Cueing up to see the snooker world’s legends
AS snooker rides the crest of a wave following the exciting emergence of young star Judd Trump and new tournaments being arranged all over the world, Inverness cues up a legendary group of players next week.
More than 600 people will pack Eden Court’s Empire Theatre in a sell-out show featuring veteran cuemasters Jimmy "The Whirlwind" White, Dennis Taylor, John Parrot and Canadian Cliff "The Grinder" Thorburn.
The exhibition event will be presided over by the master of ceremonies the inimitable John Virgo, a former player, current commentator and star of the 1990s BBC snooker quiz show "Big Break".
Snooker’s heyday was undoubtedly in the ’80s when the late Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, White and Steve Davis were among the main stars and huge audiences watched the sport with blanket coverage on television.
A mammoth 18.5 million people stayed up late to watch Taylor beat Steve Davis on the final black ball in an epic match to win the World Championship in 1985.
Punctuated by rifts within the sport’s administrators and a perceived lack of box office characters the sport has been in something of the doldrums in recent times.
However, 21-year-old Trump was a breath of fresh air in May when he blizted his way to the world final with several fearless and scintillating displays. New snooker supremo Barry Hearns has also been busy overhauling the sport and has organised new ranking tournaments in Australia, Brazil and Thailand.
Virgo has welcomed the developments but expressed concern about the lack of coverage of tournaments on terrestrial television.
"There hasn’t really been anything since the World Championship in May and it’s just a pity that one of the tournaments was dumped and the first one won’t be on until December on the BBC which is a long time away," he said.
"We have done about 20 shows now and it has gone really well, everybody goes home with a smile on their face," said Virgo.
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Snooker Legends at the Eden Court Empire Theatre is on Wednesday 6th July.
