Americans React To "The Black Ball Final - 1985 World Championship - Dennis Taylor vs Steve Davis"
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
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Original Video: • The Black Ball Final |...
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His glasses were designed so that he could look through the top of them when cueing.
even i will wear my glasses upside down when cueing
I have a pair of prescription glasses like Dennis's, the best purchase I ever made for playing snooker and pool. It was such a disadvantage not being able to see properly.
Do you have them coloured like Dennis’s
@Ricktheredbrick1 Either way it doesn't matter. They were designed such that when he was bent over to cue, he could see through them.
They were specially designed and made for him - a type of bifocal glasses.
The context of this was that the match was the first to 18. Steve Davis was 9-1 up at one point and later 17 - 15 so Dennis won the last 3 frames to take the final (he was never ahead throughout the match) - it was one of the most watched sporting events ever in the UK with up to 18.5 million people watching and it finished after midnight.
Yeh, I was up as a 14 year old watching the final through until the end. Hard to imagine how big snooker was at that point. I suppose, in US terms, it would be the equivalent of an audience of 120 million staying up until midnight to watch a pool or ten pin bowling final!
@@noelplum99oh hello Noel. Fancy seeing you here.
@@noelplum99 Snooker was hugely popular then.
More context..this was the world championship..the biggest prize in snooker...takes over 2 weeks as a knockout competition..the final takes 2 days ..first to 18 games...and it all came down to the final ball....also Steve Davies was by far the best in the game while Dennis Taylor was an average player whose mum had just died having the competition of his life..the tension was unbelievable...also his glasses were specially made so he could see while down for a shot
That Sunday night longer than an NFL final. Going back remember BBCs Pot Black in black and white ... 😂
2:14am the match finished, after 35 frames of snooker over 2 days of playing, for it all to come down to who pots the final black ball was just incredible, and Davis was the hot favourite having won the world championship 3 times out of the previous 4, he's still considered one of the all-time great players.
All of this happened at about 1am in the morning......in front of a TV audience of 17m roughly 😅
The peak after midnight was 18.5 million. Even more impessive was the 1985 British Open Final on ITV-with no Brits involved, did a 15.5 million peak for Silvino Francisco beating Kirk Stevens. The Mercantile Classic final that year with Willie Thorne beating Cliff Thorburn on ITV peaked at 16.2 million. Snooker was just huge in the 1980's.
an 11yr old me was one of those watching haha
Those were the days when there were only 4 television channels. 😅😅
@@doncuadrado8489 There were only three until late 1982. Still hugely impressive numbers though-around a third of the county stayed up well past midnight to watch on the BBC's secondary channel.
@@xrphellcat981 Me too, I was just shy of nine.
That win meant EVERYTHING to IRELAND! Davis was almost unbeatable in the 1980s and won 5 straight World Titles! He was an implacable snooker machine terminator at the table and was 9-1 up! Halfway to the 18 frames to win!! Everyone thought it was all over!! It made Dennis a National Hero in Ireland! They gave him an Open Bus Top Parade and a Million Irish people turned out to welcome him home! There's a video of the Town Centre somewhere, it's packed with about 100,000 people! This match was unbelievable, 17 - 17 frames all, and right down the the Final black ball! It'll NEVER happen again! It was the biggest sporting TV audience in British TV History and 3 Million stayed up to about 2am in the morning to watch the final ball drama! It was headline front page news on every newspaper n TV news programme! In the 1980s Snooker was a massive popular sport in TV! Declined a bit from it's heyday since. Unless the GOAT Ronnie O'Sullivan is playing! 😮
It remains to this day as the largest TV audience for a live broadcast shown after midnight on any British TV channel.
Davis never won 5 in a row, that was Hendry. Davis won it in 81, 83 and 84 and then got 3 in a row from 87 - 89.
It's only a matter of time before these guys discover Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, the people's champion. A man of many flaws, but when it came to snooker he was the master.
He was a master of falling drunk out of windows.
One night his landlady was glancing out of the window and thought "That looked like Alex Higgins falling past".
And it was.
Quinten Hann too lol
The Master till Ronnie O came along
“Hooligan Higgins”.
