It is still hard to believe that the voice of darts, Sid Waddell, is no longer with us. As we build up to big time darts at Citywest next week, here’s a look back at the great man’s career.
Darts has always been a colourful sport packed with interesting characters, but nobody who ever threw a dart did as much for the sport as a man who just talked about it.
Sid Waddell was the voice of darts, an iconic commentator whose flights of fancy and turn of phrase could change an early round clash between two lads from Holland you had never heard of into gripping television.
His death in August this year was a huge loss to the sport he did so much to promote but his legacy lives on with an almost endless trove of classic Sid moments.
If you ever wondered where Sid got his inspiration for his majestic commentating gifts, he was educated at Cambridge and obtained a degree in Modern History. While there, an injury playing rugby saw him settle on the more gentile world of darts. We should all be eternally grateful.
From the 1970s Waddell was darts’ main man, first with the BBC and then with Sky when they took over the coverage of the world’s best players in the PDC.
But despite spending the best part of 40 years watching the sport, he never lost his enthusiasm. Listen to Sid in this clip when Phil Taylor hits two nine dart finishes in the same match back in 2010. His voice reaches a pitch we didn’t think humans could reach.
One of the best Sid clips is also from from 2010, when darts fan Stephen Fry went into the commentary box and we got to see Sid in action, dropping some of his finest lines, gesticulating and conducting the ebb and flow of the game in his own unique way.
A lot of Sid’s greatest lines have yet to make it to YouTube but when he died The Guardian compiled some of his best efforts. Here’s a few of our favourites.
“[He’s] as happy as a hound-dog who’s won a year’s supply of Boneo.”
“When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer … [Eric] Bristow’s only 27.”
“He looks about as happy as a penguin in a microwave.”
“The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them.”
“The players are under so much duress, it’s like duressic park out there!”
“There was less noise when Pompeii was swamped in lava! Absolute pandemonium here! Barmaids are frozen like Greek statues watching! No beer’s been served! Everybody’s eyes [are] absolutely hooked on that board.”
In truth, the list of great Sid Waddell quotes could go on for pages and pages. Every time he turned up to work, he came out with some gems. His loss to the sport is immense. It lives on, though, doing better than ever. And more than anyone, it thrives now because of the energy and passion of Sid Waddell.
The World Grand Prix runs at Citywest from October 8-14. We have VIP packages to the event to give away courtesy of McCoy’s so click here for your chance to win.
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