| Sid
Waddell
Listen To Sid's Greatest Sayings
Sids classic sayings have been produced as a set
of flights, new for 2006. Click on one of his sayings below
to go to the flight page and hear his saying:
The impassioned Geordie tones of Sid Waddell have made him
the unique 'Voice of Darts'.
There is no doubt that since he began commentating on televised
darts in 1977, Sid's enthusiasm, vivid language and
humour have helped make household names of Leighton Rees,
John 'Old Stoneface' Lowe, Jocky Wilson, Eric
Bristow, Bob 'Limestone Cowboy' Anderson and Phil
'The Power' Taylor.
And Sid is extra proud that he saw the television potential
of darts over thirty years ago; it is now accepted as a real
sport by the press. 'Once the papers scoffed at darts
as a pastime for tattooed blokes swilling pints of lager.
Now they see Taylor as a sporting legend to be compared to
Bradman, Babe Ruth and Jesse Owens,' says Sid. 'I
believe Unicorn have always known that darts is a true sport
in which excellence of equipment, attitude and achievement
are important. I am delighted to join their team.'
Sid comes from a mining family in the Ashington area of East
Northumberland. He gained county honours.as a schoolboy rugby
player and won the 100 yards for the Northern Counties against
Scotland in 1957. His father Bob was a good snooker player
and in 1958 introduced Sid to darts.
He took Modern History at St John's College Cambridge
from 1959 to 1962 and in that time captained the college darts
team twice to the inter-collegiate final. But efforts to get
the sport 'Blue' ranking failed. Still, Sid's
spadework did help an annual Oxford/Cambridge darts match
- men's and women's - to be introduced in the
mid-80s.
While working as a producer at Yorkshire Television in 1972
Sid was one of the devisers of the ground-breaking Indoor
League pub sports programme. 'Despite the panache of
the shove ha'penny stars and the bravado of the arm-wrestlers,
the darters were in a class of their own,' Sid recalls.
And when the BBC covered the first ever Embassy World Professional
Championships at Nottingham in 1978, Sid was given his debut
as commentator. After that, cracks such as 'Anderson
came on like the Laughing Cavalier, now he looks like Lee
Van Cleef on a bad night' and 'We couldn't
have more excitement if Elvis had walked in and asked for
a chip sandwich' have made him a cult figure.
Sid commentated on every Embassy until 1994 and has been
with Sky as their lead darts commentator for the last ten
years. In 2002 a poll of 70 sports commentators voted him
Commentator of the Year. He has commentated on 9-ball pool,
10-pin bowling, clay pigeon shooting and even domino toppling.
And, despite being a total duffer at darts, he won the Fleet
Street Pro-Celebrity Pairs title in 1981 with Eric Bristow.
Away from the oche, Sid has helped Jocky Wilson, John Lowe,
and most recently, Phil Taylor with biographies. He also wrote
the highly successful BBC TV children's comedy series
Jossy's Giants .
He and his wife Irene, a TV documentary producer, have five
grown-up children and live in Pudsey, West Yorkshire.
Read Sid's
Lifelines and Achievements Here
View
Sid's Diary
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