Sid Waddell (born August 10, 1940 in Alnwick, Northumberland) is a British born sports commentator and television personality. The son of a Northumberland miner, he attended King Edward VI School (KEVI), Morpeth, and he went on to obtain a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in modern history. He currently lives in Pudsey, Leeds.

Early television career

Shortly after finishing University, Waddell joined Granada Television working with Michael Parkinson on documentary programmes. In 1972 he moved to Yorkshire Television where he created the show Indoor League which featured various pub games including darts. Between 1972 and 1974, he was a producer for over 600 editions of local news programme, Calendar.

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.

Other television credits

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. he also devised the ITV network children's series 'The Flaxton Boys' a historical derring-do that ran for three years from 1969.

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 claims to have been sacked for being "too Geordie".

Besides darts, he has commentated on numerous other sporting events produced by Sky Sports and/or Matchroom Sport. Most notable, 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. His commentaries in these events gained him an international following, particularly in the Philippines.

In 2007, he recorded a series of darts programmes about the World Darts Championship from 1978 until 1990 for ESPN Classic, which were later broadcast on the channel in December 2007.

PDC darts

Contrary to popular belief, Waddell wasn't part of the PDC revolution from its beginning. Dave Lanning and John Gwynne were the commentators on the first PDC World Championship in 1994. Waddell was still with the BBC for the 1994 BDO World Championship, and it wasn't until June 1994 that he joined the Sky Sports commentary team. Waddell now commentates on all major PDC televised darts tournaments.

He has written eleven published books, including biographies of John Lowe, Jocky Wilson and Phil Taylor and his latest book, 'Bellies and Bullseyes' published by Ebury Press was short listed for the British Sports Book Award for 2008. In 2009 he published a memoir of his boyhood in a Geordie pit village 'The Road Back Home', Ebury Books.

At the 2008 PDC Awards Dinner he was incepted as a member of the PDC Hall of Fame along with fellow commentator Dave Lanning.In Jamuary 2009 he was voted by Daily Mail sports staff in the Top Ten of all-time great sports commentators.

Quotes

His skewed eloquence has won him great affection among fans and fellow commentators. Here are some of the most notable quotes from Waddell down the years.

• "Fordham is sweating like a hippo in a power shower."
• "He's majestic, just like that great big fat bloke singing Nessun Dorma."
• "I consider Phil Taylor to be a better all-round athlete than Ryan Giggs."
• "He's got a heart as big as Moby-Dick!"
• "That's the greatest comeback since Lazarus."
• "Bristow reasons ... Bristow quickens ... Aaahhhhh, Bristow."
• "Jocky Wilson ... what an athlete."
• "When Alexander of Macedonia was 33 he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer - Bristow is only 27"
• "The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them"
• "That's like giving Dracula the keys to the bloodbank!"
• "Big Cliff Lazarenko's idea of exercise is sitting in a room with the windows open taking the lid off something cool and fizzy."
• "He's about as predictable as a wasp on speed!"
• "As they say at the DHSS, we're getting the full benefit here."
• "There hasn't been this much excitement since the Romans fed the Christians to the Lions."
• "The players are under so much duress, it's like duressic park out there!"
• "This lad has more checkouts than Tescos."
• "You might see some Shakespeare on BBC2 but how about this for drama"
• "He's as happy as a polar bear in a sauna"
• "He looks as cosy as a hedgehog in a tumble dryer"

• "John Lowe is striding out like Alexander the Great conquering the Persians"
• "When I see Steve Davis I see two letters... C S... Cue Sorcerer"
• "Barneveld's copying of Taylor's understacker will be his downfall" - (Mentioned more than once during early rounds of the 2007 PDC World Championship which Raymond van Barneveld went on to win - beating Phil Taylor in the final!)
• "He's sweating like a donkey in a shower!"
• "This guy's so good, he could play without arms!"
• "There's only one word for that - magic darts!"
• "Keith Deller's not just an underdog, he's an underpuppy!"
• "I don't know what he's had for breakfast but Taylor knocked the Snap, Crackle and Pop outta Bristow"
• "Even Pythagoras would have trouble working out these angles"
• "If we'd had Phil Taylor at Hastings against the Normans, they'd have gone home!"
• "It's the nearest thing to public execution this side of Saudi Arabia!"
• "Steve Beaton - The adonis of darts, what poise, what elegance - a true Roman gladiator with plenty of hair wax."
• "Eat your heart out Harold Pinter, we've got drama with a capital D in Essex."
• "Steve Beaton, he's not Adonis, he's THE donis"
• "That's the créme da le milk, that is".
• "He's twitching like a Frog in a Blender."
• "Mark my words, this kid is a future World Champion" - said about virtually every player under the age of 30 that appears on television while he is commentating, including Colin Lloyd, Wayne Mardle, Mark Dudbridge, Adrian Lewis, James Wade and Michael van Gerwen, none of whom has won the World Championship yet.
• "Not even Harry Houdini covered in rubbing oil could have got out of that one!" (Commentating on a particularly tricky pool shot)
• "James Wade is a bag of nerves, like a bag of ice cold spanners in a sack."
• (On Eric Bristow) "Look at him as he takes his stance, like he has been sculptured, whereas Bobby George is like the Hunchback of Notre Dame!"
• "If you open the door to the tiger, the tiger might just come in"
• "He's got the body language of a snake with a hernia!"
• "He's got the hand-to-eye coordination of a rattlesnake."
• "He's hopping around like a kangaroo on a pogo stick!"
• "Dennis' eyes are bulging like the belly of a hungry chaffinch."
• "Darts players are probably a lot fitter than most footballers in overall body strength..."
• "The pendulum's going up and down like a trampoline."
• "He's sweating like a swamp donkey."
• "He's as cool as a camel after a hump transplant."
• "He's got an axe to grind with Taylor, and a crowbar sandwich for his missus."
• "He's as cool as a frozen edam."Co Stompé
• "Just when he's had your meat and two veg, he comes back and nicks yer puddin'!" on Phil Taylor
• "He's in the lipstick like Valentino on the rampage" (referring to John Part hitting a lot of treble 20s in the 2008 PDC world final)
• "Eat your heart out Einstein, because this is the appliance, of ballistic science!" (On Darts)
• "Taylor hits lipstick in this game of tantalising tungsten!"
• "There are no kings or queens, just two geniuses and their tungsten"
• "We couldn't have more excitement if Elvis walked in and asked for a chip sandwich."
• "If anybody is foolish enough to predict this then they're a fool." (commentating on Wayne Mardle vs Jelle Klassen - 2009 PDC Premier League)
• "I think that those thicker barrel darts could be a disadvnage to John Lowe hitting that treble, could get deflections (said seconds before Lowe hits his first 180 of the match), Who would be a commentater anyway?" (1987 BDO World Darts Championship final; John Lowe vs. Eric Bristow)
• "Phil Taylor, perhaps the greatest man to ever tickle the tunsten, a tungsten warrior!"
• "He has to very sharpish get from lukewarm to luketepid to Luke Skywalker." - Referring to Phil Taylor against Colin Osbourne in the UK Open final 2009.
• on phil taylor hitting a 180: "some people could throw a hedgehog at the board any only score 37"
• "That throw was as popular as Danni Minogue's comments on the X Factor" - on Adrian Lewis missing a double, ironically frustrating the crowd.

References

'My voice is so bashed I'll have to cancel tonight's shift on the late bingo at Malahide workimgmen's club.''Taylor flinging tectonic tungsten in his hunt for Green October.'

External links

• Classic Waddell Commentary from Waddell's Official web site.