Andy Fordham

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Andy Fordham (born February 2, 1962 in London) is an English darts player, also known by his nickname, The Viking. He won the 2004 World Professional Darts Championship, beating Mervyn King in the finals. He is also a four-time Semi-Finalist at the Lakeside.

In 2004, he was forced to withdraw from a best-of-13-sets match at Purfleet's Circus Tavern which pitted the two world darts champions of that time (Andy Fordham representing the BDO and Phil Taylor representing the PDC) due to heat intensity. England's Phil Taylor was subsequently declared the victor having been leading the contest by 5 sets to 2.

Fordham's health has long been a concern. At one point he weighed 30 stone and was in the habit of consuming 25 bottles of lager before going on stage to play. The scare during the head-to-head game led Fordham to seek help via the television programme Celebrity Fit Club, where he became friends with the journalist and TV presenter Paul Ross. While getting a regime underway to try to lose some weight, he was defeated in the first round of the 2005 Lakeside World championship by Dutchman Vincent van der Voort. Fordham made another Lakeside appearance in 2006 but again suffered a first round exit, this time losing to Australia's Simon Whitlock.

Andy is a huge fan of Scottish football club Rangers, and even paraded his World Darts trophy before a game at Ibrox Stadium in 2004. In his own footballing days as a youngster he was a surprisingly slight figure and was known by the nickname "The Whippet".