Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Snooker champion of the world, described as the man who put the smile back in snooker.
On the island
Eight records
Smoke Gets in Your EyesFavourite
Well this goes back to the early days. I used to in fact work in the local picture house which held about 100 people and I sold the ice cream. And in those days you went round, not at the interval, you went round while the actual film was on. And in between the main feature and the cartoon they always played a record by the platters. So I heard it three times a week, six nights a week and never got sick of it.
this is one he's he has always been my favourite really, and a lot of people's favourite, uh Elvis Presley. And I suppose we've got to pick a classic one of his because I as I say I went to dances and enjoyed the old rock and roll because uh that was the whole in thing.
Well this goes back to Ireland again when we used to go to the dances and uh we used to go into the neighbouring town Dungannon about four mile away. and a few friends and myself, we always, nine times out of ten, had to walk home from the dance. So uh we used to sing on the way back home
I love the Beatles, and there's a little story about this Beatles record in the little cafe in Coal Island that we used to go in. You used to go in, and if you weren't playing snooker, you'd be listening to records. So, most of your money went on playing records. And I remember when we run out of money, it was one of the old dial jude boxes that they had there. And a couple of us had worked out a way. If you just give it a tap on a certain spot at the side of the jude box, you could make the light come on and get a free record.
When I started going to dances I used to travel all over sort of certainly the north of Ireland to see this gentleman. He was my sort of hero and he's been at the top of his profession in Ireland for 22 years
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb & Maurice Gibb
I'm a great fan of um of Barbara Streis and and also the Bee Gees. Cliff Thorburn and Kirk Stevens and myself occasionally when we're abroad do a little impersonation of the Bee Gee's.
funny enough how records remind you when I was flying out to Australia and listening to the little headsets there and uh my wife likes this record as well
I used to love dancing. The jiving and rock and roll was the whole in thing. And I think it's starting to come back a little bit. I love the disco dancing, but you can't beat the old jiving.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:30When did you first become aware of Snooker?
Well, I was only really just coming up to nine years of age, Michael, and it was back in Coal Island, a little small town in Northern Ireland, about forty miles from Belfast. And we had a little club there. There was only two tables in it. It was a privately owned club. You didn't have to be a member. The fellow that owned it, who was a great character called Jim Joe Gervin, used to just let whoever he wanted in. And there was a couple of youngsters that were allowed in, say, from about half past six to half past seven. And uh that's really when I started. I didn't play the first time I went in the club. I just purely sat on the side and was very, very quiet while they were playing and held the the rest for the players and handed it to them as they needed it.
Presenter asks
1:28When did you realize that you got a gift for the game?
Well, the game just fascinated me, as I say, watching it. And then I uh was allowed to have a go on the table. And the first time I played really, I had to stand on a on a lemonade crate to reach the table. And uh I seemed to take to it like a duck takes to water, and within six months I'd become quite good even at that age.
Presenter asks
3:13Was it a poor family?
Yeah, we hadn't got a lot of money. My my father was a lorry driver. We lived in a fairly small house. You know, but my mother made sure we were always well dressed and uh, you know, we always eat well. But we hadn't got a lot of money.
The keepsakes
The book
A book with two or three hundred of the world's best jokes
because I get more pleasure out of having a good laugh than anything else in life.
The luxury
limitless supply of natural yogurt
my sister Molly had told me that natural yogurt was the best thing for sunburn. So I'd need a limitless supply of yogurt.
Presenter asks
4:00Was [coming to England] in search of work? Was it because there wasn't work in the area where you were living?
Well, it was amazing how I did finish up coming to England. I worked in a local pipeworks in Coal Island there... My father wanted me to be an electrician, but I decided I'd like to go with my friends... And the manager came round one night and sacked the whole squad of about nine people because there was a bad batch of these pipes made... But I'd decided at this stage I'd had a chat with my mum and was going to go over to some aunts. I had an aunt over in Darwin in Lancashire. So I decided to go over and and and work in England. Never even brought a snooker cue with me.
Presenter asks
7:21What was the life like as a professional in those early days?
Well, if you think in in seventy four I was sort of a professional, but I was still, as I say, looking after the Snooker Club. And I decided uh then that I was going to pack up the job in the snooker club and go to play in Canada, in the Canadian Open. And uh Patricia and myself, we had two children at the time and two hundred pounds in the bank and I had to pay my own expenses to go to Canada. Stayed with the fellow that promoted us, stayed at his home because I couldn't uh really afford to stay in a hotel. And I got to the final of the tournament that year, beating Alex Higgins in the semi-final
Presenter asks
13:34What was the purpose behind [your glasses]? I mean, apart from seeing well, the design.
I've always had very bad eyesight. I've worn glasses but never wore glasses for playing Snooker all the years I'd played... So I went and spent two days with [Jack Karnehm] at his place and he, as I say, used to make spectacle frames for a living. So he got this little set of files that were about 45 years old that he served his apprenticeship with, and his little hacksaw and he made them by hand. And those are the ones that I sort of use nowadays. They look like they're upside down virtually, but there's a lot of work that went into them.
“I seemed to take to it like a duck takes to water, and within six months I'd become quite good even at that age.”
“I decided to go over and and and work in England. Never even brought a snooker cue with me. You didn't? No, I uh I didn't realize quite how good I was before I came to England.”
“As I say, you love the game and to get paid for doing something that you you love doing, I mean, you couldn't ask for anything more really.”
“Although I lost nine nothing, it turned out that, you know, I got a lot more fans out of that as well.”