Success 2013: Tony Brooks, British former racing driver from England also known as the "racing dentist". He participated in 39 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, and scored the first win by a British driver in a British car in a Grand Prix since 1923

Charles Anthony "Tony" Standish Brooks (born in Dukinfield, Cheshire, 25 February 1932) is a British former racing driver from England also known as the "racing dentist". He participated in 39 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 July 1956, and scored the first win by a British driver in a British car in a Grand Prix since 1923, in 1955 driving a Connaught at Syracuse in a non World Championship race.




Brooks was born on 25 February 1932 in Dukinfield, Chesire. He is the son of a dental surgeon and studied the practice himself. He took up racing in 1952 and drove a Healey at club events until 1955. In that same year, Brooks drove a Formula Two Connaught at Crystal Palace and finished fourth.

Brooks claimed the first victory for a British-constructed car in a World Championship race in the 1957 British Grand Prix at Aintree, which he shared with Sir Stirling Moss. Along with Moss, Brooks is considered one the best drivers never to have been World Champion and both Moss and three-time World Champion Jack Brabham were known to have thought highly of his ability.



Brooks won six races for Vanwall and Ferrari, secured four pole positions, achieved ten podiums, and scored a total of 74 championship points. He drove for BRM but retired from the team at the end of 1961, just before their most successful season.

In 2008, Brooks was honoured by his home town. Dukinfield District Assembly, part of Tameside Council, held a dinner in his honour and unveiled a plaque outside his former home on Park Lane.

Tony Brooks won the 1957 British Grand Prix sharing his car with Stirling Moss. Both were awarded half points for their victory (4 instead of 8).

Brooks was also awarded one point in the 1957 Italian Grand Prix and 1959 German Grand Prix for recording the fastest lap.
  
Tony Brooks: Poetry in Motion

It took 15 years of relentless persuasion to convince Tony Brooks, one of Britain's greatest ever racing drivers, that he should write his autobiography. Throughout his racing career he shunned publicity, preferring to let his on-track performances speak for themselves. This is why Stirling Moss, on many occasions his team-mate in Formula 1 and sports car races, has described him as 'the greatest 'little known' driver of all time'. Tony Brooks began his racing career at Goodwood in 1952 at the wheel of his mother's Healey sports car. Three years later, having never previously sat in a Formula 1 car, he drove a Connaught to victory in the Syracuse Grand Prix, beating the entire Maserati works team. It was the first Grand Prix victory for a British car and driver for 31 years. His unique combination of speed and smoothness, aptly chosen by him as his book title Poetry in Motion, led to works drives with Aston Martin, BRM, Vanwall and Ferrari and brought him Grand Prix victories on Europe's most challenging circuits - Spa, the Nürburgring and Monza.


DRIVERS: TONY BROOKS

Name: Tony Brooks
Nationality: Great Britain
Date of birth: February 25, 1932 - Dunkinfield, Chesire

The son of a dental surgeon, Brooks studied dentistry and took up racing in 1952 at the wheel of a Healey. He raced mainly in club events for the next three seasons and in 1955 was offered the chance to try a Formula 2 Connaught at Crystal Palace. He finished an impressive fourth behind three F1 cars. That year he was offered a factory Aston Martin drive and further good performances resulted in him being given the chance to drive an F1 Connaught in the non-championship Syracuse Grand Prix in Sicily. Despite studying for his final examinations he flew down to Sicily and won the race, becoming the first British driver driver to win in a British car on the Continent since Sir Henry Seagrave's victory at the San Sebastian Grand Prix in 1924.

When he returned to Britain he was signed by BRM for the 1956 season and made his World Championship debut at Silverstone where the car suffered a stuck throttle and he crashed heavily, being thrown out and suffering a fractured jaw. At the end of the season quit BRM to join Vanwall in F1 while continuing to race for Aston Martin in sportscars. he finished second at Monaco and shared victory at the British GP at Aintree, handing his car over to Stirling Moss after his car had broken down. In 1958 Brooks won the Belgian, German, and Italian GPs but finished third in the World Championship behind Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss.
Vanwall withdrew from racing at the end of that year and Brooks sign to drive in 1959 for Ferrari. He won the French and German GPs but that year the Italian cars were outpaced by the rear-engined Cooper being driven by Jack Brabham. Brooks finished runner-up in the World Championship.
In 1960 Brooks returned to Britain, joining the Yeoman Credit Cooper team. He scored points on three occasions but increasingly he looked after his garage business in Weybridge. The following year he went back to BRM but it was another disappointing year and at the end of that season he retired from the sport.

