0:00:04 > 0:00:07Relaxed...cool,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09just waiting for the world title.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15At the table, taking the last four balls
0:00:15 > 0:00:18is a former champion on five occasions,
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Welshman Ray Reardon.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23There you go.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25I've still got it.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36And there it goes.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Throughout the 1970s, Ray Reardon dominated the world of snooker.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44He won the World Championship six times.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47The game became hugely popular on television
0:00:47 > 0:00:49and he was its biggest star.
0:00:50 > 0:00:51CHEERING
0:01:05 > 0:01:10- What is the fascination of this game to you?- It's colourful.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14It's artistic. You can...should...
0:01:14 > 0:01:17or try to make the white ball do what you want it to do.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Oh, it's ambiguous.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22How do you mean, ambiguous?
0:01:22 > 0:01:25One day you can do everything, and another day you can do nothing.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29- You know, it's as frustrating as it is fascinating.- Yes.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34The tough competitor with the twinkling eyes had been shaped
0:01:34 > 0:01:36by his early years in the South Wales valleys,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38where he was born in 1932.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Tredegar, where I was born, what a lovely little place.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49It had a population of roughly about 15,000, I suppose, in those days.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53And going back to 90 in the mid '40s, if you like.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59This is where it all happened, right behind me,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02number 57, Whitworth Terrace. My word,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04that's going back a few years.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07As I look down here, I can see there's all sun patios and everything out here.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10They must be expecting hot weather sometime in any case.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14But that's nice because this is where it all happened, where I learned to play.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I made my own little footballs out of pieces of paper
0:02:17 > 0:02:22and marbles and the usual games that kids do.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26And Uncle Dan who came to live with us later on was a master chess player.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30He was the one who got me going in the world of billiards and snooker.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32He got me a small 3 by 2 billiard table
0:02:32 > 0:02:35and we played with balls that wouldn't go in the pocket.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38And he said you want smaller ones, like little marbles.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41And as a result they went in the pocket, and if it works
0:02:41 > 0:02:44and you make them go in the pocket, it encourages you to play more.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47And all the other brothers took me to the billiard hall
0:02:47 > 0:02:49and it was absolutely magic.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56I tell you what, these steps didn't used to be there at the start of it.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58It makes it very hard these days coming up here.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01That was just a run down there, there was nothing,
0:03:01 > 0:03:03there was no road, this was just mountain.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06And just up there, we used to be in the mud,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09we used to dig holes in the mountain, where we used to put seats in it,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12have a pipe coming out...
0:03:12 > 0:03:15Cooked some nice jacket potatoes.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Smoke paper, brown paper.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Naughty, isn't it?
0:03:22 > 0:03:25I remember your face like it was yesterday.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28But names, well, I can't remember what happened yesterday sometimes, can I?
0:03:28 > 0:03:31- There's not many of us left. - There isn't at all.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35They said they were going to come and find people, and here you've turned up.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39How wonderful, isn't that fantastic? Next-door neighbour.
0:03:39 > 0:03:4370 bloody years ago and he wants me to remember his name.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45I can't remember what happened yesterday.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Sometimes I forget my own name.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55See how Tredegar has changed over the years.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Going into the '70s and '80s, it really changed.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02And as I'm walking up Castle Street here, and I look down at
0:04:02 > 0:04:07the clock tower in the middle there, that used to be the bus station.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12All the bus stops, wherever you wanted to go, were parked around the clock.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15And there was pubs on the corner,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18everything evolved around it,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22it was a hive of activity. I look down here today and I see it
0:04:22 > 0:04:27boarded up here, closed there, nothing here, the buses are no more.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32And I thought how sad this is. What do people do these days?
