Barry Hearn: The People's Promoter

Better to be born lucky than good-looking. I had my share of luck,

but the skill, if there is any, is taking advantage of that luck.

Barry Hearn is one of the most powerful men in world sport.

Top drawer, top drawer.

He's come from a council estate in Dagenham

and he's built his life up and his career up from nothing.

He's managed some of the biggest sports stars of the last four decades.

Pound for pound, he's delivered more excitement

to the punter in the street than any other promoter.

He's transformed working men's pastimes into primetime TV.

'Barry is one of those larger-than-life characters.'

He's a Jack-the-lad.

If Barry was chocolate he would eat himself. He does love himself.

The geezer on the right is better looking than the geezer on the left!

I'm a showman. That's what I do.

He's made millions, lost millions, and made millions again.

What a boy, eh?

I'm really proud of everything my dad's done.

What you see is what you get.

A wheeler, a dealer, a charmer and a chancer, the boy done good.

Play well!

He's great at making you feel good in yourself.

You-u-u cheeky chappy!

He definitely, 100% is, the people's promoter.

# ..all right

# Jumpin' Jack Flash is a gas, gas, gas. #

# Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum. #

There's certain times when you look in the mirror and say to yourself,

privately, "You know what? You're pretty good."

The shoulders go back, the chest comes out and says, "Bazza, nice one."

# ..it's a real good bet the best is yet to come. #

Barry is in the south of France.

He's here to make deals and find new buyers for some of the 2,000 hours

of televised sport his Matchroom company produce every year.

He is the ultimate travelling salesman.

# ..but you ain't seen it shine. #

Doesn't get much better than this, does it?

I mean, this is supposed to be work, you know, so, yeah, fantastic.

Obviously a great place.

Hub of activity and, you know, this particular trade festival

probably represents 80% of your annual business.

A bit like Christmas but in the sports business. It's Christmas Day.

We need to come up with probably somewhere around 300,000 US to do a major.

A lot of people accuse me of being a bit of a barrow boy, sometimes.

Well, this is my element. You know, I can stand up and offer, you know...

different deals on different programmes.

The dream is this relationship evolves into a major, televised, global event.

'The workload that he gets through day in, day out, is not human.'

That's really what I'm after, yeah.

'But he's always coming out with wacky ideas,'

and you tend to hear the idea and laugh, and then you start thinking

about it and you think, "He might have a point there, you know."

There are areas in...

'We start off with the criteria - if I don't like it, we don't do it.'

'I'm sure that'll change when my kids run the business'

and I'm sort of somewhere else.

But, for the moment, if Bazza don't like it, it don't happen.

It's a bit like going to your dentist.

You know, the secret of going to your dentist is

you grab his testicles, look him in the eyes

and say, "Now, neither of us are going to hurt each other, are we?"

'Any one year we will spend a considerable amount of time'

looking at maybe five or six new opportunities.

And some of the crazier ones...

We looked at the World Crazy Golf Championships.

And everyone says, "You can see Tiger Woods playing one off the windmill."

Things like that, and you say, "How bizarre would that be?"

'For one reason or another it doesn't happen.

'I mean, currently, we're looking at ping-pong.

'I mean, 300 million people play ping pong.'

Why can't we turn it into the next darts?

'It's like going to a restaurant.

'Do we eat the hors d'oeuvre before the main course,

'or do we eat the main course first?

'It depends how hungry you are sometimes,

'and it depends if you have enough money for the hors d'oeuvre as well.'

I know it sends big-headed, but I think I'm the best.

Thank you very much. Too strong for me.

'Every day, there's a spring in my step. I'm happy to be alive.'

And, you know, listen, can I sit here, honestly, and complain about anything?

Right. Who's next?

Down in the harbour, Barry has hired a boat.

He's holding a private party for clients and customers.

Helping him charm his guests is one of the top sports stars he manages -

darts legend, Phil "The Power" Taylor.

OK, can I wish everyone the best of luck,

cos you know you've got no chance of winning it.

You're now playing at the table with one of the world's greats.

'He went out twice last...

'Basically, I'm here to support Barry,

'and to be honest, have a good time.'

It's a nice little break for me because I don't get a chance

to do things like this.

Where would a little council house wally be on a nice boat like this?

It's unbelievable.

-Oh, we've got a pot!

-Three players.

-Three players!

Three players and a pot.

'I don't think I've met a more positive person, definitely,

-'than my dad.'

-You may need a bit of help here!

'I haven't met someone, really, I think,'

that is more fun to be around.

And I think most people would say that that know him as well.

To be honest with you, it's like a man playing with children!

He's great at mingling, he's great at making people feel very, very special.

When he grabbed hold of me I was nothing, really.

And he made me feel like a world champion.

And he's probably one of the only people that has ever done that.

-Susan, watch out!

-Oh-oh, danger!

'I've never seen him down.

'If I lose tournament, you know,'

"Come on, boy! Doesn't matter, you'll win the next one." So, you're up all the time.

You know, you're always feeling good about yourself.

'He breathes energy in you and that's why he's been so successful.'

