John Virgo has recalled his chaotic UK Championship victory (Image: Getty)
The thought of driving down the M6 to Preston’s Guild Hall still sends a shiver down John Virgo’s spine – 45 years on from both the best and worst day of his life. It was the best because it saw him claim what would prove to be the only major title of his career.
But was also a traumatic experience after he rocked up late for the final session and was docked two frames. Better known now as a commentator and previously the comically dour co-host on Big Break with Jim Davidson, Virgo was a fine player in his day, regularly mixing it with the top players of the era.
His big moment came in 1979 when he reached the final of the UK Championship. The record shows that Virgo beat Terry Griffiths 14-13, but that only tells part of the story of surely the most chaotic major tournament victory in snooker history.
It was all going so well for Virgo, who led the reigning world champion 11-7 going into the third and final session. But that is when the chaos began when he failed to realise that the final session had been brought forward to accommodate live TV coverage.
“It was the only major I won and it was the best and worst day of my life,” recalls Virgo, now 78, who will be commentating on today’s UK Championship final in York.
“That year had gone pretty well and I reached the semi-final of the World Championship. Fast-forward six months, I beat Dennis Taylor in the semi-final [in Preston] and was now playing Terry Griffiths in the final.
“It was the best of 27 frames over three sessions, two sessions on the Friday, culminating in the final session, which was going to be live on Grandstand on the Saturday afternoon.
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“I didn’t stay in a hotel close by. I ended up staying in a Premier Inn on the M6, about five or six miles outside of Preston.
“Nowadays, players will get to the venue an hour or two before a match because they have practice tables but there were no practice tables in those days. Throughout the tournament, the afternoon sessions had started at two o’clock.
“So I’m in my hotel room and all of a sudden I get a phone call [says], ‘where are you?’ because it was now ten to one. I said I wasn’t due but because it was live on Grandstand they’d moved the start time to one o’clock. You can imagine my panic, I wasn’t even dressed!
“I had to get dressed quickly, jump in the car, drive down to the Guild Hall. As I’m relaying the story now, 45 years later, I’m still getting cold sweats thinking about driving down the M6.
John Virgo was docked two frames after turning up late for the final session of the 1979 UK Championship (Image: Trevor Jones/Getty Images)
“I remember parking, running through the car park. I’d forgotten about the match, I just wanted to get there. I did well to only be 20 minutes late!
“But for the first time, they’d brought in a rule which said if you were 15 minutes late, you’d forfeit a frame. Then you’d lose another frame for every five minutes afterwards, so I was deducted two frames. You can imagine I wasn’t happy about it. Having got to the venue 11-7 in front, it was now 11-9.”
Virgo’s head was understandably all over the place as the final resumed, with Griffiths drawing level at 11-11. By then the Preston crowd had made their feelings clear to compound Virgo’s turmoil.
“A few people booed me, which rubbed salt into the wounds,” adds Virgo, who was able to refocus after being fired up by his opponent. “I lost the first two frames and we got to an interval at 11-all.
John Virgo with Jim Davidson and a young Stephen Hendry on Big Break (Image: BBC)
“I’m in absolute bits, I don’t know what’s gone on. My manager at the time was running round [saying], ‘I’ll sue everybody here’. Terry Griffiths came into my dressing room, bless him, and said, ‘look, I don’t want to win like this, shall we split the prize money?’
“And that just fired me into a state of mind. I said, ‘you haven’t won yet, I’m not splitting anything’. It wasn’t about the money, I’d come to win a title.
“I’d only been a pro for two years and was desperate to get my hands on a trophy. I go out after the interval and I’m still a bit angry with myself but I’m managing to calm down a bit.
“Somehow, I win the first frame after the interval before he goes 13-12 in front and I’m thinking, ‘this is it, I’ve blown it’. But when I went 13-12 behind, I just seemed to calm down and I ended up beating him 14-13.”
John Virgo will commentate on today’s UK Championship final (Image: Getty)
There was another bizarre twist which had nothing to do with Virgo this time. Despite being brought forward at the behest of the , the final stages of the match went unaired due to strike action by camera operators.
“I looked at the cameras but they were unmanned,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘what’s going on here?’ It turned out there was an industrial dispute and the cameramen went on strike!
“So although I beat Terry Griffiths, who was then world champion, there is no film of it because the were on strike. As I say, it was the worst and best day of my life, I put it in that order. It was a rollercoaster.”