Success 2013: Sir David Attenborough, famous English broadcaster and naturalist, best known for writing and presenting the nine Life series. He was named as the most trusted celebrity in Britain in a 2006 Reader's Digest poll

Sir David Frederick Attenborough, OM CH CVO CBE FRS FZS FSA (born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster and naturalist.

His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for 60 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine Life series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. He is also a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s. He is the only person to have won a BAFTA in black and white, colour, HD and 3D.
Attenborough is widely considered a national treasure in Britain, although he himself does not like the term. In 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote. He is a younger brother of the director, producer and actor Richard Attenborough.

Attenborough was born in Isleworth, west London, but grew up in College House on the campus of the University College, Leicester, where his father, Frederick, was principal. He is the middle of three sons (his elder brother, Richard, became an actor and his younger brother, John, an executive at Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo).During World War II, through a British government initiative known as Kindertransport, his parents also fostered two Jewish refugee girls from Europe.
Attenborough spent his childhood collecting fossils, stones and other natural specimens. He received encouragement in this pursuit at age seven, when a young Jacquetta Hawkes admired his "museum." A few years later, one of his adoptive sisters gave him a piece of amber filled with prehistoric creatures; some 50 years later, it would be the focus of his programme The Amber Time Machine.
Attenborough was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and then won a scholarship to Clare College of Cambridge University in 1945, where he studied geology and zoology and obtained a degree in natural sciences. In 1947 he was called up for national service in the Royal Navy and spent two years stationed in North Wales and the Firth of Forth.
In 1950 Attenborough married Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel; the marriage lasted until her death in 1997. The couple had two children, Robert and Susan.Robert is a senior lecturer in bioanthropology for the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra.

