Dickie Davies dead – Legendary sport presenter dies

Tributes have poured in following the death of legendary sports presenter Dickie Davies at the age of 94. The passing of Davies, who anchored World of Sport from 1968 until 1985, was announced on Sunday.

The news of Davies’ death was broken by former colleague Jim Rosenthal on social media as he wrote: “With huge sadness we announce Dickie Davies passed away this morning. So proud of his 20 years of World of Sport, 3 Olympic Games and a brilliant career on the telly. He is survived by a loving wife, two adoring sons, four grandkids and two beloved dogs.”

Former Sky Sports and Blue Peter presenter Simon Thomas took to Twitter to pay his tributes as he penned: “Rest in peace Dickie Davies. Absolute giant of sports broadcasting.” Meanwhile, talkSPORT presenter Tom Ross said: “So sad to hear that Dickie Davies has passed away – fantastic as presenter of World of Sport. RIP.

And BBC rugby commentator Andrew Sheridan added: “A legend of sports broadcasting and an integral part of my Saturday’s in my youth.”

Davies, who was born in Cheshire, stayed at ITV after World of Sport ended and went on to present snooker, boxing and darts. He also played a key role in the broadcasters’ coverage of the 1988 summer Olympics in Seoul.

Davies later took on a presenting role at Eurosport but suffered a stroke in 1995, which affected his speech for almost two years. But he recovered and made a successful TV comeback, presenting his own show Dickie Davies’ Sporting Heroes.

The television host was initially known as Richard Davies until renowned presenter and friend Jimmy Hill suggested he be referred to as Dickie. “My wife and all my friends called me Dickie but in the television world it was considered that Richard sounded much more proper,” Davies said during an interview with The Guardian in 2006.

“On our way to a game of golf one day, Jimmy said to me, ‘why don’t you just tell them you want to be known as Dickie – it sounds much better.’ So that’s what I did – and the difference it made was quite phenomenal. I suddenly started to get people in the street shouting, ‘hi DD.’ I think it just sounded friendlier.”

“Lovely man, had a superb professional style, people could learn a lot from him and Des Lynam,” penned @Byrdsman75 on social media as the tributes continued to pour in on Sunday evening. And @lookoutwales2 added: “Terribly sad news. Thoughts with you and all of Dickie’s former colleagues – quite simply Mr ITV Sport. RIP.”