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00:00The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, crowded to suffocation.
00:07The first young man who ten years ago made the whole snooker world sit up and take notice.
00:13The whirlwind himself, Jimmy White.
00:17Jimmy, of course, helping to get a lifetime ambition of the world crown.
00:24And his opponent, a young man of whom Scotland are very proud,
00:28making his first appearance in a world final, Stephen Hendry.
00:33Stephen Hendry hoping to become the youngest ever world snooker champion.
00:39Just 21 years of age.
00:42So the scene is set.
00:51This is the story of how, for a remarkable period in the 80s,
00:55the game of snooker became a national obsession.
01:02Women were into it, youngsters were into it, old people were into it,
01:05and everyone was watching it.
01:06I think it's a big, extremely sport.
01:08People became addicted following the storyline.
01:11It was Dallas with balls, it was Coronation Street with cues.
01:15It's unlikely heroes, a golden generation of players, the likes of which the world had never seen.
01:21Danger, genius at work.
01:24Well, that really is wizardry.
01:28Their almost supernatural talent, outmatched only by the intensity of their rivalry.
01:34He said, the next time you go back to Northern Ireland, I'll have your shot.
01:38And a kamikaze willingness to test their own limits.
01:42Was he drinking? Do bears go in the woods?
01:46Kirk Stevens confessed to being a cocaine addict.
01:49Well, let's say they represented a well-known Birmingham escort agency.
01:54I got fined for bringing the game into disrepute.
01:57The police came round trying to find Alex, and he pulled a gun.
02:01Pitch battles like this one dramatically brought public attention to football hooliganism.
02:20During the mid-80s, English football, blighted by hooliganism, was being eclipsed by a slightly less strenuous sport.
02:32Football was in the doldrums at that time.
02:35You wouldn't ever imagine that snow could become as popular as football, but it usurped it at that point.
02:40Davis within one frame of a place in the final.
02:44Beautiful shot, that.
02:47Its clean-cut poster boy, Steve Davis, had been ranked number one in the world for the last three years running.
02:53Davis was totally focused, totally dedicated.
02:57He was boringly efficient, if you like.
03:00Thank you, gentlemen.
03:02Alex Higgins was entirely different.
03:05Crowd-pleaser, obviously a very naturally gifted player, but was a wayward lad that lived on the edge.
03:15After head-butting a match official, Alex Higgins was starting a five-tournament ban,
03:20and many felt there was no longer a place in snooker for men like the Hurricane.
03:26But there was one player many considered his natural successor.
03:31Hello.
03:33All right?
03:35How you doing?
03:36Good. You?
03:37Good. Very well, thank you.
03:43Excuse me. Water, that is.
03:46Jimmy, realising that this is his final chance to win this title.
03:51Forced into having a go at the difficult red.
03:54He was known as Jimmy Whirlwind White, which sort of matched with Alex Hurricane Higgins.
04:02He moved very fast.
04:04He played very fast.
04:05He was never, ever boring.
04:07Well, we'll just have to call him in the future.
04:12Jimmy the genius.
04:13Jimmy White was the new sort of people's champion, you know.
04:17He took over that mantle from Higgins.
04:19He was the entertainer, the crowd favourite.
04:22Jimmy White pulls it up.
04:24Jimmy White pulls it up.
04:25You know, he was my hero.
04:27I liked to play like Higgins because it was the flair way.
04:31I enjoyed that.
04:33Jimmy played snooker from the gods because that was what he was born to do.
04:37And a moment of great emotion as he raises this trophy in triumph.
04:42Jimmy may have played like Alex, but it wasn't just his on-the-table technique he was drawn to.
04:48Alex Hurricane Higgins has been fined 1,500 pounds by snooker's governing body for swearing after a tournament on television.
04:57But no action was taken against Jimmy White, who'd allegedly been involved in a row in a hotel.
05:03Jimmy, he's in the same sort of mould as in Alex, where he's kind of a rebel.
05:08Alex recognised that Jimmy was a sort of the next people's champion after him.
05:12They sort of became brothers.
05:14Yeah, well, can I just lift you up, babe? Because you're...
05:17Yeah, I think I can.
05:19You have to bite the bullet here, babe.
05:21Relax, my son.
05:23The idea... Oh, my God, he's nervous already.
05:26Jimmy was a tremendous fan of Alex.
05:29I mean, obviously, Alex was his role model.
05:31They were a team.
05:35Oh!
05:36Was that good? You like that?
05:39I think we'd gel well together because we can ride storms, hence the whirlwind and the hurricane.
05:46I loved him, watching him perform, watching him cause havoc.
05:50You know, he sort of knew how to keep the party going in his way.
05:53If I knew you were coming out of bake the cake, bake the cake, bake the cake.
06:02If I knew you were coming out of bake the cake, cake, cake, cake, cake.
06:10He's amazing, isn't he?
06:12One week it's hue and cry, the next it's song and dance.
06:14You really can never tell with Alex, can you?
06:16Higgins just embraced all that.
06:19But Jimmy, you know, he was just a little bit shy and retiring.
06:23One was an extrovert and one was an introvert.
06:27He wasn't Alex and Alex wasn't Jimmy, you know, so he had to find his own identity.
06:32He had to find his feet the hard way.
06:38A regular school truant, from the moment he picked up a cue, Jimmy always knew what he wanted.
06:44When was the first time you realised that you wanted to be a snooker player?
06:47When I was about 13, I made a 100 break and just went from there, you know?
06:56My biggest ambition is to win the World Championships.
06:59I just want to win the World Championships and enjoy life.
07:04Just a year later, Jimmy got his first crack at realising his dream.
07:15Hello and welcome.
07:16The 1981 Crucible World Snooker Fortnight.
07:19Jimmy White, the newest and youngest professional, now at only 18,
07:23has already been called a left-handed version of Alex Higgins.
07:27Despite being drawn against hot favourite Steve Davis in the first round,
07:31Jimmy was determined to play the game his way.
