Ray Reardon, world snooker champion, dies aged 91

Ray Reardon, the six-time world snooker champion who was affectionately nicknamed Dracula for his widow's peak hairline and prominent teeth, has died at the age of 91 from cancer, his wife Carol confirmed.

- LUKE BAKER

Reardon who was born in Tredegar, south Wales - dominated snooker in the 1970s as he won all six of his world titles in a nine-year spell, including four straight crowns from 1973-76.

His final World Snooker Championship win came in 1978, just a year after the event first moved to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, at the age of 45 years and 203 days - making him the oldest world champion in history at the time. That record was only broken by Ronnie O'Sullivan, a player whom Reardon had coached at one point, in 2022.

Leading the tributes, three-time world champion Mark Williams said: "Ray is one of the best sportspeople ever from Wales and the best snooker player. He's one of the reasons why a lot of us started playing. He put snooker on the map, alongside Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Steve Davis. Anyone playing now owes them a lot because they brought popularity to the game. He is a real inspiration."

By the time of snooker's boom in the mid-1980s, when the sport exploded in popularity, the Welshman was a respected elder statesman of the game. He lost to long-time rival Alex "Hurricane" Higgins in the memorable 1982 world final at the Crucible but, that same year became the oldest player to win a ranking event by triumphing over Jimmy White in the final of the Professional Players Tournament at the age of 50 - a record that stands until this day.

He won two non-ranking tournaments, the Welsh Professional Championship and International Masters, in 1983 and eventually retired from professional competition in 1991. He never made a maximum 147 break in tournament play but did make the even-rarer 146.