After leaving the Navy, Attenborough took a position editing children's science textbooks for a publishing company. He soon became disillusioned with the work and in 1950 applied for a job as a radio talk producer with the BBC. Although he was rejected for this job, his CV later attracted the interest of Mary Adams, head of the Talks (factual broadcasting) department of the BBC's fledgling television service. Attenborough, like most Britons at that time, did not own a television, and he had seen only one programme in his life. However, he accepted Adams' offer of a three-month training course, and in 1952 he joined the BBC full-time. Initially discouraged from appearing on camera because Adams thought his teeth were too big, he became a producer for the Talks department, which handled all non-fiction broadcasts. His early projects included the quiz show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? and Song Hunter, a series about folk music presented by Alan Lomax.
Attenborough's association with natural history programmes began when he produced and presented the three-part series The Pattern of Animals. The studio-bound programme featured animals from London Zoo, with the naturalist Julian Huxley discussing their use of camouflage, aposematism and courtship displays. Through this programme, Attenborough met Jack Lester, the curator of the zoo's reptile house, and they decided to make a series about an animal-collecting expedition. The result was Zoo Quest, first broadcast in 1954, where Attenborough became the presenter at short notice due to Lester being taken ill.
In 1957 the BBC Natural History Unit was formally established in Bristol. Attenborough was asked to join it, but declined, not wishing to move from London where he and his young family were settled. Instead, he formed his own department, the Travel and Exploration Unit, which allowed him to continue to front Zoo Quest as well as produce other documentaries, notably the Travellers' Tales and Adventure series.
In the early 1960s, Attenborough resigned from the permanent staff of the BBC to study for a postgraduate degree in social anthropology at the London School of Economics, interweaving his study with further filming. However, he accepted an invitation to return to the BBC as controller of BBC Two before he could finish the degree.
Beginning with Life on Earth in 1979, Attenborough set about creating a body of work which became a benchmark of quality in wildlife film-making and influenced a generation of documentary film-makers. The series also established many of the hallmarks of the BBC's natural history output. By treating his subject seriously and researching the latest discoveries, Attenborough and his production team gained the trust of the scientific community, who responded by allowing him to feature their subjects in his programmes. In Rwanda, for example, Attenborough and his crew were granted privileged access to film Dian Fossey's research group of mountain gorillas. Innovation was another factor in Life on Earth's success: new film-making techniques were devised to get the shots Attenborough wanted, with a focus on events and animals that were hitherto unfilmed. Computerised airline schedules, which had only recently been introduced, enabled the series to be elaborately devised so that Attenborough visited several locations around the globe in each episode, sometimes even changing continents mid-sentence. Although appearing as the on-screen presenter, he consciously restricted his pieces to camera to give his subjects top billing.
The success of Life on Earth prompted the BBC to consider a follow-up, and five years later, The Living Planet was screened. This time, Attenborough built his series around the theme of ecology, the adaptations of living things to their environment. It was another critical and commercial success, generating huge international sales for the BBC. In 1990 The Trials of Life completed the original Life trilogy, looking at animal behaviour through the different stages of life. The series drew strong reactions from the viewing public for its sequences of killer whales hunting sea lions on a Patagonian beach and chimpanzees hunting and violently killing a colobus monkey.
In the 1990s, Attenborough continued to use the "Life" moniker for a succession of authored documentaries. In 1993 he presented Life in the Freezer, the first television series to survey the natural history of Antarctica. Although past normal retirement age, he then embarked on a number of more specialised surveys of the natural world, beginning with plants. They proved a difficult subject for his producers, who had to deliver five hours of television featuring what are essentially immobile objects. The result, The Private Life of Plants (1995), showed plants as dynamic organisms by using time-lapse photography to speed up their growth.
Prompted by an enthusiastic ornithologist at the BBC Natural History Unit, Attenborough then turned his attention to the animal kingdom and in particular, birds. As he was neither an obsessive twitcher, nor a bird expert, he decided he was better qualified to make The Life of Birds (1998) on the theme of behaviour. The order of the remaining "Life" series was dictated by developments in camera technology. For The Life of Mammals (2002), low-light and infrared cameras were deployed to reveal the behaviour of nocturnal mammals. The series contains a number of memorable two shots of Attenborough and his subjects, which included chimpanzees, a blue whale and a grizzly bear. Advances in macro photography made it possible to capture natural behaviour of very small creatures for the first time, and in 2005, Life in the Undergrowth introduced audiences to the world of invertebrates.

Attenborough was named as the most trusted celebrity in Britain in a 2006 Reader's Digest poll,. and the following year he won The Culture Show's Living Icon Award. He has also been named among the 100 Greatest Britons in a 2002 BBC poll and is one of the top ten "Heroes of Our Time" according to New Statesman magazine

Success 2013: Just Fontaine, former French football player best known for being the record holder for most goals scored in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup, with 13 in 1958

Just "Justo" Fontaine (born 18 August 1933 in Marrakech, Morocco) is a former French football player best known for being the record holder for most goals scored in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup, with 13 in 1958.

He holds the record for most goals scored in a single FIFA World Cup finals tournament, with 13 in 1958. He has also scored the fourth most goals for any player in the World Cup finals overall, after Ronaldo (15 goals in four World Cup tournaments), Gerd Müller (14 goals in two tournaments) and Miroslav Klose (14 goals in three tournaments).

Though born in Marrakech, he moved to Casablanca, where he attended the Lycée Lyautey.
Fontaine began his amateur career at USM Casablanca, where he played from 1950 to 1953. Nice recruited him in 1953, and he went on to score 44 goals in three seasons for the club. In 1956, he moved on to Stade de Reims where he teamed up with Raymond Kopa, Kopa went to Real Madrid in 1958, Fontaine scored 121 goals in six seasons at the Stade de Reims. In total, Fontaine scored 165 goals in 200 matches in the Ligue 1, and twice won the championship; in 1958 and 1960. He also took part in the team that got to the 1958–59 European Cup final against Real Madrid, being that season's top scorer with 10 goals.