07:34And I'm quite sure he's going to try and knock this into the bottom pocket.
07:38Bang.
07:41No problem.
07:43Jimmy came on with his own little swagger on.
07:45Imagine you've got this machine such as Steve Davis,
07:48just winning, winning, winning, winning.
07:50And then you've got someone that you really believe in,
07:53that has the passion and has the drive and wants to win.
07:56Everybody was rooting for him.
07:5843.
07:5966.
08:00It's all on the black.
08:01Davis with a lot more pressure on his shoulders to perform
08:04and get rid of the whippersnapper.
08:07And my word, he's done it.
08:10Against the odds, Jimmy kept pace with Davis,
08:13trailing by just one frame in the closing stages.
08:17I knew how dangerous he was, but he was still very raw.
08:20So I had a tough match, but sometimes that can focus the mind.
08:24And still this young man with all the pressure that's been put on him
08:31by Jimmy White's tremendous play,
08:34he still seems to keep so calm and serene under the pressure.
08:39Both have their own individual styles and Jimmy White concedes.
08:44And what a super match that has been.
08:48I ended up losing 10-8 and he went on to win the world championship.
08:53I just remember that emotion of the match.
08:55It took me quite a bit of time to get used to that.
08:57This lad, well, let's hope he keeps a tight grip on himself
09:04so that we see a lot of him in the future.
09:07Despite going out in the first round,
09:10Jimmy's crowd-pleasing flair hadn't gone unnoticed.
09:14Well, it's often said that sportsmen are becoming more and more like pop stars,
09:18and never was that more obvious than in the case of Jimmy White.
09:21Now in the past, he admits he's been a bit of a tear away,
09:24but now a company specialising in the management of leading pop groups like 10CC has stepped in.
09:30And they've now set about selling a new image to the British public,
09:33which they hope could make them a lot of money and White a millionaire.
09:37I like the idea of Jimmy White because he was that kind of a wild thing.
09:41He was the Rolling Stones and Steve Davis or Ray Reardon or Terry Griffiths, all that lot.
09:46They were the very clean-cut ones. It was perfect image-wise for me.
09:50It was just magic.
09:52What about a punk hairstyle? Because that's very dramatic.
09:56No. I'm not terribly keen on that, really.
09:59There's lots of old mums and dads watch snooker, you know.
10:04I don't think they'd go for the punk image.
10:07For the sex point of view, the sex image for the women viewers,
10:11that's being dealt with. He's going to look better.
10:13Hopefully people will like him to look better.
10:16Once we got a hold of him, we were going to mould him into something that he wasn't.
10:26The dress of the snooker players in those days was pathetic.
10:30They all look the same. They all look like penguins.
10:33You know, we're entertaining the world, so get them something to look up.
10:39We've already taken care of the tea to a degree.
10:42That really looks good, aren't we?
10:43I think.
10:44Anything to make him look better.
10:45You got new choppers, yeah.
10:47It was unusual for the British to have new choppers.
10:50That was more the American way, wasn't it?
10:53You know, I quite like it now.
10:56I don't think I was too keen at first.
11:00Wouldn't you prefer the Jimmy's image to be Jimmy himself rather than...
11:05No, because to me, and to everybody that really knows us, he's Jimmy himself.
11:10Harvey may have changed Jimmy's image, but changing Jimmy was to prove more challenging.
11:19Jimmy White's successes have too often been marred by his problems away from the table.
11:24He has, for instance, been banned from tournaments for being drunk, including an event organised by Pontins.
11:29Boreham was phoning the office for about three days, demanding, where is Jimmy? Where is Jimmy? And I had an idea he was at Pontins.
11:39At approximately 1am, Mr. Jimmy White, who was obviously very much the worst for wear for alcohol, was seen throw a pint pot up in the air, hitting the ceiling in a relatively crowded area.
11:54When the holiday camp would close, loads of people would come back to our shally.
11:59We used to have two shallies, one to sleep in and one to party in.
12:03And I think Harvey went into the party shally.
12:06It's a cross between Girls Gone Wild and Boys Night Out.
12:10There are bodies all over, everywhere.
12:13I finally get on him and I shake him, really give him a good shake.
12:16Jimmy, you've got to phone Maureen. Come on.
12:18And I take him off.
12:19When a more sensible member of his party tried to remonstrate with him, saying that his behaviour might lead to him being banned from Pontins, his comment was,
12:31I don't care.
12:34Higgins has had a string of things, I think, over his career and I'm quite expecting it from Jimmy.
12:41You think you're going to really be very careful at all times, not so mixed with wrong people.
12:45Yeah, well, I've not, since the last time, you know, and I was quite upset with all the publicity and I've not, you know, done anything wrong since.
12:55He kept saying to me, he said, look, he said, Jimmy, you've got to slow down, slow down.
13:01And I was just laughing at him thinking, what are you talking about?
13:04You know, he managed rock stars.
13:06I just thought it was normal.
13:07I think if I'd have managed him from an earlier age, I'm sure it would have been very different.
13:15Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Jimmy White leads by five frames and three.
13:22Despite his willingness to lead a rock star lifestyle, Jimmy managed to reach the semi-final of the Masters, one of the top three tournaments on the circuit.
13:32Ninth frame, Kirk Stevens to break.
13:34Where he faced something of a kindred spirit.
13:38Kirk Stevens, when he come along, it was like a different ball game.
13:42He was so good looking, you know, all the girls loved him.
13:45You know, he sort of brought a bit of glamour.
13:48Because we've liked the nightlife and the partying and that, we sort of stuck together.
13:53And it's a very good split.
13:59In a best of 11 frames match, Jimmy was leading 5-3.
14:03But with two crowd-pleasing favourites doing battle, the game was about to take a spectacular turn.
14:09Well, one good pot here and he will be in with a splendid chance of a very good break.
14:18It's £10,000 for a maximum break.
14:20Getting a 1-4-7 break, it's the ultimate goal in snooker, isn't it?
14:24It's the one that everybody's striving for and it doesn't happen that often, but when it does, it's special.
