0:00:11 > 0:00:16Hello, everybody. This is the real story of the greatest snooker final of all time.
0:00:16 > 0:00:22Let's begin at the beginning. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield!
0:00:22 > 0:00:27The date, April 27th 1985.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Let me introduce your finalists.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35First, the player looking to cast off the tag of nearly man,
0:00:35 > 0:00:43fresh from his Grand Prix win, hoping to go one step further than he ever has at the Crucible,
0:00:43 > 0:00:50the 36-year-old smiley Irish man, Dennis Taylor!
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Next, a man as serious on the baize as he is off it.
0:01:01 > 0:01:08He's 27 years old and he's already won this title three times.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11He is the world number one.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15He is your number one seed.
0:01:15 > 0:01:21Please welcome Romford Slim, Steve Davis!
0:01:54 > 0:01:56The famous snooker theme tune.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00But then again, in 1985 every sports theme was popular.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Everybody knew them because you didn't need a satellite dish, you just needed the BBC.
0:02:04 > 0:02:10MUSIC: VARIOUS SPORTS THEME TUNES
0:02:21 > 0:02:24The music that acted as a cue to a roll call of very famous names.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27In 1985, there were only four channels.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31So if you presented sport on the telly you were as famous as the players themselves.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35Hello. Well, a pretty frustrating weekend all round...
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Tonight we concentrate on the Winter Olympics.
0:02:37 > 0:02:38That's it, as far as I'm concerned.
0:02:38 > 0:02:44The famous Crucible theatre, here in Sheffield, which has seen a few dramas in its time,
0:02:44 > 0:02:50gearing itself up for the last lap of the 1985 World Professional Snooker Championship.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54It is, as I say, a remarkable final, and I'm glad you're with us to enjoy it here tonight.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59I remember absolutely nothing of the last day, other than David Vine.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04And if someone had told us that 18.5 million people were going to be tuned in...
0:03:04 > 0:03:12As the hour reaches midnight, this final frame has now been in progress for 45 minutes.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15I think it was a trauma. We were out of our depth.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Both players under great strain.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21That particular night, snooker was the winner there.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25The fact that I was involved in something where so
0:03:25 > 0:03:31many people remember what they were doing, where they were when they were watching it, you know - wow!
0:03:35 > 0:03:38For me, the '85 final meant staying up late.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41I was seven years old and had never seen the other side of midnight.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44It sounds silly, but that's the point, really.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48It was more than just a snooker game and it meant to many things to so many different people.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52I'm going to try and harness that. I'm going to travel to all four home nations,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54starting at the southernmost tip of the Isle of Wight.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Because in the beginning, there was David Icke.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02David Icke was, if you like, the Robin to David Vine's Batman,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05so he's the perfect person to catch up with first on our travels
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and find out a little bit more about the tournament as a whole.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12David, Colin, I'm in your control. Where do you want to go?
0:04:12 > 0:04:13Let's go home.
0:04:21 > 0:04:2425 years ago - there will be people watching now who weren't born.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Can you explain to me where snooker was? What was the state of the game?
0:04:28 > 0:04:33Snooker had been a real in-the-shadows sport, and then
0:04:33 > 0:04:37the BBC had the Pot Black programme and that gave it some public profile.
0:04:37 > 0:04:44This is the last Pot Black, the last edition of the longest-running snooker programme in the world.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47The programme that did so much to launch snooker into its modern era
0:04:47 > 0:04:50and the multi-million pound industry we see today.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52It was absolutely massive.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56In British terms, they were superstars, they were everywhere.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59And a lot of them had been in the game in the early days
0:04:59 > 0:05:03when they were thumbing a lift between exhibition games.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05And it happened so fast.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13The final, David, the most famous snooker match there has been and probably ever will be,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16but before that there was a lot of frames and a lot of games.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19What type of tournament was it up until that point?
0:05:19 > 0:05:21It was a real struggle that year.
0:05:21 > 0:05:27We had one really good game, I remember, between Ray Reardon and John Parrott, went to 13-12 to Ray.
0:05:27 > 0:05:33The rest of them, players were winning games comfortably and we had so much time to fill.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35LAUGHTER
0:05:45 > 0:05:49When you're building to the climax of a tournament over two weeks, and now
0:05:49 > 0:05:55you're filling time with knockabout exhibition games, because the semifinals have been over so easily,
0:05:55 > 0:06:01then you think, well, this is a bloody nightmare of a tournament coming up.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04- COMMENTATOR:- Steve Davis is really
0:06:04 > 0:06:06riding on the crest of a wave at the moment.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Brimful of confidence.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15I was probably mentally in as good a shape as you can get, and Dennis had reached embarrassment territory.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20Which is the ideal situation to get a player in. Then you've got to just drill him into the ground.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22I wonder what Dennis is thinking.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25'I thought, what's going on here? It was a bit embarrassing.'
0:06:25 > 0:06:28I wanted the floor to open up in the Crucible.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30I just didn't know where I was going.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I thought, "When am I going to get a proper chance?"
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Well, a perfect performance by Steve Davis.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Eight frames to nil.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46When Steve went 8-0 up in the final,
0:06:46 > 0:06:53you thought, "This is the disaster tournament of all world championships that have been covered."
0:06:53 > 0:06:56- # Could it be I'm falling in love - With you baby
0:06:56 > 0:07:01- # Could it be I'm falling in love - Won't you tell me
0:07:01 > 0:07:04# Could it be I'm falling in love... #
0:07:07 > 0:07:09In 1985, I was nine.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12My parents allowed me to stay up to watch the final.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15I was so tired, my eyes were straining to keep awake.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19This year will see my 14th visit to the Crucible.
0:07:19 > 0:07:20I even met my husband-to-be there.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24In the '80s, it wasn't just the presenters who took centre stage.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29Take a walk into any commentary box, and you would find giants of broadcasting.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Taken by Smith, lovely pass inside by Smith.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36The Scots, like bloodhounds on the scent here.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Steve Ovett coming home to take the gold medal!
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Ayrton Senna is up to fourth position ahead of Schumacher.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45COMMENTARY INDISTINCT
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Ooh, I say, what a volley!
0:07:49 > 0:07:55Snooker had its very own monarch of the mic, and Ted Lowe whispered his way through that classic '85 final.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59He's 90 this year, he still loves snooker, and he's kindly agreed,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02a bit further up the coast, to let me come to his house.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10This one was presented to me after my 50 years
0:08:10 > 0:08:14by friends and colleagues at the BBC, which I treasure.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18It's the old-fashioned mic, as you can see. A lovely piece, that.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21What's it like to have friends at the BBC?
