50 Fun Facts About British Sports

Which ex-POW goalkeeper finished the 1956 FA Cup final for Manchester City with a broken neck?

Bert Trautmann broke his neck diving at Birmingham's Peter Murphy with 17 minutes left, yet kept making saves to protect a 3–1 lead; an X-ray three days later found the fracture.

Which horse won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, finishing second in the two years between?

Red Rum is buried at the Aintree winning post, and his name is simply the last three letters of his dam Mared and his sire Quorum.

Who beat Steve Davis on the last black of the 1985 world snooker final, seen by 18.5 million after midnight?

Dennis Taylor potted the black at 12:23 a.m. to win 18–17 after trailing 8–0, in what remains the most-watched broadcast after midnight in British television history.

To which Ravel piece did Torvill and Dean skate for twelve perfect 6.0s at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics?

Boléro earned Torvill and Dean 6.0s for artistic impression from every judge, the highest single-programme score in figure skating history, a year after their Barnum routine had drawn the world's first perfect score.

Which club won the 2015–16 Premier League having begun as 5000–1 outsiders with the bookmakers?

Leicester City's Jamie Vardy scored in a record 11 consecutive Premier League games that season, and Riyad Mahrez became the first African winner of the PFA Players' Player of the Year.

Which British heavyweight floored Cassius Clay with a left hook at Wembley in 1963, then lost on a cut eye?

Henry Cooper's 'Enry's 'Ammer dropped Clay in the final seconds of round four; a tear in Clay's glove, shown to the referee by trainer Angelo Dundee, became the bout's lasting controversy.

Which rower said anyone who found him near a boat again could shoot him, then won a fifth Olympic gold in 2000?

Steve Redgrave gave that 'permission to shoot me' interview on television minutes after his 1996 gold, then won the coxless four in Sydney while managing diabetes diagnosed in 1997.

Who scored the first hat-trick in a World Cup final, in England's 4–2 win over West Germany at Wembley in 1966?

Geoff Hurst only played because Jimmy Greaves had gashed his leg against France, and his second goal, which bounced down off the crossbar, is still argued over today.

Whose 1936 Wimbledon men's singles title was the last by a Briton for 77 years, until Andy Murray's in 2013?

Fred Perry won three straight Wimbledons from 1934 to 1936, then turned professional and became a US citizen in 1939, disillusioned with the class-conscious British game.

Which club won the 1967 European Cup with all but two of its squad born within 10 miles of its own ground?

Celtic's Lisbon Lions beat Inter Milan 2–1 in the Estádio Nacional, and having already won the league and both Scottish cups they remain the only club to complete a European quadruple.

Which club, founded in 1857, is recognised by FIFA as the oldest still playing football anywhere in the world?

Sheffield FC received the FIFA Order of Merit in 2004, an honour shared only with Real Madrid, and its derby against neighbours Hallam, first played in 1860, is still contested.

Which club remains the only side from outside England to win the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1–0 at Wembley in 1927?

Cardiff City's Hughie Ferguson scored the only goal on St George's Day, and the club won the Welsh Cup the same season, the only club ever to hold two countries' national cups at once.

Who came off the bench to score England's 110th-minute winner against Germany in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley?

Chloe Kelly whipped off her shirt to celebrate and collected a yellow card, echoing Brandi Chastain's 1999 World Cup celebration; Chastain later swapped shirts with her at Wembley.

Which club won back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980 under Brian Clough, having won just one league title?

Nottingham Forest are the only club in Europe with more European Cups than domestic titles, and the 1979 winner was headed in by Trevor Francis, English football's first £1 million player.

Which competition's final has opened with the hymn 'Abide with Me' since 1927, sung 15 minutes before kick-off?

The FA Cup's first formal use of the hymn came in 1927, though the link may go back to the 1923 final when the crowd spilled onto the pitch; Lyte wrote it in 1847 as he was dying of tuberculosis.

Which club played at Anfield from 1884 until a rent dispute with landlord John Houlding drove it out in 1892?

Everton moved to Goodison Park, the first major football stadium built in England, and Houlding, left with an empty Anfield, formed a new club to fill it: Liverpool.

Which stadium's 149,415 crowd for Scotland v England in 1937 remains Europe's record for an international match?

Hampden Park was the largest stadium in the world from its 1903 opening until the Maracanã overtook it in 1950, and at least 20,000 more fans got in without tickets that day.