# Cheerio and come back soon!

# Cos you know how much we miss you! #

Tonight is all about mixing business with pleasure,

although for the host with the most

there's no difference between the two.

When I was young I used to lie all the time

and I used to make a shed load of money by lying.

Now you're old you tell the truth and you feel cleansed! You know?

In our business we've been brown nosing people for so many years -

it's a waste of time!

'I still consider myself working class, you know, I'm a worker.

'And I don't see why normal, ordinary guys don't rule the world

'and that's our aim.'

You know, I think our sports can take over the world

because everybody plays them.

The darts is only 10 years old

but the snooker, two years ago they came to me and said,

"Look, we're not getting anywhere," MAN LAUGHS

so I put the deal together and I bought the whole lot.

-What's the biggest?

-It's the biggest in China.

-In China?!

-There's a 100,000 full-time players in China now.

-Wow.

There's more snooker clubs in Shanghai

than the rest of the world added together!

Oh, my God.

There may well be thousands of snooker clubs in China

but the most important one for Barry is tucked away in Romford, in Essex.

The decision to buy this place in the mid-'70s

would change his life for ever.

'Fate is a very strange thing, you know.'

Certain things just seemed destined to happen.

You know, I don't know why, I never played snooker before.

I'd never held a snooker cue

but I bought the snooker halls, actually, as a property investment.

-All right?

-Morning, morning.

'But as soon as I bought them

'the BBC put snooker on to mainstream television

'and suddenly there was queues of people trying to play snooker.

'And everyone said to me, "You're a genius! How did you do it?"

'Do you know what? It was pure luck.'

Right place, right time,

is so much more important than being brain of Britain.

Misspent youth? I don't think so.

It wasn't long before he began promoting his own events.

Attracting players from all over the south-east,

including a tongue-tied teenager from London.

-The ball in the holes bit is where you get the points from.

-OK.

-I'll smash them up for you.

-What, no respect?

-Well...

Do you know, that is a typical Davis safety shot!

# The best things in life are free

# But you can give them to the birds and bees... #

'The cream on the cake was when the best player in the world walked in

'and said, "Can I play in one of your competitions?" And...'

at the time, I had no idea how good he was, of course.

I didn't know anything about snooker.

All I saw was someone who was young, very dedicated...

you know, totally devoid of personality, charisma...

-Here we go, here we go, here we go!

-Actually, nothing's changed!

-Here we go!

-Nothing's changed! THEY SNIGGER

This is giving me hope.

You are proving that I am actually quite good!

-Do you know what? I might take this game up.

-No, don't take it up!

'I was a pretty shy young lad with a snooker cue and Barry came along.

'Obviously, he was the market salesman, brash,'

you know, bit of a geezer and a bit like that.

But, funnily enough, erm, you could be in awe of Barry

'if you'd not met him but, usually, once you meet him,'

you realise there's a genuine enthusiasm there that rubs off on you.

'In those early days we were a sort of marriage made in heaven

'because Steve had the ability, I had the front

'and I never EVER, in 35 years,'

told this man what ball he should pot next.

Well, you can see why.

And I don't think he's ever told me,

you know, what the deal I should do next.

Every day of his life he's always been enthusiastic

and you can't help but be carried along downstream with him.

And so, in the dressing room, in between events and matches,

great person to have in your corner.

You walked out, you had steam coming out your nostrils

and you are fired up because he was fired up.

-COMMENTATOR:

-I'm sure, as the years go by, you will see him,

as I hope to, wear the world crown.

CHEERING

'Steve and I would sit and discuss

'what it's going to be like to win the world title'

and we would plan what's the speech afterwards,

and how is it going to be, and what's the opportunities that will exist.

We'd have tears, literally tears,

rolling down our cheeks, thinking of it.

'The emotion of actually achieving your goal.

'We were so committed to winning.'

-COMMENTATOR:

-He's breathing heavily as he comes down to this final pink.

-CHEERING

-And that's it, the world snooker champion 1981, Steve Davis.

'He got down on the straight pink

'and the next thing I knew was the pink was in the hole

'and I was hitting him with almost a rugby tackle

'that would have knocked most people over!

I can't describe the feeling. To this day,

I get a lump in my throat thinking about it.

It was the best feeling.

Amazing emotion and it was like us against the world,

the boys had done good.

I think I was in the back snivelling with Barry giving it everything.

He was like that, he was just 100% all the time.

There was a closed shop in snooker 30 years ago

and this upstart comes in with a loudmouth manager.

What do they know?

Actually, we know how to win and we'll show you

and everybody else that this is the start of a new era.

TV VOICEOVER: 'The man who manages Steve Davis

'and two other giants of the green baize,

'Terry Griffiths and Tony Meo, is Barry Hearn,

'known justifiably as snooker's Mr Big.'

It was an evolution.

You have to bear in mind that I had no idea what I was doing.

Hello.

'Everything was like Columbus.'

Del, how are you?

'We were finding things out about ourselves, about the industry,'

daily, hourly sometimes.

Well done, Terry, well done, my son.

