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'Dr Darts' News letter issue three available nowto receive a free direct issue subscribe here }
2010 BDO WINMAU WORLD MASTERS MOVES TO THE CITY HALL, HULLFRIDAY, OCTOBER 29TH to SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31STThe BDO WINMAU WORLD MASTERS, in association with John Smith’s and East Yorkshire Events, will be played for the first time at The City Hall, Hull from Friday, October 29th to Sunday, October 31st and will be the richest two-day tournament on terrestrial TV. The total prize fund is being increased to a record-breaking £66,500 and there will be extensive BBC-1 and BBC-2 TV coverage over the weekend of Saturday, October 30th & Sunday, October 31st. The last sixteen players in the Men’s World Masters (including the eight top ranked BDO players) are guaranteed a minimum of £1,000 each as reward for reaching the BBC televised stage finals, with the 2010 Winmau Men’s World Master receiving a cheque for £25,000. There is a Highest Checkout prize of £1,000 and in the event of a 9-Dart 501 a BDO Achievement Award of £1,000 will be paid – plus a further £1,000 if it is transmitted on BBC TV. Yorkshire’s John Boy Walton hit a perfect 9-Darter in the 2007 World Masters, and is the only player to have done so in the 37 year history of the tournament. The Women’s World Masters has a prize fund of £10,500 with the 2010 Champion receiving a cheque for £5,000. Staged and promoted by the British Darts Organisation (BDO) the second major darts tournament of the year on BBC television is moving to Hull due to the hugely popular and recently renovated Spa Bridlington being unavailable on the dates scheduled by BBC Sport. Paul Roggeman, Conference and Events Manager for East Riding of Yorkshire Council says: “While East Riding of Yorkshire Council and East
Yorkshire Events are disappointed to lose the Winmau World Masters from The
Spa Bridlington, they are delighted to have secured the City Hall, Hull for
the 2010 Championships. Mark Jones, Head of Economic Development and Regeneration for Hull City Council says:
"We are delighted to welcome the 2010 Winmau World
Masters to Hull City Hall – it is yet another exciting addition to Hull's
sporting and events calendar. Olly Croft, OBE, founder of the BDO and Managing Director of BDO Enterprises Ltd says: “We are thrilled to be staging the World Masters at Hull’s City Hall for the very first time, with BBC Sport once again providing us with the optimum amount of coverage on both Saturday, October 30th and Sunday, October 31st. The Masters always enjoys excellent viewing figures and we are looking forward to welcoming Yorkshire darts fans to the City Hall over the weekend.” Ian Flack, Sales & Marketing Director of Winmau says: “The move to a bustling and energetic City like Hull is very exciting and I would like to thank John Smith’s and East Riding of Yorkshire Council for their valuable ongoing support. We must also thank Hull City Council for their support, and it is also a great pleasure to have Jackpotjoy.com as our official shirt patch sponsors for the third consecutive World Masters”. The BDO Winmau World Masters is a true World Championship with players from seventy-two countries being invited, including singles darts champions from over 300 national and international singles events worldwide. In addition to players from the home countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, approximately 400 players from most European countries, and as far away as Australia, America, China and India, will converge on Hull for this year’s World Masters, which will mark the 37th anniversary of the oldest established major in world darts (1974-2010). REIGNING 2009 WINMAU WORLD MASTERSMARTIN ADAMS successfully defended his Winmau World Masters crown and has now joined an elite band of players who have won the famous Winmau World Masters title in two successive years. 2009 WINMAU MEN’S WORLD MASTERS FINAL:MARTIN ADAMS (Eng) 7-6 ROBBIE GREEN (Eng) 2009 WOMEN’S WORLD MASTERS FINAL:LINDA ITHURRALDE (Eng) 4-3 TRINA GULLIVER (Eng) 2009 BOYS MASTERS FINAL:JAMIE LEWIS (Wal) 4-1 JEFFREY STIGTER (Neth) 2009 GIRLS MASTERS FINAL:ZOE JONES (Eng) 4-1 EMILY DAVIDSON (Scot) BBC TV RATINGS:Saturday: Average 1.0m with a peak of 1.5m Sunday: Average 1.2m with a peak of 1.8m for the final. Source: BBC TV Sport History of the Winmau World Masters:THE BDO WINMAU WORLD MASTERS is the oldest established major darts tournament in the world and second only in importance to the BDO Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships. It was first played in 1974 and the 2010 Masters will celebrate thirty-seven consecutive years of Winmau World Masters darts. The live BBC televised Men’s Masters features the top eight ranked players in the BDO Invitation tables – guaranteeing the top players being on stage as an attraction to both venue and TV audiences. Importantly, there is a clear link between the World Masters and the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships, which emphasises their dual importance in BBC televised world darts. If the winners of the 2010 Men’s and Women’s World Masters have not already qualified for Lakeside, then they will gain automatic entry into the 2011 World Professional as the current Winmau World Masters Champions. This ensures the seamless link between the two BDO televised majors and clearly illustrates their importance to World darts and to the top men and women players around the globe. An additional highlight of the world-class darts on offer at the City Hall will be the International Play-Offs for the Lakeside World Professional Championships (Men & Women) when an estimated three-hundred players will compete for the remaining places in the 2011 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships to be played from January 1st to 9th, 2011 and televised for nine consecutive days by BBC TV Sport.The Lakeside International Play-Offs will take place on Thursday, October 28th.