14:30Let's just say good luck to him.
14:32It's like getting a hole in one, isn't it?
14:35And that's a lovely shot.
14:38Beautifully controlled.
14:40No, I wanted him to get a 1-4-7.
14:45So they come over to come forward.
14:47Because once he got to 73, you can't win the frame anyway.
14:52When you got one, it just went through the snooker world, everybody knew.
14:55Hello, now watch the light, this is where he wants a little bounce off the cushion.
15:05Well, they're cheering, but it isn't there yet.
15:12And a bit of pause, composure.
15:15140.
15:16Get in!
15:21Lovely!
15:23Super!
15:27Ah, that's really wonderful.
15:28Just look at that.
15:30The enthusiasm.
15:32It really is tremendous.
15:34Audience went berserk.
15:36I don't have the cash on me, but would you accept a deposit, please?
15:40There's such a pantomime going on.
15:44And he was like on a cloud nine and I said, look, Jimmy, that was amazing.
15:48The crowd are going berserk.
15:50He's going berserk.
15:52Now go and get him.
15:54Well, this is magic.
15:57Both players, what a pity that one has to lose.
16:01Despite Kirk's heroics, Jimmy pressed home his advantage in the final frame.
16:06And just look at the stuff on that ball.
16:10Well, that really is wizardry.
16:16Words escaped me, just fantabulous.
16:19Eventually winning the match 6-4.
16:28Got any glasses?
16:29Please?
16:30These?
16:32Oh, yeah, sure.
16:34You'll have a quick drink.
16:36I've got no soup for tomorrow night.
16:38Here we go, Jim.
16:39We're recording.
16:41Through to the final, Jimmy faced former world champion Terry Griffiths.
16:45And this surely must be it.
16:51And Terry Griffiths fought so hard made him wait for a long time.
16:56Jimmy White then takes that thing and becomes the youngest ever
17:02Benson Hedges Masters champion in 1984.
17:05He plays the game so well, I'm enjoying sitting down watching it more than I am playing.
17:16Well, Jim, you're the youngest British amateur champion, the youngest world amateur champion, the youngest man to win this,
17:23and you've got one more chance, haven't you, to become the youngest world professional champion.
17:26Are you the sort of person that thinks about records like that, or do you not bother?
17:30Oh, yeah, of course, because if I won that, you know, I'd be the youngest English in the world.
17:35I don't think that would be, I don't think that would ever be beat.
17:38Come on, Jimmy, I'll relieve you of that.
17:41Give you this instead.
17:42Oh, cheers.
17:43With the Masters now under his belt, some tipped 1984 to be Jimmy's year.
17:48We all thought he was going to win the world title, it was no question.
17:52But you've got to work, you've got to practice, you've got to play.
17:55You just needed the application.
17:59We was partying all the time.
18:03Peter's dream fellow had a club called the Hippodrome, and he used to have a champagne bar.
18:07So we've got all the girls around us, and we're giving bottles of champagne away.
18:13You know, I had it last.
18:15I had loads of drug dealers all over the place.
18:19I knew all of them.
18:23Cocaine has come into my life.
18:26I couldn't believe it, you could take this drug, you know, you straighten you up and just carry on drinking again.
18:30Pure as the driven snow.
18:33We had these machines from Amsterdam where you could just flick it up your nose.
18:37We'd do it in the bars, we'd do it driving.
18:40It was everywhere.
18:41It was absolutely everywhere.
18:43You know, it was like the devil's down draft.
18:47I was starting to go really off the rails, but the snooker always pulled me back and wanting to win the world championship.
18:55I don't know what this is, you know what I mean? I'm just absolutely stoned on natural air.
19:05Just three months after their Masters clash, Jimmy defeated Kirk Stevens once more in a semi-final.
19:12But this time it was the world championship, and Jimmy would go on to face the man who'd knocked him out in 81.
19:18You are in the final, and now it's Steve Davis.
19:20Now that is going to be a completely different sort of match, isn't it? A completely different proposition?
19:23Not really, no, because my game would still be the same game.
19:27It's just that Steve's a different player from Lightning and Kirk.
19:31But it doesn't affect you.
19:33Jimmy by then established himself as a major player on the circuit, so it was no surprise that he got to the final.
19:41He was always very, very dangerous.
19:45Do you think you'll win?
19:47I'll try.
19:48I think you'll win. I'm not putting too much heat on you, am I?
19:50I'm not putting.
19:51Playing Jimmy White in the final, I felt more under pressure because it was Jimmy.
20:01And because I knew how quickly he could reel frames off.
20:03The worst possible thing you can do is to try and change your own speed and your own tactics and your own play.
20:09I'll play my game and they can sort of fit in with me.
20:12I mean, you were never going to see Steve Davis going out for a drink with Jimmy White on a Friday night.
20:17That was never going to happen because Steve was practicing.
20:21Jimmy was legless.
20:27The final would be played over two days with bookmakers tipping the defending champion, the Romford Robot, to win the title for a third time.
20:35Me and Steve were just two different people altogether, you know. He lived properly, he practiced, he was into chess, you know, and I was into nightclubs.
20:45With his hero, Alex Higgins, watching from the sidelines, Jimmy the whirlwind was once again determined to approach the game his way.
20:58Jimmy appears to be throwing caution to the winds at the moment.
21:01Jimmy White's style was very open. He'd want to risk the outcome rather than get bogged down in the tactical part of the game.
21:14It's so pleasing to pinch a frame, but demoralizing if you're the opponent.
21:20He didn't miss any easy balls. He played all the right shots. He was a model machine, you know, he, you know, he was a machine.
21:31After the first day, Jimmy was 12-4 down and in need of inspiration.
21:37Alex Higgins came in very kindly to give him the pep talk, saying,
21:43shove the fucking queue up the ginger con sauce.
21:48Jimmy spent a long time in the practice room this morning, had a new tip on yesterday.
21:53A really marvellous clearance of 119 by Jimmy White and just the start he wanted to this afternoon session.
