Long-time friend of John Virgo Les Dodd pays tribute to pay on his death aged 79.
In the mid-1990s, Big Break was essential viewing for many, attracting at its peak 14 million viewers.
And it is probably safe to say that one of the most memorable elements of the show was the mind-boggling trick shots performed by John Virgo, who died this week at the age of 79.
Virgo, widely known by his initials JV, began his career at the Potters Club in Salford, his hometown. While the club is long gone – the Rialto building it was in was demolished and a McDonald's now stands in its place – memories of the club, and Virgo, are alive and well in the minds of those who knew him.
Les Dodd, who now runs a snooker club in Southport, was 18 when he first met Virgo, and would travel down in the late-1960s and early 1970s to play others on the amateur scene at the time.
Appearing five times on Big Break as a professional himself, he revealed how Virgo had once let him into the secret of one of his trick shots.
They became lifelong friends, both playing together on the professional circuit in what was arguably snooker's heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, before Virgo's stint on Big Break firmly established him as a household name, known to millions besides snooker fans.
"He was a real character," said Dodd, now 71. "I played him many times. We'd play for money, and he's often taken money off me.
"I'd play there with him and [later professional player] Dennis Hughes. They were the top amateurs at the time. Yeah, he was an all-round great guy."
Dodd, who turned professional himself in the early 1980s, reached the final of the 1987 English Professional Championship to lose to Tony Meo, appeared on Big Break five times.
The show, hosted by Jim Davidson, saw professional players teamed up with a contestant.
The contestant would answer questions and how many they got right would dictate how much time the professional had at the baize. Virgo, with his deadpan delivery, was the northern counterpoint to ebullient southerner Davidson, and the pair became one of TV's most popular double acts.
"Big Break really helped snooker, as you got to see the other side of the players, their characters."
But it was Virgo's trick shots that really stole the show.
They were, said Dodd, part of Virgo's repertoire from the days of competitions and exhibition matches in the smoke-filled, beer-drenched snooker halls that they both learned their craft in.
"You'd go and play matches on the circuit with Ray Reardon and whoever and then the trick shots would come out at the end. JV was very good at them."
Dodd showed the BBC one particular trick in which two reds are nestled near the centre cushion, at an angle that looks impossible to pot them both from.
But after retrieving the balls from the pocket, he revealed the trick - they were glued together.
"JV showed this to me on Big Break, and he actually gave me the two reds as a souvenir.
"It's a hard shot, but JV had a method. He glued them," he said.
Snooker is still popular on TV, although not to the extent of drawing audiences like Big Break's, or that of the 1985 Steve Davis v Dennis Taylor World Snooker Championship that drew 18 million viewers. But it is no longer drawing the ordinary people into the clubs like it used to.
Perhaps younger punters just do not have the attention span or the time required for a game, Dodd mused.
"I would be playing until two and three in the morning," he said. "I think it takes too long for the younger kids."
Virgo retired from the game in 1994, and became a commentator, earning himself the moniker "The voice of snooker".
Dodd said his friend – who he last saw about two years ago – dedicated his autobiography, Say Goodnight JV, to him.
"He was a real character. Just a cracking bloke," he added.
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Category: General Sports