Wearing the blue shirt of France, Fontaine's statistics are even more impressive. On his debut with the team on 17 December 1953, Fontaine scored a hat trick as France defeated Luxembourg 8–0. In seven years, he scored 30 goals in 21 matches for the national team. However, he will best be remembered for his 1958 FIFA World Cup performance, where he scored 13 goals in just six matches—a feat which included putting four past the defending champions West Germany. It was also the highest number of goals ever scored by one player at a single World Cup tournament – a record which still stands today. This tally secured him the Golden Boot for that tournament.
Fontaine played his last match in July 1962, being forced to retire early (28 years and 11 months old) because of a recurring injury. He briefly managed the French national team in 1967, but was replaced after only two games, both friendlies that ended in defeats. As coach of Morocco, he led the Atlas Lions to 3rd in the 1980 African Cup of Nations, overseeing the emergence of such players as Badou Zaki, Mohammed Timoumi and Aziz Bouderbala. Morocco reached the final stage of 1982 World Cup qualifying but were beaten by Cameroon. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. He was chosen as the best French player of the last 50 years by the French Football Federation in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003.

With Eugène N'Jo Léa he founded the National Union of Professional Football Players in 1961. He criticized the performance of the French team in 2010 World Cup in South Africa, particularly on the lackluster playing by the forwards. France were eliminated after group stage, with a draw against Uruguay and losses to Mexico and South Africa.

 

Honours

Club

• Stade de Reims
  • French Division 1 (3): 1957–58, 1959–60, 1961-62
  • Coupe de France (1): 1957-58
  • Challenge des champions (2): 1958, 1960

• Nice
  • French Division 1 (1): 1955–56
  • Coupe de France (1): 1953-54

Individual

• 1958 FIFA World Cup Top Goalscorer
• European Cup Top Goalscorer (1): 1958-59
• French Division 1 Top Goalscorer (2): 1957-58, 1959-60

Success 2013: John "Jack" Charlton, English former footballer that was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup

John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL (born 8 May 1935) is an English former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup. He is the brother of former Manchester United and England footballer Sir Bobby Charlton.
Charlton was a part of the successful Leeds United side of the 1960s and 1970s, winning a league championship (1969), an FA Cup (1972), a League Cup (1968) and two Fairs Cups (1968 and 1971) and made a club record 773 appearances. He won 35 England caps and played in every game of the successful 1966 World Cup campaign. In 2006, Leeds United supporters voted Charlton into the club's greatest ever XI.
Charlton later became a manager of both domestic and international sides. In his first season as a manager, he led Middlesbrough to the Second Division title, for which he was voted Manager of the Year in 1974. He later took charge of the Republic of Ireland national team, and led them to their first ever World Cup in 1990, where they reached the quarter-finals.

Born into a footballing family in Ashington, Northumberland, Charlton was initially overshadowed by his younger brother Bobby, who was taken on by Manchester United while Jack was doing his National Service with the Household Cavalry. His uncles were Jack Milburn (Leeds United and Bradford City), George Milburn (Leeds United and Chesterfield), Jim Milburn (Leeds United and Bradford Park Avenue) and Stan Milburn (Chesterfield, Leicester City and Rochdale), and legendary Newcastle United and England footballer Jackie Milburn was his mother's cousin.
After quitting a job in a coal mine, Charlton applied to join the police, but was then offered a trial by Leeds United after they had spotted him playing as a central defender in an amateur match. The trial game clashed with his police interview, and Charlton chose to play in the game. He impressed enough to be offered an apprenticeship with Leeds, and then signed professional terms in 1952. Charlton played in the Leeds senior team for the first time in April 1953 and within another two years was a regular fixture in the side, built around John Charles. Under Raich Carter, Leeds won promotion to the First Division in 1956, before suffering relegation in 1960. Jack Taylor replaced Carter as manager but he was fired in March 1961 and replaced by Don Revie. In 1963 Revie agreed to sell Charlton but interested clubs – including Liverpool and Manchester United – could not match Leeds' asking price. Ultimately, they settled their differences, and Revie built the Leeds defence around Charlton.
Charlton was joined at centre back in 1962 by Norman Hunter, a product of the youth policy. Other youth team players such as Peter Lorimer, Paul Reaney and Billy Bremner also came into the side and Leeds won promotion back to the First Division in 1964. Leeds made an immediate impact on their first season back in the top flight; they were runners up in the league, losing the title to Manchester United on goal average, and were beaten 2–1 by Liverpool in the FA Cup final. Charlton, operating as an emergency striker, set up Bremner's goal for Leeds.