22:01Jimmy turned on a display, which must have paralysed Davis.
22:06Another frame could go against him here.
22:09Yes, with only 67 left on the table, Clive, and that red going in as well.
22:13We've been waiting for this from Jimmy now. This is the first time we've seen him in full flight in this final.
22:18When you're sitting in your chair, the other guy's reeling off frame after frame.
22:22This is why it is inspired best.
22:24It's not just the fact that the dynamic of the match has changed and you're mentally perhaps not in the right frame of mind.
22:31It's also who's doing that.
22:33The comeback was just amazing.
22:36The best snooker he's probably ever played.
22:39I was creating chances from nowhere and he wouldn't be able to handle it.
22:44And I won that session.
22:46Despite Jimmy's mesmerising play, as the first to 18 frames match drew to a close, the score stood at 17-16 in Davis' favour.
22:55Steve's 17 in front, but all the colours in the centre of the table, so whoever gets this yellow could win.
23:16Well, Jimmy had a go, and I think he may pay the penalty.
23:20Great shot.
23:27Still needs the green, and this isn't easy at this stage of the match.
23:34So this final is still not over.
23:40Quiet, please.
23:41Everybody just wants that game to be over, both of them.
23:52The way to do it is just part in the green.
24:05He was a long, long way away from that one.
24:07Steve, please.
24:09And this is probably the best chance Steve's going to have.
24:12Not an easy green, but should he get it, must finish on the brown.
24:15Jimmy sees the championship now drifting away from him.
24:30A great performance then by Steve Davis, defending his title to win the Embassy World Snooper Championship 1984.
24:37It was such a tough battle, and commiserations, Jimmy, it's his first final.
24:44And...
24:48Davis.
24:50How he won that title.
24:52I mean, he was granite.
24:54He just did.
24:56He just played the game, and poor old Jimmy got screwed out of winning a world title, which he deserved to win.
25:00Let's not forget the man who made it such a marvellous final, Jimmy White.
25:09He wanted Jimmy to win probably more than Jimmy.
25:12I dare say if Jimmy won it, Alex would have been out there for the trophy presentation.
25:17I mean, I wanted Jimmy to win that final.
25:20I thought Jimmy was going to do it, but just sort of fell at the last hurdle.
25:24He just didn't have that little bit extra to stay with Steve.
25:29It was devastating watching.
25:32Devastating watching someone not quite manage to win it.
25:38What was Jimmy lacking?
25:41Lacking the killer punch.
25:44It's not unique to him.
25:46It has happened to a lot of extremely talented people.
25:50And they get to the point where they can win the dream title.
25:56And they suddenly start thinking, I'm on the tightrope.
26:00They look down, you know, and they fall to their destruction.
26:04You have failed to produce the winning shot.
26:09And that's destroying to people.
26:14Shortly after his 84 defeat to Davis,
26:17Jimmy parted ways with his manager, Harvey.
26:21I couldn't understand when he tried to get out of his contract.
26:25I thought, well, he's changed his character's changed.
26:28It's gone weird.
26:30Something was weird was happening.
26:32I felt there was changes going on.
26:38The cocaine days were becoming twos and three days.
26:41It was getting crazy.
26:43I tried smoking it and got completely addicted to it.
26:45I remember I had 35,000 in a, like, a Moody account.
26:51No one knew about that.
26:53And I just drained that banking account on the, er, on the crack.
26:58Before I knew where it was, we was like, you know,
27:01see my best friends crawling all round the floor,
27:04trying to find little bits of rocks.
27:06And seeing someone who you trust your life with,
27:08get a bit of a rock and hide it in his pocket.
27:12Because that's what that crack did to you.
27:15But it was a dark time.
27:16You know, it was probably the worst...
27:18Looking back, probably the worst three months of my life.
27:21It was pretty evil.
27:23The cocaine for me, I say, the devil's dandruff.
27:26That crack is like sucking the devil's dick.
27:28Is that evil?
27:30And, er, I would never go there again.
27:34In the mid-'80s, while many were fighting for their right to party,
27:44others were warning of the come-down.
27:47How many bags does that buy you at the going route?
27:49How long will that last you?
27:51If we are to conquer the problems and the pain of drugs in this country,
27:57just say no.
27:59Well, in Britain, snooker players competing in the Embassy World Championship,
28:03which opened in Sheffield this morning,
28:04are being tested for illegal drugs for the first time.
28:07Samples will be taken after every match
28:10and sent to London for analysis.
28:12Bringing in drug testing was a way of saying to the public,
28:15we are a major sport and a global sport.
28:17I mean, there have been rumours that some people do use stimulants.
28:22Do you think this will find that out?
28:24Well, fairly obviously. If something is happening,
28:26then this will obviously detect it.
28:28Sport is only an illustration of society at large,
28:31so you don't expect not to see it.
28:33If you see it in society, you're going to see it in sport.
28:35The difference is in sport, it's usually too excess
28:38and it's far better publicised.
28:40Well, anyone involved in snooker must really pinch themselves
28:43to believe the success that the sport has enjoyed over the last few years,
28:46but with the success has come the adverse publicity.
28:50In snooker's case, it's revelations about drug taking.
28:53Kirk Stevens has confessed to being a cocaine addict
28:56who spent a quarter of a million pounds on his habit.
28:59Do you have any sort of sense of how much you might have spent on cocaine?
29:03Oh, no. Hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands, yeah.
29:06If you're young and you've got lots of money and you're in sport,
29:12I mean, it must be difficult, mustn't it?
29:14Not to be seduced by all this.
29:17I knew Alex was doing drugs. I mean, yeah.
29:21Alex was doing everything that was possible.
29:24But I didn't with Jimmy.
29:26I never expected him as a heavy drug taker at all.
29:29We hid it well, shall we say.
29:31I was lucky enough I didn't interfere with my snooker.
29:35It was something different, you know?
29:37Yeah, I mean, obviously, you hear stories.
29:40You would hear about that scene.
