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Dennis Priestley

Dennis Priestley
DennisPriestley.jpg
Personal information
Nickname The Menace
Born (1950-07-16) 16 July 1950 (age 66)
Mexborough, England
Home town Mexborough
England
Darts information
Playing darts since 1975
Darts 17g Winmau
Laterality right-handed
Walk-on music Hell Raiser by Sweet
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO 1989–1993
PDC 1993–2014 (Founding member)
BDO majors - best performances
World Ch'ship Winner 1991
World Masters Winner 1992
World Darts Trophy Last 16: 2007
Int. Darts League Last 32 Group: 2007
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Winner 1994
World Matchplay Runner Up: 1994, 1995, 1996
World Grand Prix Semi Final: 2000, 2005, 2006
Grand Slam Group stage: 2007
Premier League Semi Final: 2007
Ch'ship League Winners Group 7th: 2011
Desert Classic Quarter Final: 2006
European Ch'ship Last 16: 2008
UK Open Last 16: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012
US Open/WSoD Semi Final: 2008
Players Ch'ship Finals Quarter Final: 2009
Other tournament wins
Antwerp Open 1994, 1995
Australian Masters 1992
Australian Open Players Championship 2010
British Classic 1997
British Gold Cup 1991, 1992
British Matchplay 1991
British Open 1993
British Pentathlon 1992
Canadian Open 1993, 1994
Gem City Open 1996
Golden Harvest North American Cup 1996
Le Skratch Montreal Open 2003, 2005
PDC UK Matchplay 1993, 1994
PDC World Pairs 1995
Vauxhall Spring Pro 2006
Welsh Open 1992
World Champions Challenge 1991

Players Championships

Players Championship (BRI) 2008
Players Championship (CAN) 2008, 2009
Players Championship (GIB) 2006
Players Championship (IRE) 2008
Players Championship (NWE) 2009
US Open 2009

UK Open Regionals/Qualifiers

UK Open Regional (SWE) 2007
Other achievements
November 1994 to April 1995 WDC World Ranked 1
Updated on 17 February 2008.

Players Championships

UK Open Regionals/Qualifiers

Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is nicknamed "The Menace", after the cartoon character Dennis the Menace, and reflects this by wearing red and black, and using red and black flights.

Born in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, Priestley was originally a coal merchant by trade, and did not enter professional darts until he was almost 40 years old. He first caught the eye in 1989 when he reached the final of the News of the World Darts Championship where he was beaten by the experienced Dave Whitcombe. He then reached the semi-finals of the 1990 Winmau World Masters, losing to eventual champion Phil Taylor.

Shortly after becoming a newsagent, Priestley won the 1991 Embassy World Championship, after beating Eric Bristow 6-0 in the final. He had defeated defending champion Taylor in his quarter-finals and 1988 champion Bob Anderson in his semi-final. He won the 1992 Winmau World Masters and also picked up many BDO Open events between 1991 and 1993.

Priestley was a founder member of the World Darts Council (WDC) which split from the British Darts Organisation in 1993. As a consequence, Priestley was precluded from assuming the role of England captain which he had been awarded shortly beforehand.

Priestley won the inaugural WDC World Darts Championship in 1994. This high point was surrounded by several wins on the WDC's new professional circuit (including the Skol Matchplay, UK Matchplay, Antwerp Open, and Samson Darts Classic) in 1993 and 1994. Since then, he has been a PDC World Championship runner-up four times, in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000, losing to Taylor on all four occasions. Priestley has also been a three-times World Matchplay runner-up, losing to American Larry Butler in 1994, Taylor in 1995 and Peter Evison in 1996.


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Wikipedia

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