Harold "Dickie" Bird
From Freepedia
Harold Dennis Bird, commonly known as "Dickie" Bird (born April 19, 1933) is a retired international cricket umpire, probably the best known and loved the sport has seen.
The son of a miner, he was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire and gained the nickname "Dickie" at school. Always very interested in sport, he dreamt of playing football professionally, and when a knee injury put paid to that, he followed his second love, cricket.
In his early career in Barnsley, he played club cricket in the same team as Geoff Boycott, and journalist and chat show host Michael Parkinson, who became a lifelong friend. In 1956, he signed up with his home county, Yorkshire. Three years later, fed up with always being twelfth man, he transferred to Leicestershire. This move he has since called the "worst mistake of my life" and it was only a few years before he retired, admittedly from a fairly unsuccessful first-class playing career.
Between 1956 and 1964, Bird played first class cricket as a batsman for Yorkshire and Leicestershire in the English County Championship. After his County career, he coached and played league cricket before becoming an umpire, standing his first county game in 1970. Three years later he officiated at his first test match (England v New Zealand at Headingley, Leeds), and began making a name for himself. He was calm and entirely impartial when on the field (off it he was a huge Yorkshire supporter), but willing to joke with players to dispel tension. He was beloved by cricketers and fans, although he gained a reputation for stopping play for weather and not giving batsmen out LBW.
Dickie was given an MBE in 1986 and later received honorary doctorates from Leeds and Sheffield Hallam universities.
At the beginning of his sixty-sixth and final test in 1996, the two teams - India and England - formed a "guard of honour" as he came out, and he received a standing ovation from the crowd. Two years later came his last county match.
Dickie Bird became a celebrity around the cricket world and was a big favourite with the players. One of his strengths was that he was able to manage and earn the respect of some of the more volatile players in the game, sometimes by using his infectous humour. He was also known as being eccentric, famously arriving at a ground five hours early as the Queen who was to visit that day. Dickie umpired in 66 Test matches and 92 One day internationals including 3 World Cup Finals around the world. Bird, an emotional man was in tears when he stood in his final test at Lord's, London, England v India 1996. In 1998, he umpired his last First Class game as he had reached retirement age.
Dickie went on to write his autobiography simply titled "My Autobiography" which went on to sell a million copies, reportedly one of the best-selling sports books of all time. Bird has set up the Dickie Bird Foundation to help disadvantaged under 18's achieve their potential in sport. He received an MBE from the Queen in 1986 and has also received honourary doctorates from Leeds and Sheffield Hallam Universities. Bird has been given the Freedom of Barnsley, his home town.
