I was doing commentary for the BBC and had exhibition work but if you're not winning you are not earning as much. And when you're seen as a successful sportsman, people assume you're earning a good living. There was pressure on me to have the newest car, a more expensive holiday. It was all about keeping up appearances.

John Virgo

I was doing commentary for the BBC and had exhibition work but if you're not winning you are not earning as much. And when you're seen as a successful sportsman, people assume you're earning a good living. There was pressure on me to have the newest car, a more expensive holiday. It was all about keeping up appearances.

John Virgo

When the results weren't coming on the snooker table, I tried to supplement things by gambling on horses even more.

John Virgo

In 1983, I played in a new tournament called the Professional Snooker League. I won eight of my 11 matches, beating Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Dennis Taylor, among others.

John Virgo

I have never invested directly in stocks and shares. That's never been my type of speculation.

John Virgo

I grew up on a street that's similar to the ones you used to see in Coronation Street on TV. We had an outside toilet at the bottom of the yard and I had to share a bedroom until my older sisters left home.

John Virgo

Particularly now with social media, you only need to turn round and someone will have a camera in your face and occasionally someone will be talking to you at the bar, asking you to pose for a picture, and someone will say, 'They're videoing this.' They're videoing you at the bar!

John Virgo

The better players need to be out there in front of a big crowd, the TV cameras, with the adrenaline going. That is a test for any player to be able to do it on the big stage.

John Virgo

The worst time was in 1985 when house prices crashed and interest rates went up to 14 percent. I was not winning on the snooker table and I had this big image to keep up - and a lifestyle where I lived beyond my means.

John Virgo

You can't be giggling and joking when you miss a shot in the modern game - not like the way when Ray Reardon used to do.

John Virgo

I went through a period when I was addicted to gambling. It was a compulsion that I struggled to get to grips with. By 1990, it was in danger of ruining my life.

John Virgo

I remember that if you went down to the Crucible or other snooker tournaments it was all the snooker writers, and then all of a sudden when the game became popular on television it wasn't only snooker writers: it was what we called special correspondents.

John Virgo

At the end of the day, life is a gamble, isn't it? A lot of it is sheer luck.

John Virgo

When I started playing all the players were trying to sell the game of snooker. Nowadays the prize money is so great, competing in tournaments is no laughing matter.

John Virgo

People often talk about George Best and Alex Higgins as two similar personalities... but the truth is that Best did not like Alex.

John Virgo

I get the 'Daily Mirror,' purely and simply because they put the Racing Post prices in.

John Virgo

It took my parents years to save up for 'luxuries' like a fridge or a television, and we were always among the last in the street to get them.

John Virgo

I was born in March 1946, almost exactly 10 months after V-E Day, so I imagine my parents got carried away when peace was declared.

John Virgo

When my father retired, all he did was twiddle his thumbs. I don't want to go down that road. As long as I'm still in demand, I'll work.

John Virgo

I don't mind cheese with a nice glass of port, but I prefer chocolate.

John Virgo

Cricket had John Arlott, Wimbledon had Dan Maskell, we had Ted Lowe. He was great.

John Virgo