Memories and Thoughts Series - Thread 2 1940-1945

Hello and welcome to Thread 2 of the 'Memories and Thoughts' series. Today we'll be looking at 12 players who were born in the 6-year period from 1940 to 1945.

Perrie Mans (b.1940) (South Africa) Highest end of season rank '2' (1977-78)
Graham Miles (1941-2014) (England) '8' (1976-77)
Mike Watterson (1942-2019) (England) '34' (1983-84)
Doug Mountjoy (b.1942) (Wales) '5' (1989-90) (achieved his highest end of season ranking when nearly 50!)
David Taylor (b.1943) (England) '7' (1980-81)
Paddy Morgan (b.1943) (Australia) '25' (1976-77)
Mick Fisher (b.1944) (England) '37' (1982-83)
Paul Medati (1944-2008) (England) '58' (1985-86)
John Bear (1944-2007) (Canada) '25' (1981-82)
Vic Harris (1945-2015) (England) '63' (1985-86)
Billy Kelly (b.1945) (Ireland) '44' (1982-83)
Colin Roscoe (b.1945) (Wales) '39' (1983-84)

Please share your memories of these players!

Used to like Mountjoy.

Two time UK champion and a Masters winner. Twice winner of Pot Black.

Oddly often underachieved at the WC, aside from reaching the final in 1981.

Graham Miles is the earliest snooker player I remember - winning PB in 1974.

David Taylor - "The Silver Fox" :) I do not recall him having cunning at the table that was anything out of the ordinary, but he was silver.

Perrie Mans, as I think I said elsewhere, had a bit of a purple patch 1976-79 ( SF of WC, won PB, runner up at WC, won Masters) but seemed to decline rapidly thereafter.

Vic Harris was a tall left-hander from Essex. He was the first professional I ever played against, in 1987 (he cleared up to beat me on the colours, since you're asking). He didn't achieve so much in the professional arena, but he was a highly successful amateur, and his influence is vast, spending a lot of time helping young players. He was a mentor to Steve Davis, Stuart Bingham and many others. Indeed, there is a tournament named after him in Essex. A really great guy who a lot of snooker people will remember.

Medati gave Alex Higgins a punch in the face by all accounts

Paul Madati was the guy who Alex Higgins had a fight with in 1985 just before Alex was playing Dennis Taylor in a TV Match where Alex had a black eye.


In a TV interview Alex Said he had fallen off a horse lol

Paddy Morgan is an Irishman who emigrated to Australia in the early 70’s. He did very well in the World Matchplay Championship in 1976 (won by Charlton), reaching I think the semi-finals. Dennis Taylor mentioned the other day during the Seniors commentary that Paddy is moving back to Belfast.

John Bear played at the Crucible in around 83. His brother, Jim Bear reached the final of the World Amateur in 1982, losing a fairly close match to Terry Parsons of Wales.

David Taylor always seemed to be a steady if not spectacular player but he had a good career. He turned pro upon winning the World Amateur title but struggled to make much impact for quite a few years. He reached the UK final in 1978, where he lost to Mountjoy and scored the win of his life over Ray Reardon in the quarterfinals of the 1980 World Championships at the Crucible. He reached a couple of other big finals, losing to Knowles in the Jameson and losing to Davis in the Yamaha. He also won the 1981 World Team Cup with England, teaming up with Steve Davis and John Spencer.

Although I never met him, I remember watching Graham Miles on TV. In the early 70's his success in Pot Blacks and his World Championship final meant he was considered one of the best players in the world.

As a technical nerd I note his unusual lopsided technique - very left-eye. In today's game we have Ash Carty (right-eye) and young Fan Zhengyi (left-eye). I'm interested in whether this is viable in the modern game.

lhpirnie wrote:Although I never met him, I remember watching Graham Miles on TV. In the early 70's his success in Pot Blacks and his World Championship final meant he was considered one of the best players in the world.

As a technical nerd I note his unusual lopsided technique - very left-eye. In today's game we have Ash Carty (right-eye) and young Fan Zhengyi (left-eye). I'm interested in whether this is viable in the modern game.

Yes, Graham actually made the top break in the 1974 WC (131) but seems he had little left for the final. He was indeed considered one of the top players despite not doing very much after retaining the PB title in 1975. he did remain a feature at the Crucible I think until almost the mid 80s.

Joe Davis asked if Graham Miles had special eye drops for putting in his left ear?

badtemperedcyril wrote:Joe Davis asked if Graham Miles had special eye drops for putting in his left ear?

Well Joe Davis himself was very left-eye dominant, in fact I think almost blind in his right.

lhpirnie wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:Joe Davis asked if Graham Miles had special eye drops for putting in his left ear?

Well Joe Davis himself was very left-eye dominant, in fact I think almost blind in his right.

Yes, in fact I think I’ve read in books and magazines before that he was the first billiards professional of any note to sight with one eye. The Australian player George Gray was asked to look at Joe playing as a youngster and he remarked that he’ll “never be any good because he sights with one eye”.

I don’t think Gray was a very good judge...

badtemperedcyril wrote:David Taylor always seemed to be a steady if not spectacular player but he had a good career. He turned pro upon winning the World Amateur title but struggled to make much impact for quite a few years. He reached the UK final in 1978, where he lost to Mountjoy and scored the win of his life over Ray Reardon in the quarterfinals of the 1980 World Championships at the Crucible. He reached a couple of other big finals, losing to Knowles in the Jameson and losing to Davis in the Yamaha. He also won the 1981 World Team Cup with England, teaming up with Steve Davis and John Spencer.

In his youth he was considered a glamorous, exciting, talented player. Probably that had faded a bit when the TV era came, and he became a solid top-16 player for several years.


