Davis Steve - Interesting : my autobiography

CONTENTS

Steve Davis was just a rookie from Plumstead, south London, learning how to play from an old book his snooker-obsessed father had given him, when an encounter with Barry Hearn changed his life forever. With his backing, Steve began touring the country in a clapped-out car as an amateur. Challenging established professionals and winning titles, supported by his loyal following the Romford Roar, it wasnt long before he progressed to the worlds stage.

By the eighties, Steve had helped transform a previously shady sport into a national obsession. He and a cast of legends such as Ray Reardon, Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins, with other young guns like Jimmy White, were doing silent battle in front of huge audiences. Tens of millions of viewers would witness the nail-biting conclusions of his world championship finals; this was snookers golden era.

The man behind the boring tag has always been the sports smartest and sharpest man. With his cool, obsessive approach, Steve rewrote the rule book and became untouchably the best player in the world and the best paid sportsman in the country. Interesting lays it all bare: what it was like to win in those pressure-cooker situations; how to cope at the top when everyone wants you to lose; and how you deal with the moment when a man comes along who is finally better than you. This is a memoir that closely evokes the smoke-filled atmosphere of those arenas, the intrigue behind the scenes and the personal psychology and sacrifice that is required to stay at the top of such an exacting sport.

Steve Davis has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including a huge total of 28 ranking events and 53 non-ranking. He was the No.1 player in the eighties, and his most significant wins include six world championships and three Masters. In 1988, Steve was made an MBE and was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and in 2001 he was awarded an OBE. He also picked up his ironic nickname Interesting and a puppet from the satirical series Spitting Image. Remaining a household name, he has appeared on a number of popular British TV shows, including Im a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2013.

Steve continues to play snooker, and in 2013 he won the world seniors championship. Still very close with Barry Hearn, he is a world ambassador for the sport. He is also an established analyst and commentates for the BBCs snooker coverage. A man of many interests, Steve is a former president of the British Chess Federation and a keen amateur chess player, as well as a regular broadcaster with Phoenix FM.

To my mother and father.
Jean Catherine Davis and Henry George Davis (a.k.a Bill)

Do you remember the first time? Well, mine was captured on film! It happened in Sheffield in 1981.

I closed my eyes for a moment to take it all in. Then I saw Barry Hearn charging towards me with his fists and teeth clenched. He hit me like a tank. We had dreamt of this moment for so, so long. Everybody could see what it meant to us. The scene was unreal. I dont think the Embassy World Championship knew what had hit it.

The Brixton riots and the launch of the Space Shuttle dominated the news in April 1981. At the other end of the scale, Bucks Fizz were number one in the pop charts with a song called Making Your Mind Up, helped no end by a skirt-pulling dance routine; it was also a Eurovision Song Contest winner for the United Kingdom that tells you how long ago it was! I was making the headlines on the back pages of the newspapers, too. And Easter Monday would be the day that would change my life forever.

The day before began as was becoming the norm for me with a brisk walk after breakfast through the streets of central Sheffield from my rather plush Grosvenor House Hotel down to the Crucible theatre, the home of snooker. Ahead of me was the start of a best-of-35-frames World Championship final against Welshman Doug Mountjoy.

Joining me on the walk as always were my father and my manager. The three of us had been on our own little journey for quite a while and the pinnacle was now within touching distance.

Collectively and individually we were chasing a dream. We all had a part to play: my fathers complete and utter dedication to his son and an immense love for the game of snooker; my managers inexhaustible energy, his brilliant eye for business and success, plus an unwavering support of me at all times; and my natural talent, single-minded pursuit of perfection and sheer determination with the help of a pointed stick (made back in the 1950s) with a bit of leather stuck on the end of it and a cube of grit.

We always walk the same walk down to the Crucible, taking care to step on to the big wooden cellar doors on the pavement outside the entrance to the Brown Bear pub, on Norfolk Street, just up the road from the theatre. In the future, these doors will be upgraded to metal due, I believe, to woodworm. Apart from that, this little ritual will remain the same for me as I walk past this popular drinking den for years to come!

A hundred or so yards ahead of the pub is the stage door of the Crucible. It is not yet twelve oclock on Easter Sunday but already it is packed outside with autograph hunters armed with pens, books, programmes and posters. After decades in the doldrums, snooker is becoming the sport of the masses and it is now on the cusp of hitting boom time.

On any other day during the rest of the season, the rest of the year, the rest of my life, I would be quite happy to stand here and sign autographs all day. But not today, not before the start of the most important match of my life. I cant deal with any distractions. And, to be honest, the last thing I want to do right now is sign an autograph. Let alone a hundred or more.

Despite a relatively low world ranking of 13 more of that later I was made firm favourite to win the 1981 World Championship by bookmakers going into the tournament and it has been no different with every round that has passed. On the eve of the final, the best odds you can get on me are 13!

I am in a great frame of mind. I have already won four prestigious titles this season and I have knocked out three world champions on my way to the final Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths and Cliff Thorburn as well as the new kid on the block, Jimmy White. I certainly feel that this is my time. Added to that winning momentum, I have a manager who is proudly shouting my name from the rooftops. That helps as well.

I am the hottest name in the game. I can feel there is a tide of expectation building up around me. This has been helped no end by some impressive winning margins in some big matches recently the pick of the bunch being a 166 win over Alex Higgins in the final of the 1980 Coral UK Championship.

As you would expect, Doug Mountjoy has been in good form, too. He defeated six-time world champion and fellow countryman Ray Reardon in the semi-finals, where he also knocked in a World Championship record break of 145 for good measure.

The Welsh Valleys have always been a hotbed of snooker. The Working Mens Club and Institute Union (CIU) scene is strong over there and interest in the sport received an injection of popularity when Ray rose to fame in the early 1970s by winning all those world titles. Doug and Terry are two of the not-so-new brigade to turn professional after years on the amateur circuit. But their ages also tell you how the game is rapidly changing: Ray is forty-eight, Doug is thirty-eight and Terry is thirty-three. I am twenty-three.

This is also Dougs first world final, but he has been around for ages. He is a former world amateur champion and he can be a devastating potter on his day. I was in the audience to watch him beat Ray to win the Benson & Hedges Masters at the New London Theatre on Drury Lane in 1977. He followed that up with the UK Championship title the following year. He has played well in Sheffield also beating Willie Thorne, Eddie Charlton and Dennis Taylor and no doubt fancies his chances, too.