Cliff playing Joe Davis and talking to David Vine

Cliff playing Joe Davis and talking to David Vine

[@harrycallahan3391]

Fantastic video this. Cliff Wilson, proper player from the old school. People say O'Sullivan is amazing for how he's playing at the age of 40 but Cliff gave up playing altogether for 15 years and didn't turn pro until he was 45, he then managed to break into the modern day top 16 at the age of 55! And all this while he battled health problems and was almost blind in one eye! Incredible really when you think about it, and although the standard of snooker today is probably higher than it's ever been, there's no character's left in the game anymore like Cliff..

[@george474747]

It was a bit poignant and sad to see that Cliff died in 1994 at the age of just 60, especially after their talking about his weight and his health... What year was this filmed in?

[@harrycallahan3391]

@@george474747 - Not sure George, but to hazard a guess, I'd say around 1987/88..

[@edmundpower1250]

@@harrycallahan3391 you trying to say he's only about 54 in this? No disrespect but he would pass fir mid seventies

[@ukbloke5740]

@@edmundpower1250 They're talking of a possible Reardon/Davis final, so I would certainly say no later than the dates Harry mentioned. Cliff did look older though. I remember him playing a friend of mine who was in his early 70's back in around '83 ( so Wilson would have been late 40's ) and exclaiming 'ah, one of my contemporaries!' when he walked up to take his turn at being hammered.

[@johnholmes912]

joe davis was blind in one eye

[@MichaelSmith-ui5zs]

Joe Davis was born 116 years ago today (15/4/17) and he coached Cliff as we can see here. Cliff played Ronnie, who I'm watching right now in the World Championship! Remarkable.

[@heliumtrophy]

Wow, that was such a heartwarming clip. He had such an infectious sense of humour.

[@ysgol3]

What a GREAT, funny guy, and before his eyes went, he was truly sensational.

[@rjjcms1]

Yep,he could quite possibly have been world champion if his younger years hadn't coincided with snooker's wilderness period in the 50s and 60s (Rex Williams surely would have been). I watched him on ITV knocking Jimmy White out in the last 16 of the 1982 Jameson International and he was still one of the fastest potters and breakbuilders then,and what an entertainer. I was hoping he'd have a similar run in the world championship in the 80s but he kept losing in the first round,must have been partly the lights as he said as well as the toll taken on his health by that decade and a half in the steel works at Llanwern,where (I read an article about this,possibly by Clive Everton,ages ago) the shifts were apparently long and hard and wore many of his co-workers into an early grave (especially in a notorious part of the works called the "Tin Shop",apparently,not that I know what working there entailed),and the smoky clubs.

[@ysgol3]

Reply I remember Clive Everton saying that in his prime, Cliff would pot balls which were dead cushion on the SIDE, a yard or more from the pocket, at pace and with ease, often selecting such pots rather than easier ones if the he thought the break warranted it, not just for show. And I never thought Clive was prone to exaggerate.

[@taff6987]

Balls that are dead cush are quite easy to pot if you know the trick! You have to use running side which transfers onto the object ball and pulls the ball into the pocket. The real hard cushion shots are the ones where the ball is a mm or two off the rail. You can't use the side trick unless the ball is dead against the cushion or it won't work.

[@ysgol3]

@@taff6987 Hi, the 'cush and ball' shot - involving striking cushion and ball at the same time, was much harder when Cliff was in his prime - we're talking 1950s here - much heavier balls and less responsive cloths and cushions. I agree about the trick - though I remember even Steve Davis in the 80s having a brief phase of missing those pots!

[@spinout3]

one of the games greats. a legend.

[@gemsdiamond2002]

Snooker used to be once all about the characters first and results second. Today, it's all about results and so the games are easily forgotten! We live in a new generation; full of too serious faces and anyone who dares to laugh or make an innocent joke is deemed to be a loser. Many can play this game well but only a few could ever entertain!