Which ground, built for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, staged FA Cup finals from 2001 to 2006 while Wembley was rebuilt?

The Millennium Stadium's retractable roof was only the second in Europe, and it also took three rugby league Challenge Cup finals, from 2003 to 2005, that normally belong to Wembley.

Which newspaper's mock obituary of English cricket, after a first home defeat by Australia in 1882, named the Ashes?

The Sporting Times notice, written by Reginald Shirley Brooks, said the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia; the urn later given to England's captain reputedly holds a burnt bail.

Whose unbeaten 135 at Headingley in 2019 won an Ashes Test by one wicket after England had been bowled out for 67?

Ben Stokes still needed 73 with one wicket standing when the last man came in, and his 135 not out is now ranked among the greatest Test innings ever played.

Which bowler took 19 of the 20 Australian wickets in the 1956 Old Trafford Test, a feat still unequalled?

Jim Laker's Surrey spin partner Tony Lock took the one wicket he missed, and Laker's match figures of 19 for 90 remain a world record in all first-class cricket.

What tiebreaker gave England the 2019 Cricket World Cup final after the match and the super over were both tied?

England's boundary count was 26 to New Zealand's 17, helped when a throw in the final over deflected off a diving batter's bat and ran away for four overthrows.

Which rugby trophy between England and Scotland was made from melted-down rupees by a disbanding Indian club?

The Calcutta Cup was first played for in 1879 at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, after the Calcutta club's dwindling members withdrew its ₹270 of funds to be melted into a trophy.

Whose drop goal with 28 seconds of extra time left won England the 2003 Rugby World Cup final 20–17 against Australia?

Jonny Wilkinson struck it with his right foot, and the entire England playing and senior coaching team were appointed to the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year Honours.

Which rugby ground is nicknamed 'the Cabbage Patch', after the market garden the RFU bought for £5,500 in 1907?

Twickenham's 10.25 acres grew cabbages among other vegetables before RFU committee man William Williams and treasurer William Cail bought the plot for £5,500 12s 6d.

What informal 'prize' goes to the Six Nations' bottom team, borrowed from a Cambridge booby prize for maths exams?

The Wooden Spoon went to the Cambridge student with the lowest third-class mark in the Mathematical Tripos; the last real one, awarded in 1909, has a handle shaped like an oar.

Who dived over to finish 'that try' for the Barbarians against the All Blacks at the Arms Park in 1973?

Gareth Edwards seemed to intercept the last pass of a move Phil Bennett had started by sidestepping three tackles near his own line, and in 2002 British fans voted it No. 20 of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.

In which town's George Hotel did 21 northern clubs break from the RFU in 1895 over 'broken time' payments?

Huddersfield's George Hotel saw a 20–1 vote to form the Northern Rugby Football Union; 'broken time' meant up to six shillings for wages lost when players missed work for matches.

Which Briton won the women's singles at Wimbledon's centenary championships in 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee year?

Virginia Wade's final was the first the Queen had attended since 1962, and no British woman won another singles major until 2021.

Which game, still in the full name of the club that hosts Wimbledon, was its sole purpose when founded in 1868?

Croquet was the All England Club's only game until one lawn was set aside in 1875 for the infant sport of lawn tennis, then called Sphairistikè; the first championship followed in 1877.

Which Briton won the 2021 US Open aged 18 without dropping a set, the Open era's first qualifier to win a major?

Emma Raducanu beat Leylah Fernandez in the final, the same opponent she had beaten at junior Wimbledon three years earlier, and became the first British woman to win a singles major since 1977.

Which theatre, snooker's home since 1977, carries a 'curse': no first-time champion there has ever retained the title?

The Crucible is named for crucible steel, developed in its home city in 1740, and every first-time champion since Terry Griffiths in 1979 has failed to defend the title there the following year.

Who compiled the fastest maximum break in snooker history, in 5 minutes 8 seconds at the 1997 World Championship?

Ronnie O'Sullivan's 147 is listed as a Guinness World Record, and he has made more officially recognised maximums in professional play than any other player.

How many World Championships did Phil 'The Power' Taylor win, a record across the BDO and PDC eras?

Phil Taylor's 16 titles include eight PDC wins in a row from 1995 to 2002, and his 214 professional tournament victories feature a record 11 televised nine-dart finishes.