Snooker's popularity went through the roof.

Only royal weddings, soap operas

and the odd sitcom attracted more TV viewers.

In 1985, over 18 million tuned in to see Dennis Taylor

dramatically snatch the world crown.

He's done it.

CHEERING

Barry, after I beat Steve Davis

signed me up, which was quite amazing.

At this time, he was the main man.

He was looking after Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, Tony Meo,

Jimmy White and with Willie Thorne.

All the ones that featured on Snooker Loopy with Chas and Dave.

# Snooker loopy nuts are we

# Me and him and them and me...#

The nation went nuts over snooker.

It even had its own sing-along soundtrack with Barry conducting

the unlikeliest boy band ever assembled.

I went to the filming of it at my dad's office.

I've got a very vivid recollection of Tony Meo with a plate of pasta.

I think it's great.

I love it and I love it that my dad

got to be on Top of the Pops and everything.

It was the superstar treatment

that ordinary blokes can only dream about.

In those days, all the snooker players,

we were living the dream and we made loads of money.

But we didn't stop laughing.

# Celebrate, I'd buy another eight,

# Hairbrushes for me barnet...#

We did a variety of Matchroom products

which I look back on now...

Frightening, so frightening.

I cringed at the Matchroom slippers.

It's wild and hey, we'll do some silly things,

let's create our own fragrance.

The Matchroom aftershave was moving on into another level.

For me, it was... I thought we were getting a bit poncey by that time,

moving into that world.

Building those personalities, this was all part of a plan.

We got everybody together and I can remember saying to Terry Griffiths,

"You're Welsh, you just sing along."

"Dennis, you tell jokes, you're the funny Irishman."

# Cos he's got the rest of us signed up...#

"Steve, you're the boring one, you just sip water."

They all created a character and it became like a soap opera.

It was almost Coronation Street with balls.

Meet Willie Thorne, snooker's maximum man

with an astonishing 62 maximum breaks to his credit.

Jimmy White, snooker's wild man

and probably the most naturally gifted player

in the professional snooker world.

He managed me twice for two lots of five years at a time.

I was a bit of a lad in them days and sometimes he couldn't find me.

He was always saying,

"What are you doing? "Why are you wasting your time?"

We're pals all the time.

People criticise the Matchroom like they criticise Everton and Liverpool.

The thing is, it's all down to winning

and that's what we have done all year.

That's what we'll do next year, the year after and the year after that.

With his stable of stars dominating the game,

he was now the most powerful man in snooker and the most outspoken.

Everybody in the game,

other than the people Barry was managing and promoting

hated him with a passion.

He was coming out with things they didn't want to hear.

The role I see for the Matchroom professionals,

other than winning everything and spreading the game across the world,

is almost to act as a watchdog

and if we feel the governing body is making mistakes,

just have a little discussion with them.

Barry's style would be too brash for some people.

He was also treading on the patch

of our Association by putting

events on and they started to put up barriers against him

progressing within the game.

This is a serious business. There's a lot of money here

and we're talking about things like splitting up prize-money.

This room, apart from myself, of course,

they all grossed £2.5 million this season.

'We had years of dominance, followed by'

lots of problems with the governing body that didn't really want me

to be in business. They wanted to do it themselves.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the ability to do it themselves.

After a while, because of my personality and nature,

I wanted to do other things as well as snooker

and in the middle to late '80s I decided,

you know what, I think I'll be a boxing promoter!

COMMENTATOR: White Hart Lane claims its place

in British boxing history by staging the richest ever fight

held in Europe - Frank Bruno versus Joe Bugner -

a £3 million bonanza that's about to happen.

Having conquered snooker,

boxing was next on Barry's hit list.

His first venture into the fight game

was to set up a heavyweight battle of epic proportions.

'I decided if I was going to do it, I got to do something big.'

My ego wouldn't let me do anything small.

So the ultimate ticket-selling fight -

everybody loved Frank Bruno,

everybody hated Joe Bugner - and you know,

it made a lot of money.

CROWD ROARS

Barry offered us the fight

and I didn't believe him. I didn't think he could deliver.

Greg Dyke was really funny, you know.

He's the only man in my life that ever, in television, paid me

more than I asked for, because he didn't believe I could deliver.

He said we could have it for 200 grand,

which I thought was... If you could get it for 200 grand,

it was a steal.

My worry was that he couldn't get it.

So I offered him more. I said, "If you can get this

"I'll give you more. I'll give you a quarter of a million."

CROWD ROARS

COMMENTATOR: He's going to let him box on.

And he's pinned in Bruno's corner

and it won't go surely now.

I pride myself on always delivering.

BELL RINGS

The towel has come in from the Australian's corner.

When I say something, wrong or right,

I honestly believe that and when I give you my hand, you take my heart.

With me a contract is fine,

but if I give my word to something, I'd rather die than lose that.

A quarter of a century on from that first fight, Barry is still

heavily involved in the sport.

-Dressing room's upstairs?

-Yes.

-The fighters' dressing room is upstairs?

-Yes.