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Ray Reardon is a highly intelligent person
0:04:38 > 0:04:40who still regrets not having enough education.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45But he passed up the chance to go to grammar school, following his father
0:04:45 > 0:04:49down the pit at 14, and free to pursue his passion for snooker.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Of course, going down the mines,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56you just followed in your father's footsteps, really.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00You didn't know the dangers or the pitfalls that were there.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04You didn't realise what type of hard, hazardous life,
0:05:04 > 0:05:06risky life, it was going to be
0:05:06 > 0:05:09because of the fact that you followed in your dad's footsteps.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12If it's safe for him, it's safe for me.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16And of course I started off, as you say, 14 years of age, 1946,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18I started in Ty Trist.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23And when you go onto the coal face, you're assigned to a collier.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27You become the assistant, for want of a better word.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30I went with a guy, he was a scrat.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35In other words, he was mean and he put me above all people with him.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38So the first week I worked my socks off,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41expecting to get a decent pocket money.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I would say a decent pocket money would be something like a pound.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48£1.25p.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50He gave me 50p.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Very disappointed.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58So the following week, I'd still been assigned to him,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00I didn't work so hard that week.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Eventually, I was there by myself.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12So I became a coal hewer, at an early age of 16.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14My money went up
0:06:14 > 0:06:18and suddenly I'm earning something like three pounds a week.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23I went home with three pounds a week, in something like 1948.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27It helped my snooker. I could play more games of snooker.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30It would take a bit of pressure away, you know.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37The young Reardon's game developed steadily in the snooker halls of Tredegar,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40especially the Workmen's Institute, with its seven tables.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46Then, at the age of 16, he made it through to the Youth Championship of Great Britain,
0:06:46 > 0:06:52an all-Welsh final between Ray Reardon of Tredegar and Jack Carney of Pontardawe.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56We go to Langham House, the BBC,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Sports Report on a Saturday.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Introduced by Angus Mackay. Do you remember Sports Report?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05# Brump a dum, brump a dum... #
0:07:05 > 0:07:08And here I am in Langham House!
0:07:08 > 0:07:12We got up to the top tower where he is, and you go into this huge room
0:07:12 > 0:07:16and there's an enormous mic hanging down from the ceiling
0:07:16 > 0:07:21like a Lord Haw-Haw mic, when he used to broadcast over the war.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25And there he is, and he's talking to the viewers and he says,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28"We've got an all-Welsh final of the Youth Championship of Great Britain
0:07:28 > 0:07:33"and in the final we've got Jack Carney of Pontardawe and Ray Reardon of Tredegar.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37"Tredegar," he says. "Ebbw Vale, that's the one," he says, "that's where Nye Bevan was born."
0:07:37 > 0:07:41He doesn't know where Nye Bevan was born. He was born in Tredegar.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Ebbw Vale was his constituency,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47so here I am, 16 years of age,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52from now on I'm not going to trust any interviewer at all, because they don't know anything.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00APPLAUSE
0:08:02 > 0:08:05I don't believe it.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Are there certain shots that are foolproof?
0:08:08 > 0:08:12- Those are very easy, as you can see, first time.- That's amazing.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Are there any shots that are foolproof
0:08:14 > 0:08:17in the sense that a fool like myself can do them?
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Oh, yes, I can set you up with a shot that you can do yourself.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22- Would you like to try one? - I would, sir. Let me get a cue.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Get a cue.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27LAUGHTER
0:08:34 > 0:08:36They set me up for that.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45These days, the hub of the game in Tredegar is the Mark Williams Snooker Club.
0:08:45 > 0:08:51Ray visits the club on a day when he's one of three world champions on view around the tables.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54There's the club's owner, of course, and the great Stephen Hendry,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56who's practising with Mark.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01And there's even another local hero on hand - an old friend of Ray's.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04It's Doug Mountjoy.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08I haven't seen Doug for years and it's nice to see him back in the game again.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And one of the reasons why he's come back in the game again is because of
0:09:11 > 0:09:15the conditions that they have here at Mark's club.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18I remember coming here five, seven years ago,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20and I can assure you, it was the pits.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22It was awful, it was disgusting.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26So the effort they've put in to make this as it is now has been tremendous,
0:09:26 > 0:09:27it's been enormous.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32And you can see, you've got young people in here of 8, 10, 12, 14 years of age.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36This is where the business of the game starts, you know.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39I learnt to play in Tredegar Workmen's Institute,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41which is not far from here, just in town.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45And when I was there, all my ambition was to become champion of the club.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48And I'm sure these young, aspiring players,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52that should be their aim, to be champion of the Mark Williams Club.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Bearing in mind that I had two shillings a week pocket money,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and it was thruppence a game,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02so loser pays.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05So you could have eight games of snooker for two shillings.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09But if you lost them all, you're skint for the week.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12So you'd better learn to play quick or take up something else.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17All your other players, your mates as you'd call them,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20on a Saturday night they'd say to me, "Ray,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23"we're going to go to the dance hall at Herbie Jones in Tredegar here.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25"But first we'll have a couple of pints.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28"We'll meet at seven o'clock around the clock tower."
