William Henry Barrington Dalby (10 November 1893-1975) was a British boxing referee and radio and television commentator.

Early life

During the First World War he served as a clerk in the Royal Air Force.

Boxing and radio career

He was granted a

British Boxing Board of Control The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. History The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff. ...

referee's licence in 1929 and was, as of 1941, one of the three amateur referees of professional boxing. He refereed the 1939 lightweight title match between

Eric Boon Eric Boon (28 December 1919 – 19 January 1981) was a champion British lightweight boxer. Born in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, he was known by the nicknames Boy Boon and the Fen Tiger. Of a total of 119 fights, he won 92 ( KO 62), lost 21 (KO ...

and Arthur Danahar. His first radio commentary was of the bout between Jock McAvoy and Jack Petersen in 1939. He regularly commented alongside Eamonn Andrews. He commentated for BBC Radio on the 1966 fight between Cassius Clay and

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer, best remembered internationally for a 1963 fight in which he knocked down a young Cassius Clay before the fight was stopped because of a cut eye from Clay's punches. Coo ...

. He appeared on Desert Island Discs twice, once in 1942 and once in 1960. He also summarised

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches for the BBC

Sports Report ''Sports Report'' is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio, and is the world's longest-running sports radio programme. It started on 3 January 1948, and has always been broadcast from 17:00 on Saturday evenings during the foo ...

. He played a commentator in the 1969 film The Magic Christian.

Bibliography

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References

{{UK-boxing-bio-stub British sports broadcasters 1893 births 1975 deaths Sportspeople from Ipswich English sports broadcasters Boxing commentators British radio personalities