DR. DARTS’ WEBSITE RECEIVES FIVE-STAR RATINGGreat news.My website was reviewed in the February 2010 issue of the darts magazine We Love Darts and was awarded a five-star rating. The reviewer wrote:
Thanks to all the guys and girls at WLD for such a positive review Thanks too to my webmaster David King for his expertise in redesigning and effectively reinventing my website in time for its launch just before the world championship season started last December. David King and I work hard and do our utmost to bring you information and fascinating facts about the sport in a clear and entertaining way. I say “Long may it continue”. Patrick February 2010
‘CAPITAL ARROWS’ FOR CAPITAL DARTSIf you are a resident of London or a visitor to the capital and looking for a game of darts and have no idea where to start looking then look no further.
Right: ‘The Bachelor of Darts’ Justin Irwin Even though the dartboards of central London are disappearing at an alarming rate, Capital Arrows, a new dart pub guide recently published on line by writer and darts devotee Justin Irwin on his website www.bachelorofdarts.com, will help you find the venues that still provide for this most traditional of pub games. For more information click here 25th February 2010
DR. DARTS’ NEWSLETTER IS WELL-RECEIVEDThanks to all those who subscribed to my Dr. Darts’ Newsletter Issue One of which was distributed by e-mail in early February and especially to those who have already let me have feedback. Issue One has been well received and some folks are already asking when Issue Two will be available. My current estimate is late March/early April. Sadly two subscribers’ e-mails don’t seem to be receptive to my e-mailing or perhaps they mistyped their e-mail addresses. The two that have failed belong to CHRIS RILEY and G. FOSGEW. If you guys are reading this then please e-mail me again via either the Newsletter subscription section or my guest book and I’ll mail Issue One to you straight away Patrick 17th February 2010
‘THE OFFICIAL BAR GUIDE TO DARTS’
DR. DARTS’ TUITION BOOK OUT SOON
My tuition book The Official Bar Guide to Darts is currently scheduled to be published in the USA by Sterling Publishing of New York in May and shortly afterwards in the UK. But “What’s that?” I hear you scream, “What does our old friend ‘Dr. Darts’ know about actually playing the game?” In fact that might be its primary selling point although it does cover a lot more areas than your standard ‘how to’ darts book. To date all darts tuition books have been published by well-known (and some not so well-known) darts players and enthusiasts ranging from three time World Champion John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Dave Whitcomb, the prolific George Silberzahn and Madeline Dolowich; the only woman ever to produce a book on the subject. Well, I’m an enthusiast too and I see this book as a natural progression from my work on the history of the sport and working with the likes of John Lowe and Trina Gulliver on their autobiographies and the material I write for We Love Darts, Darts World and Bull’s-eye News. I can’t wait to see what the darting public make of it. Details of how you can pre-order The Official Bar Guide to Darts can be found on www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com. AND watch this space for yet another book, this time a hilarious book written in conjunction with Bobby George. It’s a gift book that will be out in time for Christmas. I’ve have more news for you on this very soon. 6th February 2010
PUB HISTORY SOCIETY CONFERENCE‘WOMEN, DARTS AND THE PUB IN THE INTERWAR YEARS’
I am pleased to announce that I will be one of the speakers at the forthcoming inaugural Pub History Society (PHS) annual conference which takes place at The National Archives in south west London on Saturday 20th February 2010 (10.30 a.m. to 4 p.m.). I will be giving a short talk entitled Women, Darts and the Pub in the Interwar Years. The following is a brief abstract relating to my paper:
Throughout the interwar period the pub combined all three
‘cornerstones’ of traditional male working-class popular culture (drinking,
gambling and sport). The generally accepted view of the period is that women
rarely visited pubs. If they did, few did so unaccompanied. Women rarely
invaded the ‘masculine republic’, the public bar. Thus it might be assumed
that women never played darts in pubs.
Other speakers include Jack Adams revealing ‘Lost London Pubs’, ‘Pub Signs and Names’ where David Roe will give a slide presentation about the history of pub signs and the origin of pub names focusing on examples for London pubs and ‘The Pub and the People’ which features Simon Fowler looking at contemporary views of pubs in the 1930’s. In addition David Thomas goes behind the scenes of the coaching inn.
At lunchtime there will be a ‘show and tell’ session, so delegates are invited to bring along their pub-related memorabilia.
Admission is FREE but booking is essential so call 0208 940 6884 or book by e-mailing the PHS Conference organisers at werringtonhistory@googlemail.com.
I hope at least some of you will be able to attend the event and look forward to seeing you there. If not then I understand that the sessions will be recorded so I am hoping that a podcast of my talk will be available on my website by the end of March.
For more about The National Archives visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Patrick
29th January 2010
‘FAREBROTHER DARTS - Thanks to all those who have provided me with information about this company via my ‘Questions I can’t answer’ section. I now know a lot more about Farebrother Darts than I ever did. Click here to see the article.'
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Darts
rating:
After having two books published in 2009 in collaboration
with three-time World Darts Champion John Lowe (Old Stoneface (Revised
and updated paperback edition)) and The Art of Darts) plus the book
based on my PhD (Darts in England 1900-1939: A social history) I am
pleased to announce that my assault on the bookshelves continues into 2010.