[@louthesz]

+Barry West 100% agree also - snooker almost died out through dull, soulless, robotic players like Hendry, McManus, Mark Williams et al; money made it all very serious, and ironically, it caused the money to dry up - look at how darts is thriving, almost purely down to the amount of characters there are - but, there is a lot of money going into it now and I am sincerely afraid it could go the same way. So many wonderful characters made snooker what it is today, and too many serious young players are not thankful enough that it has given them their bread and butter today.

[@harrycallahan3391]

+Barry West Absolutely Barry, and I know you were a very decent player yourself back in the day..

[@trys9262]

Thats why i want to try get tickets to the senior world champs. seems to be much more banter and entertaining

[@duncanbirss8923]

@@louthesz Mark Williams is very attacking and very amusing

[@martin7955]

I remember this guy great player a gentle man

[@RaymondScullion]

Great clip...One of the greats and what a personality!!

[@dkizxpt-su3ze]

David Vine is the perfect interviewer. He knows how to get his subject talking....unlike the AWFUL interviewers presenting snooker these days

[@dkizxpt-su3ze]

Look at how brief and concise David Vine's questions are......unlike the waffling circuitous questions of todays interviewers

[@MampsUK]

Especially Rob walker what an annoying prick he is

[@colinryan315]

Cliff would be a right man to go down to the local for a few points guaranteed great storyteller.

[@paulbanks223]

A wonderful attitude. Doing something just because you enjoy doing it and the fact it may make you a living coming secondary. The real quality of life. We did not see enough of Mr Wilson and probably missed much of his best.

[@dazzler911]

Saw Cliff in an exhibition match and he was as raw natural talent as O'Sullivan. It blew my mind some of the pots he was getting. He made a 105 break walking round the table chatting to everyone. RIP Cliff.

[@PhilBaird1]

First saw Cliff playing Terry in an amateur exhibition match in 1978. Terry was as smooth as silk and the best cueman I ever saw. Cliff though was something else. Never used the rest all night and potted balls like a one-armed man. I'd never seen anyone do that before and I couldn't believe what I was watching. Shame his heyday came before the T.V. era. Great to see him at the Crucible though and I wish this interview had been much longer.

[@ukbloke5740]

Yeah. Same here. Hadn't seen him other than a couple of unmemorable TV appearances back in the early 80's and then he played an exhibition match at the Eastney Club and I was blown away. Lovely bloke too. Constantly joking and chatting with everyone throughout.

[@piggymichael]

@@PhilBaird1 Cheers 🍻 butt I was there that night great memories 👍

[@paulwilliams8389]

@@PhilBaird1 I also saw Cliff in an exhibition against Terry in 1980 and was amazed with those one-armed shots!

[@paulkehoe67]

go on cliffy boy, good player in his day!!

[@tonynaccarato4751]

Loved cliff, rest in peace.

[@muckle8]

No bad in that man whatsoever - true gent and a totally decent bloke - RIP cliff wilson

[@jjddww12345]

Lovely, thank you

[@piggymichael]

No problem

[@mabbrey]

one of the greatest fantastic

[@hksunchaser1]

i hope someone will upload cliff vs ronnie and tony knowles

[@AbCat4]

I think you can find the full matches on a tiktok video somewhere. I don't know how they fill the other 45 seconds though. ;)

[@hksunchaser1]

@@AbCat4thx

[@robertsharp5863]

Lovely man and a decent player

[@MrGranfield]

I think Joe had been taking elocution lessons they don’t speak that posh in north Derbyshire.

[@mabbrey]

need more cliffs in snooker

[@JOHN-tk6vl]

True. With him has passed an age of Gentlemen players.

[@dkizxpt-su3ze]

I want someone to upload a video of Cliff Wilson playing Judd Trump

[@piggymichael]

Cliff died in 94 not sure if Trump was out of nappies then.

