By Elliott West
Introduction
Today marks the birthday of one of the most instantly recognisable snooker players in its history, Dennis Taylor. Taylor who retired from the game as a professional in 2000 after first turning professional in 1972. He also played his last competitive snooker for World Seniors at the end of 2021. Dennis who turns 74, will still appear in the odd exhibition and is about to carry out a theatre tour with Steve Davis, talking about the 1985 World Championship final, playing the odd frame of snooker, producing some trick shots and having a laugh with the audience as he tells numerous jokes and stories.
A Snooker Legend
Dennis Taylor will always be remembered for his memorable 1985 black ball victory against Steve Davis, beating his opponent 18-17, revenge for his previous final in 1979 when he lost to an in-form Terry Griffiths 24-16. He also won a classic Masters final in 1987, wiping the smile off Alex Higgins’ who was so confident that he would win that he ordered a crate of champagne in the interval, only to lose 9-8. A winner of 2 ranking titles, including the 1984 Grand Prix where he convincingly beat Cliff Thorburn 10-2 and 17 non-ranking titles, Dennis made Jack Karnehm’s hand-made glasses famous when his eyesight started to fail in 1983, a design that used upside-down lenses to great effect.
Dennis who was first inspired to pick up a snooker cue when he saw Joe Davis play on the BBC’s Grandstand programme, on a crackling black and white television in his birth town of Coalisland, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, played in the early days of Pot Black and reach the final in 1975 and 1976, losing to Graham Miles and John Spencer respectively. A player who was a great ambassador for snooker, Taylor was one of the first players to travel to much of the Far East, such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan and played regularly in Australia.
Commentary
Since his retirement, Dennis Taylor has become an iconic commentator for the BBC’s coverage of snooker. Admired because he had played through a large part of its history, locking horns with players such as John Spencer, Ray Reardon, John Pulman and John Spencer, Taylor helped bring snooker into its glory days of the 1980s where he was treated to almost rock-star status. He lived and breathed snooker and so became an ideal candidate to take over the reins of Ted Lowe who had been the key figure since the Second World War. Lowe didn’t actually play, he was a bystander and used his distinctive voice to great advantage. The apprentice matured and the rest is snooker history.
