Steve Davis

Steve Davis, (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player from Plumstead, London, who is widely viewed as one of the sport's greatest players as well as one of its most iconic figures.After turning professional in 1978, he dominated snooker during the 1980s, reaching eight World Championship finals in nine years, winning six world titles, and holding the world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons.He is remembered particularly for contesting the 1985 World Championship final with Dennis Taylor, the black-ball conclusion of which still holds the record for the largest after-midnight television audience in British history, with 18.5 million viewers. His other achievements include winning the Masters three times, the UK Championship six times, the World Doubles Championship four times (with Tony Meo), and becoming the first player to complete snooker's Triple Crown by winning the UK Championship, Masters, and World Championship in the same season (1987/1988).He won a total of 28 ranking titles, earned over £5.5 million in prize money, and compiled 355 competitive century breaks, including the first officially recognised maximum break in professional competition, at the Classic in 1982.Named the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year in 1988, he remains the only snooker player ever to win the award. Davis won his last world title in 1989, aged 31, and captured his last major title when he won the 1997 Masters at age 39, but continued to compete at a high level in his 40s and was still ranked inside the top 16 when he turned 50 during the 2007/2008 season.In 2010, aged 52, he made his last competitive appearance at the Crucible, reaching the televised stages of the World Championship for a record 30th time and also becoming the only player to compete in the tournament over five different decades, since his 1979 debut.He slipped down the world rankings thereafter, dropping out of the top 32 for the first time in his career in late 2010, and dropping out of the top 64 and off the main tour in 2014.On 17 April 2016, aged 58, he announced his retirement after 38 seasons as a professional.He remains active as a television analyst and commentator for the BBC's snooker coverage. Outside snooker, Davis has competed in pool tournaments, notably playing on Team Europe at the Mosconi Cup and competing in the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, as well as poker tournaments, where he has reached the final stages of several televised events.He has also developed a career as a radio and club DJ, often in collaboration with Kavus Torabi, with whom he appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in 2016.A keen amateur chess player, he co-authored a chess book with grandmaster David Norwood and is a former president of the British Chess Federation.He has published several books on snooker, including three autobiographies, one technical book, and one comedy book called How to Be Really Interesting.He has appeared on a number of popular British TV shows, including I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2013.He was made an MBE in the 1988 Birthday Honours and an OBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.