International recognition and a World Cup winner's medal
 
With Charlton approaching his 30th birthday, he was called up by Alf Ramsey to play for England against Scotland at Wembley. The game ended 2–2 and Charlton was impressive enough to keep his place. With England hosting the 1966 World Cup in just over 12 months' time, the incentive to stay in the side was obvious.
Ramsey chopped and changed other areas of his team as the World Cup neared, but Charlton's defensive partnership with captain Bobby Moore remained a constant fixture. Charlton got his first England goal in a pre-tournament victory over Denmark before Ramsey confirmed his squad of 22 players for the finals. Charlton was in the squad, and was given the No. 5 shirt, an indication that if fit he would be the first choice partner for Moore.
England drew their opening group game against Uruguay 0–0, but progressed to the knock-out stages after victories against Mexico and France. The latter game finished 2–0 with Roger Hunt getting both England goals, one of which came after Charlton, venturing forward to add height to the attack, hit the post with a header. England eliminated Argentina in the quarter finals, taking them to a semi final against Portugal.
Charlton had his work cut out keeping Portugal's Torres quiet, with the centre forward winning his fair share of aerial duels. However, his brother Bobby scored twice to give England a commanding lead, before Eusébio scored a late penalty after Charlton had handled a shot on the goal-line. England clung on and reached the final, where they would play West Germany.
In the final, England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time to win the World Cup. One of the most memorable images at the final whistle was the sight of Charlton, at 31 the second oldest member of the team, sinking to his knees with his face in his hands, weeping with joy.

Leeds United: trophies and near misses
 
In 1967 Charlton had a mixed time. Leeds missed out on domestic honours again and Charlton picked up an injury while playing for England in April in a 3–2 defeat to Scotland at Wembley, during which he scored. However, he ended the season as the Footballer Of The Year and his future after football as an after-dinner speaker was marked by his speech at the awards ceremony, which earned him a standing ovation.
Charlton finally won domestic honours with Leeds in 1968 with a controversial League Cup victory over Arsenal – the Arsenal players claimed that Charlton had committed a foul in their penalty area prior to the ball reaching Terry Cooper, who scored the only goal. Leeds also won the Fairs Cup and Charlton completed the year by playing his 447th League game, breaking the club's previous record for appearances.
In 1969, Leeds finally got their hands on the League championship, with Charlton proving a rock at the back as the team lost just two games all season. A year later, Leeds went for the unprecedented treble of League title, FA Cup and European Cup – and missed out on all three. Everton pipped Leeds to the title, Celtic beat them in the semi finals of the European Cup, and Leeds lost the FA Cup final to Chelsea after a replay, after a pressured Charlton had unwittingly back-headed a long throw across his own area, allowing David Webb to score Chelsea's winner. Charlton was so angry that he did not collect his runners-up medal afterwards. He had earlier scored Leeds' opening goal in the original tie.
In the summer of 1970, Ramsey named Charlton in his squad of 22 for the 1970 World Cup. However, Charlton was not Moore's first choice partner, with Everton's Brian Labone getting the nod after a sturdy series of displays during the European Championships two years earlier. Charlton played his 35th and final England game in the 1–0 group win over Czechoslovakia. He scored six goals in those 35 appearances.




England lost in the quarter finals to West Germany, and on the flight home, Charlton asked Ramsey not to be considered for international duty again. Charlton agonised over how to break the news to Ramsey. Eventually, he walked down the aisle, sat down next to Ramsey and said: "Great times … absolute privilege … getting older … slowing down … not sure I am up to it any more … time to step down." Ramsey listened, then agreed with him. "Yes, I had reached that conclusion myself."
Charlton's brother Bobby also asked Ramsey not to consider him again for the England team during the same flight. Neither would play for England ever again.

