Dennis Taylor


Dennis Taylor is a retired professional Northern Irish snooker player and commentator. Taylor won the 1985 World Snooker Championship, defeating Steve Davis in the final 18–17. The final holds the record for the highest viewership for a broadcast both in the United Kingdom after midnight, and on BBC2. Taylor had reached the final once previously, at the 1979 World Snooker Championship where he lost 24–16 to Terry Griffiths. Taylor reached the highest ranking of his career in 1979–1980, where he was second in the world.
Taylor won the 1984 Grand Prix the previous year, where he defeated Cliff Thorburn 10–2 in the final. After the World Championship success, he won the invitational 1987 Masters defeating Alex Higgins 9–8 in the final. Taylor is known for wearing specially designed glasses manufactured for snooker, often described as looking upside-down. He made the highest of his career at the 1987 Carling Challenge, a 141. Since his professional career finished, Taylor has played on the World Seniors Tour and has featured as a commentator on BBC snooker broadcasts. Alongside Izabela Hannah, he appeared on the third series of Strictly Come Dancing, finishing eighth.

Career

Early career

Born on 19 January 1949 in Coalisland, Northern Ireland, he was the son of a lorry driver, and had six siblings. As an amateur, he won the 1968 British Junior Billiards Championship. Taylor turned professional in 1972. That season he made his debut in the World Snooker Championship debut in the 1973 event, losing 8–9 to Cliff Thorburn in the first round. Over the next few years, Taylor reached the semi-finals at the event in 1975 where he lost 12–19 to Eddie Charlton, and 1977, losing to Thorburn 18–16. Two years later he reached the 1979 final, but lost 16–24 to qualifier Terry Griffiths. He reached his highest world ranking for the following season, second behind Steve Davis.
He reached the semi-final for a third time in 1984, losing to Davis. His mother died as he was beginning the new season at the 1984 Jameson International. He retired from the event before his quarter-final match against Silvino Francisco. However, he won the first ranking event of his career at the 1984 Grand Prix later that year defeating Thorburn 10–2 in the final.

World Snooker Champion

Following his first ranking tournament victory, Taylor played in the 1985 World Championship. Seeded 11th for the tournament, he defeated Francisco in the opening round 10–2, Eddie Charlton 13–6 in the second round, Cliff Thorburn 13–5, and Tony Knowles 16–5 to reach the final. In the final, he played three-time winner and world number one Steve Davis. In the four match, he trailed 0–7 after the first, but bounced back to trail 7–9 overnight after the second. Never being ahead, he took the match to a deciding frame with the scores tied at 17–17. Trailing at 62–44 to Davis in the deciding frame with five remaining. He potted a long, which he says was one of his best ever shots under pressure. He also potted the and to bring the score to 62–59 with one ball, worth seven points, remaining. Both players missed a shot on the, but it was finally potted by Taylor to win the championship.
The final is considered by many to be the greatest snooker match in history and was broadcast to a peak audience of 18 million viewers in the United Kingdom. this is the highest viewership of any broadcast after midnight in the country, and a record for any programme shown on BBC2. and is considered by many to be the greatest snooker match in history. On his return to Northern Ireland, Taylor was awarded the key to the city of Coalisland. Taylor also received a victory parade that 10,000 attended.

