• January 5 down the years

Hendry brings down the Rocket with last-gasp 147

Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan share a healthy rivalry © Getty Images

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1997
Stephen Hendry scored a maximum 147 in the last frame of the final to beat defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-8 and regain the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge. It was Hendry's fourth maximum in competition - and he needed it to stave off the Rocket's tremendous comeback. O'Sullivan trailed 4-0, then 6-2 at the break, then 8-2 before winning six frames in a row to draw level at 8-8. Hendry's designated charity, the National Playbus Association, benefited by £120,000. O'Sullivan earned £33,000 for the Dyslexia Society.

1985
At Twickenham, Rob Andrew scored 18 points on his international debut. In England's first match against Romania, he showed his confidence by potting a drop goal after only 43 seconds, and repeated the trick before half-time. Not as crucial as his drop goal on June 11, ten years later, but a cool start. He also kicked four penalty goals. England picked five other new caps, including Andrew's former Cambridge University team-mate Simon Smith, who scored the only try of the match in the last minute. Dumitru Alexandru kicked five penalty goals for Romania.

2002
Phil Taylor won his eighth world title in a row and 10th in all, whitewashing poor Peter Manley 7-0 in the final.

2003
The Taylor streak had to end sometime. The following year, in fact. But it was a close thing. The Power came up against Canada's John Part, who surely carried some scars. When Part won the BDO title in 1994, no-one took him too seriously. He won the final 6-0 - but it was only against Bobby George, who was 48. And this was the first year after the big split, with the best players taking part in the PDC Championship. When Part reached the PDC final, on January 3, 2001, Taylor humiliated him 7-0. This time Part came out blasting, leading 3-0 and 4-1. When Taylor won 11 legs in a row to go 5-4 up, heads nodded sagely. But Part came back to lead 6-5 and needed only to hold his throw to take the title. Taylor broke back to force a deciding set, but the Canadian broke again to win the match. He took the title again in 2008 - but normal service was well and truly resumed on January 4, 2009.

1982
Janica Kostelić was born in Croatia. A powerful all-round skier, she won four Olympic golds, including three at the 2002 Games, and five World Championship titles. The day after she won the women's slalom at the 2003 Worlds, her brother Ivica won the men's slalom. She was overall World Cup champion three times.

1917
Adolfo Consolini was born in Italy and became the top discus thrower of his generation. A World War deprived him of a probable gold medal in 1944, when he was the world record holder, but it ended in time for him to win one in London four years later, by which time he'd broken the record twice more in the same meet. His team mate, big bald Beppe Tosi, won the silver medal. Consolini regained the world record after the Games and won his second and third European Championship titles, poor Tosi finishing second all four times. Consolini won silver at the 1952 Olympics and had the longest throw in the world in 1955, by which time he was 38. In 1960 he took the oath at the Games in Rome.

1991
One-metre springboard diving was added to the World Swimming Championships. The first gold medallist was Edwin Jongejans of Holland. His sister Daphne was European three-metre champion four years earlier.

1941
Chuck McKinley was born. He became Wimbledon singles champion in 1963 because a) defending champion Rod Laver had turned pro, and b) he didn't meet any other seeds throughout the tournament. But later that year, his win in the deciding singles brought the Davis Cup back to America.

1933
Derek Johnson was born in Essex. In the finishing straight of the 800 metres at the 1956 Olympics, he suddenly burst between two Americans and seemed about to snatch gold. But Tom Courtney wanted it more. Running himself into excruciating oxygen debt, he came back to win by less than a yard. He was so exhausted they had to delay the medal ceremony by an hour. Johnson had form going into the race: Commonwealth Games champion over 880 yards and 4x440 relay two years earlier. He picked up bronze in the relay here in Melbourne.

1888
The mighty John L Sullivan came over to Britain to fight a series of exhibitions. In Cardiff, he won in three rounds against William Samuels, who seems to have fought only this one pro fight! John L didn't defend his world heavyweight title again until September 7, 1892.

1921
Hal Davis was born. Years after he retired, many experienced observers were still calling him the fastest sprinter of all time, ahead of Charley Paddock and Jesse Owens. Unlucky that his peak years were in wartime, he was only a student when he ran 10.2 in 1941 to equal Owens' world record for the 100 metres. In the space of four years, he won three US championships at 100 yards and all four at 220.

1965
Patrik Sjöberg was born in Sweden. Probably the best high jumper of his time, certainly the most visible with his long blond hair, he was a little unlucky to win two Olympic silvers and a bronze but never the gold. He was world champion in 1987, the inaugural world indoor champion, and won the European Indoors four times. He set a world record 2.42, which is still the highest by any European. But it was a shady era, so take with pinch of salt. No-one's jumped 2.40 since 2000...

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