0:08:21 > 0:08:23I'm still trying to get some!
0:08:23 > 0:08:27I had quite a number over the course of years,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and they've all died on me, as it were!
0:08:31 > 0:08:33THEY LAUGH
0:08:33 > 0:08:37That's good, that's fine, you're here!
0:08:38 > 0:08:42When the camera panned to Dennis Taylor spending most of his time
0:08:42 > 0:08:48on his derriere, and Davis at the table, what type of figure did Dennis Taylor cut,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52as the score went up and up and up, and he hadn't won a single frame in the first eight?
0:08:53 > 0:08:59Dennis produced a sad picture when he sat in that lonely chair.
0:08:59 > 0:09:06And you could see the terrible agony he was going through as each frame went against him.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10'Well, perhaps Dennis was saying a little prayer there.'
0:09:10 > 0:09:14He was very close to his mum. The year before this particular final
0:09:14 > 0:09:17he lost her, and there was something within him.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20I can't explain it.
0:09:20 > 0:09:21That he was doing this for his mum.
0:09:21 > 0:09:27I was just going to go out and play and try and win the tournaments for my mum, the memory of my mum.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30That seat in the Crucible, even though the people are
0:09:30 > 0:09:33so close to you, can be one of the loneliest seats in sport.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37There were a couple of fellas behind me. I remember chatting to them.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40It was something I always used to do anyway.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44So with the boys, and chatting away to my mum,
0:09:44 > 0:09:49it kept me focused, but it wasn't a pretty place to be sitting, I can tell you.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54Of course, it was almost hard for Dennis to look lonely
0:09:54 > 0:09:57or depressed, because he had his ridiculous glasses on.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59Yes, this is true.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04I always said that if Dennis didn't play snooker, he'd be a great comedian.
0:10:04 > 0:10:10And these specs of his helped him a great deal.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Originally he got them from my dear old mate, Jack Karnehm.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Jack Karnehm was more than just a commentator.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21He was the inventor of glasses, a billiards champion and responsible
0:10:21 > 0:10:25for arguably one of the greatest lines of snooker commentary ever.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Good luck, mate.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35Oh, wonderful. That is really, truly wonderful.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Timeless moments. Jack's son lives in Hampshire.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44His name is Richard and he's invited me down to talk about the legend
0:10:44 > 0:10:47of the specs, and the invention of his father.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52As far as I'm aware,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56he was the first man to say "under the cosh" on television.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58They all use that now.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Yes, it's almost de rigeur, isn't it, for a sports commentator?
0:11:01 > 0:11:03What does it mean, though?
0:11:03 > 0:11:05It's a thing from fly fishing.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07If you catch a trout,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10you take it out of the water, you cosh it.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Oh, you bash it. Under the cosh.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16So, if you're under a great deal of pressure, you're about to get bashed
0:11:16 > 0:11:18about the head, you're under the cosh.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24Dennis must definitely have felt like a trout just out of the water in that second session.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29Father Jack's glasses would have been coming in for a little bit of stick, a little bit of ridicule.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Yes, they were always coming in for ridicule.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36In fact, my father got a lot of ridicule when he first designed them.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38But they were incredibly effective.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42I remember Dennis worrying
0:11:42 > 0:11:44about his eyesight was going,
0:11:44 > 0:11:49and Dad said, well, "Try a pair of these clown's glasses on."
0:11:49 > 0:11:50They suited Dennis well.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55That's not bad.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00I think there's only one way to say goodbye to you and that's just to say, "Good luck, mate."
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Thank you very much!
0:12:01 > 0:12:06# Don't you forget about me... #
0:12:06 > 0:12:08I took a liberty,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13a small liberty, with a ball down the rail into the green pocket.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16He stretched across the table to pot a green.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21If the green goes in the corner pocket, it's 9-0.
0:12:21 > 0:12:27Well, Steve Davis there at full stretch, in fact, overstretched.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30I potted the green to pink to win my first frame.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35At last. One for Taylor, one out of nine.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40The crowd all cheered in sort of, you know, relief.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Dennis, sort of, made fun in a way.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49What can you do? You can only go, "Oh, great, I've won a frame." For the fun of it, relief as well.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52And then the tide turned, and I collapsed.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57Steve grew up in southeast London, and it was here at the Plumstead Working Man's Club where
0:12:57 > 0:13:03a little scrawny 12-year-old first showed signs of what would be a remarkable career.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13And where he learnt the game was on that bottom table playing billiards.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17By rolling the ball up and down the table,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20over the spots, backwards and forwards.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25And by placing a ball somewhere near the middle hole
0:13:25 > 0:13:30and going in off that ball, into the middle hole.
0:13:30 > 0:13:38But controlling it so that that other ball that was on the table would come back into an almost identical spot.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Roy Kenwood tells me you spent every day as a kid on a billiard table,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44rolling the ball just up and down.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46HE LAUGHS
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Yeah, gee whizz! Well, the early days for me are practice.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56About following the Joe Davis blueprint for the game.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59My father was very much...
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Not a disciplinarian, but a stickler for practice and technique.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05He played snooker, of course.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08We played snooker on this table,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10friendly matches.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13But that's where he learnt the control of the ball,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17the pace of the ball, direction into which it was going to go.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19My father never told me to play snooker.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22It was all of my drive.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24He was just delighted that I liked the game.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Effectively we'd go down the club together, father and son.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31I thought, at that stage, he would be the world billiard champion.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Yes, I did.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38I came in here one night, and he said to me, "Do you want to see a 100 break, Roy?" I said, "Yeah."
0:14:38 > 0:14:40And he placed two balls
0:14:40 > 0:14:43on the cushions and the third one was there.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48Vertically with your cue, two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve fourteen sixteen...a hundred.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53You try and do it, the balls will... It's control.
0:14:53 > 0:14:59My father would be fairly defensive about, "Don't go for the big shot, always play within yourself."
0:14:59 > 0:15:04So if I pushed the boat out, as it's commonly known in the snooker commentary box, and went for a shot
0:15:04 > 0:15:07that was risky, I'd always get the criticism afterwards.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12Well, his father must have been doing something right, because with more than half a century
0:15:12 > 0:15:16on the board, the man is still playing to the highest level.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21You've just walked out at the Crucible for the 30th time, and got that love.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26It's lovely. There are a lot of people obviously appreciate the world of snooker
0:15:26 > 0:15:29and the characters in it, and the fact that...
