Portrait of Paul Thorburn

Birthday profile

Paul Thorburn

Paul Thorburn, German-Welsh rugby player and manager

Born
November 24, 1962
Age in 2026
64
Zodiac sign
Sagittarius
Birth year
1962

About Paul Thorburn

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.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Paul Thorburn timeline

  1. 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.
  2. He gained the record during the 1986 Five Nations Championship at Cardiff Arms Park with a penalty kic.
  3. 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.

The world when Paul Thorburn was born

Paul Thorburn was born in 1962. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1962

  • #1 song"I Can't Stop Loving You" – Ray Charles
  • Top movieLawrence of Arabia
  • Top TV showThe Beverly Hillbillies
  • Best-selling bookA Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentWilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA game
  • Top headlineCuban Missile Crisis — world comes closest to nuclear war
  • Technology milestoneJohn Glenn orbits the Earth
  • Defining fadJames Bond mania (Dr. No released)
  • Notable inventionLED (light-emitting diode)
  • World population3.14 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJohn F. Kennedy
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population186.5M

1962 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Paul Thorburn's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19622026
Gas$0.31$3.45/gal
Average home$12,800$435,000
Average income$7,900$67,500
Minimum wage$1.15$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.70$11.95
Postage stamp$0.04$0.73
Population186.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, It's Rugby, Rugby Database. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.