Dickie Davies

FORMER WORLD of Sport presenter Dickie Davies has died at the age of 94. Davies was best known for anchoring the ITV sports show from 1968 until it came to ...

A kind man and brilliant broadcaster. Dickie was a wonderful friend and colleague… A legend.

The show, a mix of live sport including racing, wrestling and football results, competed with the BBC's Grandstand. Former ITV colleague Jim Rosenthal announced ...

It was an era long before sports broadcasting rights became the subject of billion pound battles between round-the-clock sports channels. He later returned intermittently to the screen for a number of specials, including ITV's 50-year World of Sport anniversary in 2005, as well as some shows for Sky Sports. He also had an unlikely sideline during his early years on World of Sport, as he had invested some of his his TV earnings in a pub called the Globe in Andover, Hampshire - and was occasionally pictured working behind the bar on a Saturday evening, just hours after broadcasting to millions of people. ITV football presenter Mark Pougatch put it simply, writing on Twitter: "Ach, Dickie Davies. RIP." He moved to ITV's new show World of Sport and was initially an understudy to Eamonn Andrews before becoming the main host in 1968.

Former World of Sport presenter Dickie Davies has died at the age of 94. Davies was best known for anchoring the ITV sports show from 1968 until it came to ...

"I was never a great wrestling fan," Davies told The Guardian in 2006. In 1961, Davies took on a job as an announcer for Southern Television, paving the way for his appointment as an understudy to Andrews when ITV launched its rival to Grandstand, originally known as 'Wide World of Sport', in 1965. Former World of Sport presenter Dickie Davies has died at the age of 94.

Davies spent 17 years fronting the popular show, which was broadcast into living rooms for several hours every Saturday afternoon.

"A kind man and brilliant broadcaster. "It's the end of that era. Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling paid tribute to "the wonderful Dickie Davies", calling him "a sports broadcasting legend".

JONATHAN McEVOY: Dickie Davies, with that famous white blade through his mane like Shergar, was the face of ITV sport in an age before the industry ...

Davies was born in 1928 and came to broadcasting late, including after a period on RMS Queen Mary, the most opulent ocean liner of its day, as a purser. His fame led to an appearance on The Morecambe & Wise Show, those being the big days for terrestrial television, and This is Your Life. In memory, ITV's output concentrated a great deal on Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, but that was part of its enduring charm, and not the limit of its scope. Of his career, he told the Telegraph: 'I loved it. JONATHAN McEVOY: Dickie Davies was a trailblazer who put ITV on the sporting map… He is survived by a loving wife, two adoring sons, four grandkids and two beloved dogs.'

Davies was best known for anchoring World Of Sport on ITV from 1968 until it came to an end in 1985.

So proud of his 20 years of World of Sport, 3 Olympic Games and a brilliant career on the telly. Dickie was a wonderful friend and colleague… He is survived by a loving wife, two adoring sons, four grandkids and two beloved dogs.

Dickie Davies, the face of ITV sports coverage for more than two decades, has died.

During his time in the role Davies played a part in the show’s coverage of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. World of Sport included coverage of a mix of live sport such as wrestling, boxing, racing and football results, and was a main competitor for the BBC’s Grandstand. TV presenter Dickie Davies has died at the age of 94.

PA Reporters. Former World Of Sport presenter Dickie Davies has died at the age of 94. Davies was best known for anchoring the ITV sports show from 1968 ...

So proud of his 20 years of World of Sport, 3 Olympic Games and a brilliant career on the telly. Dickie was a wonderful friend and colleague… He is survived by a loving wife, two adoring sons, four grandkids and two beloved dogs.

PA Reporters. Former World Of Sport presenter Dickie Davies has died at the age of 94. Davies was best known for anchoring the ITV sports show from 1968 ...

So proud of his 20 years of World of Sport, 3 Olympic Games and a brilliant career on the telly. Dickie was a wonderful friend and colleague… He is survived by a loving wife, two adoring sons, four grandkids and two beloved dogs.

“I was never a great wrestling fan,” Davies told The Guardian in 2006. “I never thought of it as a sport, but we used to get six to 10 million people watching ...

“I was never a great wrestling fan,” Davies told The Guardian in 2006. A stint as sports editor on the newly launched Classic FM was interrupted in 1995 by a stroke which temporarily left him without the power of speech, but Davies made a near-full recovery, returning intermittently to the screen for a number of specials, including ITV’s 50-year ‘World of Sport’ anniversary in 2005. Davies’ deadpan introductions of fringe sports from tenpin bowling to stock car racing played a major part in helping the programme rise from its inauspicious beginnings to become a genuine challenger to the Saturday afternoon dominance of the BBC’s rival ‘Grandstand’.