0:15:29 > 0:15:31That reception was quite amazing.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35All I could say is, if it was me in the crowd and I'd watched
0:15:35 > 0:15:39snooker all these years and there was somebody who'd done what I did,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43I think I'd have to stand up and go, "Well, look - even if I didn't like you as a player,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45"well done."
0:15:45 > 0:15:47It was 25 years ago that Steve Davis,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51along with Dennis Taylor, had us on the edges of our seats.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56Fast forward a quarter of a century and Davis is at it again.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Back in 1985, there wasn't much to shout about, really.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04The miners' strike had just ended a month before the world snooker final,
0:16:04 > 0:16:08and the country, I suppose you could say, was at war with itself.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09And at the end of this time,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12our people are suffering tremendous hardship.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15So maybe Britain as a whole just needed a hero,
0:16:15 > 0:16:17or at the very least a bit of escapism.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20This is South Wales, it would have been a mining village.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23All the mines are closed now.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27So I doubt in April 1985 they cared a huge amount about a snooker final,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30but there was one little boy lived out there called Mark Williams,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33he was ten years old, he was the son of a miner and he would go on to
0:16:33 > 0:16:37win two world titles, and I just have a feeling his memories might be a bit different.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43So you're three years into your playing career,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46you're one of the hottest prospects in Britain, you're about to win
0:16:46 > 0:16:50your first youth trophy, but you didn't watch the 1985 final?
0:16:50 > 0:16:53No, I can't remember watching it at the time.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57There was the miners' strike and all that stuff happening with the miners' thing,
0:16:57 > 0:17:03and there was a lot more important things happening at that time and I just didn't get to see it.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06I used to go picketing with my old man and that.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09There'd be 30, 40 people there kicking a football around,
0:17:09 > 0:17:14all of a sudden this bus will come, going into the picket. It was like as if we'd turned into maniacs.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18Throwing stones at the bus and just trying to stop it getting in, like. Incredible.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21It's hard to understand when you're young, why didn't you just...
0:17:21 > 0:17:24If they can go into work to get money, why don't you just do it as well?
0:17:24 > 0:17:28But then at the time, you could get killed, like.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33If you had been watching, on the Saturday night, the second session of that final,
0:17:33 > 0:17:39Taylor came from eight down, and finished that session just 9-7 behind.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Both players then would have had to go to bed.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45As someone who's been in these situations, what would have been in their head?
0:17:45 > 0:17:50Well, the pressure reverses. Once you're eight frames behind,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53you sit there, you must think to yourself... You can't win, really.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56You're just going to try to make the score respectable.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58You don't expect to win, and then all of a sudden
0:17:58 > 0:18:02your arm loosens up, you start potting a few balls, making some breaks.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07Steve Davis, I can't imagine, would have been the most popular snooker player in Cwm.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Probably not, because he used to win everything.
0:18:10 > 0:18:17I mean, we're a good old country for not liking people winning. I think that's our trademark.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20But at the end of the day, he's got more popular now he's losing.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24The British sporting public do not warm to winners,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28to people who win, day in, day out.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31- Did that hurt you?- A little bit.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Not much. Because I could understand it, because I'm also British.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40# Move closer... #
0:18:40 > 0:18:46- COMMENTATOR:- So, 29-all after 43 minutes of really dogged, dour snooker.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50But some of the frames I won in the evening session,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53I was winning them with a frame-winning breaks,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57and the last six frames, I kept Steve in his seat for most of the evening.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01# Move closer... #
0:19:01 > 0:19:06Overnight, the score had been 9-7 to me,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09and had it been 7-all and I'd won the last two frames.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12It would have been a completely different night's sleep.
0:19:12 > 0:19:18As it was... I stole, I think, a line from Colin Powell, which was,
0:19:18 > 0:19:23"I slept like a baby - woke up screaming every half an hour."
0:19:23 > 0:19:25What an awful... My world had collapsed.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34So Mark Williams didn't even watch the 1985 final.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36He's one of just a few, I would imagine.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40There's a player who actually turned pro at the age of 16, the youngest ever in the game,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44in its entire history, and he lives just round the corner from Stirling Castle.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47He did all right after he turned pro.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51He won seven world titles, so I think he'll have something to say.
0:19:55 > 0:19:56You're eight frames up,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59but you go to bed and you wake up that next morning
0:19:59 > 0:20:03for the second day and it's 9-7. You're only two frames ahead.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06What's going through Steve's head at that stage?
0:20:06 > 0:20:10I wouldn't like that feeling, because I think it's 8-0 up.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15He'd be wanting to get Dennis down and put his foot on his throat and just finish him off.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19That's what I'd be thinking. Whether you like them or not, whether it's your best pal,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23you want to really destroy them and humiliate them. That's what I was like.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26But yeah, then you're thinking, "My God, what if I lose this now?"
0:20:26 > 0:20:32So when you woke up on that Sunday morning, as it was, of the '85 final, end of session three,
0:20:32 > 0:20:37- you would have been cheering on Steve Davis, then? - Yeah. Very much so.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42I've always been... In any sport I watch, I only want to see the best winning,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46whether it be Steve Davis, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher when I was into Formula One...
0:20:46 > 0:20:48I wanted to see the best winning.
0:20:48 > 0:20:49I've never been an underdog supporter.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55- Stephen Hendry, as a kid, he wanted Steve Davis to win in '85.- Did he?
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Well, I think Ronnie O'Sullivan is the greatest player, then!
0:20:59 > 0:21:03I think, by the third session, midway through, the nerves were there on both sides.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06There was one moment when it was 10-8 to Steve Davis,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10and Dennis Taylor had a dolly of a black
0:21:10 > 0:21:14to win the frame and missed and went 11-8 down.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17We all miss easy goals. I've been in hundreds of scrappy matches.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21- COMMENTATOR:- Well, in almost any circumstances in the world, he would have potted that.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24In these circumstances, it proved missable.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Looking back, I think there's probably been higher standards of snooker played in finals.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31COMMENTATOR: Well, no rushing to the table for this fella.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34He's already had two bites at the cherry and...