He's managed more than 30 world champions

and promoted over 500 fights

and in that time, he's not taken too many wrong turns.

Sorry!

Think it must be this one!

Who's in where?

He understands how to make something seem exciting.

He understands

that having an event in itself isn't enough.

You have to build it up and you have to make it

into a spectacular.

-Good performance. So far, good performance. Well done.

-Thanks a lot.

You got plenty in the crowd with you, son. Box well, yeah?

He understands what the public,

particularly the male public, will watch.

And that was always the genius, really.

One of the most successful ideas

to shake up boxing has been Prizefighter -

an eight-man contest fought over one night of three-round bouts,

with the last man standing picking up a big cheque.

The punters may love it, but the purists aren't so sure.

It's just something I've never got into, though I've had two boxers

who have gone and one Prizefighter

and both won £32,000 each

and obviously I've taken my management percentage,

so I have earned out of it,

but to me, it's not boxing,

it's not what a traditional boxing person likes

and I'm a traditional boxing person.

CROWD ROARS

Everyone's always said,

"I know your father. I've worked with him for years.

"He's one of the straightest men in boxing"

and that's actually quite nice to hear.

And that's something he's always instilled in us. That whole time.

"Do things properly, be upfront with people, tell them the truth.

"Nothing can ever come back to us."

I've always found him to be fair. If he says

he's going to pay me a pound, he'll pay me a pound.

If he makes £1.20, that's down to him,

he don't tell you about the 20p. He tells you about the pound he's promised.

But everything he always says he does deliver,

that I'll say about him, unlike a lot of people in boxing.

I know how to beat him, but...

-Another three rounds, might have been the difference.

-Yeah, yeah.

Once you close that distance.

'I always wanted to be Heavyweight Champion of the World as a youngster.

'I unfortunately had no ability,'

but never lost my love of the sport

and my respect for the people who do it. It is the toughest game of all.

I felt that!

Put me right off me pork pie!

Even today, we look forward to the careers

of some of the young fighters we've got.

When I think about it I'm buzzing.

We'll be in Vegas.

We're going to take the title.

We're going to beat up everybody.

We're going to rock the world.

# Don't call it a comeback

# I've been here for years

# Rockin' my peers... #

Back in the early '90s, Barry was the king of British boxing,

managing the most explosive talent of the era -

Christopher Livingstone Eubank.

# I'm going to knock you out

# Mama said knock you out

# I'm going to knock you out

# Mama said knock you out. #

As he had done with Davis in snooker,

he formed a very close bond with his latest sporting protege.

It proved to be an intense relationship.

I loved Eubank, no question.

I think he's a very special guy.

I mean he's infuriating, he's eccentric, slightly mad,

but I would not have swapped a minute

with Chris Eubank.

I don't know if Barry really knows it, but I think

I actually discovered Chris Eubank.

His first couple of fights were on my shows

and he came to see me.

We fell out over a cup of Earl Grey tea.

He wanted Earl Grey tea and I only had ordinary tea in the office.

The next thing I knew he signed with Barry Hearn and him

and Barry were a good partnership.

You had the showman and you had the ringmaster.

CROWD ROARS

'Ronnie Davies was Eubank's trainer.'

I think it's fair to say Ronnie Davies and me

would have taken a bullet for Eubank

on the way into the ring.

CROWD ROARS

That's an intensity that sounds simple,

but I'm serious.

We would have taken a bullet for that man.

This man is, somehow,

I think, his heart is good. I don't know why it's good.

I mean, you don't find promoters with good hearts.

They usually use fighters as meat.

This man gives a fair deal.

The Hearn name continues to be a powerful

and influential one in the sport,

but it's son Eddie who is now the more prominent promoter in boxing.

I'm always going to be Barry Hearn's son.

That's fine, I'm proud to be it, but what he's always instilled in me is

a working-class attitude and that's something that will never leave me.

So, I get up every morning, you know, I spend time with my daughter. I go to work.

I work my cods off all day. Advice comes from him all the time.

You know, he always says to me,

which is something that always stands out to me in business is,

"Always leave a bit of bread in the fish's mouth".

Greed is a very dangerous thing, not just in business, but in life.

It just makes you think, yeah, maybe you're right, you know. Don't just go for the kill straight off.

Like Barry, the business has come a long way.

Yeah, we've got our very high standards and if the team we've got

don't come up with their standards, then we'll change the team.

Set up in an office beneath Romford's Snooker Club back in 1982,

Matchroom Sport is now based in the Essex mansion

where his children Katie and Eddie grew up.

And he's aiming to keep it in the family

as he begins to hand over the reins.

Just drop a note to Art Pellulo and say,

"Dear Art, what are you doing with Pirog?"

I mean, there's high standards because Dad did it from nothing.

It's a tough one for them to come in and say,

now you take it to the next level, but I think it's always tough

for kids to follow in their father's footsteps, you know,

who's done pretty good for a youngster from nowhere.

Not quite nowhere.

Blitz-damaged Dagenham was where Barry

came into the world on the 19th June 1948.

