ston
Cool, I'm from Ipswich originally so watched the Deller/Bristow final 'round my nan's with my best school friend David.
The final leg's up on youtube, which has reminded me of Sid Widell's awesome commentary.
Loved a bit of Sid's wonderfully image-laden commentary back in the day.
And Tony Green and Jim Bowen on Bullseye ....marvellous.
"Here's yer bus fare 'ome... but before you go, let's 'ave a look at what you cud 'ave won"
Invariably it was a brand new motor if they lost, and a feckin' speedboat if they won.... especially if they lived in Brum!
Some of Sid Waddell's best:
On winning
"[He's] as happy as a hound-dog who's won a year's supply of Boneo."
"If we'd had Phil Taylor at Hastings against the Normans, they'd have gone home."
"When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer … [Eric] Bristow's only 27."
"Look at the man go: it's like trying to stop a water buffalo with a pea-shooter."
On losing
"He looks about as happy as a penguin in a microwave."
"Bob came on like the Laughing Cavalier … now he looks like Lee Van Cleef on a bad night."
"It's the nearest thing to public execution this side of Saudi Arabia."
On feeling the pressure
"He's perspiring like a pudding in a pot."
"His eyes are bulging like the belly of a hungry chaffinch."
"His face is sagging with tension."
On silence in the hall
"The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them."
"There was less noise when Pompeii was swamped in lava! Absolute pandemonium here! Barmaids are frozen like Greek statues watching! No beer's been served! Everybody's eyes [are] absolutely hooked on that board."
"You could hear a blob of vinegar drop on a chip in this hall."