PROFESSIONAL
DARTS has grown from a Pub game to an
Arena
Sport in about twenty-five years. That
growth has been due
overwhelmingly to its popularity as a TV
Sport which needs an
important ingredient - a recognisable
voice, to sustain and be the topic
of conversation in the Pub and Office.
Cricket had Brian Johnston &
John Arlott, Football - Kenneth
Wolstenholme, Athletics - David
Coleman and Snooker's Whispering 'Ted
Lowe. Darts has Sid Waddell -
the Geordie Lip. Sid IS Darts. His style
is unique, his voice
unforgettable. His sayings are
legendary.
Born the son of a miner in
Northumberland, Sid attended Grammar
School where he excelled at Rugby &
Athletics. He won a scholarship
to St Johns College Cambridge where he
read Modem History. An
injury curtailed his outdoor sporting
pursuits, prompting him to follow
less arduous endeavours indoors,
organising the first Inter-collegiate
Darts Championship.
After University, he joined Granada
Television working with Michael
Parkinson and on Documentaries. He moved
to Yorkshire Television in
1972 and created The Indoor League'
which was the world's first sight
of Darts on television.
In 1976, he arrived at The BBC and
soon became its TV
commentator when the first World
Championships hit the screens in
1978. He remained with the broadcaster
for a further sixteen years
maintaining his position as lead
commentator and creating a unique
persona into the bargain. He also found
the time to write two
successful Children's Comedy series, "Jossy's
Giants" and "Sloggers."
In 1994, he joined Sky Sports following
the Professional Players,
whose own Company, the Professional
Darts Corporation, had struck
a long-term deal with the Broadcaster.
He remains today the Darts
Broadcaster supreme and has broadened
out to commentate on Pool
and even Clay Pigeon Shooting. He's even
found time to write over
eleven books, mostly Biographies on his
favourite Sportsmen.
|
