Bobby George

Bobby George
On London Fields film set
Personal information
Full name	Robert Francis George
Nickname	King of Bling, Bobby Dazzler
Born	(1945-12-16) 16 December 1945 Manor Park, Greater London, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1976
Darts	Winmau 23g
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	We Are the Champions by Queen
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1977–2009
BDO majors - best performances
World Ch'ship	Runner Up: 1980, 1994
World Masters	Semi Final: 1979
World Darts Trophy	Last 32: 2002
Int. Darts League	Last 32 Group: 2005
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
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 7 January 2008.

Robert Francis "Bobby" George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former 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 sound of Queen's We Are the Champions.^[1][2][3]

George won several leading 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.^[4]

Career

George took up darts at the age of 30, and quickly improved, winning the first tournament he entered^[5] and making his first appearance at the World Masters less than a year later.^[2] 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. George's News of the World victory in 1979 came without dropping a single leg, the only player to do so.

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.^[6] 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 3–0 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. ^[7]

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^[8] 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. 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] He was one of the participants in the BBC Two series The Real Marigold Hotel, broadcast in 2016.^[11]

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 (56) and their sons Robert George (28) and Richie George (26), at George Hall, an 18-bedroom self-built mansion he jokingly refers to as "the house that Bobby built". The Hall is on 12 acres (49,000 m²) of land once owned by William the Conqueror in Ardleigh near Colchester, on the borders of Essex and Suffolk.^[2] 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. ^[12]

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)

• North American Open: 1978
• News of the World Darts Championship: 1979, 1986
• Butlins Grand Masters: 1979, 1980
• WDF Europe Cup Singles: 1982
• WDF Europe Cup Team: 1982

World Championship Results

BDO

• 1980: Runner Up (lost to Eric Bristow 3–5)
• 1981: Quarter-finals (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–4)
• 1982: Semi-finals (lost to John Lowe 1–4)
• 1983: First round (lost to Tony Brown 0–2)
• 1984: First round (lost to Malcolm Davis 1–2)
• 1985: Second round (lost to Fred McMullan 1–3)
• 1986: First round (lost to Bob Anderson 0–3)
• 1987: First round (lost to John Lowe 0–3)
• 1993: Semi-finals (lost to John Lowe 3–5)
• 1994: Runner Up (lost to John Part 0–6)
• 1995: First round (lost to Ronnie Sharp 0–3)
• 1997: Second round (lost to Roland Scholten 0–3)
• 1998: Second round (lost to Sean Palfrey 2–3)
• 2000: Second round (lost to Ronnie Baxter 2–3)
• 2002: First round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 1–3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

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	5–6 (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	4–0 (s)

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)

Performance timeline

References

External links

• Official website
• Bobby George's profile and stats on Darts Database
• Kingdom of Bobby George