5 January 1963 - The FA Cup Gets Put On Ice

On 5 January 1963, the longest round in FA Cup history kicked off, as severe winter weather forced postponements that stretched out into the middle of March.

Britain's coldest winter since 1740 delivered a combination of snow and ice, sending the country into what commentators called "the Big Freeze." Consequently, all of the FA Cup matches scheduled for that Saturday were postponed except for three--two in the North West (Sunderland's 1-4 win at Preston North End and Tranmere Rovers' 2-2 draw with Chelsea) and one in the South West (West Brom's 1-5 win at Plymouth).

Some matches were played a few days later while others suffered repeated postponements. Birmingham City's contest against Bury included a replay, one match that had to be abandoned, and a total of 14 postponements before Bury claimed a 2-0 victory on 7 March. In all, there were 261 postponements over the course of three weeks.

The round finally ended on 11 March when Middlesbrough beat Blackburn in a replay.

14 December 1935 - Drake Takes The Cake

On 14 December 1935, Arsenal topped Aston Villa 7-1 in a First Division match before a crowd of 60,000 at Villa Park. All seven of the Gunners' goals were scored by center forward Ted Drake, setting a record for most goals scored in a single match by one player in the English top flight.

Drake had joined Arsenal in March 1934, moving from Southamption for a transfer fee of £6,500. The following season, he scored a club-record 44 goals.

Having firmly established his prowess as a shooter, his 7-goal tally against Villa was nonetheless a surprise. In fact, Villa seemed to have the better of the chances in the first 15 minutes before the floodgates opened for Drake. By the break, he had hat-trick and after 60 minutes, he had two hat-tricks. In all, Drake took nine shots on the day, with one hitting the bar and one saved by the Villa keeper.

At the time, Drake's tally was a record in all of English football. Twelve days later, however, Tranmere's Bunny Bell scored nine against Oldham in a Third Division match. Still, Drake's effort remains a record for the top division.