Snooker lost one of its most iconic figures this week as John Virgo died aged 79, but his loss will be felt far beyond the baize, such was his charm and charisma.
Those who remember his playing days may be dwindling, but Virgo was one of the best in the world in the late 1970s and as snooker hit its boom period in the 80s.
On his way to winning the 1979 UK Championship he beat future world champions Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor, before downing the reigning Crucible king Terry Griffiths in the final.
He won tournaments as varied as the Pontins Professional in Prestatyn to the Bombay International and came closest to becoming world champion in ’79 when he reached the Crucible semis.
It was a really good career on the table, but it was his work in the commentary box and in front of the television camera that took him from talented cueist to national treasure.
Virgo showed his flair for entertainment while he was still playing the game, tickling punters with his impressions of his fellow players.
Exhibitions were a big money-spinner for snooker stars away from tournaments and the Lancastrian honed his act in front of audiences around the country so well that he was launched into TV stardom.
Many will remember Virgo most for his role on Big Break as the dry, sidekick to frontman Jim Davidson on the primetime BBC snooker-themed game show.
It feels like another world now, but the nation sat down on a Saturday night to see the pair cheer on snooker players trying to win a few hundred quid and maybe a cruise around the Med for lucky contestants.
JV would demonstrate an awe-inspiring trick shot for the rookie cueists to replicate as they tried to win one of his jazzy waistcoats, before the contestant told Davidson what the capital of Austria is to allow Jimmy White to pot a few more balls.
‘Pot as many balls as you can,’ Virgo encouraged the professionals who were trying to win their new pal a few pounds, before signing off with another catchphrase: ‘G’night JV.’
It seems monumentally quaint these days, but it was a huge hit, attracting over 13 million viewers at its peak and Virgo was a star thanks to his easy charm and dry wit.
The trappings of fame in the 90s followed as Virgo was the recipient of a Gotcha on Noel’s House Party and starred alongside Dave Benson-Phillips in panto.
‘I’d have had to get to the semi-final of the Worlds to earn as much money as I was doing on the pantomime,’ Virgo told the Talking Snooker podcast in 2021. ‘I’ve been lucky. It’s all down the game of snooker, so you can’t say anything bad about snooker to me.’
He added: ‘I remember Noel Edmonds saying to me, “this is the best line-up they’ve ever had” because the viewing figures were going through the roof!
‘They had Dad’s Army, Big Break, followed by Noel’s House Party. We were getting nearly 14 million viewers on a Saturday night. Noel’s House Party was getting 17 or 18 million and Noel said it was Big Break bringing in the audience and they were staying with us.
‘We ran for 10 years. It was incredible. We did nearly 200 shows. Fantastic.’
Such was his level of fame that he was hobnobbing with figures far beyond the snooker world.
The self-described ‘dour northern socialist’ said of Davidson: ‘We didn’t talk about politics a lot. He was a big Margaret Thatcher fan. In fact he took me to a thing once and introduced me to her because she’d said to him: “Dennis and I love Big Break, and that John Virgo, how funny is he!”
‘Anyway, we finished up watching a firework display for about 15 minutes and Margaret Thatcher was holding my hand! If my pals would have seen me I’d have got a whack round the head.’
Big Break eventually faded away but Virgo continued to shine in the commentary box, with his voice the soundtrack to many of snooker’s most memorable moments over the last four decades.