0:10:28 > 0:10:30And I would say, "Which pub are you going to use?
0:10:30 > 0:10:34"The Punch House, the Golden Lion, the Cambrian," and they'd say,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39"No, we're going to the Punch House, have a game of snooker and darts, a few pints and a game of pool."
0:10:39 > 0:10:42And I said, "I'll be there at nine o'clock."
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Because I will come here, into the billiard hall,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48and have two hours' practice, then I'd pick them up,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52have a game of darts, have a few pints and go to the dance hall,
0:10:52 > 0:10:54look for a girl, as you know.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57And so I missed out on nothing.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03Being a miner did have a lot of influence on my snooker career.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Merely the fact that you play with all these working-class people.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10They were so supportive of you and you didn't realise it
0:11:10 > 0:11:13until you went back down the pit the next day and everybody would be asking,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15"How did you get on yesterday? Did you win?"
0:11:15 > 0:11:18"No, I lost, but I'll get him next time."
0:11:18 > 0:11:22And that helped my attitude to snooker, to make me more competitive.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Ray's snooker was thriving,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30but the pits of South Wales were going into serious decline.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34The young miner went to the Midlands to find work.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38You could make a living there, but the pit was still a dangerous place.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Something serious happened to me in the mines.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47And that changed my life altogether really, because I got buried.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49And when you're buried in the mines,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52you're under about four or five tonnes of rubble
0:11:52 > 0:11:56and you can't move a muscle and you're doubled over, and you can feel
0:11:56 > 0:12:01your blood going out of your system, you open your mouth to breathe
0:12:01 > 0:12:03and all the particles of dust goes into your mouth
0:12:03 > 0:12:07and you think I mustn't do that, I must breathe through my nose.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09And my blood pressure was soaring
0:12:09 > 0:12:11and I had to concentrate on something.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15And I was lucky to have a brother who was 17 years younger than I,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19brother Ron, and I played marbles with him in my mind.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21Thousands of games of marbles.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26And eventually I got my blood pressure right down, I nearly stopped by heart rate,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28I got it down low and I survived.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32So I said, "I don't think I'm worried about a game of snooker,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36"there's other things in life, it's not the end of the world, a game of snooker."
0:12:36 > 0:12:39But it's so essential to those who play it.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41- It's been a pleasure.- Any time, Ray.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43We've seen Doug over there, we've had a word with him.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Full of legends in here today.
0:12:49 > 0:12:55After being buried alive in the pits, Ray Reardon left coal mining in the late 1950s.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Education and experience hadn't prepared him
0:12:58 > 0:13:01for any other career, but he hit on the idea of the police force.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05The training regime came as a bit of a shock.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12It was unbelievable, the guy in charge of the keep-fit -
0:13:12 > 0:13:15don't forget, I'd been down the mines for 11 years,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18I'm not going to be fit, I can't have, in those conditions.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Anyhow, I'm at the college
0:13:20 > 0:13:23and on the Wednesday they went on a three-mile run.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28For the first 150 yards, I'm all right.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Then, after that, I walked.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35So I'm going to walk three miles, it's going to take me an hour and a quarter, hour and a half.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37So when I got back, he's still there.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39I go to gate, and he goes click.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43He said, "PC Reardon," he said, "You're not going to become a policeman."
0:13:43 > 0:13:46And I looked at the sergeant and said,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50"I'm going to become a policeman." He said, "How do you make that out?"
0:13:50 > 0:13:52I said, "When I'm out on the beat and I get a call
0:13:52 > 0:13:55"to go down to trouble at a pub somewhere, I'll walk down.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00"By the time I get there, they'll have hit holy hell out of each other, and I just pick them up."
0:14:00 > 0:14:03He said, "I think you may become a policeman."
0:14:03 > 0:14:06And of course, I continued my snooker.
0:14:06 > 0:14:12In fact, I achieved my ambition of winning the English Amateur Championship in 1963/64,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14whilst I was in the police force.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16And then later on, some good luck came to me
0:14:16 > 0:14:18to go on a tour of South Africa.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22As a result of that, of course, I eventually turned professional.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26And then along came colour television.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Pot Black was a sudden-death competition, which transformed
0:14:29 > 0:14:31the fortunes of snooker.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34But taking part was a risky venture for Ray,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36who hadn't long turned professional.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41What if I take part in Pot Black?
