Snooker veteran john virgo: where is he now?

“I carried on with doing a bread-and-butter job, and played snooker after work, playing in all the local leagues. A friend of mine opened a snooker club in Salford when I was 28 and under

their guidance I started to take it more seriously. “As televised snooker took off, more money went into the game and I decided to turn professional when I was 30. Most of the tournaments

were invitation only, so it was a struggle at first to earn enough money before I built up my profile. I did the holiday camp circuit for a couple of years, which paid reasonably.  “During

my playing years, I didn’t win the World Championship, but I had a good chance in 1979, I had a decent chance in 1982, and in the meantime I had won the UK championship, which was my biggest

achievement in the game. “I’d started doing impressions of other players when I was doing exhibition matches, which people really enjoyed. I’d impersonate Ray Reardon, Willie Thorne and

Alex Higgins, much to the audience’s amusement. When I did them for a television audience at the World Championships in 1986, David Vine said to me, ‘You do realise you have just had £25,000

worth of publicity?’ It did help boost my profile, which helped with bookings.  “In 1991, I got an offer to do a TV show, Big Break, with Jim Davidson, because of the impressions I had been

doing. It aired first on a Tuesday night and it did so well it was moved to the Saturday night spot.  "I didn’t feel nervous filming as I was working with people I’d known all my life.

Jim was such a funny and talented man and somehow the combination of a crafty cockney conservative and a dour northern socialist really worked.  "We had nearly 14 million viewers on a

Saturday night. At the beginning of the second series, Jim gave me a £10,000 Cartier watch as a thank you for helping his show business career revival.  “Then Jim asked me to do panto with

him, so I decided to retire from the sport and focus on my new show business career. Since retiring from playing, I’ve brought out a couple of books, one on Alex Higgins, as I was a big

admirer of him as a player. I’ve also written a book on trick shots and have been taking part in the snooker legends tours.  “I’m still commentating for the BBC, which I enjoy enormously,

and in my spare time I like to play golf and I’m a big Manchester United fan.  “With my first grandchild arriving next March, I’ve got a lot to look forward to.” _SAY GOODNIGHT, JV BY JOHN

VIRGO IS OUT NOW, RRP £18.99 (JOHN BLAKE PUBLISHING)_