ME and my MONEY

DICKIE Bird made millions from his career as a Test cricket umpire but says he will always regret prioritising work over marrying and having children.

Bird, whose bestselling autobiography made him a millionaire overnight when it was published in the 1990s, is planning to leave a fortune to hospitals that care for sick children when he dies.

He breaks down in tears, he reveals, when he visits newborn babies with congenital heart defects in his role as an ambassador for the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund at Leeds General Infirmary.

If he were Chancellor he would increase NHS funding to make sure sick and premature babies received the best care in the world.

It is a stark contrast from the values of today’s cricketers embroiled in a scandal over ball-tampering. Bird was disappointed by the Australian players’ behaviour in South Africa, but thinks they have been treated harshly.

The son of a coal miner, Bird umpired 66 test matches and wrote his autobiography shortly after he retired at age 65. It sold millions of copies and today, the 84-year-old drives a £50,000 Jaguar and lives in a four-bedroom 16th Century cottage on the edge of the Pennines.