0:21:36 > 0:21:39..appreciates just how important this black is.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48APPLAUSE
0:21:51 > 0:21:56# Everybody wants to rule the world... #
0:21:56 > 0:22:00None of us had tickets for the final, so I queued up
0:22:00 > 0:22:05and I managed to get the last ticket for the final session of the final.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08But you completely forgot about mother and father,
0:22:08 > 0:22:14so we had to spend the entire evening wondering what was going on, in the bar of the Grosvenor House Hotel.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18The final? Well, I'll be honest - I never thought I'd be standing here tonight,
0:22:18 > 0:22:20introducing this last session.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23And you were with all the snooker journalists, drinking.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Heavily.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28And the very latest news, at the end of the last session,
0:22:28 > 0:22:33which didn't finish more than about half an hour ago, Davis leads 13 frames to 11.
0:22:33 > 0:22:3718 are required to win the £60,000 cheque, so it'll be 11 to play.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42Davis needs five and Taylor needs seven.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44Those three sessions have gone into history now.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46It's just down to the last one.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48- 13-11.- Lovely. - Enjoy the match.- Cheers.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Steve Davis, defending snooker champion of the world, with Barry Hearn just going out.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55He's never very far away, his manager.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04You see sport 360 degrees, from the punters paying the money to get in
0:23:04 > 0:23:08to the entertainment on the baize or on the oche, or wherever it might be.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10But I think it's important to note that Steve Davis was your boy.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13- Yeah.- So you go back to 1976.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16- So for you, it wasn't just about the sport...- No.- ..and the receipts.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19So you must have been as tired as him, going into that last session.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20Yeah. He was like family.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24We were in this together and we beat the world.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27If you go back to 1981, when he first won the World Championship,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30that terrible scene of me celebrating, everything...
0:23:30 > 0:23:37COMMENTATOR: Congratulations there to the Embassy world champion, Steve Davis, from his manager, Barry Hearn.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39You have to understand the emotion.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43I'd spent five years telling everyone I had the greatest player in the world,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46- and he was my best friend, and we were going to kill everybody.- Yeah.
0:23:46 > 0:23:53And that was not just me celebrating in '81 - it was vindication of everything that we'd both set for.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Steve and I would sit down in the early years and we would talk
0:23:56 > 0:24:00about, what's it going to be like when we win the World Championship?
0:24:00 > 0:24:03We would have tears rolling down our face. That was the intensity.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06We wanted... Neither of us had anything, anything.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09We wanted to be somebody in our chosen sport.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14I'd like to thank all the people from Romford and from Plumstead Common Working Men's Club,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16and everybody else all over the place.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Now, take that forward to '85, we were joined at the hip.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22I'd have taken a bullet for Steve Davis.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26He was so charismatic, whilst I was the total opposite,
0:24:26 > 0:24:31but I did my job on the table and he did the best for me off the table, and we got on really well,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34even though, in another walk of life,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38I'd have probably been the last person he'd have ever befriended.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43I wanted to be the manager of the world snooker champion who was also my best friend,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46- so it wasn't a question of anyone else meant nothing at all.- Yeah.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51And suddenly, all of these lovely laid-out plans became questioned,
0:24:51 > 0:24:57by some smiling Irishman who isn't supposed to win.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01It didn't happen in the rehearsals, in our head.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03And how do we cope with this now?
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Because he won't go away.
0:25:05 > 0:25:12And he keeps laughing and he's smiling and he's cracking jokes in the intervals and we don't like him!
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Trevor East was there, I mean Trevor was great.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Trevor was the Head of Sport with ITV at the time
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and he was with me throughout the whole of that championship.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29The mood in the dressing room had just
0:25:29 > 0:25:31changed dramatically from the day before.
0:25:31 > 0:25:32Dennis was cracking jokes.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35It was light hearted, there was banter, a bit of fun,
0:25:35 > 0:25:40a lot of laughter and basically Dennis knew that he'd almost got the game.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45There was still a way to go, but by Davis' demeanour we could tell
0:25:45 > 0:25:50that he was under pressure and the game had completely turned. It was there for Dennis' taking.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52You could hear them. They was enjoying it.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56There was laughter coming from his dressing room.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59There was no laughter coming from ours. There never really was.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01We were serious in our business.
0:26:04 > 0:26:0663.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08- COMMENTATOR:- Taylor now needs snookers.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Davis won that first frame.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15Momentum-wise and psychologically, you would imagine that was the perfect building point.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20We couldn't have had a better start, but it still didn't mean anything because
0:26:20 > 0:26:22the winning line wasn't there.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Had Davis won the frame after that, I think we would've been into Easy Street.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39You won't see many better thought out shots to nothing than that.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Let's just pause for a minute and consider the art of snooker.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49Michael Myers has done this oil painting of the last frame of the '85 final and I absolutely love it.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54Every one of these lines is a shot played in the most famous frame of snooker ever.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56All 111 of them.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00It kind of hits home to me when I look at this that it's a science, playing snooker.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02It's something you're naturally born with.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04For the rest of us, we're just rubbish at it.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12I think like most semi-mugs,
0:27:12 > 0:27:18every now and then I'll do a shot that would've got spirited applause
0:27:18 > 0:27:23at the grappledrome or whatever it's called.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27But there is not a shot that I can't miss.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32Even if it's on the very brink of the pocket and it's a straight shot...
0:27:32 > 0:27:38I'm just as likely to go in with, or instead, that's the other one.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43I'm lost in admiration for what they do out there and also the stamina.
0:27:44 > 0:27:51How, after four or five frames, I'm exhausted and no longer thinking very straight.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55And for them it must be a kind of
0:27:55 > 0:27:57delirium of concentration.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59It's fiercely psychological
0:27:59 > 0:28:03and you're never so far ahead that it's over, until it's over.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12This final is now heading for
0:28:12 > 0:28:14a very thrilling climax.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18I'm here in East London's Theatreland to speak to actress, Cathy Murphy.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22You may know her from programmes such as Shameless, EastEnders and Extras.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25She's got a very different take on events 25 years ago.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35Let me take you back to 10:15 on 29th April 1985.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38You would have been one of the few people in all of Britain not happy
0:28:38 > 0:28:41when you tuned into BBC2 to see Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45No, not really because I was 17 and I was in a BBC production called
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Bleak House and it was my first big break and I was really excited,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52sitting round with my family and my then boyfriend to see Bleak House...
0:28:52 > 0:28:57Miss Summerson, Miss Summerson, It's Mr Skimpole, miss.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59He's been took. Mr Carson said would you come?
0:28:59 > 0:29:02- Has Mrs Skimpole been taken ill? - Took, Miss. Sudden.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06And instead this snooker match went on and on and on.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09And I think it finished at about 12:15, which meant
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Bleak House started at 12:15 and who's going to watch it then?
