Tony Jacklin doesn’t come across as an obvious candidate for Strictly Come Dancing, writes Julia Llewellyn Smith.
The 69-year-old former golf champion from Scunthorpe has a notable amount of what he cheerily calls “ballast” around his waist and has never danced except “jumping about” at weddings. He also has a hearing aid in each ear.
“I try in all truth to avoid being in noisy environments, but from now on it’s all going to be banging about and noise,” he grins, his trademark neat, white teeth shining. “I’ll just have to get used to it.”
In every other respect, however, Jacklin is an ideal Strictly candidate. He loves music (he released an album in the Seventies), is fiercely competitive, a self-confessed showman and — best of all — has a thing for bling.
In his early, stellar career, he favoured gold lamé trousers. He won the 1969 Open dressed head-to-toe in purple — a perfect gimmick at the dawn of colour television. “I’ve never minded showing off,” he says. “The self-esteem was lifted by looking sharp.
“I’ve been on the fairway and the rest have been behind the ropes. You’ve got to be a bit of a ham to want to do that in the first place.
“When the Strictly producers asked, 'What do you think about sequins?’, I said, 'The more the better.’ They gave me a beautiful tux with sparkles on the shoulders to wear, which I am definitely going to nick at the end of all this, because anything I can buy elsewhere is going to look extremely drab after that.” Jacklin is sitting in his dressing room at Elstree studios in north London, caked in make-up, in classic golfer attire of a lemon shirt, slacks, loafers with snaffles and a chunky gold watch.
A bit paunchier than in his heyday (“I’m going to lose 10 to 15 pounds doing this,” he says), a smile never leaves his chipmunk-cheeked face, but he’s clearly a touch weary.
“It has been gruelling. Yesterday, we were filming for 16 hours and I’m not used to that. Four or five hours on the golf course is my usual long day.”
He’s just learnt that his professional partner will be the redoubtable Aliona Vilani, who two years ago won the coveted glitter ball partnering Harry Judd from the band McFly.
“Oliana — Aliona, I mean — is a former champion, marvellous at what she does,” Jacklin says with glee. “She’s a terrific kid. I was doing parts of the group dance with her and she put me in my place very quickly, but I’ve no problem with that.” He’s still trying to remember the names of his 14 fellow celebrities.
“Sophie Ellis-Bextor; is she the blonde girl?” he muses. “Oh, is that Rachel? We’ll get to know each other. There’s tremendous camaraderie among us all already.”
It’s hardly surprising he’s somewhat out of the loop. For the past 20 years, Jacklin has lived contentedly in Florida with his second wife Astrid. His first wife, Vivien, died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage in 1988, aged 44, leaving him with suicidal thoughts. His marriage to Astrid put him on the road to recovery. Why has he chosen to be yelled at by the judges for jazz hands, when he could be visiting his six children and 14 grandchildren, driving his bottle-green Bentley and playing golf in the sunshine? Jacklin shakes his head. “Most people work all their life to play golf when they retire. My life’s completely the other way round. I’ve played golf all my life, now it’s time to do a few other things.
“I love being busy, I plan to keep active as long as I can, not just for my body but for my mind as well.” With commendable honesty, he explains that his goal in doing Strictly is to remind the British public exactly who he is and why we should celebrate him. After all, he was our first player in 18 years to win The Open, and the following year became the first European to win the US Open in 84 years. He’s also Europe’s most successful Ryder Cup captain, has lunched at Buckingham Palace and played golf with the Rat Pack.
But after some subsequent tournament disasters, he relocated to Spain, and then to the US.
“I was to-ing and fro-ing, trying to be all things to all men and, unfortunately, my career was reasonably short because of that. So when I turned 50 and was trying to play on the lucrative US senior tour, I said to my wife, 'Let’s go and live there’. We never looked back.”
But as the oldest contestant by eight years (runner-up is Fiona Fullerton), does he seriously think he’ll be featuring in the final?
“Of course I’m in it to win it! I’ve lost a bit of my youth, but I’m still as competitive as I always was.” However, Ladbrokes has named him the favourite to leave first (along with Vanessa Feltz). When I ask if he’s prepared for as short a tenure as last year’s senior contestant Johnny Ball, he looks utterly appalled
.
“Oh blimey, I’m not even going there. That would be a real bummer that would. I’ve always embraced the opportunity to dive in. My attitude is, you miss 100 per cent of the shots you haven’t taken.”
Whatever may happen on the dance floor, at the end of the series a distraction looms. “Astrid and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on December 29, so we’re going to renew our vows with all our kids there.” He’ll certainly be able to cut a rug at the reception. “Oh, yes!” laughs Jacklin, throwing his head back in delight. “I’ll definitely be giving Astrid some pointers. And I’ll be wearing that nicked tuxedo.”