Although not noted as a commentator, he took part in an interesting documentary in the 1970's (along with John Virgo and Jim Meadowcroft). He was also commentating during Steve Davis' breakthrough 147 in 1982.

He's still something of a hero in Manchester snooker.

Always liked his commentary. He did the ITV channel first then had 3 or 4 years with BBC, didn’t he?

I wonder what would've happened if Mountjoy had beaten Alex Higgins in 1982. He lost in a deciding frame to Higgins in the QF from about 30 points ahead, and had him trapped in a snooker behind the green with a red close the pocket. Higgins escaped from the snooker and was rather lucky to pot the red; had he left it, Mountjoy would probably have accrued enough points to win the match. And then, he'd have faced Jimmy White in the SF, and Reardon, who he'd beaten in the SF in '81. Not beyond possibility that he could've gone on to win it, given that he'd already won the UK and Masters, and reached the World Final in '81.

David Taylor, as Cyril said, was steady, and big things were expected of him after winning the World Amateur. But he seemed to find it impossible to beat the top 7-8 pros in the world, and it was remarkable that although he was a professional right throughout the 70s his biggest win was against Reardon in the 1980 World Championship.

Mike Watterson's influence on snooker was primarily as promoter and organiser. He picked out the Crucible and Guild Hall as snooker venues, and brought ITV into snooker by securing sponsorships with Jameson and Yamaha. He also founded the World Professional Darts championship with Embassy and BBC involvment and brought indoor bowls to the Guild Hall. However, his departure from snooker was somewhat acrimonious. Several players on the board of the WPBSA contended that he was making excessive profits from his sponsorships deals, including Reardon, who refused to enter the UK Championship in 1979, citing he had engagements with other promoters. The WPBSA started its own promotions company and took over his snooker contracts when they expired in 1983, and Watterson's form dipped, partly he claimed from off-table pressures and the way he was treated by the snooker world, and partly from the difficulty he found in screwing the ball back as he found he was miscuing a lot.

Empire State Human wrote:I wonder what would've happened if Mountjoy had beaten Alex Higgins in 1982. He lost in a deciding frame to Higgins in the QF from about 30 points ahead, and had him trapped in a snooker behind the green with a red close the pocket. Higgins escaped from the snooker and was rather lucky to pot the red; had he left it, Mountjoy would probably have accrued enough points to win the match. And then, he'd have faced Jimmy White in the SF, and Reardon, who he'd beaten in the SF in '81. Not beyond possibility that he could've gone on to win it, given that he'd already won the UK and Masters, and reached the World Final in '81.

David Taylor, as Cyril said, was steady, and big things were expected of him after winning the World Amateur. But he seemed to find it impossible to beat the top 7-8 pros in the world, and it was remarkable that although he was a professional right throughout the 70s his biggest win was against Reardon in the 1980 World Championship.

Mike Watterson's influence on snooker was primarily as promoter and organiser. He picked out the Crucible and Guild Hall as snooker venues, and brought ITV into snooker by securing sponsorships with Jameson and Yamaha. He also founded the World Professional Darts championship with Embassy and BBC involvment and brought indoor bowls to the Guild Hall. However, his departure from snooker was somewhat acrimonious. Several players on the board of the WPBSA contended that he was making excessive profits from his sponsorships deals, including Reardon, who refused to enter the UK Championship in 1979, citing he had engagements with other promoters. The WPBSA started its own promotions company and took over his snooker contracts when they expired in 1983, and Watterson's form dipped, partly he claimed from off-table pressures and the way he was treated by the snooker world, and partly from the difficulty he found in screwing the ball back as he found he was miscuing a lot.

Mountjoy would have faced an in-form Willie Thorne in the quarters. Would he have got past him?

Match with Higgins was L16.

Good point. Yeah, L16, so Doug still had a long way to go.

'82 is fascinating. One of the best World Championships, perhaps *helped* by the top 3 seeds going out in round 1.

Empire State Human wrote:Good point. Yeah, L16, so Doug still had a long way to go.

'82 is fascinating. One of the best World Championships, perhaps *helped* by the top 3 seeds going out in round 1.

I think 82 was the most I have looked forward to a WC. I had been watching since 78 but this was the most I had tuned in so far. I had just bought the Pot Black book and was delving into the history of it for the first time.

Everyone was expecting a Davis - Griffiths final as they had contested all the titles that year but they both went out in R1 of course!

Also recall really looking forward to 2000 as I felt the Hendry dominance was coming to an end.

Empire State Human wrote:Mike Watterson's influence on snooker was primarily as promoter and organiser. He picked out the Crucible and Guild Hall as snooker venues, and brought ITV into snooker by securing sponsorships with Jameson and Yamaha. He also founded the World Professional Darts championship with Embassy and BBC involvment and brought indoor bowls to the Guild Hall. However, his departure from snooker was somewhat acrimonious. Several players on the board of the WPBSA contended that he was making excessive profits from his sponsorships deals, including Reardon, who refused to enter the UK Championship in 1979, citing he had engagements with other promoters. The WPBSA started its own promotions company and took over his snooker contracts when they expired in 1983, and Watterson's form dipped, partly he claimed from off-table pressures and the way he was treated by the snooker world, and partly from the difficulty he found in screwing the ball back as he found he was miscuing a lot.

Very sad what happened with Mike Watterson. He had done wonders in persuading Embassy to keep with snooker following the disastrous Championship in 1976 when it was split between Middlesborough and Withenshawe. Then inaugurating numerous tournaments including the UK, World Team Cup, Champion of Champions at Wembley.

Aside from everything else, I've never heard anyone with a bad word to say about Mike. Not only did he promote the events but he also helped a lot of players, especially overseas players, with accommodation and travel. He certainly sacrificed his own playing career.