Beattie, James

1978 – He was born on the 27th day of February this year in Lancaster. He is an English football player for Everton.

1992 - At age 14, James Beattie attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Blackburn and was a budding swimmer, rated second in the country at the 100 metres freestyle. A shoulder injury led him to drop swimming and take up football.

1995 - He went on to represent his school and play for Blackburn Schools, before joining Blackburn Rovers as a trainee in August of this year.

1998 – He had only just broken into the first team at Blackburn Rovers when he moved to Southampton in July this year as part of a deal that saw Kevin Davies move in the other direction.

2000 - A series of injuries meant he struggled to make an impact at first with the Saints, but that all changed in November this year when he began a long goalscoring run. After 18 months without a goal, he scored ten in ten games, lifting Southampton into a comfortable position to secure their place in the Premiership for next season.

2001 - He went 17 games without scoring towards the end of the 2000-01 seasons and the start of the next campaign. However he was awarded a new four-year contract in March of this year.

2002 - Once again though, he found form, but in the match against Manchester United in January this year, he suffered an ankle injury which kept him on the sidelines for two months. By the end of the season he had scored an impressive 14 goals.

2003 – He earned his first senior England cap against Australia in February of this year after a prolific period during the 2002-03 season. The game was not a success, with England losing 3-1, which caused a controversy over the management of Sven-Göran Eriksson. Beattie scored 24 goals that season

2005 - He joined Everton in January of this year from Southampton for a fee of £6m.

2006 - Beattie married his fiancee Sarah Rendle in Manchester in May of this year. They had a baby son, James Samuel, on the 6th day September this year.