0:29:12 > 0:29:14So I wasn't best pleased!
0:29:21 > 0:29:23AUDIENCE MEMBERS CALL OUT
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Gentlemen, please!
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Shouting out upsets the player's concentration.
0:29:28 > 0:29:29Please don't do it.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32The 1985 Sports Personality Of The Year was an Irishman
0:29:32 > 0:29:36but it wasn't to be Dennis Taylor, it was Barry McGuigan.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40He too from a small town in Ireland, the underdog taking on the machine
0:29:40 > 0:29:45and by the time Christmas 1985 came about, both of them shared a massive affinity.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54What is it about the Irish where they have to be underdogs?
0:29:54 > 0:30:00I mean, Dennis never laid against Steve, he was 17-15 down at this stage
0:30:00 > 0:30:03and he's got to win the last three frames, no more room for error.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06Why do the Irish thrive when we're against the wall?
0:30:06 > 0:30:09Lots of people say snooker players aren't real athletes,
0:30:09 > 0:30:11but the level of concentration that they need
0:30:11 > 0:30:16and all the people in the auditorium screaming and shouting,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20he just showed phenomenal powers of recovery and fightback.
0:30:20 > 0:30:21Just amazing.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24Your father was this huge inspiration to you.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29Unfortunately, Dennis had this backdrop of just losing his mother
0:30:29 > 0:30:33who was his inspiration and he might not have lifted a cue again.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37It happened with you when you lost your father, and with him when he lost his mother.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39Do you believe in it? The fate of it?
0:30:39 > 0:30:41Yes, absolutely.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44I believe my dad's in a better place and I believe my brother
0:30:44 > 0:30:48who committed suicide in '94, I believe they are with me.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50I believe that when times get tough...
0:30:50 > 0:30:59And it's interesting, I watched Dennis between those frames and I watched him as he sat down.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03And I looked and thought, "What is going through his mind?"
0:31:03 > 0:31:07What is he thinking about? Is he thinking, "Mum, where are you?"
0:31:07 > 0:31:12You know, "Come and give me the strength," or whatever.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15But he was able to garner
0:31:15 > 0:31:22the strength and the psychology and the toughness of mind and the sureness to make those decisions.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Those little incremental mistakes that can destroy you.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27Tell me a little bit about the media.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31It wasn't just about what you were doing in the ring or at the table, was it?
0:31:31 > 0:31:35- There were so many other connotations. People wanted to know your politics...- Yes.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37I was just sick to death of it.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40It was a tragic time for Northern Ireland. Everywhere you went,
0:31:40 > 0:31:43it was just so intimidating, so frightening.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46I thought, the one thing I want to do is bring people together.
0:31:46 > 0:31:47I'm not going to wear any colours.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51I didn't want to have anybody label me and I wouldn't do that.
0:31:51 > 0:31:57I suppose a certain section of the community wouldn't have liked that,
0:31:57 > 0:32:00but I didn't care about those. They weren't my supporters.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Dennis was exactly the same and he was such a lovely man.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08Such a great representative and everybody wanted him to do well and be successful.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13In modern sport there are so many arrogant sportsmen and cocky and conceited people.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15The world is full of that.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19And ordinary Joe on the street doesn't like that sort of arrogance.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22They can put up with it for a time, but after a while...
0:32:22 > 0:32:25My old man used to say, "Just keep it simple, son."
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Make as many friends as you can on the way up
0:32:28 > 0:32:34because, you see, when you're on your way down they don't go, "Oh!" and let you slide down.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36I enjoy people and I enjoy company
0:32:36 > 0:32:39and it's difficult for me to be rude to people.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42It's exactly the same with Dennis.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Regardless of any religion, people in Northern Ireland,
0:32:45 > 0:32:49- in all of Ireland were on their feet for Dennis and were backing him. - Without a doubt.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56I'm 325 miles from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00I'm in Coalisland, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, home of Dennis Taylor.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02In this snooker club, that's where he cut his teeth.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06I tell you why I'm here, I'm interested to find out the inspiration,
0:33:06 > 0:33:11the strength that he got to come back again and again and again in the '85 final against the machine.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14Brenda's his sister. I've met her before and her husband Seamus.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16Should have a welcoming committee.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23Was he a bit of an absentee brother in terms of...
0:33:23 > 0:33:27You would know where to find him if you needed him but he would come straight down here?
0:33:27 > 0:33:29You'd find him in the snooker hall.
0:33:29 > 0:33:30What he did do was
0:33:30 > 0:33:34he would have come down and he would've played a game of snooker.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37He didn't have any money so the boys would have given him a cigarette.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39He didn't smoke, he never did.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41He would have played for a cigarette,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44so he used to bring the cigarette home to Mum, Mum smoked,
0:33:44 > 0:33:46and she would give him threepence for the cigarette.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49So he would come down and play another game of snooker.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53- That's how he got his money to play snooker.- What was it like in here,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56his own snooker club, on the night of the final session?
0:33:56 > 0:33:59I mean, you mustn't have been able to move.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02It was one of those moments you say to yourself,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04"Am I really here? Is it really happening?"
0:34:04 > 0:34:08This was someone from your own town. A chance to be world champion.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13Everybody was engrossed in it. It was unbelievable, an absolutely unbelievable atmosphere.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17The actual lead-up to it, you couldn't write the script for it.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21Not in that particular world final. I don't there's been one like it since.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25All the rest of my sisters and brothers and brothers-in-law
0:34:25 > 0:34:26all went to the final.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28They were all over there.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30I stayed at home with Dad.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32I have to own up because I was whistling.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43The referee had pointed to me to the stewards who put me out.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46WHISTLES FROM AUDIENCE
0:34:46 > 0:34:50MAN SPEAKS INAUDIBLY ..Straight through the door. Whoever it is.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52Luckily enough I apologised to the stewards.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54- They kept you in.- I got to stay on.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Thank God.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00If you could be honest with me, Piers, were you thinking,
0:35:00 > 0:35:02you know, "He has had his chance...
0:35:02 > 0:35:06"He's done the town proud but it's another step too far...
0:35:06 > 0:35:10"He can't possibly pull another frame back, let alone three"?