Dad, Morris, was a bus conductor, while mum, Barbara,

cleaned people's houses for a living.

Younger sister Christine completed the Hearn family picture.

In this age of austerity, money was always tight,

despite Barry's best efforts.

I always had aspirations. I always wanted the big house on the hill.

I was never frightened to go to work.

So I started at about 13 years old stripping tomato plants.

Then I built up a car washing round, window cleaning round,

baby-sitting round, gardening round.

Worked with other kids and organised various ways of making money, you know?

My mother told me, when I was 12,

"When you grow up, you're going to be a chartered accountant".

I said, "What do they do, Mum?"

She said, "I haven't got a clue,

"but the man whose house I clean says you never see a poor one".

She was the driving force in my life, really.

You know, she was the one that locked me in my bedroom at night when

I was studying for my accountancy exams and wouldn't let me out.

I grew up in that society where my father never taught me too much,

but one phrase he did give me was, "make every day count".

I've lived on that ever since. Every day, I work as if it's my last day.

In 1966, Barry met Susan and four years later,

the recently qualified accountant, married his glamorous fiancee.

Two children, Katie and Eddie, followed

and they remain very close despite the odd fallout.

When I was born, my mum went into labour

and he dropped her off at the hospital and said he'd be back later

and went to Romford Snooker club and played a guy called Chunky Warne

for a fiver or something,

and the hospital called the Snooker club

to tell him that I was being born,

but he said it was a best-of-three and it was one all -

he couldn't go anywhere - and then turned up at the hospital

and she was being wheeled out and he looked at her and he said,

"Good luck, darling," and she says, "I've already had him!"

# Consider yourself one of us. #

I'm really proud of everything my dad's done,

not just in terms of business,

but I'm really proud of him as a person.

You know, I'm a father now and I'm quite hands on as a father,

and he always takes the Mickey out of me, you know,

if I'm changing a nappy, or he can't understand what's going on here,

or if I tell I'm in Tesco's buying some dinner,

he just can't understand all that because as far as he's concerned

that's a woman's job and the man provides the money.

Remind us we've got to talk to those lads

that drive the van for the PGA Europe Hotel. I want them to go to Faro.

We're all very loud people, so sitting together around a table,

I think it's hilarious fun.

We are all trying to talk over each other,

everyone wants to tell

their own story, everyone wants to be heard.

Often, we're literally waiting for a gap in the conversation

to get our story in quickly before Dad or Ed wants to say their story.

In March 1995, another chapter in his remarkable sporting life began

when he bought Leyton Orient.

The East End football club he'd supported as a boy

had fallen on hard times.

I think it's really important to know where you come from.

I come from round here, and this is my football club.

I usually keep my heart opposite my wallet.

On that day, they merged.

I just thought I was there when I was 11,

you just don't forget those things.

When he first took Leyton Orient, he sent a letter asking me

if I'd like to donate £50,000 to Leyton Orient

and become one of their board of directors

and go to all the games and I could go in the boardroom

and have a sandwich with Barry and have a cup...

I was thinking, "Is this guy mad?" But he's a salesman, isn't he? That's what he does.

And I wrote back, "I'm Millwall through and through,"

and just posted it back to him.

Football is full of people with fur coats and no knickers, you know?

Well that's not here. Here we live in the real world.

You know, I've never really liked government intervention,

but probably I could make a case that they should intervene in football because I think it's out of control.

Clubs spending money they don't have,

players earning a disproportionate salary

with regards to what's happening in the real world.

Football is not necessarily just about money.

He's transformed Orient's financial fortunes

with the help of some astute property deals,

but now he believes there is a new threat on the horizon

with local rivals West Ham United

a potential occupier of the nearby Olympic Stadium.

You know, we have a struggle going on with the Olympic Stadium,

which has been well-publicised.

We have the prospect of a massive club moving closer to us

and taking away our fan base.

And, you know, no-one seems to care really.

And that's very worrying.

Whoever moves in next door to Orient,

Barry will stand up for his club.

Throughout his career, he's had his fair share of fights,

although his biggest battle came in the early 1990s

when Matchroom was on the brink of going bust.

I think recessions always give businesses like mine a problem

if you're not established, and certainly in the '90s -

1990, 1991 time - was the toughest I've known.

There were plenty of times when I wondered, "How can we pay the wages?"

As a child, you just think everything is rosy.

Only now you, sort of, hear the stories and think,

"Wow, I didn't know that. Were we really? Blimey."

But those sort of times are important to remember

and he's always, sort of, installed that in us,

that things can go wrong at any time.

I had a major sponsor went bust on me and cost me a lot of money,

which we paid and we worked through it,

but it was two years of making you appreciate the good times.

For us as a family, I don't know,

I think we're quite, kind of, tough nuts, really.

Like, you know, you pick yourself up as a family

and every family has things to deal with

and you just stick close together and keep going, really.

I've always known Barry to be...

reasonably rich, shall we say.

If he was going skint, you would never know. He's a typical salesman.

Always got a nice suit on, always got a nice smile,

always a seat in the best places. So, you would never know.

