Sid Waddell

Sid Waddell
Born	(1940-08-10)10 August 1940 Alnwick, Northumberland, England
Died	Northumberland, England
Cause of death	Bowel cancer
Nationality	British
Occupation	Sports commentator, television presenter
Years active	1972–2012
Known for	Darts commentary One liners

Sid Waddell (10 August 1940 – 11 August 2012) was an English sports commentator and television personality. He was nicknamed 'The Voice of Darts' due to his fame as a darts commentator, and worked for Granada, Yorkshire, BBC, and Sky Sports television broadcasters. Due to his joke telling skills he was also nicknamed The Thief of Bad Gags, firstly by Dave Lanning. He was nominated for two prestigious awards for his work, and published several books.

Early life

The son of a Northumberland miner, he attended King Edward VI School, Morpeth, and he went on to obtain a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a 2:1 degree in Modern History. At Cambridge, Waddell played rugby for St John's, and the Cambridge University LX Club, the rugby second team. Injury brought him to darts and he started the inter-college darts competition. St John's lost in the final of this in 1961 to a team of trainee vicars from Selwyn College.

Career

Granada & Yorkshire

Waddell went into academia for a few years in 1962. He joined the Social Studies Department at Durham University and helped the Professors of Politics and Economics write books. He toyed with the idea of a book on trade unions but settled for folk singing in a duo with Charles E Hall called the Gravyboatmen. They played on BBC 'Tonight' and ITV locally. In 1966 Waddell joined Granada Television working with Michael Parkinson on local news programmes. In 1968 he moved to Yorkshire Television where he created the show Indoor League which featured various pub games including darts. Between 1968 and 1974, he was a producer for over 600 editions of local news programme, Calendar. He also devised the ITV network children's series The Flaxton Boys a historical derring-do that ran for three years from 1969.

BBC

In 1976, he switched to the BBC and his prior experience with televised darts helped him to become one of the commentators on the first World Professional Darts Championship when it began in 1978. He stayed with the BBC until 1994, with his last darts commentary on the BBC being the first 4 sets of the 1994 BDO World Final between John Part and Bobby George.

During his time with the BBC, Waddell penned ten episodes of a successful children's television series, Jossy's Giants in 1986. He was also the writer of two series of another children's show "Sloggers" which ran from 1994 to 1996. His credits also include working with the eccentric scientist Magnus Pyke and was Alan Whicker’s producer on Whicker's Women in 1972. He worked on The Russell Harty Show, and in 1993 did a series for Tyne Tees Television called Waddell’s World in which he was a butler to a posh Tweeddale family, a caravanner and on the dole.

He made one performance as the "Voice of the Balls" on the National Lottery Red Alert on BBC in 1999. He claimed to have been sacked for being "too Geordie".

Sky Sports

From 1994, he became an independently employed commentator, but mainly associated with his work with Sky Sports. The first darts tournament he commentated on for Sky Sports was the 1994 World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool in July 1994. For the next 17 years, he worked continuously as a commentator on darts tournaments televised by Sky Sports. Despite being diagnosed with bowel cancer in September 2011 and undergoing treatment, he managed to come back to the darts commentary box in the spring of 2012 during Premier League nights.

Besides darts, he commentated on numerous other sporting events produced by Sky Sports and/or Matchroom Sport over the years. He regularly commentated on the four annual nine-ball pool events on which the two companies collaborated (World Pool Championship; World Pool Masters; World Pool League; and Mosconi Cup). However, as these events began to be hosted further away from the UK, Waddell gradually withdrew from the sport.

In 2004, he was the commentator for the British game show House of Games in which two families competed in various household based challenges.

In 2007, Waddell and Eric Bristow recorded a series of "Bellies and Bullseyes" darts programmes about the World Darts Championship from 1978 until 1990 for ESPN Classic, which were later broadcast on the channel in December 2007.

After commentating throughout the 2012 Premier League, Waddell did not commentate at either the 2012 UK Open nor the 2012 World Matchplay prior to his death on 11 August 2012. Waddell's last darts commentary came in the 2012 Premier League final between Phil Taylor and Simon Whitlock on 17 May, where Phil Taylor won the match 10-7 to take the 2012 Premier League title, although Waddell only commentated on the first part of the match; his last commentary contributing to a full match came in the same evening in the semi final match between Phil Taylor and James Wade, Taylor won the match 8-6.

Waddell's last interview came in June 2012, where he discussed his life, darts commentary, pool commentary, and his bowel cancer. This interview was aired on Sky Sports on 16 August 2012, five days after his death, as a tribute entitled: Sid Waddell - A life in his own words.

Awards

Waddell was twice nominated for TV awards. He was up for BAFTA best director in 1992 for a documentary in the Ipso Facto series, and in 1994 he was nominated for best scriptwriter in the Writers' Guild of Great Britain awards for his children's cricket series Sloggers.

Publications

He wrote eleven published books, including biographies of John Lowe, Jocky Wilson and Phil Taylor. His book Bellies and Bullseyes was short listed for the British Sports Book Award for 2008.

His racy 1973 novel Bedroll Bella about a Geordie groupie, was banned by WH Smiths and John Menzies. In 2009 he published a memoir of his boyhood in a Geordie pit village The Road Back Home.

Personal life

Waddell was married to Irene and they have a joint family of five children: Nick, Lucy, Emma, Charlotte and Dan. A fervent Newcastle United supporter, Waddell lived in Pudsey. In September 2011, it was announced that Waddell had been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

He succumbed to bowel cancer on 11 August 2012, the day after his 72nd birthday. Following his death, the decision was made to rename the PDC World Darts Championship trophy to the Sid Waddell trophy from 2013 onwards. Waddell's funeral was held in Leeds on 22 August 2012. Before Waddell's funeral he was cremated earlier in the day in a private ceremony.

Quotes

• "It's the greatest comeback since Lazarus"
• “When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer..... Bristow's only 27.”
• "He's burning the midnight oil at both ends!"
• “There's only one word for that - magic darts!”
• “It's like trying to pin down a kangaroo on a trampoline”
• “The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them”
• “He's as happy as a penguin in a microwave”
• “His eyes are bulging like the belly of a hungry chaffinch”
• "That could have landed on the pupil of a fly's eyeball""
• "William Tell could take an apple off your head, Taylor could take out a processed pea".
• "He's moving round that Pool Table like Shawn Michaels after a couple of body slams".

External links

• Classic Waddell Commentary from Waddell's Official web site.
• Sid Waddell at the Internet Movie Database