John Virgo

“John Virgo was a typical Salford lad who will go down in snooker history,” says snooker legend Reg Davies of the remarkable player and broadcaster who never lost sight of what truly mattered beyond the baize.

Virgo’s charisma and wit helped supercharge a campaign to raise £18,000 for a hospital ultrasound scanner. An exhibition fundraiser at Plymouth Grove Snooker Club in Greater Manchester drew a packed crowd, but it was his generosity with his time that left a lasting impression.

Born in Salford on March 4, 1946, the youngest of five, to William, a crane driver, and Florence, a shop assistant, Virgo began practising trick shots on a table bought for him at eight in the family’s terraced home on Robertson Street, off Eccles New Road.

The nearby Salford Docks, heavily bombed during the Second World War, shaped his early years. A devoted Manchester United supporter, he later recalled how the Ordsall wastegrounds where he recreated Busby Babes goals “bore the scars of those bombing raids”.

He attended Trafford Road Boys School and Ordsall Secondary Modern School. Though initially banned from visiting the local billiards club on Small Street - affectionately known as ‘Pill Hall’ - the restriction lifted when he left school to work as a runner at engineering firm Bannister Walton.

“There weren’t many snooker clubs at the time, but I was lucky and there was one just off our road,” he recalled. “Six months after picking up a cue, I was the Boys’ Champion of Great Britain.”

A self-described socialist, Virgo frequented Broughton Liberal Club on Great Clowes Street with fellow Salford player Paul Medati. Christopher Massey, a member in the late 60s, remembered: “John would say ‘Not you lot again!’ when he saw us playing. It was a standing joke that it took my friends and me three-quarters of an hour to take the triangle off.”

Although he won the 1964 British Youth Championship, Virgo’s peak as a player came before snooker’s lucrative 1980s boom. He supplemented his income by gambling on frames, sometimes betting he could win while restricted to potting only the yellow. Potters Snooker Club in Lower Broughton became a regular haunt, attracting many of the country’s top players.

“It was open 24 hours, and if you were a member, you got a key so you could knock about there for as long as you wanted. It’s where John Virgo, Alex Higgins and John Spencer used to practise their shots,” said legendary Salford poet John Cooper Clarke.

Dave Spencer later told Salford Now: “They (Virgo, Spencer, Higgins) all used to play here… at Potters in Lower Broughton, where the McDonalds now is.

“They were real good days. For these top players, it was always for the money, even in Potters. It was a late night snooker den where all the players used to come for a late night Friday gamble.

“John, for example, would only take the yellow, he would let the opponent take every other colour, it was his way of making money, because he would always win.”

As his amateur reputation grew, Virgo appeared on Granada Television and won. The following year, Alex Higgins arrived unannounced to challenge him to a money match. Virgo won 39–25, but Higgins disappeared without paying.

In 1976, Virgo left an administrative role at Miles Druce Metals in Rochdale to help run Potters, doubling his income and enabling him to turn professional. He reached the World Championship semi-final in 1979 and won the UK Open the same year, though his success coincided with Steve Davis’ dominance of the 1980s.

His most dramatic triumph came at the 1979 UK Championship. After defeating Davis and Dennis Taylor, Virgo arrived late for the final session against Terry Griffiths, unaware it had been brought forward for BBC Grandstand coverage, and was docked two frames. Pulled back to 11–11, Griffiths offered to split the prize money. Refusing to let the moment slip, Virgo rallied to secure a 14–13 victory.

As his playing career waned, his natural flair for entertainment flourished. Famous for his impressions - including a twitchy Higgins and shrugging Ray Reardon - he performed at Butlins holiday camps before becoming co-presenter of the BBC’s snooker quiz show Big Break alongside Jim Davidson in the early 1990s, later moving into commentary.

“Who’d’ve thought someone from Salford would end up commentating on the BBC?” he once asked Stephen Hendry.

Reg Davies added: “When I look back, he will always be remembered for ‘Where’s the cue ball going?’” The catchphrase became one of the most recognisable lines in sports broadcasting.

Despite national fame, Virgo remained proud of his roots.

“Salford is its own city, with its own identity, its own heart rate and rhythm,” he wrote in his autobiography Say Goodnight JV, always correcting those who described him as being from Manchester.

Virgo, who died in February 2026, was remembered as a warm and affable man, as well as a master of the sport.

Christopher Massey said: “He was a real character, a gentleman with no airs or graces about him.”

Read more on Salford Now.