He was here again!
On opening night, he was dressed as a hotdog!
On night two, he was dressed as a bear!
On night three, Sylvester the Cat made an appearance!
Same bloke, different costume…..he is the biggest nutter in Blackpool and his style symbolises the fun and games at the Winter Gardens.
Then in walked Freddie Flintoff from a rained-off Lancashire 2nd XI match and he has all the charisma and diplomacy of Bill Clinton at his best! He shook a thousand hands and kissed a hundred babies – a true working class hero and a true gent.
Is gout catching?!
How Barrie Bates managed to get up on that oche and play Barney, I’ll never know. He had rampaging gout and I sympathise. I was filming on a yacht in Cannes harbour in 1970 when the dreaded gout struck down The Geordie Lip. It was like having toothache in the feet and I had to be wheeled round the South of France for a week. It was a brave effort from the Welsh loony!
Barney was brilliant – with a 112 average in the last ten legs against Bates.
SHOWBIZ DARTS
The secret of the success of the darts on Sky Sports is down to one major factor: Experts at staging a sports show have collaborated to put on darts as a thrilling spectacle.
Hours are spent putting splashes of orange, red, green and gold down the columns and plaster angels at the Winter Gardens. The whole place is lit exactly like a pop concert for Oasis or The Rolling Stones….and the pace and power of the sport and its characters is polished minutely.
Today, we spent one hour mixing gold and orange spotlights into a light show that will feature on air for the Barney walk-on for no more than 20 seconds!
It is this fantastic attention to every detail that makes the Sky production unique and totally uncopyable.
I am very proud to be part of such a glitzy show.
SID’S TEE-SHIRT TRADE
My ‘Bellied and Bullseyes’ tee-shirts are selling like hot cakes in Blackpool at between £15 and £30 a chuck.
Amazing what a few pints can do to loosen up pockets……but that young whipper-snapper Van Gerwen is out-selling me by 100 per cent and I’m after him!
I swear his shirts are lime green tat!