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BOBBY DAZZLER by Bobby George with Lance Hardy Published by Orion
'Bobby Dazzler' is possibly the most enjoyable darts autobiography to date as it follows the life and career of perhaps Darts' biggest ever character Mr. Glitter himself Bobby George. That the book is so enjoyable must be in no small part to the skills of co-writer Lance Hardy who has done an admirable job in telling Bobby's story in a structured and literate manner. The book traces Bobby George's life from the very beginning and the early death of his mother, through a poor childhood with a domineering father and a succession of jobs before he became a darts player. I bet not too many Londoners know that Bobby helped contruct the Victoria Line tunnels that tens of thousands of people use every day for example. As with a lot of darts players Bobby seemed to come into the game by chance and through the encouragement of another took the came more seriously and became a big success very quickly. The documentation of Bobby's professional career is excellent and there are many stories from along the road, including some great ones featuring one of the true darting legends – Jocky Wilson. Bobby explains reasonably why he gave up the darts circuit and charts his fantastic return in the 1990s. Bringing things up to date Bobby talks about his new found celebrity status and his experiences of appearing in feature films, reality tv and more besides. Surprisingly there is little criticism and badmouthing of others that many might have expected from this book and so the gossip hunters may have to hunt elsewhere for their fix. But what the book does achieve successfully is to paint a detailed and entertaining picture of a hard working man's extraordinary life for very humble beginnings. It's simply a must have book for any Darts fans' library.
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