Record-breakers in the news today
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has paid tribute to Robin van Persie after the Dutch striker scored a hat-trick in Monday's 3-0 win over Aston Villa which secured United's 20 th Premier League title.
Speaking after the final whistle, United boss Ferguson praised the 29-year-old who he signed from Arsenal last summer for £22.5million, saying: "He has made a fantastic contribution.
"In terms of impact he has had as big an impact as anyone I can imagine.
"Eric Cantona was an incredible impact player and I have been very, very lucky in that I have had some fantastic strikers right through, probably 10 great strikers at the club.
Van Persie was part of the Arsenal side that set a record in 2005 as the first all-foreign Premier League squad.
The squad selected for the match against Crystal Palace on 14 February 2005, consisted of Jens Lehmann (Germany), Lauren (Cameroon), Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast), Pascal Cygan (France), Gael Clichy (France), Robert Pires (France), Patrick Vieira (France), Edu (Brazil), Jose-Antonio Reyes (Spain), Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands), Thierry Henry (France). Subs: Manuel Almunia (Spain), Philippe Senderos (Switzerland), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Mathieu Flamini (France), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands). The Gunners won the match 5-1.
England is today celebrating St George’s Day in of the country’s patron saint.
A story dating back to the 6th century tells that St George rescued a maiden by slaying a fearsome fire-breathing dragon. The Saint's name was shouted as a battle cry by English knights who fought beneath the red-cross banner of St George during the Hundred Years War (1338-1453).
Google are celebrating the feastday with a medieval-themed Doodle on their homepage, complete with lettering reminiscent of the Bayeux Tapestry, while comic company Mohawk Media has choosen St George's Day to unveil a new superhero – Englishman.
The largest ever St George's Day parade took place in Manchester in 1999, which saw involving 6,000 people, 39 floats, 12 bands as well as, clowns, jugglers and vintage cars take to the streets of the city centre.
Today also marks the birthday of another English icon –William Shakespeare.
What would have been Shakespeare’s 449 th birthday is being marked by the release of a new book which hopes to silence suspicions drawn over the authorship of his plays.
Written by a group of 22 of the world’s leading Shakespeare scholars, William Shakespeare Beyond Doubt details what they consider to be definitive proof that the Bard really did write his own plays.
Shakespeare is recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s best-selling playwright, with sales of his plays and poetry believed to have achieved in excess of four billion copies in the almost 400 years since his death. He is also the third most translated author in history.
Finally analysts are expecting Apple to today reveal its first profit losses since iTunes was launched.
The result would mark the first time the technology giant has suffered a fall in earnings since it launched the iTunes store in 2003.
The recent collapse of the world’s economy saw a decline in many fortunes, but none more dramatic than that of Anil Ambani (India) who holds the unenviable record for the largest loss of personal fortune.
By March 2009, he had lost an estimated $32 billion (£22.5 billion) – 76% of his fortune – owing to the crumbling value of shares in his companies Reliance Power, Reliance Communications and Reliance Capital.