Dickie Bird, who has died aged 92, was one of the most beloved, proficient and eccentric sporting figures of his generation. Bird was part respected cricket umpire, part music-hall comedian. View image in fullscreen Dickie Bird at his home in Yorkshire in 2013. On his retirement, Dickie Bird, My Autobiography (1997) became the biggest selling sports memoir of all time in the UK. The Dickie Bird Foundation supports promising Yorkshire cricketers as well as teenagers with sporting potential from poorer backgrounds.