When Rondart, the only professional dart spitter, met Paul Daniels

An exhibition about this extraordinary variety act opened this week at the Darlington theatre, where Ron Dart graced the stage on several occasions during his 40 year career.

The exhibition coincides with rare footage coming to light of Ron Dart in full dart-spitting action on the Paul Daniels Magic Show on prime time television in 1984.

READ MORE: THE FULL AMAZING STORY OF RONDART, THE WORLD'S ONLY PROFESSIONAL DART SPITTER

Rondart's niece Maureen Woods with Elaine Vizor and Caitlin Barratt at the exhibition at the Darlington Hippodrome

As regular readers will know, Ron Dart’s father, Harry Tomlinson, was hit by a shell when serving with the Durham Light Infantry in the First World War and lost the use of his arms. To keep himself entertained, he devised a technique of spitting darts – putting them sideways in his mouth and using the force of his tongue and the power of his blow to propel them towards a dartboard.

Harry passed the skill to his brother-in-law, Syd Hall, who was a bit of a rogue – he later served time for forgery – and who turned it in club act. Syd was particularly big in the cinemas of Skinnergate, in Darlington, where he entertained when the film reel was being changed by spitting darts from the balcony over the heads of the audience in the auditorium to a dartboard on the screen 37.5ft away.

Syd apparently always hit the bull’s eye.

READ MORE: HOW SYD BECAME THE WORLD'S ONE AND ONLY DART POUFFING CHAMPION

READ MORE: HOW RONDART DEVELOPED HIS UNIQUE SKILLS

In 1938, perhaps inspired by Syd’s unique talents, the Daily Mirror held the world’s first – and only – “dart pouffing” championship in London. Syd beat six other “pouffers” to become the world champion, which led to him becoming a big novelty act in the pubs and clubs of Durham

Even before he hit the big time Syd had passed his secrets onto his seven-year-old nephew, Ronald Tomlinson.

Rondart (above) later remembered: “I stayed at his house in Darlington in 1936 for a week and he was showing me how to blow darts. When I got back home to West Auckland, my dad was so pleased, and from then I would practise for 15 minutes twice a day every day, including the lunch hour from school.”

The family home was at 122, Front Street, (marked on the postcard above) where there was a hole in the pantry door about four inches above the floor. It gave Ron great pleasure to spit his dart through the hole and then collect it from inside the pantry.

Aged 12 in 1941, Ron was spotted in a talent competition in a theatre in Blyth spitting a dart so that it knocked a lighted cigarette off his sister’s head. Soon the remarkable “Rondart” was earning £2-a-week as a novelty act in London theatres.

Rondart's business card from 1943

He finished his national service in the RAF in 1949 and decided to see if he could make a living out of spitting darts.

Leslie Shoulder, now 91, tells a lovely story of how he encountered Ron in the Royal Oak pub, in the hamlet of that name between West Auckland and Darlington, about this time. Leslie was with a gang of people, including Ron, whom he didn’t know, when two strangers walked in and challenged the locals to a game of darts with £5 – a tidy sum – to the winners.

The Royal Oak on the A68 at Royal Oak is now a private house

It was decided that Joe Walton, a miner at Brusselton Drift Mine, and Ron should take them on.

“The two strangers played well,” recalls Leslie. “Joe was a better miner and cow man than a dart player and this showed in the scores.

“Then we saw Ron take his own darts from his coat pocket. Well, we thought, he must be able to play if he has his own darts! All went quiet.

“Ron took out these small darts and instead of throwing them, placed them at the front of his mouth and blew them out and into the dartboard. He never missed whatever number he was aiming for and even told the small audience what he was aiming for - "double top", "treble twenty", "treble ten".

“The faces of the two strangers were a picture, and the match was won.”

The strangers tried to make their excuses and leave. “The landlord, George Lamb, stepped in and advised them that they would be paying up even if it meant him locking the doors and keeping them in the pub all night,” says Leslie. “The £5 was paid and they left the pub with their tails between their legs.

“I got the half past nine bus home to Bishop Auckland and immediately told my parents and younger brother about the young fella who blew the darts out of his mouth.”

Having started in The Royal Oak, Rondart quickly established himself as a national variety act. Malcolm Middleton recalls seeing him at the Darlington Hippodrome in the late 1950s.

He said: “The only other artist on the bill that night that I can remember was a man without any arms who shaved volunteers from the audience using a cut-throat razor which he held by the toes of his right foot!”

Rondart married Jean, whom he met in London’s theatreland, and she became his glamorous assistant as they toured the world – one of the exhibits in the exhibition is the set of darts he used when he appeared on a Japanese TV show in 1967.

When he and Jean divorced, he married Cristina, a dancer from Colombia, and she became his scantily-clad accomplice, and a magical glimpse into their act can be seen in a YouTube video of their 1984 appearance on the BBC1 Paul Daniels Magic Show.

Rondart on the Paul Daniels Magic Show in 1984

Ron wows the audience with his spitting accuracy by hitting playing cards and knocking over cigarettes before bursting a yellow balloon that is spinning in front of the dartboard (below).

Then a worried looking Mr Daniels appears and is given a kingsize cigarette to hold upright on the palm of his hand (below).

Ron retreats and spits a dart which knocks the cigarette over, before finishing his act by blowing a dart which cuts a thin cord which drops a message in front of the dartboard saying “au revoir”.

Rondart and Cristina at the end of their five minute act on the Paul Daniels Magic Show in 1987

The exhibition also features the programme from April 1987 when Rondart appeared in a week-long music hall show at the Hippodrome which also featured the Beverley Sisters and Bobby Krush, the pianist.

Rondart continued working for another decade, but after appearing on the Spanish version of the Generation Game in 1997, he retired to Witton Park with Cristina. During his retirement, he rekindled his friendship from his school days with Ronnie and Dennis Pounder, who were clearly fascinated by his global superstardom so he gave them mementoes which he acquired over the years.

Rondart died in 2005 and Cristina returned to Colombia. When Ronnie Pounder died in 2019, his daughter, Elaine Vizor, found the mementoes and has turned them into an exhibition, which was inspected on Wednesday by Maureen Woods, Rondart’s niece.

“I can’t thank Elaine enough,” she said. “My Uncle Ron wasn’t in this country very much but when he was, he came to visit my dad, Douggie Tomlinson, who was his older brother. I remember my dad always called him ‘the bairn’.

“Uncle Ron was very nice, a very caring and jolly chap, and he told me that Japan was his favourite country in the world.”

The exhibition, which is opposite the theatre box office, runs at the Hippodrome until April so everyone attending this year’s pantomime, starring Christopher Biggins, will be able to see it.

“Panto is a unique and special part of Christmas and Rondart was a unique and special act so they go together very well,” said Caitlin Barratt, the heritage, learning and engagement officer at the theatre.

We’d love to hear from you if you saw Rondart at the Hippodrome. To see the Paul Daniels Show video, simply put “Rondart” into the search box on YouTube.

THERE are now moves afoot to raise a statue to Rondart on West Auckland village green, which already celebrates its World Cup winning footballers with a statue. Rondart, though, is rather forgotten. Despite having his home at No 122, he is not even the most famous former resident of Front Street – that honour goes to Mary Ann Cotton, the mass murderess at No 13.