Christ, he's not my Champion. Seemed like a generally nasty individual. I wouldn't want the man being a role model for me, and not a chance id allow him to be for kids growing up. For sure separate snooker skill from the man himself. I'm not saying he's the devil but i've seen enough to know that with a drink he was a bit of a monster of a man, and without it he could maybe be ok.
I was only 17, watching it with my dad, missed my train in the morning to work because I was so tired and didn’t wake up. Fantastic tension, fantastic to watch live 😮
"I knew two things that would happen, he either gets it in or he doesn't" is this guy a prophet he was spot on with that prediction 🤨
😂😂😂😂
@@andywrong3247wasn't it Spencer who said it 😂
Graduated from the Michael Owen school of punditry
You have to understand that this was the end of a match that lasted for 2 days, at the end of a tournament that was 2 weeks long.
If I remember correctly it was after midnight when the last frame started and both the players and crowd were on the verge of nervous exhaustion, I remember watching with my grandma and it really was incredibly nerve-wracking.
If you are looking for an exciting frame, 1982 world Championship, Alex Higgens v Jimmy White ! The frame is known as the impossible break or the best break of all time! It is worth watching a genius at work before Ronnie O'Sullivan came on the scene!
The glasses were especially designed for snooker players, Dennis the more famous example, he'd previously played in contact lenses. The glasses actually helped him change from being a journeyman middling sort of player to a highly successful one in the mid eighties
I remember watching this in the pub. They locked the doors as pubs had to stop serving at 11pm back then, we had what is known here as a "Lock in" and merrily drank more beer and watched the snooker 😁
The glasses were designed by former billiards player and snooker commentator Jack Karnehm. Unlike a pool stance, snooker players stances are much lower to allow sighting of the shot and smoother cueing, which is hampered when wearing normal glasses.
Steve Davis was also a world class pool player as well as a 6x World Snooker champion. He represented England at international level and played in several Mosconi cups(the pool equivalent to golf's Ryder Cup) for the European team v USA, winning it twice. He also has a side hustle as a DJ playing electronic dance music at nightclubs and festivals.
He plays soul music not EDM , has one of the biggest and best collection of soul records on the planet , has had his own soul radio show for donkeys years
Dennis' legendary upside down snooker glasses ! I love Dennis Taylor , but Steve Davis was my snooker hero when I was growing up. Really successful, but he played a lot of defensive and tactical play, which,along with his impassive playing face, put some people off , but he was quite shaken after this match but went on to win next year's tournament. A witty personality too.
Oh my word! You just reminded me of 80's "Spitting Image" and "Steve *interesting* Davis". Great sense of humour to make fun of his staid and steady image.
Great to hear the commentary of Ted Lowe ('Whispering Ted'), the voice of snooker in the 1970s, 1980s and some of the 1990s. Jack Karnehm is also remembered for his commentary during the first maximum break made at the Crucible Theatre (snooker's spiritual home in Sheffield since 1977) in 1983 by Canadian Cliff Thorburn ('The Grinder'). Also, check out the first televised 147 made at the 1982 Lada Classic by Steve Davis, especially the incredible shot on the final pink. Another engaging 147 was made by another Canadian, the flamboyant Kirk Stevens against Jimmy White in the 1984 Masters semi-final.
I remember watching the 1980 final with Dennis Taylors fellow country man Alex Higgens v canadian Cliff Thorburn and it was interrupted because of the Iranian embassy siege!
You should look up the 1982 world semi-final when Alex Higgins has to basically clear the table to stay in the match against Jimmy White. It is one of the all time greatest snooker moments of all time.Just search for Alex Higgins the impossible break and you can see the full frame
That was a hell of a night - eight or nine of us crammed into a single university halls bedroom, trying to watch it on a 15" TV.
You should guys find an interview with Steve and Dennis about this final - It'll give you all the context about how dramatic this final was. Epic!
This would have been the only thing on TV back in the day.
I was 4 years old when this was on. I couldn't sleep cos I could hear my mum and dad watching this downstars. So I HAD to come down and find out why.
What's missing from this cut is Dennis gesturing to someone out of shot "I told you so!" Just after he got hugged by someone (I think it may have been Barry Hearne)
I was on a school field trip when we watched that on a 14" TV in a motel room. About 12 fifteen-year-olds around the telly and not a breath being taken as they cued.