0:14:41 > 0:14:45It's a one-frame knockout, sudden death, and you lose in the first round.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48So you don't pot many balls.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50And you're try to sell yourself by advertising, sending circulars
0:14:50 > 0:14:52out to clubs, to secretaries.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55They see this Pot Black, and you've gone out first round
0:14:55 > 0:14:59and you haven't scored anything and they say, "We don't want him in our club."
0:14:59 > 0:15:04That's a very dodgy, that's very risky. So I took the risk.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08I was one of the lucky ones because I won the first one.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11In 1969. And I'd have to change my career.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18The 1970s saw the World Championship become a big TV event.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23The long, intense battles of these snooker finals were perfect for Reardon.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27He was a great potter, but he also had the gritty determination
0:15:27 > 0:15:30and the tactical skill you needed to win.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35CHEERING
0:15:40 > 0:15:45But above all, Ray Reardon was an entertainer.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49In the '70s and '80s, the snooker calendar wasn't jammed with tournaments.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52So Ray spent the summers on the holiday camp circuit,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55entertaining the crowds with his repertoire of trick shots.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59And an invitation to all-comers to have a go with a world champion.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Snooker has transformed itself
0:16:10 > 0:16:14since those early days of celebrity in the '70s.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17It's fast, dynamic and full of appeal to young and old alike.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20It certainly appeals to Ray Reardon,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22who relishes the new style of the game.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Coming to the Welsh Open, I love that, especially in Newport.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33It's great to see the passion for the game still strong in Wales.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Thank you. Thanks, Ray.
0:16:35 > 0:16:41I like just slipping into the auditorium when it's empty.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Before the crowds come.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48It's great to get a feeling for the space, it's like theatre really.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52And for a long time, it was my stage and I loved every moment.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56At the moment, I'm just absorbing what is here,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58what I can use for myself when I'm playing.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01I mean, where we are now, we've got an empty arena.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Imagine it full.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07You can imagine goose pimples coming on your face
0:17:07 > 0:17:11and up the back of your arm, and I look around and I think,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13"Wow, this is going to be something today!"
0:17:13 > 0:17:18And then I want to just get the general feeling of how far I am away from the audience.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20I don't like to be too far.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25If possible, I like to communicate with them in some way, shape or form.
0:17:25 > 0:17:26Yes.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34Yes.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39This tells me which pocket to play, which is more friendly than the other one.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Just by general looking at it, feeling it.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48It's a world of experience which tells you...
0:17:48 > 0:17:52that I'd be better potting them up there than in here,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56and I'd be better potting them in there than in here.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00It favours you fractionally, marginally. I'm talking...
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Oh, a 128th of an inch or something, you know.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Something infinitesimal, really.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11I now look where the cameras are.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13I know there will be three of them.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18There'll be one coming down the table, elongated sort of thing.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22And you'll have two coming down as far as the middle pocket, I suppose.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25That's very general. And I want to know where they are
0:18:25 > 0:18:28for my purpose, not for their purpose.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Here is a media which I'm going to exploit.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38I'm going to sell myself to the public just by doing various things.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Where I twaddle my ear or pinch my nose,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46or go in your pockets for a bit of chalk or something, adjust your tie.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49I'm doing it to attract attention,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52that they will focus on me rather than him.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55I mean, this is free.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Sell yourself. I mean, you've got to pay a lot of money
0:18:58 > 0:19:00to get on television. I can do it for nothing.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06You're aware of it, you know.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10You make sure that the cameras will find you.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Because when you get up, they're not expecting you to get up.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Get on him, where's he going, what's he doing?
0:19:17 > 0:19:18What's he doing over there?
0:19:18 > 0:19:23And suddenly they become aware of this person here.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26I mean...a bit of mileage in you, isn't there?
0:19:26 > 0:19:30And you've just got to exploit it, I'm afraid.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35Sometimes you may have heard...
0:19:35 > 0:19:38or people may have heard one of the commentators say,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40"My God, he's gone into the zone by the look of him."
