Keith Deller's Darts Experience

About Keith Deller MBE

Awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire for charity work 2023. World Champion 1983 - The Observer’s 6thbiggest upset in British Sport at the time. British Professional Champion 1987. One of only three players to win the World Championship as an individual and World Team Champion with England. Betfred ‘League of Legends’ 2009 Champion. The first Player to register a 100 average in the World Championships. A regular guest on the iconic Darts Show ‘Bullseye’. In demand as a Professional Player, visiting Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, America, The Far East, and all over Europe. Raised over £500,000 for McMillan Cancer and numerous other charities. A regular guest on the legendary QE2. Received an invitation from Buckingham Palace to celebrate 40 years of The Monarchy. Entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest game of 3 legs of 301. A member of the Sky Sports team for 29 years. Autobiography ”138 Game, Shot and the Match”. Presently part of the televised ‘Senior Series’ of tournaments.

From Suffolk to Downing Street

At 16 years of age Keith became the Suffolk Darts Champion, and at 17 he became the youngest player to reach the divisional finals of the News of the World Championship. At 21 he was invited to play in three Tournaments in USA and won two - The Austin Texas title and The Cleveland, Ohio title.

In 1982 in America, Keith competed with all of the top players in the world, winning the event and giving him the opportunity to play in the qualifying rounds for the Embassy World Professional Championships. He beat three players to qualify and created the biggest upset in Darts history, beating the top three world seeds and reigning World Champion along the way to win a thrilling final when he beat the on-form Eric Bristow 6-5 with his infamous 138 checkout.

After winning the World Championship Keith appeared on numerous TV programmes including a memorable appearance when he was booked to throw Darts for Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers on the TV show ‘Hart to Hart’. As a result, the profile of Darts was raised to a new and exciting level. Many young people started taking up the game inspired by Keith, nicknamed The Milky Bar Kid because he drank milk after he won the title. His achievement was mentioned in the House of Commons.

In 1988 Martin Amis interviewed Keith for The Observer and shortly afterwards Martin released his book ‘London Fields’ with Keith being the real-life inspiration for the main character called ‘Keith Talent’.

Keith was interested to learn from the Channel 4 programme called ‘When Boris met Dave’, that he was an inspiration for David Cameron at Eton and Oxford College.