Bert Trautmann (born 1923) is a German football goalkeeper who played
for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. Brought up during times of
inter-war strife in Germany, Trautmann joined the Luftwaffe early in
the Second World War, serving as a paratrooper. He fought at the
Eastern Front for three years, earning five medals including an Iron
Cross. Later in the war he was transferred to the Western Front, where
he was captured by the British as the war drew to a close. One of only
90 of his original 1,000-man regiment to survive the war, he was
transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in Ashton-in-Makerfield,
Lancashire. Following his release in 1948 he settled in Lancashire,
combining farm work with playing as goalkeeper for local football team
St Helens Town. In October 1949 he signed for Manchester City, a club
playing in the highest level of football in the country, the First
Division. The club's decision to sign a former Axis paratrooper sparked
protests, with 20,000 people attending a demonstration. Over time he
gained acceptance through his performances in the City goal, playing
all but five of the club's next 250 matches. Trautmann entered football
folklore with his performance in the 1956 FA Cup Final. Despite
suffering a serious injury after diving at the feet of Birmingham
City's Peter Murphy, he continued to play, making crucial saves to
preserve his team's 3–1 lead. His neck was noticeably crooked as he
collected his winner's medal; three days later an X-ray revealed it to
be broken.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Trautmann>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1836:
Sam Houston became the first president of the Republic of Texas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston>
1844:
Millerites, including future members of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, were greatly disappointed that Jesus did not return as
predicted by American preacher William Miller .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment>
1934:
Pretty Boy Floyd, an American bank robber and alleged killer who was
later romanticized by the media, was gunned down by Federal Bureau of
Investigation agents near East Liverpool, Ohio.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Boy_Floyd>
1964:
After the Nobel Committee announced that he had won the Nobel Prize in
Literature, French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre became the
first Nobel Laureate to voluntarily decline the prize, saying that he
did not wish to be "transformed" by such an award.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre>
2006:
An expansion project to double the Panama Canal's capacity was approved
by Panamanian voters in a national referendum by a wide margin.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_expansion_project>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
palatable (adj):
1. Pleasing to the taste, tasty.
2. Tolerable, acceptable
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palatable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I often observed to my brother, You see now how little nature requires
to be satisfied. Felicity, the companion of content, is rather found in
our own breasts than in the enjoyment of external things; And I firmly
believe it requires but a little philosophy to make a man happy in
whatsoever state he is. This consists in a full resignation to the will
of Providence; and a resigned soul finds pleasure in a path strewed
with briars and thorns.
--Daniel Boone
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Boone>