Bobby George

Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945 from Manor Park, London) is an English television presenter and retired professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King of Darts" makes his way to the stage bedecked in jewellery, wearing a crown and cloak and holding a candelabra to the Queen song We Are the Champions.[1][2]

For the philosopher, bioethicist, and Roman Catholic apologist, see Robert P. George.

Bobby George
George in April 2014
Personal information
Full nameRobert Francis George
NicknameKing of Bling
Bobby Dazzler
Mr Glitter
Born (1945-12-16) 16 December 1945
Manor Park, Essex, England
Home townLondon
England
Darts information
Playing darts since1976
DartsWinmau 23g Bobby George
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"We Are the Champions" by Queen preceded by opening to "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO1977–2009
BDO majors – best performances
World Ch'shipRunner Up: 1980, 1994
World MastersSemi Final: 1979
World Darts TrophyLast 32: 2002
Int. Darts LeagueLast 32 Group: 2005
Other tournament wins
TournamentYears
Essex Masters
North American Open
News of the World Darts Championship
Hainault Super League Singles
WDF Europe Cup Singles
Best Old Major Results
Butlins Grand Masters		1976 1977 1978
1978
1979 1986
1976
1982
1979 1980
Updated on 12 April 2019.

George won several leading major darts tournaments, he won the News of the World Darts Championship twice and appeared in two BDO Darts World Championship finals and was the first full-time exhibition player. Since 1998, he has also worked for the BBC as a co-presenter and promoter of the game in their coverage of darts tournaments.[3]

Career

George took up darts at the age of 30, and quickly improved, winning the first tournament he entered[4] and making his first appearance at the World Masters less than a year later. He has won several major tournaments, including the News of the World Championship in 1979 and 1986, the Butlins Grand Masters in 1979 and 1980, the North American Open in 1978 and the Nations Cup in 1980, as part of an England triples team with Tony Brown and John Lowe. And he was WDF Europe Cup champion in 1982 beating Eric Bristow in the final. George's News of the World victory in 1979 came without dropping a single leg, the only player to do so. Winning the 1979 final with a 100.20 average. Bobby was the first player to get over 100 average on television.

George has reached the final of the BDO World Darts Championship twice. His first final in 1980 was his first appearance in a BDO World Darts Championship: after beating Dave Whitcombe, Leighton Rees and Cliff Lazarenko, he lost to Eric Bristow.[5] George reached his second world final in 1994. After beating Russell Stewart and Martin Phillips, he broke his back when celebrating winning a set during his quarter final match against Kevin Kenny. George got through that match against Kenny by 4–2 in sets, having damaged his back when celebrating going 3–2 up. In his semi final match against Magnus Caris, George went two sets up, but then lost the next four sets and the opening two legs of the seventh set. When Caris missed a dart at double 18 to win the match, George responded by winning nine legs in a row to win the match 5–4 in sets. Competing in the final against doctor's advice, Wearing a steel corset, George lost 0–6 to John Part playing in extreme pain.

A few weeks after that final, it was found that he had literally broken his back and had to have eight titanium screws inserted into the base of his spine just so that he could stand upright.[6]

Since 1998, George has been a co-presenter and pundit on the BBC darts coverage, primarily of the BDO World Championship. He has also made several other television appearances, not all relating to darts. In 2004, he starred in the comedy film One Man and His Dog[7] and later followed in the footsteps of fellow professional darts player Andy Fordham by taking part in the ITV programme Celebrity Fit Club. In 2006, he appeared in a regular segment of Brainiac: Science Abuse series 4, in which he played darts in order to explode caravans. He was also a team captain in Showbiz Darts again alongside Fordham. In 2010, Bobby performed Run DMC's Walk this Way on Let's Dance for Sport Relief with Tony O'Shea, Willie Thorne and Dennis Taylor.

His colourful character has enabled George to be successful on the darts exhibition circuit, being introduced to it, and money races by his friend Tommy O'Regan[8]. He became the game's first full-time exhibition player when he stopped playing regular tournaments in 1986. In 2009, he teamed up with Bristow and John Lowe to tour theatres around the UK and Ireland, appearing in a show named Legends of the Oche which was presented and hosted by comedian Duncan Norvelle.[9] He appeared in a 2009 episode of BBC's Cash in the Attic.[10] In January and February 2016, George appeared in the three-part BBC series The Real Marigold Hotel, which followed a group of celebrity senior citizens including Miriam Margolyes and Wayne Sleep on a journey to India.[11][12] He also appeared on The Real Marigold on Tour to Florida and Kyoto in 2016, Chengdu and Havana in 2017.[13]

In November 2017, George appeared on Gone to Pot: American Road Trip in which five celebrities (mainly older aged) go across California and Colorado to find out how cannabis can be used medicinally and how it would affect the UK if it was legalised.[14]

Personal life

George was born in Manor Park, London. After leaving school, he had various jobs including as a nightclub bouncer and floor layer before taking up darts.