I grafted. I grafted every day.

I knocked on more doors than a travelling salesman,

and I refused to accept that I was going to be in trouble.

It was a very good time for character-building

and finding out a little bit about yourself rather than other people.

And although it sounds big-headed, I liked what I found out.

MUSIC: "Five Feet High And Rising" by Johnny Cash

# How high's the water, momma Two feet high and rising... #

It's not all work and no play for Barry,

although he does make an art form of mixing the two.

To relax, he loves nothing more than a spot of fishing in the grounds of his Essex home

listening to Country and Western music

as he sits in his favourite old rocking-chair.

There's only carp in this lake, so...

61 carp, all of them related to me.

They are all my friends. It's a sad life. Every one is tagged.

I have a scanner, here, so I can tell each fish over the years,

how much weight they've put on.

They are all named after friends of mine, and I can recognise them now.

I write everything down. You know, typical accountant. Sad person.

I write every day's fishing down,

so I look back on the year after year how the weight's progressed.

Oh, Barry, that is so good.

It starts in '07 and every computer tag's there.

The original weight, the name of the fish, the type of the fish.

It's like creating another family.

# How high's the water, momma... #

People come here and fish and when they catch one they get to name a fish.

"The Power." "Davis"

Steve's kids, Greg and Jack.

Even Michelle, my PA, has got one.

# Chickens are sleeping In the willow trees... #

I get people saying to me now, you know, "How am I doing?

-"What do I weigh?" I say, "You're a fat

-BLEEP."

# How high's the water, momma Four feet high and rising... #

When you're talking about relaxing,

when you're talking about creative thinking,

this is the place most of it's happened.

And, in a way, I realise I owe Steve Davis

an enormous debt for what he's added to my life

and other great sportsmen as well, Phil Taylor and Chris Eubank.

In a way, I perhaps owe fishing more even than I owe to them.

Most of my good ideas come...

..when I'm pure of thought down at the lake.

'It's the biggest prize in angling history

'and it's happening right here at Mallory Park

'in the heart of England.'

He's hooked in many with his ideas over the years,

but few as bizarre as this one.

When he first came to me with fishing, I didn't buy it.

I said, "Look, Barry. I go fishing, and course fishing, especially.

"It's a bunch of guys, mainly,

"sitting by a bank, waiting for something to happen.

How do you turn that into a spectator event?" He did it.

'You know, one good fish would win it for Lou,

'but he's got to get it in. Has he got time?'

Fish 'O' Mania was invented at a carp lake in Ockendon

the day after Wrestlemania.

That's where the name came from.

I went to see David Hill, running Sky at the time.

I said, "David, I think fishing." He said, "I like it."

I said, "I need six hours live." He said, "You're mad."

-Oh dear, look at his face.

-That's Dickie Carr, our leader.

Unbelievable, tremendous tension here.

There's thousands sit around and watch blokes going like this.

Now how you sell that, he can sell anything to anybody, I think.

What's this, has Dickie got one?

-It looks as though he's had one and lost one.

-Oh, no!

Those guys, when they fish, are so good.

They're as good as Tiger Woods when he plays golf.

We're 60 seconds away from the hooter here at Fish 'O' Mania.

And Turner, who has finished so strongly...

-Is that his fourth in the last ten minutes?

-It's his fourth in the last ten minutes.

There isn't any other fishing on telly, of the sort that we do with Barry.

Fish 'O' Mania, for a whole day,

is a fabulous watch.

Yes, the skills are Barry, but let's not forget,

he picked up on it on the back of huge participation.

He knew there was a market there.

19 years later, it's the biggest fishing competition in the world.

For an angler, to appear even at the final,

established bank-side credibility for life.

Aside from fishing, he's helped revitalise a whole host of sports

and bring them to a wider TV audience.

His methods may sometimes be controversial

but he understands the needs of broadcasters,

particularly those with hours of programming to fill.

He comes up with a million ideas and he wants us to partner him

in taking every single one of them.

Some you'll chew the fat and you'll decide, that's not for us.

It won't stop him coming back saying, "Come on, we can really make this work."

He can make a persuasive case.

If he can see an angle and he can see a dollar sign at the end of it,

he will create something.

You only have to look at darts, you only have to look at snooker.

You have to look at... Boxing that he gets involved with.

He's got a really successful hit rate.

In 2001, Barry brought his unique management style

to yet another sport.

180!

As chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation,

his innovations have turned it into one of the unlikeliest

success stories of the last decade.

I'm still a control freak. I still hate committees.

I still believe in myself as almost a benevolent despot of sport.

I love that quote.

"I am the best in the world at what I do, in my opinion.

"which is the only opinion that I actually value!"

The sport he calls "working-class golf" now regularly

fills 10,000-seater stadia and the ultimate working man's game

attracts fans from all walks of life.

The Queen's granddaughter, Zara Phillips,

is the latest convert, turning up at the 2012 World final.

I think you'll have a special night. If you've not been before.

I wouldn't recommend you hold any signs up

-because it's a real giveaway.

-Yeah.