29:42But I was kept well away from all that.
29:46At the tender age of 17, Stephen Henry's been dubbed the baby-faced hustler,
29:55the super cool kid, the hottest property in British sport.
29:59Up in Scotland, shielded from the temptations other players had succumbed to,
30:05a young snooker player was making a name for himself.
30:08You said earlier this year that you were going to be world champion within five years.
30:11Do you still stick to that?
30:12Yeah, I still stick to that with the dedication I'm putting in,
30:16plus the experience I'm getting from playing in the professional circuit.
30:19Definitely, yeah.
30:21Hello, a very good evening to you from Glasgow's Hospitality
30:23and on the opening day of Scotland's only major international snooker tournament,
30:27the Lang Supreme Scottish Masters.
30:29A capacity crowd here, breaking off the Scottish champion,
30:34the 17-year-old Stephen Henry, his opponent, whirlwind, Jimmy White.
30:38In the 1986 Scottish Masters, a fresh-faced Stephen Henry was taking on his idol.
30:45It was the first time I'd played him in a match.
30:48There was high hopes that I might challenge.
30:51At the time, Jimmy White was my favourite.
30:54Jimmy White was my hero.
30:55I just loved the way he played, the deep screw backs, the cubo going all the way around the table.
31:02To see your hero was exciting for me.
31:0545.
31:0746.
31:1056.
31:11So it gets built up and built up and built up.
31:17No looking at all in the first frame, was unable to get to the table, so we're yet to see his ability.
31:23A terrific young man with a great future.
31:26He mustn't play those low shots too often.
31:31I just... I just froze, basically.
31:36The big question is whether Stephen can hold him now.
31:39Trailing by three frames.
31:45Shakes his head.
31:47Things are not going at all well for him.
31:49Because it was Jimmy, and because it was this big televised event in Scotland, I just felt under pressure.
31:55Break goes to 66.
31:57That's horrible. There's no worse feeling.
31:5923.
32:04It's all over.
32:06And Stephen Hinzee comes forward to congratulate Jimmy White, who takes the match.
32:11Five frames to one.
32:14I remember after my manager gave him a good bollocking, saying,
32:18if that's what you're going, you're just going to be looking at them,
32:21and you've got no chance of doing anything in a game.
32:24So it was kind of a wake-up call.
32:26What a load of rubbish.
32:30I mean, I couldn't believe that last frame, that yellow.
32:32I mean, what possessed you?
32:34I couldn't believe it, you did my brains.
32:36I don't think you can just make excuses in terms of the amount of work.
32:40I'm going to make excuses for work.
32:42Ian Doyle was the Scottish equivalent of Barry Hearn.
32:49He was a shrewd businessman who spotted that the young fella in front of him was going to be a world beater.
32:56Right at the very beginning, I said to him, I said, Stephen, I'll manage you if you can tell me exactly what you want to achieve.
33:06And he said, I want to be number one, and I want the world championship.
33:09Ian was a sort of dour Scotsman. He's a disciplinarian.
33:14Look at the way the balls are separating. Easy for him. Absolutely easy.
33:18What about this one?
33:19It would just annoy the shit out of me when he'd come in and, like, you know.
33:23The amount of times I'd told him to fuck off was just, like, get out.
33:27I have ups and downs all the time. We'll have our little arguments about things.
33:30But, um, more or less in the end, we'll always come out, um, friends.
33:35He used to give me the hair dryers and everything, um, in intervals and matches.
33:39You know, you can't put a ball, you're getting beat by this, you know, he's taking the piss out of you, you're a joke.
33:44Everything completely, like, go through me.
33:47But, um, but it worked for me. It just made me angry.
33:50It just made me determined to prove him wrong.
33:52Are you setting up a rival camp north of the border to Barry Han?
33:56I don't think so. Does it work like that?
33:57No, I don't think so. I don't think it works like that.
33:59But I think the most important thing that Barry's taught everybody that you've got to have winners.
34:06These players are among the game's highest earners.
34:09They're all part of one company, Matchroom.
34:13In the case of Jimmy White, I sense an opportunity.
34:17He was in that rebellious part of his youth where, you know, I'm my own man.
34:20I do my own things, mate.
34:23Young kid, flash, social party animal.
34:27He was on the Superstar Rockstar rollercoaster with Alex Higgins and Kirk Stevens.
34:33But he also knew that he wasn't earning the type of money that all the Matchroom players was earning through publicity, commercial endorsement.
34:42Jimmy wanted a bit of that.
34:44They had Matchroom aftershave and they were doing these tours of the Far East.
34:51And if you like the lifestyle that I'd gotten used to, it was the part of me that thought, well, I've got to go and get that money.
34:57In late 1986, Jimmy shocked the snooker world when he signed to Hearn's Matchroom, the same management company as his clean cut rival, Steve Davis.
35:09I thought, oh, that's an interesting fit.
35:13He was probably not the normal sort of player that Matchroom would have represented.
35:19His image in the press has been that of a wild boy.
35:22Very much so.
35:23I know that is his image and that is Jimmy White.
35:25He is a wild boy.
35:26Jimmy was the wild cod.
35:28He actually gave me the variety that I didn't have within my own setup.
35:33You needed a wild cod.
35:34And I didn't realise at the time how much I did.
35:38It was kind of like he joined the establishment.
35:41I always thought of him as, like, a rebel.
35:43He was on his own, doing his own thing.
35:45Now, we'd better take the glasses off, cos I've never seen Jimmy play this before.
35:49Are you sure?
35:51Do you feel that it's giving you more stability?
35:55Yeah, I seem to have my feet a bit more on the ground now.
35:58Like, my affairs are sort of sorted out and I'm just sort of practising my snooker and trying to become a winner, you know?
36:05I mean, if he wasn't going to win with Barry Hearn, he wasn't going to win with anybody.
36:10It was a statement signing.
36:12We are here, we are real, we are winners and we're going to dominate.
36:15If we felt we didn't have the future, Jimmy obviously being top potential winner over the course of years ahead,
36:23we now do have.
36:24Give him!
36:28It gave me that little bit of street that I didn't have, because of all the things you can say about the players I had,
36:37they didn't necessarily have the street.
36:39With Barry Hearn calling the shots, snooker has become show business.
36:46He's Tony, he's Steve, he's Neil, he's Jim, he's Terry, he's Dan, he's Willie.
36:50We're going to do the Ronford Rat for you, though you might think it's silly.
36:54Being part of Hearn's elite meant Jimmy had to fulfil certain obligations.
36:59I feel a bit sorry for Jimmy, getting caught in a crossfire of the Ronford Rat.
37:03He got sucked into the world of it.
37:05No, that wasn't for me, no.
37:07We had to dance along a big giant cushion of a snooker table with the cues above her head singing
37:15It's the Ronford Rat, the Ronford Rat
37:17Open up your trap and give it some of that.
37:20Whether you're a paddy or a tap or you're a jump or a jab
37:22Blaine Barry
37:23Whether you're yellow, green, brown, blue, pink or black
37:26That's the only time we've ever seen a miserable face on Jimmy White
37:29If you're on fault you'll clear the cone
37:31For a maximum airy wood
37:32He was embarrassed to be part of something which was so nath
37:35Because it wasn't where he came from
37:37But he did it
37:39Open up your trap and give it some of that
37:41He was just trying to make more money because snookerloofy'd done it
37:45Whether you're yellow, green, brown, blue or black
37:47It was a shocking record
37:48You can do the Ronford Rat
37:50It only got to number 95 and it meant that we didn't have to do another record
37:55I wondered whether Barry would try and control Jimmy and make him more of a different person
38:04I did wonder that
38:05But I kind of knew Jimmy
38:07I think most people would think that would be, there's just no chance of that happening
38:13The snooker boom has even reached Hong Kong
38:20And Hearn has made sure that his boys are at the head of this far eastern revolution
38:25With Jimmy now in the matchroom fold
38:27Hearn had more players for his overseas exhibition tours
38:31And whilst the up and coming Hendry already had a manager
38:34He was asked to join the big boys
38:36Matching with the elite
38:38Being invited to join them was amazing
38:41We used to go to Bangkok for a week
38:44And then Japan and Hong Kong
38:46These were days when we'd be getting loads of money
38:49We'd just be socialising with the cream of all these countries
38:53It was marvellous tours to be on
38:55Jimmy White
38:57I used to love him
38:58Needless to say, he partied straight after
39:03My manager Ian was with me
39:05So, no, I wasn't let off the leash
39:08There was still, I was still
39:10Sort of under the thumb, as it were
39:14But there's a couple of incidents
39:15One in Hong Kong
39:16We had a boat trip
39:17Jimmy's friend had this huge boat
39:20That was going to take us out to an island
39:22The guy had a little speedboat on the big boat
39:24And Jimmy says
39:26Can I borrow your speedboat?
39:28If you'd have said to the guy
39:29Can I have one of your children?
39:30He'd have probably said yes
39:32Because he was in love with Jimmy White
39:34Jimmy, my speedboat, it's yours
39:36Here's the keys
39:40He was taking Steve Davis round and round
39:42And going so fast
39:44His bravery at cornering was beyond
39:47I just was scared
39:48I'd never get in a car with him
39:49After his speedboat escapade
39:51Jimmy went in there, took it out, flipped it upside down and sank it
39:58Jimmy swims ashore
40:01He says to the bloke, sorry about that mate, how much do I owe you?
40:04I said, Jimmy it's like 25, 30 grand
40:06Well lucky enough that speedboat I sank
40:09Is still a good friend of mine to this day
40:11Steven Hendry, interestingly enough, he can't swim
40:15The thing about sport, you find out who's got the bottle
40:18And I remember on that trip
40:20I said, let's all swim half a mile to the beach
40:23Hendry said I can't swim
40:25So I said, oh, well you'll have to stay here
40:27He said, oh no, I want to come with you
40:29I'll put a life jacket on
40:30And he just put a life jacket on and jumped in
40:32And we all pulled him half a mile and couldn't swim
40:35But I thought it showed lots of bottle
40:41Hendry took less than an hour to dispose of his stable mate
40:44And doubles partner, Mike Hallett
40:46And the very appreciative audience got their first glimpse
40:49Of a man who's certain to be a household name before very long
40:54Jimmy was my sort of favourite player
40:56Until I got more serious
40:59And I could see his lifestyle wouldn't be the way to go
41:04He enjoyed life
41:05He loved his snooker
41:06No one loves snooker more than Jimmy
41:08But he also wasn't the most dedicated
41:11If you want to be the world number one world champion and stay there
41:14The way I was going to get to the top
41:16My whole life had to be channelled into being a winner
41:19And that was to follow the model of Steve
41:24This for it
41:26Throughout the late 80s
41:28Steve Davis was at the peak of his game
41:30And seemed unstoppable
41:32Steve Davis
41:33Who has won the world title four times
41:36Has now won
41:38The United Kingdom Championship six times
41:43During my heyday of success in the game
41:47I regularly had dreams that I could fly
41:50For the fifth time
41:52Steve Davis becomes Embassy World Champion
41:56I think the flying dreams represent the fact
41:58That you actually do think you are the bee's knees
42:01John Clarence
42:02He fades
42:04That seemed to be the way that it was possible to feel
42:07When you were world number one
42:09And nobody else on the planet could beat you
42:12Embassy World Snooker Champion 1989
42:15And a hat trick goes to the fabulous Steve Davis
42:21Whilst Davis ended the decade by adding three more world championships to his name
42:26Jimmy failed to reach another world final
42:30Steve was much more successful in tournament victories
42:33But Jimmy's profile as a latter day Alex Higgins people's champion grew and grew
42:39Steve used to win more than me
42:43And Barry would say to me
42:45What the fuck are you doing?
42:46Why don't you just practice and win?
42:50With the 1990 World Championship coming up
42:52And Hendry rising through the ranks
42:54It seemed Jimmy was finally ready to change his approach to the game
42:59I got my head down a bit
43:00I knew that this Stephen Hendry was around
43:02I knew that, you know, to even compete with him
43:05I had to practice
43:06So, you know, I did become sort of half a professional
43:11You know, where I've sort of put in quite a bit of practice
43:15And tried to live a bit better
43:18He even started to spend less time with his boyhood hero
43:22I wasn't doing too many exhibitions with Higgins
43:25Looking back at it now, Barry must have, you know, cleverly done that
43:29Yeah, I think that was more of a decision by Jimmy, to be honest with you
43:32I think whilst he didn't ostracise himself from Alex, he definitely saw less of him
43:42The World Championship Finals of 1990 was a pivotal year in snooker
43:47It was the changing of the guard
43:50It had been eight years since Alex Higgins last lifted the World Championship trophy
43:55Look, I don't think I'll ever give up this game
43:58And so I got a third world championship
44:01Awful miss
44:03And there have been just too many mistakes
44:06Alex Higgins, the lawn to himself
44:09Desperately trying to hang on
44:11Trying to be the player
44:13That he feels he should be
44:14Alex Higgins concedes forthwith
44:15Alex crashed out against Steve James in the first round
44:27I think he knew at that moment
44:30That was going to be the last time he ever played in the World Championship
44:34His game had gone
44:37Printed bluntly, he was a wreck
44:38After being beaten in this year's championship, Mr Higgins allegedly assaulted an official
44:43Later, he said he was retiring from snooker
44:46I'm absolutely sick
44:48Up to here and further
44:51About taking all this shit
44:53And I'm not prepared to take it any longer
44:56So you can shove your snooker up your jacks
45:00I'm not playing no more
45:02No more
45:04It was horrible watching him do that
45:07Watching that speech
45:09And you know, I just wanted to go and grab him and bring him out of there
45:15Higgins, he was one of them drinkers that drunk all the time
45:19But with me, when I started drinking, I just drunk for like four hours non-stop
45:25You know what I mean?
45:26But I wouldn't drink if there was no action going on or no music or anything
45:30Jimmy loved Alex Higgins, no question about that
45:33But he also knew that he couldn't afford to go down that road
45:38Ladies and gentlemen, will you please re-welcome Jimmy White and Steve Davis
45:43The hurricane was out
45:45But the whirlwind had managed to progress to the semi-finals
45:49Where he and old rival Steve Davis were set to battle it out over 31 frames
45:54Steve Davis had always been Jimmy's nemesis
45:59And whenever they met, Jimmy couldn't quite get the better of Steve
46:04Thank you ladies and gentlemen, frame 27
46:07Jimmy White
46:09I was in front, but definitely under pressure
46:12This is the different Jimmy White
46:15Normally he would have slammed that green into the green pocket
46:19He's playing a very different game of snooker
46:23And it's paying off
46:25I was clean that year
46:27And I'd been practicing really hard
46:29Jimmy White
46:35Now leading 15 frames to 13
46:38And requires just one frame to put himself into the 1990 World Snooker Final
46:45We all thought this is the moment, this is it
46:48And I think that's why everyone was behind him
46:50Because we like to see someone overcome their problems and come back
46:53Taking this down the table
46:58Jimmy White
46:59No, one
47:01Had it a gun
47:04I think he might have won the frame
47:06As it is, he could so easily lose it
47:09You had to be 100% on your game
47:13Use anything less, you had no chance
47:1639 points ahead
47:19Only 27 points left
47:21Steve Davis
47:22Steve Davis
47:25Jimmy concedes
47:29So the defending world champion Steve Davis saves this semi-final
47:34And there's just one frame only in it now
47:37Steve wanting two frames
47:39And Jimmy still wanting that one
47:41I expected Steve to win
47:43But I think from outside influences
47:45Probably more pressure on Jimmy
47:47Being so popular
47:49Everyone want him to win
47:50To win
47:56So the fortunes once again change
48:00Thank you ladies and gentlemen
48:01Well yes, Jimmy certainly twitched on that
48:04He hit it twice as hard as he needed to
48:06Well I just don't believe it
48:07Even when he made the odd mistake it was so rare
48:21And you could see some players like checking out the hotel when they were going to play
48:24And they knew they couldn't win
48:25They knew they couldn't win
48:27It looks easy but what that pressure does to your mind
48:32What?
48:33Even that simple shot like that and Jimmy's
48:36Got himself in an awkward position
48:3832 points the difference
48:4132 points the difference
48:43Of course when you're in this position
48:46Jimmy's just touching his head
48:47Which tells
48:49He can't even reckon the score up
48:51And I can tell him now
48:56That Steve Davis requires one snooker
48:59One snooker
49:11It's a very popular win
49:13What a semi-final we've seen
49:19What a semi-final we've seen
49:25And like the great sportsman he is
49:28He applauds his opponent
49:30As Jimmy White breaks his way to the final
49:34For the 1990 championship
49:36With victory over defending champion Steve Davis
49:39At 16 frames to 14
49:42What a performance
49:44The defending world snooker champion Steve Davis has lost his title
49:48Within the last half hour he was defeated in the semi-finals
49:51By the Londoner Jimmy White
49:53It was the first time that White had beaten Davis in this tournament
49:58Jimmy if you haven't got any breath
50:01My goodness it was a bit twitchy out there wasn't it
50:03It was a tremendous match
50:04You've played him what is it four times here in the Crucible
50:08At last you've got him
50:10Well I've not won yet
50:12No I'm talking about him
50:13Oh yeah him yeah
50:15You were up against the great final aren't you
50:18For sure yeah
50:20I'm not you know I'm blown away at the moment
50:22I can't answer you
50:24I was so relieved to beat Steve Davis over that amount of frames
50:28But for me that was what it was all about
50:30It was all about if you beat Steve Davis you know
50:32You deserve to win the tournament
50:35Nobody could deny this extremely talented player
50:38The chance to become world champion
50:40The whirlwind himself
50:42Jimmy White
50:46He got that monkey off his back and you thought
50:48Okay now is the time
50:50Beating his arch rival
50:52Put that demon to one side
50:54And now he's in the final against the up and coming star
50:57Ladies and gentlemen making his first appearance in a world final
51:00Stephen Hendry
51:071990 that's probably what I'd be remembered as
51:10The mullet final
51:12Jimmy's was better than mine
51:14Jimmy's was cooler than mine
51:16When I look back now mine was yeah
51:18Yeah horrific really
51:19Thank you ladies and gentlemen
51:20First frame
51:22Stephen Hendry to bridge
51:24This final promises never to be forgotten
51:28An excellent chance for Jimmy to clinch this first frame
51:31Jimmy can put this one away
51:37The first of our 35 frames then closes with Jimmy White putting it on the scoreboard
51:44Jimmy must have thought
51:46Well okay here we go I can beat this guy here
51:52It was a promising start for Jimmy
51:54But by the end of the first day he found himself trailing 9-7
51:58Jimmy at the moment two frames down
52:01I was desperately hoping Jimmy White would win nothing against Stephen
52:06A hundred and twenty thousand pounds at stake
52:10And of course that coveted title
52:16Fabulous
52:18What more perfection could you get than a clearance like that of a hundred and four
52:23A lot of people have ability
52:25But there's one thing you need
52:27And that's temperament
52:29And to handle the pressure
52:32Stephen Hendry was an absolute phenomenon
52:37And Jimmy concedes far too far behind
52:43Stephen now leading five frames
52:46They talk about a zone but I felt more like I was in my own bubble
52:50I just felt confident
52:52I just thought there's no way I can lose this final
52:55I just had that sort of feeling
52:58Completely unflustered
53:04It felt like it was destiny
53:06It felt like the time had come where I was going to win the world championship
53:09And this break is starting to look very likely to be the killing thrust
53:14Stephen Hendry came along with a different sort of game plan
53:18You know he played the game much more aggressively
53:21He took the game to a new level
53:23Only 67 on the table now
53:27And Hendry is 71 in front
53:32Playing beautifully
53:34He went for the throat
53:35He went for the throat
53:37And it was...
53:39It was too much for Jim
53:41In that match
53:42He was too much
53:46And with that break of 71
53:49Stephen Hendry brings a great championship to an end
53:53He has beaten Jimmy White by 18 frames to 12
53:57To become the youngest ever champion
54:00He just represents Stephen Hendry
54:03Coming of age
54:05He just knew that this guy was here
54:07To stay
54:09You really worked hard for this
54:11Didn't you? All the practice table work
54:13Yeah, you know, I'm delighted with my form
54:15You know, coming in
54:17I'm obviously disappointed with losing
54:19It was the start of my chance of winning
54:21Going down
54:23It was a new era of snooker
54:25Jimmy, there'll be another year I'm sure
54:26I'm sorry
54:27I'm sorry
54:28How much longer has this fella got to hang onto it?
54:29That's the problem isn't it?
54:30I'll be after him then, sir
54:33Jimmy reached four more world championship finals
54:37But would never win the world title
54:40If anyone ever said
54:41Who's the best player ever to win the world title
54:44There's only one name that'll ever be
54:46And that is Jimmy White
54:48He won everything else
54:49Jim won everything else
54:51It's just that one world title
54:53His holy grail
54:55Stephen Hendry went on to dominate the 90s
54:59Winning a record seven world championships
55:02I thought, I just don't really want to watch this anymore
55:06It's just all the same
55:08There was absolutely nothing new happening in it
55:11I think after snooker's massive popularity in the 80s
55:15I think there was suddenly a little switch again
55:18You know, snooker started to get slightly less interesting
55:21And football kind of re-emerged
55:24All of a sudden we had Italia 90
55:26And that kind of transformed things
55:30It's going later
55:32The strains of Nessun Dorma are playing in my ears
55:36Italia 90
55:38Football had suddenly become glamorous again
55:41Sport hasn't gone forever
55:46That's the problem
55:48We've lost some great personalities
55:50And the sports always move on
55:53There's a kind of sadness when you think that way
55:57But at the same time
55:59There's some joy in what they gave us
56:02During those magical times
56:03In April 2010 after a long illness
56:16The game's original people's champion Alex Higgins
56:19Played his last frame of snooker at the crucible
56:21Alex Hurricane Higgins, the former world snooker champion has died at the age of 61
56:36He'd been suffering from throat cancer
56:39It was sad, it was sad
56:41It's horrible to see someone you absolutely idolise, you know, the way he played
56:50I didn't want to see him go like that
56:53It was devastating for me
56:56You know, I lost a friend and he was my hero
57:05He changed the public's perception of snooker
57:07He's a legend in our sport
57:14He was a bad boy in a lot of different ways
57:17But he did an awful lot of good for the guy
57:19More good than he did harm for sure, you know
57:21And I think he inspired so many people
57:26He was a genius
57:28And make no mistake
57:30Alex Higgins made snooker what it is today
57:33And just listen to the crowd, Jimmy White, who becomes the 2019 World Seniors Snooker Champion
57:48Congratulations Jimmy
57:52It was nice to win a trophy at the crucible
57:55That was a great feeling, winning the World Seniors
57:58I know that there's still a part of me that can win
58:01And while that's still there, I'm going to carry on
58:03Thank you very much
58:06No problem
58:08Excellent, thank you very much
58:10Yeah, it's a pleasure, thanks
58:12Lovely to see you, thank you all very much indeed
58:14It's been a pleasure
58:16Don't feel like, for the sake of the fucking nine hours I've just done
58:18That you have to send me a case of fantastic Australian Shiraz or something
58:22Don't feel obligated at all
58:24I'm surprised you're all still awake
58:28Cheers
58:30Cheers guys
58:32That's entertainment
58:35That's entertainment
58:37Cheers
58:38Cheers
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