News of the World Championships

News Of The World Winners

In the 1950s Unicorn Darts established a relationship with The News of the World Tournament, which was in reality the championship of England and Wales. Before the war it was only run on a regional basis, becoming national in the 1947-48 season. Scotland were admitted to the championship for the first time in the 1971-2 season and over the next two decades, champions from Europe, Australia, the United States, Canada...and even Russia!...competed for the magnificent trophy.

Such was the importance of the event that the finals were regularly broadcast by the BBC on radio, well before the advent of television. In the mid 1970s, ITV filmed the finals for transmission on World of Sport.

The Tournament ended after the 1989-90 season although it was run again for one year in 1996-97 this time in conjunction with Sky Sports.

The record books show that the tournament produced more Unicorn winners than any other brand, establishing a pattern that we continue to the present day. The Unicorn Roll of Honour of News of the World Winners, which includes current Team Unicorn players John Lowe and Phil Taylor, is as follows:

  • Tommy Gibbons
    1951-52, 1957-58

  • Tom Reddington
    1954-55, 1959-60

  • Trevor Peachey
    1955-56

  • Alwyn Mullins
    1956-57

  • Albert Welsh
    1958-59

  • Alec Adamson
    1960-61

  • Eddie Brown
    1961-62

  • Robbie Rumney
    1962-63

  • Tom Barrett
    1963-64, 1964-65

  • Wilf Ellis
    1965-66

  • Wally Seaton
    1966-67

  • Bill Duddy
    1967-68

  • Barry Twomlow
    1968-69

  • Henry Barney
    1969-70

  • Dennis Filkins
    1970-71

  • Brian Netherton
    1971-72

  • Ivor Hodgkinson
    1972-73

  • Bill Lennard
    1975-76

  • John Lowe
    1980-81

  • Mike Gregory
    1986-87, 1987-88

  • Dave Whitcombe
    1988-89