David Duffield Facts and Figures

Here are some things we have learnt about David over the years.

He was born 20th May 1931. (Send him a birthday card via www.eurosport.com!)

He rode a trike very fast. He even held a lot of British Records for trike racing.

He enjoys food more than the average person! Every region he goes to he has to try the local delicacies. At the TDF 2000 one of dishes he tucked into was Prunes, much to Russell’s disappointment in the car the next day!

His idol was Fausto Coppi.

He is a big fan of 007.

He has received the FT Bidlake trophy which is normally awarded to outstanding cycling athletes but was awarded to David Duffield  “in recognition of his unique ability in the promotion of cycle sport through his television commentaries of international cycle racing”.

His first cycling club was the Beacon RCC. He was even in a skiffle group with some of the other members. (Does your club have a skiffle group? Email us about it!)

David played guitar but the group also had a “tea chest bass”.

He has size 12 feet. As he often reminds us…

His favourite song is Candle in the Wind.

He doesn’t have time for holidays but does get to go all around the world with Eurosport starting with Australia at the Tour Down Under at the beginning of the year via all the classics and major tours in Europe through to the World Championships.

He still goes out training on the bike when he gets the chance and manages a bit of running.

He went on the Critical Mass bike ride in Sydney when he was there for the Olympics and thought it was good.

His favourite drink is Whiskey and Perrier but he seems to like wine as he gets to tell us what wine region he is in wherever he is on the tour.

His favourite race is Paris – Roubaix.

He likes cats so much that his female fans often send him pictures of their pussies when ever they write to him.

He loves his chips to be covered in mayonnaise. When in Belgium do as the Belgians do…

He likes it when the Tour goes to Bordeaux. Not because of the exciting sprints that Bordeaux lends itself to but because of the mussels!

He has previously worked in advertising, worked for the British Cycle Corporation, Alex Moulton, Raleigh, Halfords, Falcon-Claud Butler, Pashley, Muddy Fox and also commentated at the finish of events such as the Milk Race.

David helped launch BMX Bikes in this country and had something to do with introducing the Raleigh Chopper.

David is against cyclists using performance enhancing drugs. On EPO he says that “it thickens your blood like strawberry jam…which can stop your heart beating when you are asleep…and if you are not careful in the morning you could wake up dead.”

On the Tour de France David once put petrol into his diesel car and as a result couldn’t make it to the commentary box when the engine seized up. To get out of this pickle he had to commentate over the phone from his hotel room whilst watching the race on  TV.

Surprisingly David has only ever fallen off his chair once while commentating. In the 1989 TdF the final stage in Paris was a time trial. Greg Lemond beat the French favourite Laurent Fignon by just 8 seconds to snatch the yellow jersey and ultimate victory. When the times were announced as Fignon crossed the line DD fell off the back of his chair and the commentary went quiet for a bit before he composed himself and came back on air.

David likes cheese. In fact he likes it so much he will try just about any type of cheese despite how bad it initially smells. He once bought some cheese that the cheesemonger in Bath recommended to him that smelt incredibly bad. At the time David drove a mini (somehow due to his link with Moulton, but that’s another story) and the smell of the cheese was so strong that he couldn’t carry the cheese in the car lest it stunk it out. Instead he managed to tie the cheese to the mini’s roof rack and drive home with the cheese on the roof.

Tour of Romandy Update

During the 2001 Tour of Romandy David started the programme by talking about all the things that got sent to him recently and mentioned this website! Fame at last for Addiscombe we thought as he spoke about our club and our erstwhile man behind the scenes, friend of Duffield and RRA boss – Eddie Munday! But there was more as David then gave out the web address of the Agreeable World and in true Duffield style got it a bit jumbled up. It was only fitting really. He then went on to mention our list of things about him and then he specifically mentioned about his female fans sending him pictures of their pussies and how he likes to look at them while he is working. All around Europe there must have been avid Duffield fans trying to get the gist of exactly what he was talking about. We will have an audio sample here soon of that bit of the commentary as soon as we work out how to connect the video to the 33k modem but we can assure you it was vintage Duffield at his best. “Chapeau David” as you would say!

Giro 2001 Update – How Dave got into cycling

Back in 1951 on the 3rd June whilst serving in the army with his pal Mike David Duffield watched his first ever Giro stage finish at Trieste. 50 years later whilst commentating at the Giro in 2001 DD recounted on TV how he and his pal were furnished with a pair of Bianchi bikes while they were serving and had plenty of time to ride when they were not guarding “the fractious border”.
Dave recounted how it was his friend Mike who was in the Evesham Wheelers got him into cycling and if it wasn’t for him DD wouldn’t be where he is now. Dave’s voice then began to waver a bit as he said how Mike was taken by Cancer and is no longer with us and then he dedicated the day’s programme to his pal before breaking off from the commentary for an unusually long time. A touching moment really as you think of all the great things DD has done in the past 50 years and all down to his old pal Mike. In true professional commentary, Dave had cleared his throat and was back informing us of the race coverage in no time. What a star and a sweetie!

Check out the whole collection of Duffield pages here and enjoy one of the all time great commentators.