4 March 2022 marks the 76th birthday of former British Champion John Wolgo. More than forty years of commentary have made Volgo the iconic "voice" of Snooker.
文/Hector Nunns，《The Sportsman》
Born in Salford in 1946 to a working-class family, Wolgo was a contemporary of Betfred founder and chairman Fred Dorne. Influenced by his father, Volgo has loved football and horse racing since he was a child, and Manchester United is his favorite team. To be able to achieve such a great achievement in the field of snooker is purely a coincidence of Volgo himself.
In 1976, at the age of 30, Volgo became a professional snooker player. Prior to this, Volgo only practiced outside of his daily work, participating in a few competitions, exhibition matches, and so on. The life of a professional player was very different from today's, but Volgo's hard work to make a living made him earn a better income.
Volgo said: "At that time, there were only the World Championships, plus the Masters, the Black Ball Challenge and the Ponting Tournament. As a result, snooker players had to increase their income by going to exhibition games during non-seasons. I'm delighted to have a Boutrin Summer Exhibition Tournament contract that earns £150 a week. In Skegness, there are 30 snooker tables and 36 table tennis tables in the ballroom. When I played snooker, I was also hit by a flying ping-pong ball. ”
As a professional snooker player, Volgo's greatest achievement in his career was winning the Championship at Preston in 1979. Today, more than 40 years later, host Rob Walker still tells the audience about the British Championship victory as his most brilliant resume. In Volgo's view, winning the 1979 British Championship was "the best and worst day of my life".
In the final stages of that year's British Championship final, Volgo led the defending world champion Terry Griffiths 11-7, and in the final of 27 innings and 14 wins, it appeared that Volgo had secured the victory. But at 11:50 a.m. that day, Volgo received a call from an event official asking where Volgo was. In fact, the final stage of the game did not start at 1:45 pm as usual, but was scheduled to start at 12 o'clock. Ten minutes before the start, Volgo was still in a hotel ten miles from the set.
Wolgo was sentenced to lose two sets for being late, but he persevered until the end to win 14-13. Unexpectedly, the BBC's live footage broke in the 24th inning, leaving volgo with no trace of the brightest moment of his career, and no viewer could see what should have been his glorious moment from the TV.
In addition to his skilful skills, Volgo is also known for his acting talent and ability to imitate, and he is very good at imitating his tour opponents Alex Higgins and Ray Reilton.
It was also because of his acting prowess that Volgo was selected to co-host a snooker entertainment show big break with comedian Jim Davidson. The show invited amateur contestants and professional guests to compete on the spot, and its novel and fun format made "Big Break" gain 14 million viewers over the course of 11 years of programs.
In the field of commentary, Volgo considers Snooker's early famous narrator, Ted Lowe, to be his mentor and source of inspiration. With Sky Sports' reporting by Chris Kamala, Volgo's "Where's the cue ball going?" It became the most well-known terrier in the field of snooker.
Wolgo, like dennis Taylor, Willie Thorne, John Parot, Ken Dahdi and Stephen Hendry, is passionate about golf. He has also been a big fan of Ronnie O'Sullivan, who considers himself and O'Sullivan to have a huge talent for entertainment, and Vogo once called O'Sullivan "Britain's greatest athlete of all time".
Volgo has always been favored by the BBC and audiences for his gentle and generous and charismatic personality, but a chance broadcast accident showed Volgo's true temperament and welcomed him to more fans and audiences.
It was the scorching semi-final between Mark Selby and Fu Jiajun at the 2016 World Championships, and in the BBC afternoon live broadcast, the two sides played a 76-minute game, which became a less interesting record in Crucible history.
Although technically your voice won't be recorded and broadcast as long as you leave the microphone, viewers still hear Volgo say through the live broadcast of the game: "I want to see the game this afternoon – at this grinding speed, I'm really 'lucky' to be able to see such an egg-bad game." ”
This astonishing remark led to Volgo being interviewed by BBC snooker producer, IMG General Manager Graham Frye. In the aftermath of the storm, Frye still kept Volgo in the chair. To this end Fry said:
"He did make mistakes, and I've talked to John about it. He was embarrassed and expressed sincere apologies. ”
However, the reaction on social media is very different from IMG's serious handling. Fans and spectators alike said vogo was just speaking out what everyone thought, that the accident was "hilarious" and that Volgo himself was an "outspoken macho man".
Earlier this season, Volgo said in an interview that the BBC would terminate his commentatorship contract after this year's World Championships. He said: "I think they (the BBC) are probably looking for someone to come in more contact with the current professional players (to take over my post) and I'm not criticizing their decision, I know no one is going to sit there forever. ”
For decades, Volgo has been loved and acclaimed by snooker fans. If this year's World Championships are really his last appearance on the BBC commentary table, I believe he will leave with everyone's blessings.