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Dickie Bird
Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird OBE (19 April 1933 – 22 September 2025) was an English cricketer and international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a well regarded figure among players and the viewing public, not only due to his high standards as an umpire but also for humour and eccentricity.
Bird played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire as a right-handed batsman, but only scored two centuries in 93 appearances. His career was blighted by a knee injury, which eventually forced him to retire at the age of 31. He umpired in 66 Test matches (at the time a world record) and 69 One Day Internationals, including three World Cup Finals. Bird's autobiography, published in 1997, sold more than a million copies.
Harold Dennis Bird was born on 19 April 1933 at Church Lane, Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, but when he was two years old, he moved with his family to New Lodge estate as his house was pulled down in a slum clearance scheme. He was the eldest of three children. of James Harold Bird, (1899-1969) a coal miner, and Ethel Bird nee Smith (1903-1978). He gained the nickname 'Dickie' at school. In 1944, Bird failed his 11-plus examination and went to Raley Secondary Modern School, leaving at the age of 15. For a while, he worked at a coal mine, but gave it up, deciding it was not for him. Instead, he set out for a career in sport. One of his childhood friends was the Manchester United and England footballer Tommy Taylor (killed in the 1958 Munich air disaster).
When a knee injury put paid to playing football professionally, he followed his second love, cricket. In his early career in Barnsley, he played club cricket in the same team as journalist and chat show host Michael Parkinson, who became a lifelong friend; they were later joined in the team by Geoffrey Boycott. In 1956, Bird signed up with his home county, Yorkshire. Boycott has spoken highly of Bird's ability as a batsman, but feels that his attempt to forge a career as a county cricketer was hampered by his inability to control his nerves – although he was also not helped by stiff competition for the opening batsman's position. Indeed, after scoring his first (and only) County Championship century of 181* in a 1959 match against Glamorgan at Bradford, in the absence of the regular opener Ken Taylor (who was playing for England), he was dropped when Taylor returned from international duty in the next match. Bird played only five more championship matches that season (plus the MCC versus Champion County match), four in the middle order rather than his preferred opener's position, and spent most of the season as "twelfth man" which was hardly conducive to building confidence in his batting. Shortly before the start of the 1960 season he moved to Leicestershire, where at first he enjoyed a more or less regular place in the team. In his first season (1960), he scored over 1,000 runs, including a century against the touring South Africans which would prove to be his only other first-class century. However, he faded out of the team, thanks to a combination of loss of form, confidence and a recurrence of his persistent knee injury, playing his last match in 1964. Overall, between 1956 and 1964, Bird played first-class cricket as a batsman for Yorkshire and Leicestershire in 93 matches, mostly in the County Championship.
After his county career ended Bird was a cricket professional for Paignton between 1965 and 1969, scoring over 10,000 runs. He coached cricket at Plymouth College between 1966 and 1968, and coached in Johannesburg in 1968 and 1969.
Bird umpired his first county game in 1970. Three years later, he officiated at his first Test match, England v New Zealand at Headingley in Leeds. The other umpire was Charlie Eliott as England won by an innings and one run. Bird also umpired in the second and third tests of that summer's tour by the West Indies – both of which proved eventful. In the second test at Edgbaston, Bird had to umpire from the bowler's end at both ends for a couple of overs, with a substitute umpire at square leg, when Arthur Fagg refused to continue in protest against the conduct of the West Indian players. Then, in the third test at Lords, play was interrupted by an IRA bomb scare (later found out to be a hoax). While the crowd cleared out of the ground in record time, Bird and the players sat down in the centre of the pitch, knowing there was no bomb there. He gained a reputation for stopping play for weather, and almost never giving batsmen out LBW – he gave LBWs so seldom that if he did give it, there was absolutely no doubt the batsman was out. Bird was also very strict on the definitions of "intimidatory bowling", both from short-pitched deliveries and high full tosses, and made it abundantly clear he would tolerate none of it.
Bird was an umpire in the final of the inaugural Cricket World Cup in 1975. A pitch invasion followed the West Indies' 17-run victory, and number of players and umpires had items of their playing outfits "souvenired" by the crowd. A year later, Bird was a passenger on a bus in South London, when he noticed the conductor was wearing a white hat very similar to the one he favoured, and asked the conductor where he obtained it from.
"Man, haven't you heard of Mr Dickie Bird," he replied. "This is one of his hats. I took it off his head at the World Cup final... we all ran onto the field and I won the race."