I think, as far as his greatest achievements have to be,

I think darts has to be right up there.

When you go to a darts event, and you look around at the atmosphere,

you simply cannot fathom how this possibly happened.

You know, darts is a great game, but it's been around for years

and no-one's really embraced it,

but the atmosphere, and the environment

and the entertainment factor that he's brought into the game, is amazing.

-Listen, play well tonight, young man.

-Cheers, thank you.

-Play well.

-Thank you.

-See later, boy.

Since he came into darts, the prize-money has rocketed

from £500,000 to over £5 million a season.

For players such as Adrian "Jackpot" Lewis

and Andy "The Hammer" Hamilton, it's a path to undreamed of riches.

Play well, all right. Whatever happens, whatever happens...

-I'm still a winner.

-Just do what you do. No, no, do what you do best.

-Yeah.

-Don't give an inch and growl a lot.

A guy that spends six hours a day on the oche, learning his trade,

is as much a sportsman as any gold medal winner in the Olympics.

-Can you keep a secret?

-Yeah.

-I can.

Someone's just walked into a betting shop and laid £50,000, in cash,

-on Andy Hamilton to win.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Amazing!

-Do you know who it was?

-I hope it wasn't Andy!

The actual job we've done on darts come from absolutely nowhere.

It has been one of the most motivating things in my life.

A lot of it is just old techniques that I've used,

all my life. You make the players famous.

It's...

..Hammer time!

Andy...Hamilton!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Create an atmosphere that is conducive to people

just to forget about all their problems and enjoy themselves.

That's Barry Hearn's trick, really, is to take pub games

or marginal pastimes and turn them

into genuinely competitive sport,

certainly events, and getting people really interested.

He really, really has a knack for it.

180!

I would say the history of sport, the reinvention of darts,

is probably one of the greatest things in sport.

It was a sport that was seen as a bit dying.

It was blokes with fags and beer.

Now it's blokes with fags and beer that can't go on stage with those!

The event is fantastic.

100...

-I've got an idea.

-What's this?

You should have, you know, like the baseball gloves with 180 on.

-Baseball gloves... Have you been...

-You know like the hands.

-Barry, can we have a quick picture?

-Have you been in promotions for long?

-No.

-No, OK.

He's very outspoken, he's very honest and he'll say what he thinks

and what he feels.

Sometimes that's not always the general opinion.

So sometimes he can be controversial but he's genuinely just saying

what he believes in and most of the time that's generally for the good of the sport

that he's involved in, trying to move that forward.

The punters are the ones that tell you

if you've got something worthy, something that adds to their life.

Most people's lives are fairly mundane.

My job, as a sports promoter, is to give them moments

that they go to work thinking, "I had a cracking night last night."

Well done, girls. Well done. Take the rest of the night off.

I mean, listen, I love my job.

If this is work, I don't know what hard work is.

All right, boy, well done.

Great winner, great event and 50,000 punters going home

with a smile on their face having been royally entertained.

That's my job.

So it's another event over and time for a chill-out down by the lake.

It takes a lot to knock Barry off his stride.

A heart attack in 2001 briefly stopped him in his tracks.

While his workload remains prolific, he always takes time now to unwind.

When he had his heart attack many years ago,

I think that might have put a different slant on his life.

In the early days when things were tight here, and tough here,

that was a very stressful period.

Certainly, in the last 15 years, and as every day goes on,

I see him care less about the worry and the panic

and understanding what matters in life and what doesn't. Business matters, but family matters more.

This is my other house, I suppose. It's a bit smaller.

I sleep there, if I fish all night.

I wake up in the morning and cook my breakfast. No-one disturbs me.

Then, every now and again,

we get some friends down and we fish for the trophy.

It's very competitive.

But, you know, this is an escape from the real world.

I think he's probably mellowed a little bit,

the last couple of years.

He probably fishes a bit more, relaxes a little bit more

and spending a bit more time at home.

He's still got the same work ethic that he's always had.

You come down here with no e-mails, no phones,

no-one disturbing you, no-one giving you grief

and as you get older you start appreciating your environment

a little bit more.

I've often thought, if we could get the kids in the streets, in the inner cities,

to go fishing there would be a lot less trouble in the world.

Now he seems to just have this attitude of everything

is going to be all right, nothing is a problem.

That puts everyone at ease and that's a real great talent to have.

He may be more relaxed, but there's no sign of him slowing down.

Are we going downstairs?

As he approaches pension age,

Barry finds himself running the sport where it all began.

He's not really the kind of person you could tell to slow down.

I mean, he puts so much passion into everything.

He's quite fun to be around. I don't want him to slow down.

That's what drives him and that's what fires him.

He's got to pick up the trophy, it weighs a ton.

Yeah, yeah...

When you're laying out on that slab, don't have any regrets.

Don't use that word "if".

"If I'd have done this, I should have done that. Maybe."

I hate these words. You know, I want people who are definite.

I want people who are explosive.

If you make a bad call, make it 100%, don't make it 50%.

Don't start looking over your shoulder and saying, "I should have done it."

