ARTHUR’S ARCHIVES

Inside fishing history

“Tommy Pickering admits he sent in 300 votes from his shop”

SO HOW did the late Sir Terry Wogan come to be describing ‘the one that got away’ to Bob Nudd MBE on telly?

Well, it was 1991, and Bob had just become World Champ for the second time (he had two more up his sleeve). Many judged his appearance on the nation’s most-watched, live, prime time chat show to be merely a consolation prize.

It was all the fault of Angling Times! Back then, anyone could be nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and Angling Times decided there were so many anglers who’d vote for Bob that he must win.

A coupon was printed in the paper and angling got behind him. Tommy Pickering admits he sent in 300 votes from his tackle shop – and 300 of his own – and Bob allegedly accumulated more than 100,000 votes.

He certainly got more than the eventual top three: distance runner Liz McColgan, who won the prize; England rugby union captain Will Carling; and footballer Gary Lineker.

So, why didn’t Bob win? He was obviously the best at his chosen sport and a lovely bloke, with no enemies except fish.

Apart from the fact that hardly anyone except anglers knew of Bob (something that would change a couple of years later with his hit single, Maggots in Your Catapult), Auntie Beeb decided that the Angling Times campaign was ‘against the spirit of the competition’.

He did become BBC Essex Sports Achiever of the Year – scant consolation – but we all know that Bob was the public’s real choice in 1991. Nowadays the BBC provides a list of people it’d like to win and allows us to vote online. If it didn’t, things could all go horribly wrong again – look what happened when the public was asked to name a polar research ship. It selected Boaty McBoatface... which was changed to Sir David Attenborough. At least Bob didn’t become Liz...