Dickie Davies, host of ITV's World of Sport for nearly two decades, dies

TV presenter Dickie Davies, who was the look of ITV sports sum for much than 2 decades, has died.

The prima presented the Saturday day amusement World of Sport from the 1960s until it ended successful 1985.

The show, a premix of unrecorded athletics including racing, wrestling and shot results, competed with BBC's Grandstand.

Former ITV workfellow Jim Rosenthal announced the death, saying his household were "so proud" of his "brilliant vocation connected the telly".

"Dickie was a fantastic person and colleague. RIP DD," helium added.

Davies, primitively from Cheshire, began his TV vocation arsenic an announcer connected Southern Television successful 1960, having antecedently spent 7 years arsenic a purser for the cruise institution Cunard Line.

He moved to ITV's caller amusement World Of Sport and was initially an understudy to Eamonn Andrews earlier becoming the main big successful 1968.

Every Saturday saw him astatine the helm of a five-hour TV marathon, anchoring the sum of a wide assortment of sports including galore number events not antecedently seen connected TV screens.

His bushy moustache and achromatic bouffant hairsbreadth with a trademark achromatic streak astatine the beforehand made him 1 of the astir recognisable - and impersonated - stars of the epoch connected ITV.

He besides worked connected ITV's sum of 3 Olympic Games.

After World of Sport ended successful 1985, Davies stayed astatine ITV arsenic a presenter for different 4 years but aboriginal switched to a caller relation arsenic sports exertion with Classic FM.

However, a changeable successful 1995 severely affected his code and forced him disconnected aerial arsenic helium dilatory recovered.

He aboriginal returned intermittently to the surface for a fig of specials, including ITV's 50-year World of Sport day successful 2005, arsenic good arsenic immoderate shows for Sky Sports.