Later career

Taylor reached his fourth ranking event final at the 1985 Grand Prix, later that year. He faced Davis again and went to a deciding frame, but this time was beaten 9–10. this was the longest one-day final in history with a playing time of over 10 hours. In defence of his world championship, at the 1986 World Snooker Championship, Taylor lost in the opening round 6–10 to Mike Hallett. In 1987 Taylor reached the final of the Masters for the only time in his career There he played countryman Alex Higgins, and trailed 5–8, but won the match 9–8. The win was the last time a player from Northern Ireland won a Triple Crown event until Mark Allen won the 2018 Masters. Taylor made the highest break of his career, a 141, at the 1987 Carling Challenge, which he won defeating Joe Johnson in the final.
At the 1990 World Cup, Taylor teamed with Higgins and Tommy Murphy to form a Northern Irish team. After failing to win the tournament, Higgins threatened Taylor saying "if you ever come back to Northern Ireland I’ll have you shot". Shortly afterwards they met in the quarter-finals of the Irish Masters, and a determined Taylor won 5–2. In the next decade, his form dropped, and he fell out of the top 16 in the world rankings in 1995. Taylor retired as a professional in 2000.
Alongside other players managed by Barry Hearn and Chas & Dave, Taylor featured on a music single called Snooker Loopy. The song spent 11 weeks in the UK Singles Chart in 1996, reaching a peak of sixth. Taylor was renowned for the glasses he wore during matches, with their large frame and unusual 'upside-down' structure that is required to avoid a player looking over the top of the lenses when down on a shot. The spectacles were a joking point on the song, and also commented on specifically by John Virgo in other media. During his career, Taylor won the Irish Professional Championship on six occasions.
After retiring from the Tour, Taylor plays matches on the World Seniors Tour and been a commentator and analyst for snooker events for the BBC. In commentary alongside Clive Everton in 1998, a disagreement around the amount of required for a player to win was had. Everton, who had incorrectly said one, fell from his chair, and reached out and grabbed Taylor by the necktie. The tie was pulled so hard, that it was later cutoff to allow Taylor to continue commentary.

Personal life

Taylor made regular guest appearances on snooker television show game show Big Break. In 2005 Taylor took part in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing, reaching eighth place with his partner Izabela Hannah. In February 1990, Taylor opened the Royal Mail sorting office in Blackburn, Lancashire before playing a single-frame challenge match. Taylor currently lives in Llay near Wrexham. His son Damien is a professional golf coach.

Performance and rankings timeline


Career finals

Ranking finals: 6 (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Legend
World Championship
Other

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreRef
Runner-up1.1979World Championship 16–24
Winner1.1984Grand Prix 10–2
Winner2.1985World Championship 18–17
Runner-up2.1985Grand Prix 9–10
Runner-up3.1987Grand Prix 7–10
Runner-up4.1990Asian Open 3–9

Non-ranking finals: 36 (17 titles, 19 runner-ups)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreRef
Runner-up1.1974Canadian Open 6–8
Runner-up2.1975Pot Black 0–1
Runner-up3.1976Pot Black 0–1
Runner-up4.1978Irish Professional Championship 7–21
Runner-up5.1979Bombay International John Spencer
Runner-up6.1980Tolly Cobbold Classic 4–5
Winner1.1980Irish Professional Championship 21–15
Runner-up7.1980Pontins Camber Sands 7–9
Runner-up8.1980The Classic 1–4
Runner-up9.1980Australian Masters John Spencer
Winner2.1981Irish Professional Championship 22–21
Runner-up10.1981International Open 0–9
Runner-up11.1982Tolly Cobbold Classic 3–8
Winner3.1982Irish Professional Championship 16–13
Runner-up12.1983Irish Professional Championship 11–16
Winner4.1984Costa Del Sol Classic 5–2
Runner-up13.1984Professional Snooker League John Virgo
Winner5.1985Irish Professional Championship 10–5
Winner6.1985Thailand Masters 4–0
Winner7.1985Canadian Masters 9–5
Winner8.1985Kit Kat Break for World Champions 9–5
Winner9.1986Irish Professional Championship 10–7
Winner10.1986Australian Masters 3–2
Runner-up14.1986Malaysian Masters 1–2
Runner-up15.1986Hong Kong Masters 3–8
Winner11.1986Carlsberg Challenge 8–3
Winner12.1987The Masters 9–8
Winner13.1987Irish Professional Championship Joe O'Boye9–2
Winner14.1987Tokyo Masters 6–3
Winner15.1987Carling Challenge 8–5
Winner16.1987Matchroom Professional Championship 10–3
Winner17.1987Canadian Masters 9–7
Runner-up16.1988Irish Professional Championship 4–9
Runner-up17.1988 7–10
Runner-up18.1990Irish Masters 4–9
Runner-up19.1995Charity Challenge 1–9

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

Team finals: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Other wins