0:19:40 > 0:19:44In other words, he's not aware of anything that's going on around him.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48When he's playing in this sort of form,
0:19:48 > 0:19:53you can't afford to let him in with reds spread all over the table like this.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56He's right in with... like if the balls are his.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58And he's nurturing them,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01and I'm going to take you on, come with me and do this.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03And they do exactly as he says. It's wonderful.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07And it isn't very often you go into that zone,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09but when you get in there...
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Oh, I can't explain it, it's... You never miss anything,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17your positional play is accurate, it's spot-on,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21within inches of where you want it to go, nothing is difficult.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24And you're playing so well that even if you did make
0:20:24 > 0:20:27a bit of a loose shot, you're playing so well
0:20:27 > 0:20:31that you can recover from it because you're on form, as they say.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34- You're looking well. - Amazing, isn't it?- Bloody hell. How old are you now?
0:20:34 > 0:20:37I shouldn't say, that's a bit rude, really.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40I'll be 80 in October, let's put it that way.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Yeah, you don't look a day over 60, love.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46He's a flatterer.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Do you still get the buzz when you walk out
0:20:48 > 0:20:50and you see the arena glistening, ready to go?
0:20:50 > 0:20:52You're bound to really, aren't you?
0:20:52 > 0:20:56It's always changing, but it's changing for the good.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00I've only put one tweet out today, and look, there it is. How's that?
0:21:00 > 0:21:05- And I've got a plug there.- That's the only tweet...- I've got a plug
0:21:05 > 0:21:08- on the Facebook. What do you think of that?- Hi, boss.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Surely, you'd say the word "legend" is grossly overused in sport.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18But for a man of that stature and character and personality
0:21:18 > 0:21:20and warmth, legend is the right word, isn't it?
0:21:20 > 0:21:24- That table was so fast. - It was, wasn't it? Lightning.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27You just rolled out and it kept rolling.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And you only get this limited time.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34I think the thing that Ray developed first, more than any other player,
0:21:34 > 0:21:35he dominated the table.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Even if he wasn't actually on the table playing,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41he kind of had an aura, walked around the table, laughing with the crowd.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45All of a sudden, you're almost frightened to play against him sometimes.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49"Oh, it's Ray Reardon at the table, I'll wait till he gets away from the table before I come to the table."
0:21:49 > 0:21:51He had that wonderful aura about him.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54He'd give you a steely look sometimes if he thought
0:21:54 > 0:21:57you'd played a foul and you didn't admit it or something like that.
0:21:57 > 0:21:58He'd give you the eyeball.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01So everything was precise with Ray, everything had to be done right.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03All on the last two balls then.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07The little forced smile sometimes, I knew it wasn't always
0:22:07 > 0:22:11the happy-go-lucky, jovial chappie he portrayed sometimes because he was a...
0:22:11 > 0:22:13I'm just trying to think of the right word.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15He was a gritty, determined character,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17that was the thing about Ray.
0:22:17 > 0:22:18Yes.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21'Do your remember I played you in Pontins?
0:22:22 > 0:22:25'I was English amateur champion,'
0:22:25 > 0:22:28and the amateurs qualified and played against the pros.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30And you got starts there.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Anyway, the draws come out and who have I drawn?
0:22:33 > 0:22:37Ray Reardon, the world champion. I was absolutely thrilled, honestly.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Just what you needed.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43The good news was, we were playing next morning at half past ten,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47which, as you know, you had a reputation of not being very good in the morning.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51- I like them thinking that.- I'm getting up, I'm thinking 25 start.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54- Hey-hey!- I like that, I like that.
0:22:54 > 0:23:01Anyway, I won one frame on the black when I cleared up. I got a 25 start.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05To be honest with you, I did not see you. You gave me a lesson, right.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07- And I understood that. - But you need that.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10But what you told me afterwards always stayed with me.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14I said you played really well, Ray, and the words you said to me was...
0:23:16 > 0:23:22.."Played well? I had to play well to beat you, giving you 25 start."
0:23:22 > 0:23:24Well, I felt ten foot high.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Honestly, I've gone from being on the floor like that.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29It was a very nice thing for you to say
0:23:29 > 0:23:33because I've learned from it, I learned from what you'd done to me.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35It's so important, isn't it, really?