George lives with his wife and manager Marie (59) and their sons Robert George (32) and Richie George (30), at George Hall. The layout of the rooms has been designed to look like a dartboard. George is a keen fisherman, and within the George Hall grounds are well-stocked fishing lakes. George has two grandsons, Robert Jr (son of Robert) and Edward (son of Richie), who were born within 23 hours of each other in July 2013.

His son Richie is also a professional darts player. He reached the semi-final of the 2013 BDO World Darts Championship, losing to eventual champion Scott Waites.

George has worked as an ambassador for basic arithmetic, touring schools teaching children how darts can help with counting skills.[15]

He has appeared at venues across England, where people had the chance to play him.

Quotes
  • "Ton-eighties (or scores or trebles) for show and doubles for dough."
  • "Throw where you're looking and look where you're throwing."
  • "That's the way to do it, Luvverly jubberly."
  • "May the darts be with you."
  • "Putting the 'art' in 'darts'."
  • (After being asked about a player's chances in a match) "It's like a computer, innit. If you press D, you play darts. If you press something else, you play like" (corpsing) "something else..."

Tournament wins: (7)

World Championship Results

BDO

NDA

The News Of The World Darts Championship ( 1979-1986 )

Career statistics

BDO major finals: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)
Legend
World Championship (0–2)
Grand Masters (2–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 1979 Butlins Grand Masters Bill Lennard unknown
Runner-up 1. 1980 World Championship Eric Bristow 3–5 (s)
Winner 2. 1980 Butlins Grand Masters Leighton Rees unknown
Runner-up 2. 1994 World Championship John Part 0–6 (s)

WDF major finals: 1 (1 title)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 1982 Europe Cup Singles Eric Bristow 4–1 (l)

Independent major finals: 2 (2 titles)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 1979 News of the World Championship Alan Glazier 2–0 (l)
Winner 2. 1986 News of the World Championship Rick Ney 2–0 (l)
  1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Prel. DNQ DNP NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held

Performance timeline
Tournament197719781979198019811982198319841985198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009
BDO World Championship NYF DNQ F QF SF 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R DNQ SF F 1R DNQ 2R 2R DNQ 2R DNQ 1R DNQ
World Masters QF Prel. SF 3R 2R QF 1R 3R 3R DNP 2R 3R 2R DNP 3R 2R 4R 1R DNP 1R 1R 2R 4R Prel. 2R DNP 2R
British Professional Not held 2R 2R QF 1R 2R DNP Not held
MFI World Matchplay Not held 1R 1R DNP Not held
World Darts Trophy Not held 1R DNP Not held
International Darts League Not held DNP RR DNP Not held
News of the World ??? RR W QF ??? QF ??? W ??? Not held DNP Not held
Performance Table Legend
DNP Did not play at the event DNQ Did not qualify for the event NYF Not yet founded #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
gollark: `.` increases timewarp speed, `,` decreases it, IIRC.
gollark: `tracks_played` is just the total number of tracks played since it started up, and `track.last_played` stores what `tracks_played` was when the track in question was lat played.
gollark: The winter solstice is waaay better, I agree.
gollark: ```lualocal function get_weight(track) if track.last_played then local tracks_ago_played = tracks_played - track.last_played return math.min(400, math.pow(tracks_ago_played, 2)) else return 400 endend```
gollark: I don't actually have support programmed in there for dropping the quality, but I think all you'd need to do is drop the sample rate when converting to WAV then write in a lower playback speed accordingly.

References
  1. Gerrard, Jasper (12 August 2008). "Bobby George adds up to more than just a darts dazzler". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  2. Robertson, Stuart (1 January 2007). "An email conversation with Bobby George". The Independent. London. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  3. Broadbent, Rick (8 January 2007). "Showman George is still holding court as the king of bling". The Times. London. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  4. "Bobby George". BBC Press Office. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  5. "Classic Arrows - Eric Bistow v Bobby George 1980". BBC Sport. 22 December 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  6. "George whitewashed, Part satisfied". The Independent. London. 9 January 1994. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  7. "One Man and His Dog". IMDb. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  8. https://books.google.ie/books?id=KYmy1yVjJqwC&pg=PT57&lpg=PT57&dq=tommy+o+regan+darts&source=bl&ots=xGBQi4HapU&sig=ACfU3U0SqiYbl6As0YPYm7TQ75DArCbCgQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAlur74dvqAhUWQRUIHWMgBx44HhDoATAEegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=tommy%20o%20regan%20darts&f=false
  9. Smith, Giles (3 June 2008). "Bobby George and Eric Bristow on the League of Legends darts tour". The Times. London. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  10. "Cash in the Celebrity Attic, Series 1, Bobby George". BBC Two. 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  11. BBC
  12. "The Real Marigold Hotel". BBC Two. 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/search?lang=en&term=The+Real+Marigold+On+Tour&search=Search
  14. "Gone to Pot review: What were ITV smoking when they came up with this?". RadioTimes. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  15. Smyth, Chris (8 January 2009). "How darts can help children to aim higher in jobs market". The Times. London. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.