Then the room went just like the audience.
💚🐇🐴💚
I haven't seen this in years! I remember watching it at the time. Rivetting final.
Special glasses to allow for his angle of viewing the ball whilst bending. Taylor was great to watch on the table and went on to be a commentator and TV personality with a good show called Big Break.
Taylor guested occasionally on big break but the snooker player was John virgo
@@markstamp3937 yes your right it was John Virgo as host
They should react to Bog Break, actually. It was a fun show to watch, and I'm pretty sure it's ripe for a reaction channel to cover@@davidcorbett341
You guys now youve watched this, ahould watch the re-match Steve davis and Dennis Taylor did for the 25th anniversary of this event, theres a 10 minutes video on TH-cam here and they give a play by play commentary to the crowd as they recreate each shot on the final black, its hilarious and i remember watching the recreation live as well. You guys will get a kick out of it
Steve managed to pot the black on the re-enactment if I recall
@@ADxWales81 thats correct and dennis kept potting the black that he missed originally and then he missed the black he originally potted lol. Very funny that was.
Need to watch"the rematch" about 20 years later, thats the funniest shit ever.
Great memories of being a teenager staying up with friends to watch this final, happy days. Steve"interesting" Davis was also one of the greats.
Yes , me the same , memories, when time was just more innocent.
He DJs now!
an 11yrs old me was one of those millions watching it live at 1am, i dont think i'd ever been allowed to be up that late before haha
Steve Davis was my favourite I was gutted 😢
At that time with only 4 or 5 channels and no 24 hour tv as such, events like this were major draws. Add to that it was the legend Steve Davis being taken all the way to the last frame added to the excitement and then going to just the black ball was more than I could take. Watching TV at 1am was unheard of and with school the next morning it felt even more surreal but had to be done.
1:44 You try and look through your glasses while aiming a pool que.... Yes it makes it alot easier when the glasses are upside down so you can look through them while aiming...
02:05 if you are looking down a cue you need the glasses to be further up to be looking through the centre of the lens, he started it and others who need glasses to play followed.
Dennis Taylors glasses are explained in the song Snooker Loopy by Chas and Dave from 1986
Dennis with his custom made glasses. That match went on til after 2 in the morning, we had Canadian relatives over at the time, they said it was the most exciting tv they'd seen. I played snooker back then (not very well I should add) and it really took off in the late seventies into the eighties. I wear glasses and had the same problem when getting down to play a shot. Being good at snooker was always said to be the sign of a misspent youth. Davis was almost robotic in his potting ability and for a time was unbeatable, almost everyone wanted Taylor to win.
One of the most exciting finals there ever was, its still shown in TV by the WM near to every year. 😊
Dont stop this snooker content. You will get hooked. Gonna have to get involved with the 2024 world champs end of april, early may. Ronnie O sullivan is going for his record breaking 8th world title.
Got to be done. A live watchalong or something.
IF HE TURNS UP, HE HAS PULLED OUT OF TWO TOURNAMENTS RECENTLY. HIS MENTAL HEALTH IS GOING DOWN HILL AGAIN.
Ronnie will turn up for the world championships.
The glasses were specially made, because if you play snooker in normal glasses the top rim is always in your vision, raising the rim lets you see normally.
His glasses were specially made that way, so when he goes down on the shot, he can see normally. Remember this match very well, was glued to it
My dad used to call Dennis taylor 'Bicycle Face'!
I saw a documentary, where Steve Davis said before his final shot, he felt his legs go from under him as he was walking to the table. And then he told himself "Don't hit it thick! Don't hit it thick!" and so he hit it thin.
Fun fact guys, 2024’s Snooker World Championship began 2 days ago and runs until May 6th. Besides the title of WC the winner will collect £500K (around 620K USD).
DT’s prize of 60K would have the purchasing power of around 220K today 😊
Snooker is the sort of game where I don't proactively seek snooker out on the telly, but if I stop to watch it for a minute, I'm hooked !!
