Andy Fordham

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Andy Fordham bigraphy, stories - British darts player

Andy Fordham : biography

2 February 1962 –

Andy "The Viking" Fordham (born 2 February 1962 in Charlton, London) is an English darts player. He plays for the British Darts Organisation and he won the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship. And the 1999 Winmau World Masters champion.

Outside darts

Fordham is the eldest of four children and has a brother and two sisters. He grew up in Charlton, south-east London and attended Charlton Manor Primary School and Eaglesfield Secondary School. He was a keen track-and-field athlete in his younger days and was nicknamed ‘The Whippet’ at school.

Fordham is a huge fan of Scottish football club Rangers, and even paraded his Lakeside trophy before a game at Ibrox Stadium in 2004, he is also a fan of Millwall F.C. and paraded his trophy at half time. A keen footballer himself, Fordham played for the Angerstein Hotel in east Greenwich after leaving school and this was where his love of darts was sparked. The Angerstein Hotel football team made up most of the resident darts team and after a training night the lads were a man short and asked ‘The Whippet’ to join them.

At the 2011 BDO World Darts Championship at the Lakeside, Mark Williams a former snooker world champion announced that Fordham had broken his leg.

Fordham is married to Jenny, and they have two children, Raymond (born 1986) and Emily (born 1987). Fordham and Jenny run "The Cutty Sark" in Thamesmead having previously run The Queen’s Arms in Woolwich and The Rose public house in Dartford Kent.

Health concerns

In 2004, he was forced to withdraw from a best-of-13-sets match at Purfleet’s Circus Tavern which pitted the two world darts champions of that time (Fordham representing the BDO and Phil Taylor representing the PDC) due to heat intensity. Taylor was subsequently declared the victor having been leading the contest by 5 sets to 2. After the incident Fordham visited a doctor, who told him his liver was 75% dead and the other 25% was in bad shape and urged him to stop drinking alcohol immediately., De Pers

Fordham’s health has long been a concern. At one point he weighed 31 stone (197 kilograms, 434 lbs) and was in the habit of consuming 25 bottles of lager before going on stage to play. The scare during the head-to-head game led Fordham to seek help via the television programme Celebrity Fit Club, where he became friends with the journalist and TV presenter Paul Ross. While getting a regime underway to try to lose some weight, he was defeated in the first round of the 2005 Lakeside World championship by Dutchman Vincent van der Voort. Fordham made another Lakeside appearance in 2006 but again suffered a first round exit, this time losing to Australia’s Simon Whitlock.

Fordham was due to face Whitlock again in the first round of the 2007 BDO World Darts Championship, but was once again hospitalised after complaining of chest pains and breathing difficulties. He was forced to pull out of the tournament as a result and Whitlock received a walkover and went through to the second round without throwing a single dart.

Weeks after pulling out of the BDO World Championship, Fordham suffered what was initially thought to be a stroke, which turned out to be severe breathing difficulties caused by massive fluid build-up in his lungs. The incident was described as "minor" by his agent, and he is expected to make a full recovery. In 2008, Fordham applied for a liver transplant. Although initially on an emergency liver transplant list, he subsequently lost 17 st (108 kg, 238 lbs) in weight and stopping drinking leading to an announcement in December that he probably would not require a transplant for five years., BBC News

BDO World Championship Results

  • 1995: Semi-Final: (lost to Richie Burnett 2–5)
  • 1996: Semi-Final: (lost to Steve Beaton 3–5)
  • 1997: Last 16: (lost to Marshall James 2–3)
  • 1998: Last 16: (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 2–3)
  • 1999: Semi-Final: (lost to Ronnie Baxter 1–5)
  • 2000: Quarter-Final: (lost to Chris Mason 3–5)
  • 2001: Semi-Final: (lost to Ted Hankey 2–5)
  • 2002: First Round (lost to John Walton 0–3)
  • 2003: Last 16: (lost to Gary Anderson 1–3)
  • 2004: Won (beat Mervyn King 6–3)
  • 2005: First Round: (lost to Vincent van der Voort 2–3)
  • 2006: First Round: (lost to Simon Whitlock 0–3)
  • 2007: Withdrew from competition due to ill health