“Bellies And Bullseyes” by Sid Waddell (Book Review)

“BELLIES AND BULLSEYES: The Outrageous True Story of Darts”

By Sid Waddell

In the days of old,
When darts players were bold,
They were chronicled by Sidney!

Yes me hearties, what we have here is possibly the finest ever documented recollection of Darts (first) Golden era by none other than the Geordie legend himself, Mr. Sid Waddell.

The title of the book is perfectly apt “Bellies And Bullseyes”, as Sid recalls the day when top Darts players were judged not just by their prowess on the dartboard, but by their drinking capacity off it. Tales of largesse featuring the likes of Leighton Rees, Cliff Lazarenko, Alan Evans, and Jocky Wilson are many and they are sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, as Darts suddenly was thrust out of the pubs and onto television with audiences of over 8 million

The sponsors were often cigarette and alcohol-related companies and Sid recounts how at the Embassy World Championships, players developed severe bronchial coughs as the week went on and the free cigarettes took their toll.

Stealing the show in the book as he always did on stage is one John Thomas Wilson, of course, known to us all as ‘Jocky’. Sid begins with his last meeting with Jocky in 2000 when he had a cup of tea with the teetotal Wilson in his poky council provided flat in Kirkaldy. Wilson got out of what was the debauchery of darts in time to save his life if not his health and the story ends perfectly with Wilson’s swansong at the Blackpool World Matchplay in 1995. Sadly there were also casualties such as Welsh legend Alan Evans who died of an alcohol-related illness at only 49 years of age.

However, don’t be fooled by the booze-fuelled antics of the big stars. Darts has always been about the tension, passion, and mental strength that it takes to win matches and tournaments and Waddell balances the story nicely. Darts’ other big legend Eric Bristow is also documented well from his rise to the top to his career prematurely ending due to the dreaded Dartitis affliction.

Sid doesn’t really add anything new to the Phil Taylor story and indeed as he already has co-written Taylor’s autobiography, the reader could be forgiven for a sense of deja-vu. The author also makes a poor attempt to try and rewrite history with his dismissal of Shaun (spelled incorrectly in the book as Sean) Greatbatch’s achievement of hitting the first-ever 9 dart game on live television.

Perhaps also in the latter part of the book, Waddell focuses a little too much on himself and his commentary pattern as the players and events definitely seem to take the second stage, unlike in the excellent first part of the book.

However last 100 or so pages notwithstanding (and far too many typo errors), Sid Waddell has done a fair job of being  Darts’ own Matthew Paris (famous chronicler of History for the uninitiated) with this book. All  Darts fans should thank him for transcribing what is one of the best books to date about our beloved sport. I believe Sid’s autobiography is in the pipeline next … should be interesting.