Twilight honours at Leeds
 
In October 1970, Charlton famously appeared on a Tyne Tees football programme, where he said he'd once had a "little black book" of names of players whom he intended to hurt or exact some form of revenge upon during his playing days. He later said this was a figure of speech and that no such book existed.
Leeds won the Fairs Cup again in 1971, but lost the league championship to Arsenal. In 1972, Leeds finally won the FA Cup and Charlton completed his set of domestic medals. Although he continued playing, he suffered an injury in an FA Cup semi final in 1973 which ruled him out for the rest of the season. He battled to be fit for the 1973 FA Cup Final but failed, and consequently chose to retire from playing. He was 38 and had 774 club appearances and 96 goals to his name.


Republic of Ireland
 
Charlton spent a brief time outside of football before being approached by the FAI to manage the Republic of Ireland. Ireland had a particularly strong squad at the time, with players of the calibre of Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan, Kevin Moran, Mark Lawrenson, Chris Hughton, Paul McGrath and David O'Leary, but had never qualified for a major tournament. In May 1986, Ireland won the Iceland Triangular Tournament in Iceland in Charlton's fourth game in charge.
Ireland qualified for the 1988 European Championships in Germany, and were drawn against England, the Soviet Union and the Netherlands in their group.
An early Houghton goal in Ireland's opening game against England was enough to clinch a 1–0 win. Ireland subsequently drew 1–1 with the Soviets but went out of the competition when they lost 1–0 to the Dutch. Charlton then received the runner-up prize in the World Soccer Manager of the Year awards in 1988.
Ireland qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1990, where they were drawn against England, Egypt and The Netherlands. The Irish qualified from the group stage despite failing to win any of their 3 group games. They drew 1–1, 0–0 and 1–1 against the English, Egyptians and Dutch respectively.^[4][5][6]
They defeated Romania in the second round match which went to penalties after a 0–0 draw, before meeting Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.^[7] Charlton admitted that at one point during the service he actually fell asleep because of the heat and having to sit in the one spot for a long time.
Ireland eventually went out to the hosts, Italy 1–0 in the quarter final.^[8][9] Over 500,000 fans lined the streets of Dublin to welcome the team home from their first World Cup campaign.
Ireland failed to reach the Euro 92, despite going through qualification unbeaten. The team qualified for the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., and beat Italy 1–0 in the first round. During Ireland's next game, against Mexico, Charlton had a pitch-side argument with a linesman who was preventing substitute John Aldridge from taking the pitch. Mexico went on to win 2–1. Charlton was later fined, although he claimed in his autobiography that he never actually paid the fine, and was suspended for the final group match in New York. He watched from the stands as Ireland drew 0–0 to Norway, thus qualifying for the second round. In their next game, Ireland were eliminated from the competition after losing 2–0 to the Netherlands.
Charlton was awarded the freedom of the city of Dublin in 1994 by Lord Mayor Tomás Mac Giolla.
Ireland failed to qualify for Euro 96, despite a strong start to the group, when they won their opening three games, including a 4–0 win against Northern Ireland. The Republic's next game was also against Northern Ireland, although the result was a 1–1 draw. From that point onwards the Republic stuttered badly; after beating the highly fancied Portuguese, the Irish then endured an embarrassing 0–0 draw to Liechtenstein, before losing twice to Austria, on both occasions by three goals to one. Although they defeated Latvia, Ireland needed to beat Portugal in Lisbon to qualify outright, but lost 3–0. In an emotionally charged play off at Anfield against the Netherlands, Ireland lost 2–0.
Charlton resigned shortly after the game. During his reign Ireland peaked at #6 in the FIFA World Rankings and defeated nearly all the major football nations, including Brazil, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, the USSR and England. By his own choice, Charlton's involvement in football since then has been limited to punditry and speaking.