Perhaps check out the late , great, volatile, moody, talented Northern Irishman, the late great Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins. Also if you get a bit more familiar with the top players of the 1970's and 1990's check out John Virgo doing hilarious impressions of them and their play during breaks in play. He also does great trick shots. He was once a pro snooker player himself. 👍
If you ever try to wear normal glasses whilst playing snooker it messes you up a hundred different ways. You're seeing the white ball in focus, the far end of the table is a blurry mess, and the top rim of your glasses blocks out half the table.
His glasses were made specially that way for match play
Was in the pub in Scotland. We had a lock in. Place erupted when Dennis sunk that black! Nail biting stuff!
Cannot tell you how incredible this match was... Steve Davies was a snooker machine, he just didn't miss... and i was lucky enough to watch it live (on the box), bloody brilliant
This was a classic and most people remember watching this live
I was 10 years old, was aloud to stay up and wath this live on tv, the match went on past midnight.
Believe me watching this as it happened was one of the most intense sporting events I've ever witnessed!
Few things I’ve only just realised about legend Dennis
His hand position when cueing
The way he jabs at the shot yet works for him
He’s quite slow
You knew he was either going to pot it or miss.....that's proper spooky lol
I'm not a snooker fan but even I remember staying up to watch this. It was totaly nail biting stuff especially given that early on everyone thought reigning champion Davis had it in the bag. Davis was the quite man of snooker. Taylor was older and always had a cheeky chappy persona. It was to many his last great horrah though i don't know how long after this he retired from the game.
Btw, Dennis Taylor was the commentator for Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record 147 😉
Sir Alex Ferguson, the former Manchester United manager, made famous the phrase 'squeaky bum time' and this was such a game! I remember watching this at a friend's house and we were pacing the room!
I watched this live when I was about 7. Best sporting memory ever!
Guys you need to understand that a snooker table would fit roughly four American 9 ball pool tables within it. Also the pockets are considerably narrower so these guys are making what is essentially an extremely difficult game look easy. It was after 1 am, they had been playing for two days and Dennis Taylor had always been behind. He was losing 17-15 so had to win each of the last three frames to take the title. It all came down to the final black of the final frame. Such an intense atmosphere. When a snooker player wearing glasses bends over the table to make a shot the top rim of the glasses would perfectly block their vision of the table. So Dennis Taylor had his upside down glasses made - genius!
"The Final Frame, The Final Black." Every time I hear Ted Lowe say that I keep thinking he is going to finish it with a Rhyme.
"Davis thought he had won it but Taylor has fought back."
I'm in my sixties and when I was a kid these men were household names and it helped that they were great characters too.
I remember the actor Paul Newman said he watched this in his hotel room in London live at around 1.30am and along with 18.5million people in Britain and was on The edge...👍🇬🇧
As a kid growing up i had the same reaction the first time i saw him and asked my dad 'why does that man wear his glasses upside down?'😂Love that you're getting into the snooker. there are so many things and players to watch. Alex Higgins is one-a huge talent. theres a higgins bbc doc but its about 1 hr, theres bound to be shorter ones if you dont want to go into too much depth
The 'When Snooker Ruled The World' documentary is a good watch for the history of snooker. It's on TH-cam.
I watched this live, really late at night I think. The fun fact I like reminding people of, especially you guys new to the sport is that Davis was dominating snooker at the time. As has been said, he had a massive lead, Taylor pulled it back, but then Davis won the 32nd frame to take a two frame lead… 17-15. Everyone thought it was a formality, Davis had three bites at the cherry. But what makes it really interesting for me is that you could argue that Dennis Taylor was never actually in the lead for any measurable amount of time. Because he was always behind until he drew level at 17 all, as soon as he potted that black, the game ended. So he won, but his lead lasted zero seconds.
Remember being a 19 year old watching this in the pub, it stayed open late as did all pubs when this game was on, everyone wanted Dennis to win, no offence to Steve Davis but he was winning everything back then, can't believe it's nearly 40 years ago.
Well done, Dennis. I'm English so should have been cheering on Davis but nah.
I do remember watching Steve Davis be the first to get a televised maximum break of 147 in 1982. That was quite dramatic.
As others have said, Alex "Hurricane" Higgins was very exciting to watch. Often rather inebriated it was a wonder he could walk let alone hit a ball with a pointy stick.
You have to watch more of this beautiful sport!