[@ianwatkins6202]

That's right Cliff! It's a fabulous great game and it's not a sport 😊agree with you 100% Darts has also be called a sport 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@alecskinner8807]

Oxford Dictionary defines sport as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or a team competes against another or others for entertainment". Good enough for me.

[@BeasleyStreet]

​@alecskinner8807 well archery is an Olympic sport, pistol shooting....lying down ffs, so darts is a sport!!!

[@vampireducks1622]

Who's the "chief constable"?

[@piggymichael]

Ray Reardon

[@daverobertocarlos]

He could only see out of his right eye. Just imagine how good he’d have been if he could have seen out of his left eye as well!

[@nigefal]

You only need one eye to play snooker. Joe Davis himself was very one eyed.

[@opencurtin]

Stop drinking Tea to lose weight ???

[@harrycallahan3391]

+Mortimer Tea with plenty of sugar in I would imagine..

[@edmundpower1250]

It was the cakes that accompanied the cuppa

[@rossmcl1776]

"My optician says I can't see the end of the table. But I've got a good memory." Marvellous.

[@jembowes3245]

Great guy, Chief Constable made me laugh. He’s absolutely right about the way the game went though, there’s no fun in it a lot of the time, they really do look as if they’re down for a heart transplant. Let’s not forget, he beat both Hendry and Ronnie at the very tail end of his playing career, practically blind.

[@malmo147]

He beat Ronnie 9-8, but never beat Hendry (played 4 times, lost 5-0, 9-3, 5-2 and 5-1). Great player though and would I'm sure have had more success if a professional 20 years earlier.

[@benrichards399]

David vine. The last great snooker presenter that actually knew what he was talking about..

[@andrewjohnston2850]

are you saying the likes of Andy Goldstein are not up to the job!

[@jahno7154]

@@andrewjohnston2850A HA HA Andy Goldstein is good but only on radio imo.

[@MampsUK]

Miss the guy. I can't stand Rob walker he's an annoying prick

[@MampsUK]

Hopefully he was referring to Rob walker

[@jamesgallagher1992]

A great guy cliff...looked forward to seeing him play in the mid to late 80s...absolutely swashbucklin style of play he had...took no prisoners...went fer everything...brilliant potter..sadly missed👍👍

[@andywright3450]

Superb cliff top player sadly missed great man

[@damianleah6744]

I remember watching Cliff on tv in the 1980s, always played with a smile. Fabulous to watch too. Proper gentleman.

[@leboeuf05]

one of my favourite players. a real character, and phoenomenal potter on his day

[@flappospammo]

cliff wilson was an amazing potter , incredible

[@user-mx8ek4ic7l]

Could listen to these two all day.Magic! :)

[@laurasands8322]

He just looks like a genuinely lovely person,RIP Cliff .

[@adrianollivierre9311]

Great upload many thanks. What a great entertainer Cliff Wilson was miss him badly imagine how great he would of been if he had good eyesight.

[@verty87]

Great comment, poor grammar. "How great he would of been"........WOULD OF, why am I seeing so much of this ridiculous usage lately? Would OF been......it's how great he would HAVE been. Give me frigging strength.

[@MichaelSmith-ui5zs]

you see it all the time, gets on my nerves too.

[@jahno7154]

@@verty87 What a dick head you are.

[@harrycallahan3391]

@@verty87 - Maybe Adrian has dyslexia or English is not his 1st language?! But hey, I'm sure he's very grateful of grammar Nazi's like yourself to show him the errors of his ways... 👍

[@verty87]

@@harrycallahan3391 Hope it helps him, thanks. You should have written...."grateful FOR grammar nazis".Also the apostrophe you inserted in Nazis was incorrect, it's merely the plural of Nazi. Oh, and Nazi should have had a capital N.