Bob and Mike Bryan, professional tennis double players. They are the 2012 Gold Medalists in the London Summer Olympics. World No. 1 doubles players for over 297 weeks, longer than anyone else in doubles history

Twin brothers Robert Charles Bryan (Bob) and Michael Carl Bryan (Mike) are American professional tennis double players. They are the 2012 Gold Medalists in the London Summer Olympics for Men's Doubles. They have been the World No. 1 doubles players for over 297 weeks (as of July 4, 2012), which is longer than anyone else in doubles history. Also, they have finished the ATP year-end number 1 doubles team a record 7 times. Between 2005 and 2006, they set an Open Era record by competing in seven consecutive men's doubles Grand Slam finals, three of which they won. On August 11, 2011, they recorded their Open Era record 700th match win by defeating Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in the second round of the 2011 Rogers Cup.
Born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being older by two minutes, and Bob taller by 3 cm, The Bryans, as they are known, have won a record 78 tour titles surpassing The Woodies, and have been finalists on 44 other occasions. They have a career Grand Slam that includes victories at the French Open (2003), US Open (2005, 2008 and 2010), Australian Open (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011), and Wimbledon (2006, 2011). They won the Tennis Masters Cup doubles tournament three times (2003, 2004 and 2009). They won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They also won the 2007 Davis Cup along with Andy Roddick and James Blake. The Bryan Brothers were named ATP Team of the Decade for 2000–2009.
The twins are part of the United States Davis Cup team, with a 18–2 record in doubles matches. Their two losses were to Croatia's Ivan Ljubičić and Mario Ančić and, in 2008, to France's Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra. Both brothers have played Davis Cup singles matches (Bob is 4–2 and Mike is 0–1).
The brothers, who both use single-handed backhands, are noted for their attacking style of play and great hustle. They are also well known for celebrating winning points by chest bumping each other. Mike and Bob are featured on the cover of the January/February 2010 issue of Making Music Magazine where there is an article about their experiences and passion for recreational music.
Though famous for their tennis and their music, they are also dedicated to helping children in need through their foundation, The Bryan Bros. Foundation.

2012

The Bryans started 2012 by participating at the 2012 Apia International Sydney where they reached the final. They went on to win the final by defeating wild cards Matthew Ebden and Jarkko Nieminen to claim their second title in Sydney and their 76th overall without dropping a set. The brothers then aimed to win their sixth Australian Open and reached their eighth final at the event after three consecutive three-setters which included saving a match point and overcoming a 2–5 deficit in the final set tie-break in an epic semi-final against Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecău. However, the Bryans played Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek in the final and were upset in straight sets.
They were forced to withdraw from Indian Wells at the quarter-final stage with illness and were beaten in Miami at the semi-final stage by Paes and Stepanek for the second time in 2012. They skipped Houston despite being the defending champions and instead secured a doubles rubber point in the USA-France Davis Cup tie at Monte-Carlo by defeating Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra. They then went on to win their 20th Masters 1000 title and 77th title overall at Monte Carlo without dropping a set. They had thrashed Paes and Stepanek in the quarter-finals and comfortably beaten Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in the final. However, their momentum was halted at the 2012 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell where they once again withdrew during the tournament with illness. They took to the new blue clay of the Madrid Masters as the defending champions but lost early. Their next tournament was the Rome Masters, where they lost in the quarter-finals. Keen to regain some momentum, the Bryans played the 2012 Open de Nice Côte d’Azur – Doubles tournament which they won for the first time by beating Oliver Marach and Filip Polasek in the final. It was their 78th title and third of the year. They then enjoyed a good run at the 2012 French Open before losing in the final to Mirnyi and Nestor.
They immediately found form on the grass, reaching the final at the Queen's Club. However, they failed to defend their title and were beaten again by Mirnyi and Nestor. They reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon but, after a close match, were defeated in a tiebreak by eventual first-time wildcard titlists Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen. 