Anyhow some more context of the 85 final. It ia rare for a frame to be decided on a black ball finish- normally one player gets a large break and gets so far ahead that the other player concedes. So a black ball finish to a frame is rare. A black finish to a match is very rare and to be a deciding frame in such a long match - best of 35 - was crazy!
If your British , you'll remember that special night forever, it will go down in sporting history.
Dennis Taylor was commentating on the Ronnie 147 you watched
My mum passed away in 1983 aged 34 of cancer. She was such a quiet woman, I never once heard her swear or argue with anyone.
However, she had one problem, she was passionate about 2 sports, tennis - mostly Wimbledon and snooker. When it came to snooker she hated Steve Davis with a real passion. In those days he had a way of making people love him or hate him. He was a bit like marmite lol These days he's actually quite a nice guy and more chilled out. Not so much pressure on him I suppose. But when he played my mum would be shouting at the TV, wanting anyone but him to win lol Those games were so intense! I actually remembered this match, my mum was no longer with us but we still watched it every year. It brought back some really good memories 😊
Almost 40 years ago and still as tense and exciting as the first time I watched it.
I clearly remember watching this live as a young lad. The tension was off the chart.
I was gonna explain about Denis's glasses, but everyone else has it covered.
Davis was 8-0 up in this final, and this was in the era of Davis being the No. 1 player and almost unbeatable.
One of the biggest sporting events in UK history.
Dont forget to watch the darts walk ons guys!!!
plus at the time he was unbeaten in the world chamionship since the 1982 final three years before.
I remember staying up late at night in my place watching this, it was so heartstopping live, what an experience, and still picture him almost dropping to his knees and raising his cue at the end
This is one of the most intense sporting encounters ever witnessed. 1 in 3 Brits stayed up after midnight to see the outcome. Never since has any sporting event has that impact where I’m from
Steve Davis is a snooker legend. he was the original multiple world champion, but stephen hendry bettered him, and then of course o'sullivan is best snooker player of all time. he's in his mid/late 40s and still winning the big trophies. 30 year career
When he potted that black it was the first time he had been in front in 35 frames played over two days. It was 1 o’clock in the morning and a third of the UK population were awake watching. Davis (with the ginger hair) had dominated the sport for a couple of years and would continue to do so until the late eighties.
I was a mere 13 yr old dude at the time of what is more or less known as the ‘Black Ball Final’ and I do t think I missed one shot. The Final was best of 35 frames (or first to 18), as you’ll notice at the start of this clip they’re at 17 games/frames each, in other words there won’t be any more games/frames, somebody has to win it. By this time they’d played over 1 & a half / two days, the matches are split into sessions with so many games/frames allocated to each session. And by the time this clip starts it’s pushing kn for about 2 a.m. And tbh, how Dennis Taylor even got to this stage is beyond, I think if memory serves Steve Davis won the first session on the Saturday something like 8-0! He was firm favourite by a huge margin as he’d won 3 out of the last 4 WC’s I think. It was beyond a miracle that DT got anywhere near but as you can see this match became THE THING OF LEGEND!! 😊
It was Davis's fourth appearance in a final and Taylor's second. The best-of-35-frame match was split into four sessions. Davis won every frame in the first session to lead 7-0 but only led 9-7 and 13-11 after the second and third sessions. Until the match was over, Taylor was never ahead in frames but had tied the contest three times at 11-11, 15-15 and 17-17. The deciding frame culminated in a number of shots on the final black ball. After both players had failed to pot it several times, Taylor potted the black to win his only world championship.
All the top players were household names in those days. Dennis Taylor's win was well-received, he was a popular and well-liked player.
It was long after midnight before this final ended. The greatest final in the history of the game was watched by 18.5 million people in the UK.
17 frames each... coming down to one black. Just imagine how long it took, and how much concentration and endurance you need
If you want to see the craziest frame of snooker ever, have a watch of the last few minutes of the final frame decider in the 2020 World Championship semi finals between Kyren Wilson and Anthony McGill. Never has such madness under such intensity happened on a snooker table!
Put your glasses on then just adopt a cueing pose over say a kitchen table. You will see you are looking OVER the top of your glasses meaning they are of no help. Dennis's glasses were not upside down the lenses were moved up and the arms lowered - it was a specific design so when cueing he was looking THROUGH the lens
You forget the size of the tables.
