Still remember staying up as a young boy to watch the end of the 1985 final, when Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis 18-17 on the last ball of the last frame. It literally couldn’t have been a closer contest. 18.5 million people watched it, which is still a record for BBC 2.
As a big Steve Davis fan I was not amused.
They had real characters back then - Davis, Canada’s Cliff Thorburn, Jimmy White, Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, Willie Thorne, Taylor... today’s players seem far more robotic and colorless - apart from Ronnie O’Sullivan that is. He is a genius who would have been a major star in any era.
Jimmy White is still around. He is defending his World Seniors title soon. For the first time since he retired Stephen Hendry is also going to play. Steve Davis does commentary for BBC sports. He was at this year’s World Championship.