The 69-year-old former golf champion from Scunthorpe has a notable amount of what he cheerily calls “ballast” around his waist and has never danced except “jumping about” at weddings. He also has a hearing aid in each ear.
In every other respect, however, Jacklin is an ideal Strictly candidate. He loves music (he released an album in the Seventies), is fiercely competitive, a self-confessed showman and — best of all — has a thing for bling.
In his early, stellar career, he favoured gold lamé trousers. He won the 1969 Open dressed head-to-toe in purple — a perfect gimmick at the dawn of colour television. “I’ve never minded showing off,” he says. “The self-esteem was lifted by looking sharp.
“I’ve been on the fairway and the rest have been behind the ropes. You’ve got to be a bit of a ham to want to do that in the first place.
“When the Strictly producers asked, 'What do you think about sequins?’, I said, 'The more the better.’ They gave me a beautiful tux with sparkles on the shoulders to wear, which I am definitely going to nick at the end of all this, because anything I can buy elsewhere is going to look extremely drab after that.” Jacklin is sitting in his dressing room at Elstree studios in north London, caked in make-up, in classic golfer attire of a lemon shirt, slacks, loafers with snaffles and a chunky gold watch.
A bit paunchier than in his heyday (“I’m going to lose 10 to 15 pounds doing this,” he says), a smile never leaves his chipmunk-cheeked face, but he’s clearly a touch weary.
“It has been gruelling. Yesterday, we were filming for 16 hours and I’m not used to that. Four or five hours on the golf course is my usual long day.”
He’s just learnt that his professional partner will be the redoubtable Aliona Vilani, who two years ago won the coveted glitter ball partnering Harry Judd from the band McFly.
“Oliana — Aliona, I mean — is a former champion, marvellous at what she does,” Jacklin says with glee. “She’s a terrific kid. I was doing parts of the group dance with her and she put me in my place very quickly, but I’ve no problem with that.” He’s still trying to remember the names of his 14 fellow celebrities.
“Sophie Ellis-Bextor; is she the blonde girl?” he muses. “Oh, is that Rachel? We’ll get to know each other. There’s tremendous camaraderie among us all already.”
It’s hardly surprising he’s somewhat out of the loop. For the past 20 years, Jacklin has lived contentedly in Florida with his second wife Astrid. His first wife, Vivien, died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage in 1988, aged 44, leaving him with suicidal thoughts. His marriage to Astrid put him on the road to recovery. Why has he chosen to be yelled at by the judges for jazz hands, when he could be visiting his six children and 14 grandchildren, driving his bottle-green Bentley and playing golf in the sunshine? Jacklin shakes his head. “Most people work all their life to play golf when they retire. My life’s completely the other way round. I’ve played golf all my life, now it’s time to do a few other things.
“I love being busy, I plan to keep active as long as I can, not just for my body but for my mind as well.” With commendable honesty, he explains that his goal in doing Strictly is to remind the British public exactly who he is and why we should celebrate him. After all, he was our first player in 18 years to win The Open, and the following year became the first European to win the US Open in 84 years. He’s also Europe’s most successful Ryder Cup captain, has lunched at Buckingham Palace and played golf with the Rat Pack.
But after some subsequent tournament disasters, he relocated to Spain, and then to the US.
“I was to-ing and fro-ing, trying to be all things to all men and, unfortunately, my career was reasonably short because of that. So when I turned 50 and was trying to play on the lucrative US senior tour, I said to my wife, 'Let’s go and live there’. We never looked back.”
But as the oldest contestant by eight years (runner-up is Fiona Fullerton), does he seriously think he’ll be featuring in the final?
“Of course I’m in it to win it! I’ve lost a bit of my youth, but I’m still as competitive as I always was.” However, Ladbrokes has named him the favourite to leave first (along with Vanessa Feltz). When I ask if he’s prepared for as short a tenure as last year’s senior contestant Johnny Ball, he looks utterly appalled
.
“Oh blimey, I’m not even going there. That would be a real bummer that would. I’ve always embraced the opportunity to dive in. My attitude is, you miss 100 per cent of the shots you haven’t taken.”
Whatever may happen on the dance floor, at the end of the series a distraction looms. “Astrid and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on December 29, so we’re going to renew our vows with all our kids there.” He’ll certainly be able to cut a rug at the reception. “Oh, yes!” laughs Jacklin, throwing his head back in delight. “I’ll definitely be giving Astrid some pointers. And I’ll be wearing that nicked tuxedo.”