2012 Olympics

They returned to Wimbledon for the Summer Olympics Tennis Tournament. They beat Bellucci/Sa of Brazil 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 in the first round, Davydenko/Youzhny of Russia 7-6, 7-6 in the second round, Erlich/Ram of Israel 7-6, 7-6 in the quarter-finals and Benneteau/Gasquet of France 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals. They then entered the Gold Medal Match assured of at least a silver medal, but they topped Llodra/Tsonga of France 6-4, 7-6 to win the Olympic Gold Medal on August 4, 2012. It was a double gold day for the United States since Serena Williams took the Olympic Gold Medal in Women's Singles.
This completed the career Golden Slam in Mens Doubles for the Bryan Brothers having won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and the Olympic Gold Meal.
This also tied them with Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver at having 79 doubles titles. 

Personal life

In their early days as junior players, they were forbidden to play each other in tournament play by their parents. If they were to play each other in a tournament, they would alternate defaulting to each other.
The brothers graduated from Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard in 1996 and attended Stanford University (1996–98). In 1998, Bob became the first player since Alex O'Brien in 1992 to win college's 'Triple Crown' of NCAA singles, doubles (with Mike) and team titles. Both Bob and Mike are members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.


The Bryans have a penchant for music, forming a band of their own, with Mike playing on the drums (and occasionally guitar), Bob on the keyboard, and father Wayne on the guitar. Fellow tennis players and friends Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and Jan-Michael Gambill often join in. The band has played at several special events, including the ATP Tour Smash Tennis event at New York's Central Park before the 1995 US Open. The Bryan brothers were featured on the Jan/Feb 2010 cover of Making Music Magazine.
In December 2010, Bob married Florida attorney and longtime family friend Michelle Alvarez. They now reside in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

Success 2013: Josef Masopust, a Czechoslovak former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962

Josef Masopust (born 9 February 1931 in Střimice near Most) is a Czechoslovak former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He played as midfielder and was an indispensable player for Czechoslovakia. He capped 63 times, scoring 10 goals for his country.
He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

In 1962, Masopust led the Czechoslovakia team that reached the 1962 FIFA World Cup final, losing to Brazil. He scored in the Final and Czechoslovakia took the lead, Brazil however came back to win 3-1. Because of his performance at the World Cup Finals, he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. Overall, he was capped 63 times for his country, scoring ten goals (he also played in the 1958 FIFA World Cup). In Europe, he took Czechoslovakia to third place at the 1960 UEFA European Football Championship.



Masopust's first club was lowly ZSJ Uhlomost Most, but ZSJ Technomat Teplice (renamed to ZSJ Vodotechna Teplice in 1951) signed him as a 19-year-old left-half and gave him his top-flight debut. Then, in 1952, he joined a Czechoslovak Armed Forces football club under name of ATK Praha (renamed to ÚDA Praha in 1953 and to Dukla Prague in Winter 1956). They won eight league championships. When he eventually went abroad in 1968, he helped Crossing Molenbeek win promotion to the Belgian first division as player-coach. His coaching career continued at Dukla, yet his greatest achievement on the bench was winning the Czech league with Zbrojovka Brno in 1978. Later, in 1984-88, he led the Czechoslovakian national football team before a spell in Indonesia where coached their national football junior team between 1988 and 1991.

Masopust was in a similar mould to that of the Magyar Bozsik; a workhorse of a team, who toiled away in obscurity crafting and building fresh attacks for the front line. Masopust though was not devoid of technical abilities and could 'play the violin and do the dishes'. He Possessed exemplary ball control, his transmission with ball on foot through the field was clinical, which he utilized for both; basic work, from the recovery of the ball in defense, to driving menacingly through the opposition in what was termed 'Masopust's slalom'. During these solo runs Masopust would seamlessly switch between both feet, easily jinking to the left and right but always moving forward.


Like Bozsik, Masopust as well was a marvellous passer, and was able to pick out teammates with both strength and precision. The only flaw in his capabilities came from his physical weakness due to his medium build, but he made up for this deficit with massive reserves of stamina and pace, allowing him to be a tireless engine in the centre of the field.
Shackled by Czechoslovakia's 'no-risk' style philosophy, Masopust's natural inclination for attack was limited, yet he still managed 10 goals in 63 caps for his country. At club level he scored 79 times in 386 appearances for Dukla Praha.