Brilliant snooker player, wonderful commentator and born entertainer: John Virgo was a glorious and irreplaceable one-off, writes Nick Metcalfe.
John Virgo was one of snooker's best ever friends and he'll be so greatly missed.
He was one of this sport's permanent witnesses, with a CV like no other.
First and foremost he was a tremendous player, something that has been probably been overlooked too often.
A working class lad from Salford, Virgo always had an affinity with sport and grew up watching Manchester United's legendary "Busby Babes".
Once he discovered snooker at a local club at the age of 12, it was always going to be a love affair. Not even a ban on going to the club from his father - who believed such places were "dens of iniquity" - could stop a young John for long.
Virgo made his mark on the amateur game, but the sport was a long way from being part of mainstream culture then and he only turned professional at the age of 30.
He soon made up for lost time however and became one of the frontline stars as the sport burst into the big time on television.
Virgo won the UK Championship in 1979, although that barely tells half the story. He arrived late for the concluding session of the final in Preston - not realising it had been brought forward for television reasons - and was docked two frames.
Virgo bounced back from that blow to beat Terry Griffiths 14-13 for his biggest ever victory. Sadly, no footage exists of those winning moments because of an industrial dispute at the BBC involving the cameramen. Virgo later called it, "the best and worst day of my snooker life".
Earlier in 1979, Virgo reached the semi-finals of the World Championship at the Crucible. He enjoyed plenty of other tournament victories too, in a career that lasted well into the 1990s.
But there was always more than just the playing for this born entertainer. When the BBC had time to fill in the 1980s, they would show Virgo doing impressions of his fellow stars. They were terrific impressions by the way.
That sewed the seeds for his later life in show business, predominantly on the BBC's popular Saturday night game show, Big Break.
Virgo was the perfect foil for comedian Jim Davidson, and at its peak Big Break had 14 million viewers tuning in. Virgo was soon part of the pantomime circuit too. This son of snooker was now a bonafide national celebrity.
Virgo was also chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for a spell. And of course, there was the commentary box.
He excelled when calling the game. It was a job he did for decades and he became one of the great voices of the sport, if not the greatest of them all.
The word I've always come back to time and time again with Virgo is, cadence. Nobody has ever been able to raise and lower the octaves in quite the same way.
When the big moments arrived, he met them with his unique brand of brilliance. Maybe it was all those exhibitions in his early days that meant Virgo had a deep understanding that this was sport, but also a show. It was a proper theatrical event when Virgo was behind the microphone.
The catchphrases were part of his repertoire too. My favourite was, "the things that happen on a 12 by six snooker table". But the most famous became, "where's the cue ball going?", something he took from the BBC's 'Voice of Snooker', Ted Lowe. In Virgo's words, he simply "raised it up a notch".
Let's face it, Virgo raised everything up a notch, in the most glorious way. We're not just harking back to yesteryear here either. Virgo was so strong right up until the present day. Little over a fortnight ago, he commentated on Kyren Wilson beating John Higgins to win the Masters.
Like snooker people everywhere, I've been greatly saddened by the news of the death of John Virgo.
There will be such a poignancy about the World Championship in Sheffield this spring. We'll never feel like we had enough Virgo time. We'll always feel like there's something missing now. Virgo was one of life's total one-offs. Frankly, he's irreplaceable.
But what's helping me a bit is to think of the wonderful life Virgo lived. One he enjoyed and relished so much. When John joined Phil Haigh and I on the Talking Snooker podcast in 2021, his gratitude shone through.
"From humble beginnings, to be able to travel the world and meet these great people, it's just been fantastic," Virgo told us. "I count my lucky stars. I was very fortunate and I appreciate that."
Rest in peace, John. Your magnificent contribution to snooker is rightly treasured by fans the world over.
Thank you for the memories.
