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Births on November 24

1962Nov, 24

Paul Thorburn

Paul Thorburn, German-Welsh rugby player and manager
Paul Thorburn (born 24 November 1962 in Rheindahlen, West Germany) is a former Neath RFC and international Wales rugby union player who played at full back and also featured in the Welsh international team.

Thorburn was a prolific long-distance goal kicker. He holds the record for the longest successful kick in an international test match (although not the longest in Rugby Union as a whole). He gained the record during the 1986 Five Nations Championship at Cardiff Arms Park with a penalty kick measuring exactly 70 yards 8 and a half inches (64.2m) against Scotland.

Thorburn was also in the Wales squad for the 1987 Rugby World Cup, during which he scored a conversion that won Wales third place in the competition.

He retired from playing in 1991. He was tournament director for the World Cup in 1999 and also a former special projects manager for the Welsh Rugby Union.In 2006 he joined Ospreys after leaving the Welsh Rugby Union, however he left the club in June 2010 to pursue other business interests.

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Events on 1962

  • 5Feb

    Charles de Gaulle

    French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
  • 5Aug

    Nelson Mandela

    Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
  • 15Sep

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • 18Sep

    Jamaica

    Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda and Trinidad and Tobago are admitted to the United Nations.
  • 6Nov

    Apartheid

    The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.