• July 6 down the years

A pentathlon star is born

Mary Peters won three Commonwealth gold medals and an Olympic gold © Getty Images

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1939
Mary Peters was born in Lancashire but competed for Northern Ireland as well as the UK. After finishing fourth in the pentathlon at the 1964 Olympics and ninth in 1968, she bulked up by forcing down industrial amounts of dairy products and above all learned the Fosbury Flop in the high jump - just enough to win her the gold medal in 1972 (3 September), by which time she was 33. She was a late developer at the Commonwealth Games too, competing in two of them before winning a medal, in the 1966 shot putt. She won her first golds in 1970: in the shot putt and inaugural pentathlon, and the pentathlon again in 1974, her last competition before retirement. She set a world record in winning her Olympic gold, as well as a United Kingdom record in the 100 metres hurdles on the first day, plus two in the shot putt in 1966 that weren't broken for nearly twelve years. An athletics track was named after her in Belfast.

1907
In billiards, Tom Reece completed a world record break of 499,135 which still stands - mainly because they outlawed the cradle cannon which accounted for most of his points. It involved all three balls in a corner and simply tested a player's ability to stay upright and nudge the cue ball for days on end. Reece won £125 and a gold watch for his feat of endurance, but after starting the break on 3 June he was miffed to have missed the half-million. His opponent Joe Chapman, who sat through it all, was just miffed to be there.

Some big Wimbledon tennis finals were played today.

In 2008, Rafael Nadal had to go to the wire to end Roger Federer's attempt at a sixth Wimbledon singles title. Nadal had been getting closer on grass. He'd lost the last two Wimbledon finals to Federer, the first in four sets, the second in five - and he might have won it if he hadn't injured a leg after leading 4-1 in the fourth set. Today he won each of the first two 6-4 but the next two went to tie-breaks, and Federer was a master at those: he won 11 out of 12 in Wimbledon singles finals, including a thriller in the fourth set today. Federer recovered from 5-2 down, missed a set point, then saved two match points, the second with a courageous backhand. His superior serve won him cheap points throughout the match, while Nadal had to work much harder - but a clay court player like Nadal didn't mind rolling his sleeves up. In the fifth set, he saved a break point at 5-6 and lost three on Federer's serve before finally breaking through to lead 8-7. Even then, Federer saved a third match point with another trademark backhand - but he couldn't save the fourth. The match ended in near-darkness, and Federer alluded to it, but it had been the same for both of them. Nadal had thrashed him in the French Final on clay (8 June) and now beaten him on his favourite grass. And there were still the hard courts of Australia to come (1 February). In Nadal's absence the following year, Federer regained the Wimbledon title after another epic (5 July).

In 2003, Martina Navrátilová became the oldest ever Wimbledon finalist and champion. She'd stopped playing singles after losing the final in 1994 (2 July) but could still hack it in doubles even at 46. In the final of the mixed, she and Indian doubles specialist Leander Paes beat Andy Ram of the USA and Russia's Anastasia Rodionova 6-3 in each set. It was Navrátilová's 20th Wimbledon title, equalling Billie Jean King's record. Navrátilová won her first in 1976.

From the oldest to the other end. Lottie Dod (born 24 September 1871) is still the youngest winner of any Grand Slam singles title. Today in 1887, she won Wimbledon for the first time at the age of 15 years 285 days, the youngest Wimbledon champion in any event until 8 July 109 years later. Dod reached five finals in all, including three in a row, the last in 1893 (18 July) when she was still only 21. In every one of them she beat Bingley, who became Blanche Hillyard along the way. Dod's youth meant she was allowed to compete in shorter skirts, while Bingley's movements were hampered by floor-length curtains. She lost today's final 6-2 6-0.

Talking of Billie Jean King, that great doubles expert Elizabeth Ryan (born 5 February 1892) died in 1979, the night before Billie Jean broke her record of 19 Wimbledon titles. Ironically, King broke it by winning the doubles with Navrátilová. They came from a set down to beat Betty Stove of Holland and Australia's Wendy Turnbull.

1957 saw the first black winner of a Wimbledon singles title. By the time Althea Gibson won the French singles the year before, she was nearly 29 (born 25 August 1927), having temporarily retired from tennis a few years earlier. In 1956, she won the Wimbledon doubles. Today she won the singles for the first time, using her long reach and intimidating volleys to beat fellow American Darlene Hard in two easy sets, then partnered her to win the doubles for the second year in a row. Gibson retained both titles the following year.

