To many he was the voice of darts, both on the BBC when the sport was in its pomp during the 1980s and then on Sky TV when the game’s elite players broke away from the British Darts Organisation to form the Professional Darts Corporation and broadcast tournaments on Sky TV. And for that reason he was one of the voices of my youth as any pub sport on TV was heavily watched at home when I was growing up.
Waddell, the son of a Northumbrian miner, went to Cambridge and graduated in Modern History before embarking on a TV career, launching pub sports TV show Indoor League with Fred Truman as host and also carving out a career as a TV writer with children’s shows Jossy’s Giants and Sloggers.
His darts commentary, however, was the work that won him real affection. In an age of contained and softly spoken expert analysis, Waddell’s boyish enthusiasm and clearly partisan enjoyment of darting contests was refreshing.
He freely mixed classical allusions with the sort of banter you’d hear in any working men’s club or pub and we, his fans, loved him for it.
Some of his more memorable quotes included:
‘Jockey Wilson… all the psychology of a claymore.’
‘There hasn't been this much excitement since the Romans fed the Christians to the Lions.’
‘When Alexander of Macedonia was 33 he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer... Eric Bristow's only 27.’
‘We couldn't have more excitement if Elvis walked in and asked for a chip sandwich.’
‘Bob Anderson came on stage like the Laughing Cavalier… now he looks like Lee Van Clef on a bad night.’
‘Wade is like a man trying to eat candy floss in a Hadrons Collier.’
‘Keith Deller’s not just an underdog… he's an under puppy.’
‘Look at the man go… it’s like trying to stop a water buffalo with a peashooter.’
‘This lad has more checkouts than Tescos.’
‘William Tell could take an apple off your head. Phil Taylor could take out a processed pea.’
‘Jockey Wilson... What an athlete.’
‘He's about as predictable as a wasp on speed.’
‘It's like trying to pin down a kangaroo on a trampoline.’
‘That's the greatest comeback since Lazarus.’
‘It's the nearest thing to public execution this side of Saudi Arabia.’
‘He looks about as happy as a penguin in a microwave.’
‘The pendulum swings back and forth like a metronome.’
‘He's been burning the midnight oil – at both ends.’
‘As they say at the DHSS, we're getting the full benefit here.’
‘I don't know what he's had for breakfast but Taylor knocked the snap, crackle and pop outta Bristow.’
‘Eat your heart out Harold Pinter… we've got drama with a capital ‘D’ in Essex.’
‘If we'd had Phil Taylor at Hastings against the Normans, they'd have gone home.’
And these were just a few of them.
Thanks for the memories, Sid. I have only one word to describe you: ‘Magic darts!’
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