0:23:35 > 0:23:40I think six times champion of the world is a wonderful achievement,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42and what I see about great champions is
0:23:42 > 0:23:46they always seem to find something at the right time in the match.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48It doesn't have to be the last frame,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51- but you find something when you need it the most.- Yes.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54It's not at the end of a frame always or the end of a match,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58it's when they really need it, when they struggle a bit, or they can see their opponent
0:23:58 > 0:24:02starting to play well, they find something, and that's why they're champions.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05But sometimes it doesn't go as you'd like it to go,
0:24:05 > 0:24:11and somewhere along the way, you've got to find a way to learn to win when you're slightly off.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Would you like to have played against these players today? You'd have loved it, wouldn't you?
0:24:15 > 0:24:17I'd have loved it. I'd absolutely love it.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20But I don't know how I'd cope with them because
0:24:20 > 0:24:22I was only looking at it the other day
0:24:22 > 0:24:25and looking at the speeds of the table,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29how the balls open up when you go into them, and they just spread.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31- They didn't spread in our days.- No.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35So the tables are friendly, everything is straight.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38- There's no nap on the table like in our day.- That's right.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41They can back their ability of hitting the ball straight,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45so you've got to be a good cueist, have a good nerve, back your ability and you can pot it
0:24:45 > 0:24:48- because the white will go straight. - Dead straight.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51But having said that, it makes potting a little bit easier.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56- But it also makes it far more difficult to defend.- Yes.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14Ray Reardon stayed at the top of the game right into the mid-1980s.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19But in 1991, he retired and has spent the last two decades
0:25:19 > 0:25:21on the balmy shores of Torbay,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23where he enjoys his life to the full.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27People have often asked me why did I go to Torbay,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31the English Riviera. I never knew it was the English Riviera
0:25:31 > 0:25:36until I got down here, and that was a result of my holiday camp playing.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44I'm the president of Churston Golf Club.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47That's one of the reasons I came here in the first place.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51'It's a friendly place that caters for players of all ages.'
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- Are you all right?- Very well, thank you.- Excellent, good luck.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57'I often play a round of golf with the manager.'
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Great shot.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03'Simon Bawden. And of course, I've played loads of golf with the members.'
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Nobody more surprised.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08'I'm not bad, I'm playing off 13 at the moment,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12'which for me at my age, it's not about handicap, quite good, really.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14'I don't hit it far enough.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17'There's people up there can throw it further than I can hit it.'
0:26:17 > 0:26:22- What a junior side we've got here. - We've got a hundred juniors now. - A hundred now?
0:26:22 > 0:26:25- 100, of which 12 are young girls. - I mentioned earlier on 80-odd.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30- It's a hundred now? Fantastic! - But 12 of them are young girls. - Young girls.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Some of them, the bag's bigger than... I mean, they're this size.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Seven or eight years of age.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38The thing is, the club's got to be very accessible.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41- And it's got to live in modern times now.- Absolutely.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48Oh, yes. That's a cracker! That's a beautiful shot.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51I came on the practice green the other day on the putting range
0:26:51 > 0:26:55and I saw one of our lads and I said, "Hello, I haven't seen you for a while.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59"How are you keeping?" I said, "You look well." He said, "I'm all right."
0:26:59 > 0:27:01I said, "How's your game?"
0:27:01 > 0:27:04He said, "It's awful at the moment, I can't play at the moment,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07"I've got a new job and I haven't got time to practise."
0:27:07 > 0:27:12- Haven't got time to practice?! You FIND time.- Yeah, of course you do.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15You make your own time. That's the passion, the love, the affection.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19- It's not going to come to you. - How often did you practise, Ray?
0:27:19 > 0:27:21You could never get me off the table.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24OK, Ray, two putts.
0:27:26 > 0:27:27That's not bad.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Oh, go on then, knock it in.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41- Well done, Ray.- Well done. How about that?- Excellent.- Thank you.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45- Thank you, Mr President, very kind. Cheers.- Thank you, Simon.- Pleasure.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Yes, well, it's been a bit of a journey, hasn't it?
0:27:55 > 0:27:56Absolutely magic,
0:27:56 > 0:28:02from Tredegar, Whitworth Terrace, I've been around the world 12 times.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Met some wonderful people, feted everywhere.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08I couldn't have wished for better.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11I've been such a lucky chap, it's unbelievable.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14And here we are now, down in Devon, retired here,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16and it's absolutely glorious.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21Somebody once said snooker was a sign of a misspent youth.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Well, all I can say to those people is I wish I'd started earlier.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31It's been a great trip, I've loved every moment.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33I'd love to do it again.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media