[@simodo11]

Natural comedy and chatting like they are having a drink in the local ,wonderful

[@bondsings2384]

I don’t think Cliff would have enjoyed watching Mark Selby

[@iancarpenter6298]

blimey cliff had nearly as much personality as stephen hendry...wink wink..😆

[@AngrierGorilla]

Almost same birth place as Mark Williams, just a few miles apart

[@dkizxpt-su3ze]

Cliff Wilson is the third greatest snooker player of all-time after Ronnie and Steve Davis

[@daveday9773]

Im guessing you probably are in a minority there fella. Top player though

[@BeasleyStreet]

Greatest potter, White, Mans, Higgins etal

[@neiledwards4923]

He said he had a century break after only a month!

[@rigamortice]

sad man watching BBC

[@curly1966]

Real Snooker

[@markblackhurst6925]

Cliff is one of my all time favourites. Made Higgins look snail-like around the table. He was very fast indeed. Also he was extremely attacking in his play. I don't think he thought about safety play too much. Brilliant to watch. Legend of the game.

[@kennyc3670]

If Cliff could have seen what he was doing he could have beat anyone.

[@sj460162]

Great footage. Love the guy, proper fella. The great days of snooker..

[@FPLdownunder]

Loved cliff wilson! What a character 😂

[@thatwilldonicely1314]

No doubt Joe Davis was the original major figure in Snooker from the 30's to the post war years (although his brother Fred was his match after the war) and deserves his importance in snooker history, but his authoritarian domination of the snooker professional scene in the post war years was a disaster as numerous potential great players were prevented by him from turning pro, if you can imagine Alex Higgins at his best transported to the 1950's Davis would have black balled him from turning pro !!

[@TheLastAngryMan01]

Incredible to think that Fred Davis actually played Ronnie O’Sullivan, there’s almost a century of snooker history at one table.

[@mikrusby68]

he was wrong about steve davis and his temperament though

[@Bayshuck]

Well Davis had a good temperament, though did lose huge leads versus Taylor and Alex Higgins. I think Cliff Wilson was basically saying Reardon's temperament was better, which I agree with.

[@colinmacgregor3397]

I think there was a bit of bad blood there. Perhaps that’s not the right expression, but from what I understand, they played an exhibition match when Davis was very young and upcoming, and the match went to a Final frame and black ball decider. Cliff Wilson wanted to end it there and split the money, but Davis insisted on playing. Wilson was annoyed at this (as he had a much more carefree, generous spirited approach perhaps), and as a result angrily tried to pot the black off its spot to teach Davis a lesson, but missed, and Davis won the match and the majority of the money. I can imagine this rankled with Wilson given his approach to the game, and I reckon that might be what he is referring to. Davis was a sort of new breed ultra serious, professional type and he and Wilson would have been chalk and cheese. Of course, I could be totally wrong.....

[@jahno7154]

@@colinmacgregor3397 That is an amazing story thanks for that. I don't think Cliff Wilson stayed bitter for long imo.

[@colinmacgregor3397]

@@jahno7154 no worries. Can’t remember where I read it. Davis was ultra serious when he came onto the scene

[@growlerthe2nd712]

@@jahno7154he drank bitter though 😂👍🍺

[@pauldart8548]

What year was this Done.

[@piggymichael]

Early 90's

[@edmundpower1250]

@@piggymichael how could the uploader of this great video reply with a wild guess that is years out!! It was about 1987. Steve Davis wasn't the best player in the world in the early 90s

[@chrisbland6942]

He says about having a health scare during his Charlton match. He played Eddie in 82 and 86, so this is 83 or 87. I don’t think he’d be talking about the chief constable getting to the final in 87 - so I’d plumb for 1983.

[@dkizxpt-su3ze]

I saw Cliff at an exhibition and he made a century break in 57 seconds. Fastest player of all-time and a lovely guy too!

[@edmundpower1250]

That's impossible! He might have been fast but don't exaggerate please

[@AngrierGorilla]

LOL... 2 seconds per shot! 🤣

[@grahamhill9499]

I was there as well true story