Ken Rosewall never won Wimbledon © Getty Images

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Ken Rosewall had been waiting twenty years for this. In 1954 he was only 19 when he lost the Wimbledon final to Jaroslav Drobný (2 July). Today in 1974 it was his turn to be the crowd's favourite. Rosewall had appeared in two other singles finals since 1954, losing them both. If he hadn't played pro tennis for twelve years, he might have won one. As it was, he now faced a scary new force in tennis. Rosewall's great backhand had rolled back the years to beat big-serving former champions John Newcombe and Stan Smith (from two sets down) in the quarter-finals and semis, and he was given every chance against 21-year-old Jimmy Connors. But here we had a skilful old boxer against a hungry young fighter with power in both hands, forehand and back. Long before the end, Rosewall looked even older and smaller than he was, beaten up 6-1 6-1 6-4. At the winners' ball, Connors danced with the 19-year-old winner of the women's singles, Chris Evert, who was his fiancée at the time. He was heavy favourite to beat up another old-timer in the final the following year (5 July). Old Ken, of course, never reached another one.

In 1996, Steffi Graf won the Wimbledon singles for the last time, beating Arantxa Sánchez Vicario for the second year in a row. Graf won all her seven titles in the space of nine years.

Back in 1934, Fred Perry became the first British player to win the Wimbledon men's singles since 1909. In the final, the pace at which he played overwhelmed Australian defending champion Jack Crawford, who lost in straight sets, the first two 6-3 6-0. Perry retained the title in 1935 and 1936 (3 July), the last British player ever to win it.

Helen Wills Moody was the dominant tennis player of her generation, winner of seven US singles titles and invincible at Wimbledon, where she won eight titles and 50 matches in a row. In 1935, she equalled the record by winning Wimbledon for the seventh time - but had to survive a match point which her opponent never forgot. In five of her successful finals, Wills Moody beat the other Helen, Helen Jacobs, an all-court player whom she usually outgunned from the baseline. Today it looked like business as usual when Jacobs lost the first three games of the final - but in 1933 she'd retained the US title when Wills Moody retired at 3-0 down in the final set, and that victory gave her confidence today. She won 11 points in a row before Wills Moody turned it round to take the opening set 6-3. Jacobs won the second by the same score and dominated the third, going ahead 5-2 when Wills Moody missed an easy smash. On her own serve, Jacobs had match point, bossed a long rally, and was finally faced with a feeble little lob begging to be put away into an empty court. Later Jacobs would mention a sudden slight gust of wind, but she was the one who blew it. She hit her smash into the net cord, didn't win another game, and lost the 1938 final to Wills Moody (2 July). In one of WM's regular absences, Jacobs won the title in 1936.

In 1929, a Frenchman won the Wimbledon singles for the sixth year in a row. Three of them won two Wimbledon singles each: Jean Borotra, René Lacoste, Henri Cochet. They were also runners-up in all but one of those finals, Borotra three times, including today, when he lost in straight sets to Cochet. France won the Davis Cup from 1927 to 1932.

1996
Rugby union's first ever Tri-Nations match. Six players scored the All Blacks' six tries in a 43-6 thumping of Australia in Wellington. The visitors had some top backs (Campese, Burke, Horan, Roff, Tune) - but New Zealand's were no slouches (Lomu, Cullen, Bunce, Little, Jeff Wilson), and their half-backs and forwards were infinitely superior. The All Blacks led 25-6 at half-time and went on to win all four Tri-Nations matches in that inaugural year.

1951
For the first and only time, golf's British Open was staged outside Britain, at Portrush in Northern Ireland. It produced the last British winner until 1969 (12 July). The US PGA was staged at the same time, so the top Americans didn't turn up again, but South Africa's 'Bobby' Locke was there and he was trying to win the jug for the third year in a row. He finished joint sixth as Max Faulkner shot four solid rounds to win by two strokes from Antonio Cerda of Argentina, who made up four on the last round.

1924
Although Paavo Nurmi was the track star of these Olympics, winning a record five gold medals, his team mate Ville Ritola was the ironman of the Games, winning six medals, another record. If Nurmi hadn't been there, Ritola would have won six golds: he finished second to him in the 5,000 metres and cross-country. They won gold together in two team events, and today Ritola won the 10,000 metres. The Finland selectors kept Nurmi out of this race because they were worried about his workload. They were probably too cautious: he won the 1500 and 5,000 on the same day (10 July). But he would have had his work cut out in the 10,000, defending champion though he was: Ritola broke his own world record in winning the race by a massive 32 seconds.

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