• April 25 down the years

Sheene roars to victory

Barry Sheene became a heartthrob back in the 70s © Getty Images

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1976
Britain's Barry Sheene won the opening race of the 500cc motorcycling season. Starting from pole in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, he finished ahead of youngsters Johnny Cecotto of Venezuela and Italy's Marco Lucchinelli. Another Italian, Walter Villa, won the 250 and 350cc races at the same meeting. Sheene won the next two 500 events, and five in total that season, on his way to taking the world title for the first time. The last race of the season, on August 29, was the last won by Giacomo Agostini...

...who won the first of his record number on this day in 1965. While Ago was winning the 350cc Grand Prix in West Germany, two famous British riders were winning the 500 and 250: Mike Hailwood and Phil Read.

1974
Playing for Salford in a Club Championship replay, Welsh rugby league legend David Watkins scored points for the 92nd club game in a row, a record that still stands. In that run, he totalled 929 from 41 tries and 403 goals. Tonight he scored all of Salford's points, through two tries and a goal, but they lost 17-8 to second division champions Bradford Northern.

1957
Eric Bristow was born in London and went on to become the first superstar in darts, the player who made it as popular as snooker. His arrogance and cheek were perfect for the TV age, that raised little finger getting up people's noses - but it was his ability to walk the walk that really mattered, to play his best under pressure. He didn't start too well, losing the first match in the first World Championship - but soon became the first player to win the title five times. He won tight finals against Bobby George and John Lowe, then began to dominate. His defeat by Keith Deller on January 8, 1983 was just a blip. In the next three finals, he beat big Dave Whitcombe 7-1 and 6-0, and Lowe 6-2 in between. At that stage in his career, Bristow looked unstoppable. But then his famous 'dartitis' set in, something like a golfer's putting yips. He struggled to let go of the darts, and although he overcame it in time to reach the next World final, he lost it 6-4 to Lowe, then lost another three in a row from 1989 to 1991. The second of those was ironic: he'd spotted an unknown newcomer, sponsored his entry into the wider world, then lost to him 6-1 in the World final. Phil Taylor had arrived and the Bristow age was over. He lost the next final too, 6-0 to Dennis Priestley - but left the sport as its most unforgettable player. At his peak, he achieved the rare feat of winning the News of the World title twice in a row.

1974
Ray Reardon beat Graham Miles 22-12 to win his second world title and third in all. Leading 17-11 overnight, Reardon won the first three frames and the last two. He didn't play particularly well, mainly because Miles played even worse. Reardon's 57 break in the first frame of the day was 'the nearest approach to a highlight'. He won £2,000 first prize, Miles £1,200. Reardon won the title in each of the next two years and again in 1978, Miles reached only this one final.

1953
Still the youngest winner of the Lance Todd Trophy. In the rugby league Challenge Cup final, Peter Ramsden celebrated his 19th birthday with the man of the match award after scoring two tries, including the winner with five minutes left. Bursting through a small gap, he ran half the length of the pitch. In their first Final in 20 years, Huddersfield beat St Helens 15-10.

1906
The second and third modern Olympics were just sideshows at exhibitions and fairs in Paris and St Louis. In an attempt to revitalise the movement, the Games returned to Athens after a ten-year gap. Although Greece had the metric system of measurement, a five-mile race was included in the track and field programme. As in 1896, the standard wasn't high - so Britain's Henry Hawtrey won the event despite an injured ankle and no great pedigree in the sport. A lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, he hit the front after two miles and won by nearly eight seconds. He didn't finish his heat in the 1500 metres and never won another major race.

On the same day at the same Games, British cyclist Billy Pett won the 20 kilometre track race. Not bad for a 32-year-old who worked eleven hours a day in the wine cellars for the slave drivers at Harrods. He finished 30 seconds ahead of two Frenchmen, one of whom was world champion that year; the other later won the road race at these Games. The contestants were paced by team mates on tandems, and Pett was helped along by Johnny Matthews and Arthur Rushen.

Top Italian cyclist Francesco Verri won his third gold medal of these Olympics: from the sprint to today's 5,000 metre track race. He was also world sprint champion that year.

Back in the field of track and field, the mighty Martin Sheridan retained the discus title (he won it for the third time in 1908) - and Fernand Gonder of France became the only non-American to win the Olympic pole vault until September 2, 1972. A winning jump 24 centimetres below his world record shows the standard of opposition.

1950
British flyweight Terry Allen won the world title. In September, he'd fought a draw for the championship with Belfast's formidable Rinty Monaghan, who then retired. Tonight Allen took on Honoré Pratesi of France for the vacant title. The Frenchman had beaten him the previous year, but tonight Allen had everything on his side. A home crowd in north London, an opponent with a poor record and no punch. Allen was no knockout artist himself - most of his wins were on points - but he'd learned from their previous fight and now made full use of the ring, pinging his left jab through Pratesi's high guard and winning a dull fight easily - on points, of course. He lost it to someone's grandad on August 1. The press made a lot of Allen's job as a barrow boy. When he retired, he opened his own business in Islington Market. He was born Edward Albert Govier but took the name of a friend who was killed in the War.

1966
When one of his fights ended in tragedy on March 24, 1962, Emile Griffith got straight back in the boxing ring. He defended his world welterweight title, lost it, regained it, and defended it some more. Then, tonight, he stepped up to go after Dick Tiger's middleweight crown. Tiger was a Nigerian brick outhouse, but Griffith became the first boxer to knock him down as a professional. Even so, the decision was unanimous but very close and controversial. Like Griffith, Tiger moved up a weight, winning the world light-heavyweight title in his next fight. Griffith fought three classics with Nino Benvenuti, the last on March 4, 1968.

1981
Anja Pärson was born in Sweden and grew into one of the great all-round skiers. She won Olympic gold in the slalom in 2006, plus silver in the giant slalom in 2002 and three bronze medals. But in the World Championships, the fractions of a second went her way. She won seven titles, a postwar record, in four different Championships and all five events, including three in 2007.

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