Who won the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship aged 17, a year after reaching the final as a 16-year-old debutant?

Luke Littler beat Michael van Gerwen to become darts' youngest world champion at 17 years 347 days, having reached the 2024 final as a 66/1 outsider, and retained the title in 2026.

Which venue has staged the PDC World Darts Championship since 2008, following 14 years at Purfleet's Circus Tavern?

Alexandra Palace, the Victorian 'People's Palace' in north London, is also where the BBC made the world's first public high-definition television broadcasts in November 1936.

Which Grand National fence takes its name from a captain who fell there in 1839 and took shelter in the water?

Becher's Brook is jumped twice, as the 6th and 22nd fence; Captain Martin Becher came off his mount Conrad in the first official Grand National and hid in the brook, and jockeys liken the drop to 'jumping off the edge of the world'.

In which year was the Grand National declared void after a false start that 30 of the 39 riders failed to notice?

The 1993 recall flag failed to unfurl after the starting tape caught round Richard Dunwoody's neck, and 50/1 shot Esha Ness 'won' in the second-fastest time in the race's history.

Who in 2021 became the first female jockey to win the Grand National, riding Minella Times to victory at Aintree?

Rachael Blackmore had already become the first woman to be leading jockey at that year's Cheltenham Festival, and in 2022 she added the first Cheltenham Gold Cup by a female rider, on A Plus Tard.

The Boat Race is rowed on the Thames from Putney to which finish, 4 miles and 374 yards upstream?

Mortlake's finish has seen one dead heat, in 1877, when both crews clocked 24 minutes 8 seconds in bad weather, and in 1912 high winds sank both boats before either got there.

Which colour did Cambridge adopt after three Caius rowers carried their college's ribbon in the 1836 Boat Race?

Light blue was the Caius boat club's colour, and after Cambridge won that 1836 race by 20 lengths the University Boat Club asked the college whether the whole university could adopt it.

Which track cyclist became Britain's most decorated Olympian with seven golds, the last in the keirin at Tokyo 2020?

Jason Kenny attacked with three laps left as the derny pulled off and won the Tokyo keirin by over three-quarters of a second, taking his ninth medal, also a British record.

Which British ski jumper finished last in both events at Calgary 1988, prompting the IOC to tighten its entry rules?

Eddie Edwards, 'the Eagle', was Britain's first Olympic ski jumper, and the 'Eddie the Eagle Rule' now demands hopefuls finish in the top 30 per cent or top 50 at international events.

Which former army sergeant won both the 800m and 1500m at the 2004 Athens Olympics, aged 34, after years of injuries?

Kelly Holmes had joined the army at 18 and worked as a lorry driver and physical training instructor before going full-time in 1997; a stress fracture had wrecked her 1996 Olympics.

Which Briton beat China's Ren Cancan at London 2012 to win the first Olympic boxing gold ever awarded to a woman?

Nicola Adams defended the title in Rio four years later, beating France's Sarah Ourahmoune in the final on 20 August 2016.

Which circuit staged the first Formula One World Championship race in May 1950, with George VI among the crowd?

Silverstone's 70-lap race was won from pole by Nino Farina for Alfa Romeo, with the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret also watching.

What time did Roger Bannister run at Iffley Road in 1954, announcer Norris McWhirter getting no further than 'three…'?

Roger Bannister's 3:59.4 came in an AAA v Oxford University meet, paced by Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, and the crowd's roar drowned out the rest of McWhirter's announcement.

Which 100/1 outsider won the 1967 Grand National after a pile-up at the 23rd fence, which was later named after it?

Foinavon was so far behind that he slowed to a canter, found a gap through the loose horses and jumped clear; Aintree officially named the 7th/23rd fence after him in 1984.

Which 'Crafty Cockney' won five world darts titles in the 1980s and sponsored a young Phil Taylor with about £10,000?

Eric Bristow won the BDO world title in 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 and 1986, then bankrolled the raw Stoke-on-Trent talent who would go on to eclipse him.

Which snooker player, 'the Whirlwind', lost all six world finals he reached, four of them to Stephen Hendry?

Jimmy White lost to Steve Davis in 1984, to John Parrott in 1991 and to Hendry four times between 1990 and 1994, his nickname coming from his swift, attacking style of play.