A 7 or 8 feet pot is not easy under pressure
Ted Lowe’s voice was incredible. Whispering Ted as I think he was called.
Doesn’t get mentioned as much with the GOATS of commentary, like Coleman and Benaud, but he’s up there with them for me.
Taking of Coleman, I’d recommend finding a football video on The Battle Of Santiago which Coleman reported on. Worth it just for Coleman’s amusing unfiltered anger at what we were about to watch.
The glasses make perfect sense, when you stoop to play a shot in snooker you would be looking over the top of the glasses, by having the high frame you see thought the glasses and not over them.
His glasses were right way up, they were designed just for playing snooker.
I was 8yrs old watching this on TV with my family,I was allowed to stay up late to watch the end.
We all talked about it in school the next day.😊
The next day the whole school was talking about watching this. It was like we all went crazy for snooker in the mid 80s
17-17 frames coming down to the last ball is insane. i don't know if that's ever happened before or since but it would surprise me.
this final had 14 hours 50 min of play spread over 4 sessions over 2 days. Steve Davis won the first session 7 to 0 so was well ahead initially.
The first time Dennis Taylor was ever ahead in the match was when he potted the final ball of the final frame - true fact!
That was such an awesome final. I was actually at the Crucible that year and saw Jimmy White play, sadly not the final though.
As noobs you can't be expected to know but the numbers either side of the 'Frames' tells you the current score and the 35 tells you the maximum number of frames there can be. So 17-17 should tell you this is the decider.
As for the glasses, good technique on snooker is to put your chin on the cue to give you a better view of how everything is lined up. If you try this with standard glasses you'll just look over the top of them, as I always have to do.
They are literally Snooker Glasses, if you think of the Snooker Players game position he'll need to be able to look up the table while still in position so the extended lenses helps
Steve Davis branded Mr Boring not that long ago.
Speaking to the Mirror in 2019, he said: "I didn’t know my life would turn out like this. You haven’t got a clue... it’s ridiculous.”
“I started off as a snooker player practising for eight hours a day in a dark room, and I ended up at Glastonbury DJing.
He was a bloody good snooker player was Steve Davis ,
Man, I would have loved to have watched this live - must have been a fantastic occasion. Unfortunately I wasn't even born!
A bit of context for this match.
First up I think you'd have been better to have watched the final frame in its entirety as both players had multiple chances to win the frame with nerves getting to both players.
This is the final frame from the 1985 World Championship final, the score in frames is 17-17 and it's the first to 18 that wins.
Steve Davis at the time was considered the GOAT and had dominated the sport for the last 4+ years at this point and would go on to dominate most of the 80s.
Dennis Taylor was a crowd favorite due to doing entertaining actions during play, and was/is famous for doing comedy impressions of other snooker players, in fact Dennis Taylor probably made more money from doing exhibition games where he'd do trick shots and tell anecdotes than he did from competitive play but he wasn't really on the level of the best players, and during this match (which is played over 2 days depending on the era it might even be 3 days) Dennis at one point in the match was down by about 9 frames, and pretty much everyone expected the dominant Steve Davis to steam roller over him at that point, but Dennis summoned his inner Irish strength and managed to claw the match back to level frames. Both players had ample opportunities to win the final frame with nerves getting to both of them, and Steve Davis of course had missed multiple opportunities in the preceding frames to win the match so the tension was building, and on top of that it was a long match with the match finishing after midnight but most of the British audience stayed up to watch it.
As for Dennis Taylor's upside-down glasses, it was for practical reasons, that as a spectacle wearer and enthusiastic pool player, I can vouch for, when playing pool/snooker, when you get down to play a shot your eyes typically end up looking over the frames of your glasses which if you are short-sighted can make seeing the balls very difficult, so Dennis needed to have his glasses specially designed so he could still see whilst playing.
Steve Davis had a famous rivalry with Alex "Hurricane" Higgins... Higgins was the flash, hard-drinking player while Davis was a blank-faced silent killer....
They eventually banned him from using those glasses due to the fires being caused by the studio lights.
There will never be a match like it. Sat up until the very end.