break of 69 to turn his World Championship semi-final against Jimmy White on its head © Getty Images

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1982
The greatest break ever made in snooker? If flawed masterpieces are allowed, yes quite possibly. It began with a mistake by one flawed genius against another. This was the semi-final of the World Championships. Two of the most entertaining players of all time were in opposition. Alex Higgins hadn't won the title for ten years - and he surely wasn't going to win this one. Jimmy White, many people's idea of the New Higgins, had only just turned 20. He was about to become the youngest world finalist ever. He led 15-14 and 59-0, moments away from winning the match. Then, as so often in his subsequent career, he missed an easy ball. A red while using the rest. Cue (pun unavoidable) the Higgins great escape. Just about every ball was hard to pot, mainly because his positional play was so poor. But he potted them, from some outlandish places on the table. His break of 69 was studied and intricate and superb under so much pressure. One missed pot and Higgins was out. He won the frame, and the decider, and the title on May 16. White reached his first final two years later (May 7) and his last, desperately by then, in 1994 (May 2).

2005
Martin Johnson's last big match didn't end the way he wanted. Thirty-five years old by now, he captained Leicester in the Premiership Final, but they lost 39-14 to the defending champions. Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio, miffed by the Johnson retirement build-up, had a typically rumbustious match, and Mark Van Gisbergen scored 26 points, including a try and five penalty goals. During the league season, Leicester had beaten Wasps three times and finished top of the table, but the rules had changed by then and Wasps were champions. Penny for Johnno's thoughts about that.

2006
Fernando Alonso became the first Spaniard to win the Spanish Grand Prix since Carlos de Salamanca won the very first, way back in 1913, when it was a race for touring cars. Alonso retained the Formula One title that year.

1995
Michael Schumacher also won the Spanish Grand Prix and also retained the drivers' title. But the main news story was Nigel Mansell dropping out of the race and the whole business. He claimed his McLaren wasn't fit to drive, so he didn't drive it again - or anything else in Formula 1. It was his last Grand Prix.

Nigel Mansell never drove in Formula One again following his infamous exit at the Spanish Grand Prix © Getty Images

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1961
The genius of Stirling Moss. In an outdated Lotus, he won the Monaco Grand Prix, the opening round of the Formula One World Championship. After that, the Ferraris of Phil Hill and Wolfgang van Trips dominated the faster circuits. Moss won defiantly in Germany but finished a distant third overall.

1960
The record number of points scored by one player in a rugby league Challenge Cup final. Neil Fox's total was equalled on May 1, 1999, but his 20 points would be worth 22 today. He scored two of Wakefield Trinity's eight tries and kicked seven goals. But the Lance Todd Trophy for the man of the match went to Hull's hooker Tom Harris, who captained a team on the wrong end of a 38-5 defeat! He performed heroics for an injury-hit side (Mike Smith was playing his first senior match for the club) before going off concussed with 15 minutes left. In the last eight, Trinity scored 15 points.

1946
At the Harringay Arena in London, crowd-pleasing Freddie Mills made his first attempt at the world light-heavyweight title. Against America's Gus Lesnevich, who was as tough as he was, Mills was down twice in the second round and took some frightening punishment until the bell. But that's what Fearless Freddie did in life. He recovered so well that by the tenth round Lesnevich was a standing target who couldn't see out of his right eye. But Mills was careless. He'd been leaving himself dangerously open, and now Lesnevich, half-blind though he was, caught him with a perfect right hand. Freddie was down twice again before the fight was stopped. He planned to be more careful when they met for the title again on July 26 two years later.

1977
The Montreal Canadiens retained the Stanley Cup. As in the previous year, they won all four games, this time against the Boston Bruins, whom they beat again in the 1978 finals on the way to winning the Cup four years in a row.

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