0:35:10 > 0:35:13We're from Coalisland, you see. We have great faith.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20And it's there.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29And the audience is as thrilled as Dennis Taylor as he saves the match.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Now one frame behind at 17-16.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40I knew at 17-15 that I really... Your back's against the wall.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44But I had to pull all the stops out but I think at that stage what helped me
0:35:44 > 0:35:51was I'd won six frames the night before, so you're saying to yourself, "Listen, if I can win six frames,
0:35:51 > 0:35:56"there's no reason why I can't win three," and that's what you're telling yourself.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09You forget sometimes how great Dennis is as a player,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12and how great snooker he was playing at that period of his career
0:36:12 > 0:36:16and to come back, it shows you the character of the man.
0:36:25 > 0:36:32Steve Davis then concedes that particular frame and Dennis Taylor, a very satisfied Irishman,
0:36:32 > 0:36:36sits there with the frames all square. 17 each.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39I'm in The Working Men's Club in Cricklewood
0:36:39 > 0:36:41and the final's just gone 17-17.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43The bar steward is not happy.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48He comes from behind the bar, up to the TV and switches it off and we're all gobsmacked.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50So up I get, there's a few murmurs like,
0:36:50 > 0:36:51I put my finger on the TV on/off button,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53and I hear in the background, "McBride,
0:36:53 > 0:36:58"you turn that TV on and you'll be up in front of the committee by Wednesday, that I promise you."
0:36:58 > 0:37:00I'm thinking, "What do I do? I can't miss this."
0:37:00 > 0:37:04So I switch it on. I sit back down, I get a big round of applause and we carry on watching the final.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Next night, up I go for a pint and a game of snooker and there's a letter on the door for me.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Open up the letter, true to his word, I'm in front of the committee on the Wednesday.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Up I go on the Wednesday. Barred me for three months.
0:37:19 > 0:37:26John Williams refereed every frame of the '85 final and I think he had the best seat in the house.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I say best seat - he wasn't allowed to sit down!
0:37:37 > 0:37:40John, you've announced the beginning of a million frames,
0:37:40 > 0:37:44but I would imagine none as intense as the 35th frame of the '85 final?
0:37:46 > 0:37:48So tell me, at the start of that 35th frame,
0:37:48 > 0:37:50who did you think was going to win the title?
0:37:53 > 0:37:57I honestly and sincerely haven't got a clue.
0:37:57 > 0:37:58I just wanted it finished.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02The world champion puts the cue ball right underneath the bulk cushion.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04When I was under extreme pressure
0:38:04 > 0:38:08I used to get a little bit red in the face.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13And that last frame, I remember looking at Steve and Steve was going the opposite.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15They were going greyer by the minute.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20Whereas you had two fairly young gentlemen playing a snooker match,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24suddenly they seemed to get to middle age and then it looked like old age.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26Their faces were changing and they just...
0:38:26 > 0:38:32Really, I think would have preferred to have been anywhere except there for that final frame.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38When you get to a one frame shoot-out, all you are thinking is,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40"Let me get a chance early on."
0:38:40 > 0:38:42Just please let me get one chance.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45I don't want to have to spend the last frame sitting in the seat.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Any mistake now, very expensive.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53This is the final frame of the world championship, 1985.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00I couldn't even bear to watch it in the sitting room. I couldn't bear to stay on the settee.
0:39:00 > 0:39:06I was actually behind the door in the hall watching through that narrow crack in the door,
0:39:06 > 0:39:12with a hat right down over my head and every so often I would lift it up just to see how he was doing.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Every time I watched on telly,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Dennis would miss.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22And it got to the point and my wife Linda was with me, that I would go out the room.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27And she'd say, "No, Davis has missed!"
0:39:27 > 0:39:29And he's missed it!
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Just out of our depth. Frightened rabbits in the headlights.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36I suppose it was destined to go to the last ball.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39It was just destined, because I don't think we made a 10 break.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42Steve Davis. 5.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46I think I'd rather have one of my teeth pulled out without anaesthetic
0:39:46 > 0:39:49than watch any part of that final.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52I remember, God rest his soul, the great Cliff Wilson,
0:39:52 > 0:39:54the Welsh professional who was a great potter.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58I remember him saying, he said, "I've never seen safety like that."
0:39:58 > 0:40:00There was a spell in that match
0:40:00 > 0:40:02where we kept flicking balls along the top cushion,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06hitting them very thin, so you wouldn't push it over a pocket.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07Our safety was good.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Well, a terrific shot from Dennis Taylor there from that position.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26I had the job of presenting the Youth Cup each year.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29And Dennis won it
0:40:29 > 0:40:31two years running, I think.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35And the next year, another boy from the class beat him.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37And he took it very badly.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40He wanted to win. Dennis wanted to win.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43Concentration written all over his face.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Looking for his first world title.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51Never rushed himself, you know?
0:40:51 > 0:40:55He had his own pace.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57Even in football he was the same.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01He took his own thing at his own pace, but always got there.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05APPLAUSE
0:41:07 > 0:41:11If someone who you admire and look at thinks they can do it,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14you think to yourself, "I can do it too."
0:41:15 > 0:41:20I had to pot the ball into the yellow pocket, run off side and
0:41:20 > 0:41:24bottom cushion, come back up the table, past a ball that was covering.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27I underhit it fractionally, and I was using the rest.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31And I started to grip hold of the rest tighter and tighter.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33And we had a fight over the rest.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38I might have won it then. That could have been that close.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42I was trying to run Take Your Pick in the back room.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45I had two runners.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49Every shot was played, you know, "He's making another break."
0:41:49 > 0:41:53The worst place that Steve can finish is straight on the green.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01Somebody was saying, "Forget about Take Your Pick."
0:42:01 > 0:42:04So I just downed everything, came out and couldn't get near the TV.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06Couldn't even see the TV.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Steve Davis's focus was amazing.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19I remember him fluking the green,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23and he just stiffly walked round the table and carried on as if nothing had happened.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27Steve wasn't really a human being, he was a machine.
0:42:27 > 0:42:32Steve Davis was built, trained, educated to win snooker tournaments.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35And he was a well-oiled machine.
0:42:40 > 0:42:4218 points in it.
0:42:42 > 0:42:4422 points on the table.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46This frame now has been going 55 minutes.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49The longest frame of the final.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53It was a very exciting match, and 17-year-olds don't really like snooker,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56but I had to watch it because I wanted to watch what was after it.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59When we got to the brown, I had made my mind up then,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02this was probably the last chance to win the world title.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04"Have a go at whatever is there.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06"If it's any sort of chance, have a go at it."
0:43:11 > 0:43:13Dennis had a go.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17Very tense moments here now at the Crucible Theatre.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20The atmosphere in the place was alive.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22It was absolutely buzzing.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34You were seen often talking to yourself on TV.
