| Born | 3 December 1948 |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  England |
| Professional | 1983–1994 |
| Highest ranking | 77 |
Bill Oliver (born 3 December 1948) is an English former professional snooker player.
| Born | 3 December 1948 |
|---|---|
| Sport country | England |
| Professional | 1983–1994 |
| Highest ranking | 77 |
Bill Oliver (born 3 December 1948) is an English former professional snooker player.
Bill Oliver was born on 1 December 1948. [1] As an amateur player, Oliver beat Ian Williamson 7–5 in the final of the 1981 Pontins Autumn Open. [2] He became a professional snooker player in 1983 [1] but never reached the last-16 of a major tournament. His highest ranking was 77. [3] He owns a snooker club in Plymouth. [4]
He made his television debut as a player in the 1984 World Doubles Championship, partnering Roger Bales in a 4–5 loss to Terry Griffiths and John Parrott in a match that finished at 12:30 am. [5] [6]
Oliver beat former champion Ray Reardon in the second qualifying round of the 1988 World Snooker Championship. [7] Later that year he joined the board of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), taking the place of Rex Williams. [4] In September 1990 he withdrew from the 1990 Shoot-Out after the car he was driving to the venue skidded and went off the road into a ditch. Oliver required 15 stitches and had to wear a neck brace, but his passenger Mike Hallett was uninjured. [8] [9]
He entered the 2010 World Snooker Championship under an arrangement where members of the WPBSA who were not on the main World Snooker Tour could participate if they paid a fee of £200. He was beaten 1–5 by Nic Barrow [10] in what was Oliver's first world championship match since 1994. [11]
Alexander Gordon Higgins was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" for his rapid play, and known as the "People's Champion" for his popularity and charisma, he is often credited as a key factor in snooker's success as a mainstream televised sport in the 1980s.
Joseph Davis was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is now played, such as break-building. With the help of equipment manufacturer Bill Camkin, he drove the creation of the World Snooker Championship by persuading the Billiards Association and Control Council to recognise an official professional snooker championship in 1927. Davis won the first 15 world championships from 1927 to 1946, and he is the only undefeated player in World Snooker Championship history. In 1930, he scored the championship's first century break.
Anthony Christian Meo is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles Championship titles, partnering Davis, and the 1983 World Team Classic representing England alongside Davis and Tony Knowles.
Raymond Reardon is a Welsh retired professional snooker player. He turned professional in 1967 aged 35 and dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and more than a dozen other tournaments. Reardon was World Champion in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1978, and runner-up in 1982. He won the inaugural Pot Black tournament in 1969, the 1976 Masters and the 1982 Professional Players Tournament.
John Spencer was an English professional snooker player and a three-time World Snooker Champion. Born in Radcliffe, Lancashire, he began playing snooker on a full-sized table at age 14, and made his first century break aged 15; he started National Service at age 18, and did not play snooker again until he was 29. After winning the English Amateur Championship in 1966, he turned professional in February 1967 and won the world title on his first attempt in 1969. This was the first time since 1957 that the World Snooker Championship had used a knock-out format, following a series of challenge matches from 1964 to 1968, making Spencer the first World Champion in the modern era of snooker.
Desmond Rex Williams is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the World Professional Billiards Championship from Clark McConachy in 1968, the first time that the title had been contested since 1951. Williams retained the title in several challenge matches in the 1970s, and, after losing it to Fred Davis in 1980, regained it from 1982 to 1983.
Anthony Knowles is an English former professional snooker player. He won the 1982 International Open and the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, and was a three times semi-finalist in the World Professional Snooker Championship in the 1980s. His highest world ranking was second, in the 1984/85 season.
Markham Wildman is an English retired professional snooker and English billiards player and cue sports commentator. He won the World Professional Billiards Championship in 1984, and was runner up in 1980 and 1982. He made a televised snooker century break in 1960.
Clive Harold Everton is a sports commentator, journalist, author and former professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded Snooker Scene magazine, which was first published in 1971, and continued as editor until September 2022. He has authored over twenty books about cue sports since 1972.
The 1983–84 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 4 July 1983 and 19 May 1984. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
The 1984–85 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1984 and May 1985. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
John Williams is a Welsh retired snooker referee. He presided over eleven World Snooker Championship finals, nine at the Crucible Theatre, including the 1985 final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis – the most watched snooker match in history. Having begun refereeing in the 1960s, Williams left the civil service in 1981 to work as a referee full-time. Having the chance to referee tournaments at Pontins, he quickly took charge and organised the events for many years. He gained national attention following a match between Fred Davis and Alex Higgins where the roof collapsed after rainfall and flooded the snooker table. Williams was pictured in many national newspapers after the event, resulting in more television coverage.
Geoff Foulds is an English former professional snooker player. He is the father of fellow professional snooker player Neal Foulds.
The World Professional Match-play Championship was a professional snooker tournament established in 1952 as an alternative to the professional World Snooker Championship by some of the professional players, following a dispute with the Billiards Association and Control Council, the sport's governing body. Fred Davis won the first five editions of the tournament, but didn't participate in 1957, when John Pulman won. After this, the event was discontinued due to a decline in the popularity of snooker.
The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) was the governing body of the games of English billiards and snooker and organised professional and amateur championships in both sports. It was formed in 1919 by the union of the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Club.
Tessa Davidson is an English snooker player from Banbury, Oxfordshire. She won a number of ranking titles on the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association circuit.
Ian Williamson is an English former professional snooker and English billiards player.
Douglas French is an English former professional snooker player.
Billy Kelly is an Irish former professional snooker player. He played professionally from 1981 to 1992.