Steve Davis (England)

World ranking: 13

Date of birth: 22/08/57

Lives: Brentwood, Essex

Turned professional: 1978

Best ranking event performance: Winner 28 tournaments - Embassy World Championship 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989; UK Championship 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987; International Open 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989; Lada Classic 1984; Mercantile Credit classic 1987, 1988, 1992; Grand Prix 1985, 1988, 1989; Regal Welsh 1994, 1995; British Open 1986, 1993; Asian Open 1992; european Open 1993 (Feb)

Major invitation tournament victories: Benson & Hedges Masters 1982, 1988, 1997; Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994; Langs Scottish Masters 1982, 1983, 1984; World Matchplay 1988

Career prize money: (up to end of 1996-97 season): £4,571,744

Last season's prize money: £234,664

Six Embassy world titles and a total of eight finals - seven in successive years - established Steve Davis as one of Britain's top sportsmen of the 1980s.

Such was the legend of Steve 'Interesting' Davis on and off the green baize that he even became the subject of a latex puppet on the satirical television programme Spitting Image.

Davis won the world championship for the first time in 1981, beating Doug Mountjoy 18-12 in the final, and although he was thrashed 10-1 by Tony Knowles in the first round a year later, it was to prove no more than a hiccup during his glory.

The man nicknamed 'The Nugget', 'The Ginger Magician' and 'The Master Cueman' went on to claim five more championships.

He also lost in the final twice - 18-17 to Dennis Taylor in 1985 and 18-12 against 150-1 outsider Joe Johnson the following year.

The Davis-Taylor final has become part of snooker folklore following their black-ball finish some 20 minutes after midnight.

It was watched by a record 18.5 million viewers on BBC 2 and when Davis summed up his feelings, he merely observed: "It's all there in black and white."

Davis, who has won numerous sporting awards and was made an MBE in 1988, has collected 71 titles - 28 of them ranking events - since turning professional nearly 20 years ago.

The list includes six UK Championships - the first two were non-ranking events - and three Benson & Hedges Masters, the last of which came as recently as February, 1997.

After going two years without a tournament success, Davis proved he is still capable of competing with the best when he came from 8-4 down to defeat Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-8 in a Wembley final watched by a TV audience of nearly ten million.

He compiled the first televised maximum break during the 1982 Lada Classic and although he dropped three places down the world ranking list at the end of the 1996-97 season, he has equalled the record set by Dennis Taylor of spending 18 successive seasons in the top 16.

The ultimate professional, Davis has been snooker's standard bearer in the modern era and while the eighties have long gone, his enthusiam for the game is as great as ever.