0:43:34 > 0:43:40People thought you'd been touched with madness at some stages, because it had been going on for that long.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42Well, it was a mixture of both.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47I was having a little quiet chat to my mum, but that, probably the muttering would have been...
0:43:49 > 0:43:53And Steve's friends, who were up in the gods, I couldn't see them.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55We used to call them the Romford crowd.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57They used to travel with Steve.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01They were all nice blokes, but there used to be seven or eight of them.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05And they were up there, and they had this Romford chant, you know?
0:44:05 > 0:44:06When you made a mistake,
0:44:06 > 0:44:10you heard it coming from the gods. "Come on, Steve. Come on, my son."
0:44:14 > 0:44:21And they really did get me a little bit angry, angry enough to keep me going without cracking completely.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35Moving the black just might help Dennis. He wants the four balls.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14He could afford to go for the pot, he only wanted the one ball.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16He was 33-1 prior to the World Championships.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20Myself and a fella from down here called Brendan Campbell, we had a £10 bet on.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23So, he wasn't going to lose. Because we couldn't afford to lose £10.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:45:34 > 0:45:36The brown that I potted down the cushion
0:45:36 > 0:45:39was one of the best shots I think I've ever played.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Under that sort of pressure.
0:45:42 > 0:45:43And then I'm left with a tricky blue.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49CHEERING
0:45:49 > 0:45:52At this stage, the crowd were just... It was incredible.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57And the pink was quite difficult as well.
0:46:03 > 0:46:04CHEERING
0:46:10 > 0:46:13The final frame, the final black.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16LAUGHTER
0:46:17 > 0:46:20I don't know why, why I went and kissed the little lady
0:46:20 > 0:46:23on the top of the trophy before I took the double on, on the black.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25I don't know to this day why I did that.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29It must have been, "I'm going to win you here with this shot, or I'm going to lose you."
0:46:35 > 0:46:38AUDIENCE GROANS
0:46:38 > 0:46:42- It was an unbelievably brave/foolish shot to take on?- It was.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45I know, if I go for the double and miss it,
0:46:45 > 0:46:50at least I've gone down trying to pull a double off.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53I have never known an atmosphere like this.
0:46:53 > 0:46:54Thank you once again, please.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59John Williams, our referee, trying to keep the crowd in order.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01I didn't want anybody in particular to win.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04I just wanted a winner.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06And, if you like, "Let's all go home."
0:47:12 > 0:47:14A good one.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23You can train and practise all you like, but I think sometimes
0:47:23 > 0:47:27you get to a maximum pressure, and you can't get any more than maximum.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29And maximum is enough for anybody.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51I'm sure Dennis wouldn't mind my saying, he chanced his arm.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53And he's come out lucky.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05The fascinating thing about snooker is, sometimes the best
0:48:05 > 0:48:07tension type snooker is the stuff where people are missing.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11When it's 100 break, 100 break, 100 break, and nobody is missing a ball, no tension.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14Really, in its own way, there is no tension.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16Everybody starts missing, the crowd get at it as well.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19So, the crowd's at it, I'm at it, everybody's at it.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21Nobody can hold their arms still.
0:48:23 > 0:48:24AUDIENCE GROANS
0:48:24 > 0:48:26That was the biggest shot of his life.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30What a twitch. I missed that black by so far,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32it nearly came up and in the pocket I was leaning over.
0:48:32 > 0:48:38I went back to my seat, and I thought, "There is no way Steve Davis will miss the black."
0:48:38 > 0:48:41I always get a bit upset, people think it was closer than it was.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45But, you know, the black was miles away from the pocket...
0:48:45 > 0:48:47No, it was pottable.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50I thought, "Right, I've just got to keep everything together."
0:48:50 > 0:48:53It's not your cue, not your legs, not your arms.
0:48:53 > 0:48:54You've just got to deliver it straight.
0:48:54 > 0:48:59When Davis has to cut the black in, of course, this is Davis, OK?
0:48:59 > 0:49:01So, I said, "I'm going to bed.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03"It's over."
0:49:03 > 0:49:05No!
0:49:06 > 0:49:10My wife shouted, "He's missed it!" I couldn't believe it.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Hope is what happens. You go, "Hope."
0:49:14 > 0:49:17And outcome.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20And then, "Oh...dear."
0:49:22 > 0:49:24CROWD SHOUT EXCITEDLY
0:49:24 > 0:49:27I can't comprehend it now, that he missed it, because that isn't Steve.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32The one thing Steve has got, apart from his ability to play the game, is a wonderful temperament.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35This is really unbelievable.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41The way Dennis Taylor shaped to take that shot, he took forever to
0:49:41 > 0:49:43make up his mind that he was going to pot it.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46He didn't break, and Steve broke on that last ball.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49And that was just unbelievable.
0:49:59 > 0:50:00He's done it!
0:50:00 > 0:50:03CROWD CHEERS WILDLY
0:50:03 > 0:50:12Dennis Taylor, for the first time, becomes Embassy World Snooker Champion 1985.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17He took that final black, which was the first time he'd been in front in the whole match.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29It lingers in the memory so much, because it went on so long
0:50:29 > 0:50:33and one of the players came from 8-0 down,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36to win on the final black in the final frame over 35 frames.
0:50:36 > 0:50:43The whole place here at the Crucible erupting for this very popular Irishman.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47You can't help but like Dennis, so you're quite pleased for him,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51wagging his finger when you wanted to smack him straight in the nose!
0:50:51 > 0:50:56That was at me. And all he was saying was, "I told you I could do it!"
0:50:56 > 0:50:59And a sad champion
0:50:59 > 0:51:00Steve Davis looks on.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04Having someone giving it all this, kissing the trophy, and you're sat in the corner.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06Then David Vine says, "How do you feel?"
0:51:06 > 0:51:11- Can you believe what's happened tonight yet?- Yeah, it happened in black and white.
0:51:11 > 0:51:12LAUGHTER
0:51:12 > 0:51:14What did people want him to say?
0:51:16 > 0:51:20A fabulous picture, of a very happy and popular man.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27The first thought was, "I'm World Champion!"
0:51:27 > 0:51:30After all these years, I've become World Champion
0:51:30 > 0:51:34and it's a very, very special feeling. And then, after that,
0:51:34 > 0:51:36I had no idea what was going to happen.
0:51:36 > 0:51:37It was the end.
