John Virgo’s solely main snooker title was some of the chaotic within the sport’s historical past.
John Virgo, one among snooker’s most revered figures, has died on the age of 79 (Picture: Getty)
The best second of John Virgo’s profession was each the most effective and worst day of his life. The snooker icon’s loss of life was introduced on Wednesday morning, triggering a wave of tributes from throughout the game.
Most youthful snooker followers will know Virgo by means of his commentary and his position as Jim Davidson’s deadpan sidekick on the Nineteen Nineties gameshow Large Break. However he additionally performed an essential position in snooker’s heyday of the Eighties, mixing it with the likes of Steve Davis, Jimmy White and Alex Higgins. His sole main title got here in 1979 on the UK Championship. In step with his eventful life and profession, it was something however bizarre. In reality, it was downright traumatic. The report exhibits that Virgo beat Terry Griffiths 14-13, however that solely tells a part of the story of absolutely probably the most chaotic main match victory in snooker historical past.
He stated: “I seemed on the cameras however they have been unmanned. I assumed, ‘What is going on on right here?’ It turned on the market was an industrial dispute and the BBC cameramen went on strike!
“So though I beat Terry Griffiths, who was then world champion, there is no such thing as a movie of it as a result of the BBC have been on strike. As I say, it was the worst and finest day of my life, I put it in that order. It was a rollercoaster.”
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