How late Terry Griffiths went from schoolboy truant & bus conductor to winning snooker’s world title at first attempt
THEY say being good at snooker is the sign of a misspent youth.
But for Terry Griffiths, snooker was an escape from a misspent youth.
Tributes poured in yesterday for the dapper world snooker champion who died on Sunday, aged 77, after a lengthy battle with dementia.
The proud Welshman was one of only 11 players ever to win snooker’s Triple Crown.
Although he would win the Masters in 1980 and the UK Championship two years later, it was the incredible way he beat the odds to take the World Crown in 1979 at his first attempt that made him a household name all over the globe.
Snooker star Mark Allen wrote on X/Twitter: “What a legend of a man who helped shape my career and life, both on and off the table.
“Absolutely heartbroken. He wasn’t just a coach, he was family.”
The youngest of three kids, Terence Martin Griffiths was born in Llanelli, south Wales on October 16, 1947.
The tin-plate worker’s son was bright enough to go to grammar school. But he missed his pals who had failed the 11-plus and attended the local secondary modern.
Terry played truant so often to see his friends he was asked to leave the grammar. He ended up back with his mates, including Phil Bennett and Derek Quinnell, who became Welsh rugby stars.
Terry was twice placed on probation for petty theft — but left behind a life of crime when he discovered Llanelli’s Hatcher’s snooker hall.
At 13, the boy who first started playing snooker on a mini-table with his dad, was taking wages from coal miners in games for cash.
‘Worked my charm’
Two years later, Terry began work as a five-shillings-a-week mining apprentice at Pontarddulais but the long hours interfered with his snooker practice. So, he quit to become a bus conductor, which allowed him more time at the table.
It was on the top deck of a bus that he met and fell for the love of his life, wife Annette, now 75.
In his life story, Terry wrote: “I was working the late shift and she happened to get on my bus.
“She stayed on for several stops while I worked my charm. It obviously did the trick because shortly afterwards she finished with her boyfriend and went out with me.”
Terry was just 21 when they married in 1969. They had two sons, Wayne, now a snooker coach in Hong Kong, and Darren, a golf pro.
In another bid to improve his game, Terry took a job as a postman. The first-ever national postal workers’ strike, in 1971, meant he could practice non-stop for two months.
That year he finished runner-up in the Welsh Championships.
Needing to make his working hours fit in with tournaments, he became a £50-a-week door-to-door insurance man.
But after winning the English Amateur Championship in 1977 and retaining his title the following year, Terry decided, at the age of 30, to fulfil his dream of becoming a full-time professional.
The move meant Annette had to work on the line at a car radiator factory to pay the bills.
But in 1979 he qualified for the World Championships in Sheffield at the first attempt and incredibly knocked out Alex “Hurricane” Higgins before beating Dennis Taylor in the final.
The £10,000 first prize and the prospect of earning £75,000 a year meant he could afford to buy a fancy house at Burry Port on the Carmarthen coast with its own snooker room.
In 1987, he opened his own snooker club in Llanelli where he would coach the local players, including a 12-year-old Mark Williams.
In the year Terry won the world title and could command thousands for appearances, he had a prior booking to stage an exhibition at a local club in Kilgetty, near Tenby.
Journalist Tom Bedford, who was sent by his local paper to cover the event, said: “It is a mark of the man that although he was world champion, Terry honoured the price he had agreed before he won.”
That same year, UK champion John Virgo stayed with Terry and his family while playing tournaments in Wales. Virgo opened the bedroom curtains one morning to find his car being washed by Terry — a typical gesture of kindness.
A teetotaller, Terry was a chain smoker and would often get through ten cigarettes in a game. But at a trick-shot exhibition during the Hong Kong Masters with Jimmy “Whirlwind” White, Terry kept missing shots — after staggering out like a drunk.
Underdog story
When asked if he was alright, Terry replied: “I’ve just had one of Jimmy’s fags. Those roll-your-own ones. They’re great, aren’t they.”
In the days when there were just three TV channels, snooker players became superstars.
The public lapped up Terry’s underdog story as the sport made the journey from smoke-filled snooker halls to primetime TV.
His cheerful personality captured hearts and his coiffured look was immortalised in Chas & Dave’s 1986 hit Snooker Loopy, where he sang, “I’ll buy another eight hairbrushes for me barnet”. Terry said: “My life changed overnight but I’m the same person I was in 1979.”
After 18 years at the top, in 1997, age 49, Terry quit the game to concentrate on coaching and commenting after being beaten by Mark Williams, the boy he had encouraged from the age of 12.
He was made an OBE in 2007 for services to snooker.
But six years ago, BBC Wales snooker reporter Gareth Blainey became concerned when polished broadcaster Terry arrived for an interview and asked: “What are they going to talk to me about?”
It was the early signs that the star was suffering from dementia. Gareth said: “Terry was so witty and sharp. It was so sad that he was struck by dementia. It is such a cruel illness.”
Promoter Barry Hearn, who represented Terry for many years, paid tribute to “a great friend”.
He added: “I don’t think anyone had a bad word to say about Terry — the straightest, nicest human being you could ever meet.
“All over the world, he was one of our greatest ambassadors.”