Keith Deller

Keith Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship. He also won the British Professional Championship in 1987.

He was the first qualifier to win the World Darts Championship and remains one of the youngest champions in history. For his World Championship win, Deller used 18-gram spring-loaded darts, later banned for tournament play but now legal again.

Career

BDO Deller's victory over Eric Bristow in the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship by six sets to five was probably the biggest upset in the history of the championship. He had also beaten world number three John Lowe in the quarter-finals and defending champion and world number two Jocky Wilson in the semi-final, to become the only player in history to defeat the world's top three ranked players in the World Championship. The tabloid headlines the following day were "Killed Three", an anagram of his name. The champion's prize money in 1983 was £8,000. Bristow had left himself 50 to stay in the match, but decided to throw for single 18 with his last dart to leave double 16 instead of a more difficult attempt at the bullseye. Deller then hit treble 20, treble 18, double 12 for the title, and even to this day commentators often refer to 138 as the "Deller checkout" if a player is left with that score.

PDC

Deller was one of the players who broke away from the British Darts Organisation in 1992 and joined the WDC, now the PDC. This saw him gain some more television exposure, and he did produce a few resurgent performances to reach the semi-finals of the 1998 PDC World Championship and also the semi-finals of the 1998 PDC World Matchplay.

Records Deller's name has been in the record books on a couple of occasions. He held the Guinness World Record for the fastest three legs of 301 in 97 seconds.

Spotter Deller has for many years been part of the Sky Sports broadcasting team acting as a "spotter" for the cameras.

Personal life Deller supports his local football club, Ipswich Town. He lives with his wife Kim and has two children.

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours, having raised large sums of money for various charities, including over £500,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

World Championship performances

BDO Deller's BDO results are as follows:

1. 1983 World Darts Championship Eric Bristow 6–5 (s)

1. 1983 British Matchplay Eric Bristow 2–3 (s)

2. 1984 Winmau World Masters Eric Bristow 1–3 (s)

3. 1984 British Matchplay Mike Gregory 2–3 (s)

2. 1987 British Professional Championship Leighton Rees 7–5 (s)

Performance timeline Deller's performance timeline is as follows:

PDC