Do it or shut up!

-Hi, Barry.

-How are you?

-Not so bad, yourself? Barry?

-Yeah.

-You know this, Q Zone, can we improve it with the lighting?

-I'm sure there's loads we can improve it.

-Cheers, Barry.

We're constantly thinking about it. Where are we going?

From the peak of its popularity in the 1980s,

snooker was a sport in decline.

In 2009, the players invited Barry to run the game

and he made it clear from the start it would be his way, or no way.

Arms first, handshake second. You'll get the hang of that.

The game was so moribund, so defunct of ideas,

so lacking innovation and I thought to myself, "This is an opportunity,

"a game fate has dealt me which would be a sin to turn away from."

I think he truly thought that snooker was dying

and it was dead but, all of a sudden, he spotted how much interest there was worldwide.

My report finished with, "In my view, I should take over the game."

Fortunately, just enough players agreed with me.

What he's done for snooker has been amazing.

You know, it was that bad I went into the jungle four years ago

and now he's got it up to the top sport it should be.

Why are the crowds up? Is it down to the marketing or is it down to Judd Trump coming along?

It's a little bit of both but mainly it's the king has no clothes.

Yeah, yeah.

-If people believe things are happening the average fan will go along and have a look at it.

-Yeah.

When they go and look at it they'll say, "It's been quite a good night."

I've enjoyed myself with the snooker.

It's been so much fun because I've been able to blow it all up and start again.

You know, as a sport that really wasn't going anywhere. There was a lethargy in the sport.

We've just taken hold of it and dragged it screaming into the 21st century.

Please welcome Shaun "The Magician" Murphy!

Barry introduced the walk-on music, I think that's great.

Great for the game. They have it in darts and that.

Something a little bit different, there's nothing wrong with it.

"The Thunder from Down Under,"

Neil Robertson!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I think there's been a buzz about the game, without a doubt.

Obviously, we've seen many more events put on throughout the whole world.

Obviously, new events, high-speed events

with more crowd participation.

So, yeah, it's what the game needed.

The game needed a kick up the backside.

Excellent! Nice intros.

In recent months, there have been signs of dissent in the ranks.

Mark Allen was fined after complaining about the changes

being made and declared snooker, was "going to pot".

He even called for Barry to resign.

Mark Allen did speak out at the UK Championships

and he did say that a lot of other players were feeling the same.

So, Mark was the spokesman. Pretty brave of him to take Barry on.

That's how he felt.

We need people that make headlines.

Now, it's got to be, obviously, with some common sense involved, as well.

I often engage my mouth before I concentrate on my brain.

You know, this is a failing.

I know a few of the players have been moaning a bit

about the PTC events, especially the first prize is £10,000.

People like Ronnie O'Sullivan, you know, he would have to give up

a weekend and have to win the tournament to break even.

It's trying to reach a happy medium but they've got plenty of snooker to play, that's for sure.

I think we got into a rut of having

only six, seven or eight tournaments in every season

and we got used to that.

Now, we've gone from one extreme to the other.

I mean, there's talk of a tournament every other week, somewhere in the world.

Physically you can't keep doing that because you'll get burned out, eventually.

I never have any sympathy for anyone who goes to work, you know.

I have sympathy for those that can't go to work, or find a job.

So, professional sportsmen saying to me, "I'm too busy," really falls on a deaf ear.

Your champion, Neil Robertson!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Sorry!

Please tell me I don't have to go to Crondon Park tomorrow morning.

You do!

All the players realise he doesn't really care what our opinions are about most things.

He's just going to do it, what he thinks is best for the game.

We've got to be along for the ride, basically.

The champion has to be at Crondon Park golf course tomorrow at 12 o'clock to play.

He said, "Please tell me I don't have to be at Crondon Park tomorrow. I said, "I'm afraid you do."

I'm never going to do everything that pleases everybody because that would be unnatural.

I do things that please the sport.

He gets fined if he doesn't turn up so he knows he's got to do it.

So far, it's not ten out of ten.

It 9.5.

I'm getting the other half next year.

The trouble is we didn't have that BBC logo on the bagel.

I've told you about that.

We'll think about that in the morning.

Will he turn it around?

Guaranteed he'll turn it around and the snooker players

of the next generation will have a far higher prize pool to play for.

If snooker has a chance of succeeding, then Barry's the right man.

Whether snooker has a chance, I'm not utterly convinced.

The world is possibly too quick now for snooker.

One more beer and a glass of red wine, please.

Snooker is a part of my life that I think I can do something for

and it'll do something for me.

It keeps me alive.

If I was any better, I would fail a drugs test.

It keeps me wanting to go to work every morning,

earlier and work later.

You know, that's the best way to cure a recession. Just work longer hours.

It works!

So, the future is looking good and there'll be a few bumps along the way.

There'll be a few people disagreeing with me. That's OK.

We can all disagree.

We'll have a chat about it and then we'll do what I want!

# It's my life

# And it's now or never

# Ain't gonna live forever!

# I just wanna live while I'm alive

# It's my life... #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

# It's my life! #