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Dickie Bird
Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird OBE (19 April 1933 – 22 September 2025) was an English cricketer and international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a well regarded figure among players and the viewing public, not only due to his high standards as an umpire but also for humour and eccentricity.
Bird played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire as a right-handed batsman, but only scored two centuries in 93 appearances. His career was blighted by a knee injury, which eventually forced him to retire at the age of 31. He umpired in 66 Test matches (at the time a world record) and 69 One Day Internationals, including three World Cup Finals. Bird's autobiography, published in 1997, sold more than a million copies.
Harold Dennis Bird was born on 19 April 1933 at Church Lane, Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, but when he was two years old, he moved with his family to New Lodge estate as his house was pulled down in a slum clearance scheme. He was the eldest of three children. of James Harold Bird, (1899-1969) a coal miner, and Ethel Bird nee Smith (1903-1978). He gained the nickname 'Dickie' at school. In 1944, Bird failed his 11-plus examination and went to Raley Secondary Modern School, leaving at the age of 15. For a while, he worked at a coal mine, but gave it up, deciding it was not for him. Instead, he set out for a career in sport. One of his childhood friends was the Manchester United and England footballer Tommy Taylor (killed in the 1958 Munich air disaster).
When a knee injury put paid to playing football professionally, he followed his second love, cricket. In his early career in Barnsley, he played club cricket in the same team as journalist and chat show host Michael Parkinson, who became a lifelong friend; they were later joined in the team by Geoffrey Boycott. In 1956, Bird signed up with his home county, Yorkshire. Boycott has spoken highly of Bird's ability as a batsman, but feels that his attempt to forge a career as a county cricketer was hampered by his inability to control his nerves – although he was also not helped by stiff competition for the opening batsman's position. Indeed, after scoring his first (and only) County Championship century of 181* in a 1959 match against Glamorgan at Bradford, in the absence of the regular opener Ken Taylor (who was playing for England), he was dropped when Taylor returned from international duty in the next match. Bird played only five more championship matches that season (plus the MCC versus Champion County match), four in the middle order rather than his preferred opener's position, and spent most of the season as "twelfth man" which was hardly conducive to building confidence in his batting. Shortly before the start of the 1960 season he moved to Leicestershire, where at first he enjoyed a more or less regular place in the team. In his first season (1960), he scored over 1,000 runs, including a century against the touring South Africans which would prove to be his only other first-class century. However, he faded out of the team, thanks to a combination of loss of form, confidence and a recurrence of his persistent knee injury, playing his last match in 1964. Overall, between 1956 and 1964, Bird played first-class cricket as a batsman for Yorkshire and Leicestershire in 93 matches, mostly in the County Championship.
After his county career ended Bird was a cricket professional for Paignton between 1965 and 1969, scoring over 10,000 runs. He coached cricket at Plymouth College between 1966 and 1968, and coached in Johannesburg in 1968 and 1969.
Bird umpired his first county game in 1970. Three years later, he officiated at his first Test match, England v New Zealand at Headingley in Leeds. The other umpire was Charlie Eliott as England won by an innings and one run. Bird also umpired in the second and third tests of that summer's tour by the West Indies – both of which proved eventful. In the second test at Edgbaston, Bird had to umpire from the bowler's end at both ends for a couple of overs, with a substitute umpire at square leg, when Arthur Fagg refused to continue in protest against the conduct of the West Indian players. Then, in the third test at Lords, play was interrupted by an IRA bomb scare (later found out to be a hoax). While the crowd cleared out of the ground in record time, Bird and the players sat down in the centre of the pitch, knowing there was no bomb there. He gained a reputation for stopping play for weather, and almost never giving batsmen out LBW – he gave LBWs so seldom that if he did give it, there was absolutely no doubt the batsman was out. Bird was also very strict on the definitions of "intimidatory bowling", both from short-pitched deliveries and high full tosses, and made it abundantly clear he would tolerate none of it.
Bird was an umpire in the final of the inaugural Cricket World Cup in 1975. A pitch invasion followed the West Indies' 17-run victory, and number of players and umpires had items of their playing outfits "souvenired" by the crowd. A year later, Bird was a passenger on a bus in South London, when he noticed the conductor was wearing a white hat very similar to the one he favoured, and asked the conductor where he obtained it from.
"Man, haven't you heard of Mr Dickie Bird," he replied. "This is one of his hats. I took it off his head at the World Cup final... we all ran onto the field and I won the race."