138: Game, Shot and the Match

In 1983, an unknown 23-year-old from Suffolk called Keith Deller took the darts world by storm, defying the odds and sporting conventions to become a most unlikely world champion. Deller was the diametric opposite of the beer-swigging, chain-smoking, paunch-bellied darts player fans were used to. He was slim, well-spoken, athletic and didn’t smoke or drink. And he looked like a boy next to his flabby, middle-aged opponents. A TV audience of 10 million watched transfixed as this angelic newcomer beat world number-one Eric Bristow in the final. Almost overnight, Keith had breathed new life into a game whose traditions had been hewn in the nation’s smoky pubs and clubs. Deller was a new breed of darts player whose appeal transcended this gritty working-class sport, piquing the interest of intellectuals such as Martin Amis and Stephen Fry. In 138, Keith takes the reader on an intimate journey as we relive his rapid rise from complete obscurity to lifting the game’s greatest prize as one of the youngest world champions in history.