0:51:39 > 0:51:44There were no more balls. 17 days of playing for one ball at the end.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47And you can't do anything about it.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50And you've messed it up.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53And that's snooker.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57I suppose you look back on it 25 years later, sitting here now,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59and have immense love for that occasion?
0:51:59 > 0:52:04Well, my thoughts, obviously, being the type of animal I am, I immediately signed Dennis Taylor.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07Which I think sort of sums me up perfectly, really, doesn't it?
0:52:07 > 0:52:10It was great. And Steve said, "Thanks, mate(!)"
0:52:10 > 0:52:14And I had a few letters from his fans saying, "How could you?"
0:52:14 > 0:52:16I said, "There's a bigger picture here."
0:52:16 > 0:52:17De-nnis, De-nnis,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20De-nnis, De-nnis, De-nnis!
0:52:23 > 0:52:28It's a very small town. What did it mean for this place and its proud tradition,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32the pictures that adorn the wall of hundreds and hundreds of snooker players?
0:52:32 > 0:52:34To have one win a world title?
0:52:34 > 0:52:39It was maybe one of the biggest sporting moments in that particular year, and maybe the years since.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44As soon as he potted the black ball, we all became involved in that. You know, we were part of that.
0:52:53 > 0:52:58I had that good faith that Mummy was behind him, and that she would see him through to the final.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00- Which she did.- So that was constantly on your mind, then?
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The whole way through, when you were sitting in the Crucible,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06you knew it wasn't really about lifting that trophy?
0:53:06 > 0:53:08We were thinking, "He could be world champion,"
0:53:08 > 0:53:12and you, the family and Dennis were thinking something completely different.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14He's thinking that it's for her.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18It's not so much exactly the World Champion, or whatever he's going to be,
0:53:18 > 0:53:20it's going to be a win for Mummy, and he did it.
0:53:21 > 0:53:27It's weird that people have won that title, Stephen Hendry seven times, Steve Davis six times,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30but for some reason, winning it just that once seems to be...
0:53:30 > 0:53:34Once was enough for Dennis. He said, "You only have to win it the once."
0:53:34 > 0:53:37You win it the once to be remembered, but it's one that will never be forgotten.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42I think, because of the situation, being on the black ball.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46Everybody knows where they were when Dennis won the World Championships in '85.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50- And done with dignity? - With dignity, it was.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Dennis Taylor, snooker champion of the world.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56CHEERING
0:53:57 > 0:53:59What did you say?
0:54:01 > 0:54:04I'll tell you what,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06it's a good job the black was over the pocket!
0:54:09 > 0:54:12But, well, I don't know, that's definitely
0:54:12 > 0:54:16one of the greatest matches I've ever been involved in in my life.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20Has anything like that ever happened in a match before to you?
0:54:20 > 0:54:25- Have you gone through anything like that, emotion and tension?- No.
0:54:25 > 0:54:31To beat Steve Davis, who's been the best player in the world,
0:54:31 > 0:54:33you know, there's not a lot more you can say, really.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35MEN SHOUT
0:54:35 > 0:54:37Well, I'm the best THIS year.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40CHEERING
0:54:40 > 0:54:45Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor, who have created a wonderful match here tonight.
0:54:49 > 0:54:54I think we both realised we were involved, there have been some great, great matches,
0:54:54 > 0:54:55and some great moments in snooker.
0:54:55 > 0:55:02To win it in the way I did was like winning four world titles, that, all wrapped up in one.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07People get what they deserve. He's a grafter. He grafted.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Got himself back, worked on his technique a bit.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15Never gave up. What more can you ask for? Well done, Den.
0:55:15 > 0:55:23The 1985 Embassy Snooker Champion of the World, with a cheque for £60,000, and the trophy, Dennis Taylor!
0:55:31 > 0:55:36I would need so much more than 59 minutes to fill you in about everything that I have learnt
0:55:36 > 0:55:41on my journey across Britain and Ireland to discover the real story of the '85 final.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44But, here's a couple of gems I haven't yet managed to fit in.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47I've learned that David Icke, despite having 30,000 people
0:55:47 > 0:55:51in his social networking group, doesn't do crowds.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53Me? I don't do groups, I don't do groups.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59I've learned that winners not only detest losing, but have very little time for losers.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Oh, you...!
0:56:02 > 0:56:03Fiver!
0:56:03 > 0:56:07You guys are going out to lunch today, courtesy of my bloody puggy.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10If he had a bit of bottle about him, he would have won seven world titles.
0:56:10 > 0:56:15I learned that one Northern Irish champion made a future one late for training.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17I was late for training the next day.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21I don't think anybody minded, because most of the sparring partners were watching it anyway.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24I've learned that Ma'am is a snooker fan.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27She said she did follow the game of snooker on the box.
0:56:27 > 0:56:33And I knew that the Duke of Edinburgh did, because they had a table put in at Buckingham Palace.
0:56:33 > 0:56:39I've learned that Dennis Taylor, just before the final frame, nipped out to use "the toilet".
0:56:39 > 0:56:4217-17, Dennis left the arena, beckoned me to follow him.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45I never really thought we were going out to talk tactics or something.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48In fact, we just had a quick nip of brandy to calm the nerves.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52I've also learnt it's a bad idea to bet your student grant on a snooker match.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55It meant that I had to leave my rented accommodation,
0:56:55 > 0:56:57because I couldn't afford to pay them.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02And I had to sleep in a tent in Harlow Park for a month.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05In the coldest spring for 50 years.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07You know what I learned, above everything?
0:57:07 > 0:57:10It's how much it still means to people.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12No shortage of people who want to talk about it.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15And also, I think in both of your eyes, coming to the end
0:57:15 > 0:57:19of the journey and interviewing both of you, that you still feel it?
0:57:20 > 0:57:23So, I'm thinking 25 years, it's a long time, right?
0:57:23 > 0:57:28A quarter of a century. I'm just wondering, 25 years later,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31just us three.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33We do it again? The final frame?
0:57:33 > 0:57:36- That would be good. - You've got nothing to lose.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38Let me just think.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40I'd love to do it again.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42What do you think? There's just us.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45- We've got the table here, it's set up.- I'll break.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05They created a piece of, not just snooker history, but great British sporting drama.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09Any sportsman gives us something that goes into our memory banks,
0:58:09 > 0:58:14gives us a warm feeling that says, "You know, I was ever so glad I saw that. That was a bit special."
0:58:14 > 0:58:16And, you know what,
0:58:16 > 0:58:17that WAS a bit special.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:37 > 0:58:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk