Ray Reardon, six-time snooker world champion, dies aged 91

The six-time world champion Ray Reardon has died at the age of 91, World Snooker has announced. The Welshman, who dominated the sport in the 1970s, passed away on Friday night, having previously been diagnosed with cancer.

“Ray is one of the best sports people ever from Wales and the best snooker player,” said the former world champion Mark Williams. “He’s one of the reasons why a lot of us started playing. He put snooker on the map, alongside Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Steve Davis. Anyone playing now owes them a lot because they brought popularity to the game. He is a real inspiration.”

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White posted a message on X, saying: “Gutted to hear my very good friend Ray Reardon has passed away. A total class act and very kind to me when I was making my way in the game. A giant of the game. Rest in Peace mate.”

The 1985 world champion, Dennis Taylor, also paid tribute. “So sad to hear of the passing of the great Ray Reardon,” he wrote on X. “Would always be in my top eight of all time. Had the pleasure of traveling around the world with a true gentleman. Condolences to all his family. RIP Ray.”

Reardon ruled snooker in the 1970s when the man known fondly as “Dracula” because of his hairstyle became a household name as he won six World Championship titles.

A miner and a policeman before turning professional, Reardon survived a serious accident in the pits when a tunnel he was working on collapsed in 1957.

Reardon won titles as a teenager and was the Welsh amateur champion every year from 1950 to 1955. He gave up playing competitively after losing in the first round of the 1957 English amateur championship before joining the Stoke-on-Trent police force in 1960.

He returned to snooker by winning the English amateur championship in 1964 and went full-time professional in 1967. The launch of the BBC television show Pot Black in 1969 boosted Reardon’s profile as he won the first edition in 1969.

Reardon then won his first World Championship in 1970, beating John Pulman 37-33 in the final, before winning four straight titles from 1973 to 1976. His last World Championship crown came when he beat Perrie Mans to clinch a sixth title in 1978 at the age of 45. Reardon made it back to the World Championship final in 1982, but he was defeated 18-15 by Alex Higgins.

The Welshman retired from playing in 1991, but after receiving a phone call from Ronnie O’Sullivan’s imprisoned father in 2004, Reardon agreed to mentor the youngster and helped to steer the Rocket to his second world title.