Terence Martin Griffiths (16October 19471December 2024) was a Welsh professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player, coach and

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

. After winning several amateur titles, including the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and back-to-back English Amateur Championships in 1977 and 1978, Griffiths turned professional in June 1978 at the age of 30. In his second professional tournament, he qualified for the

1979 World Snooker Championship The 1979 World Snooker Championship (officially known as the 1979 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 to 28 April 1979 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Pr ...

. He reached the final of the event where he defeated

Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He turned professional in 1972 and won the 1985 World Snooker Championship, in which he lost the first eight frames of 1985 W ...

by 24 to 16. This was only the second time a qualifier had won the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including ...

, after

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgi ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

; only

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and Zhao Xintong in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

has since emulated the achievement. In 1988, Griffiths again reached the final of the competition. He was tied with

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...

, 8–8, but lost the match 11–18. Griffiths reached at least the quarter-finals of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

for nine consecutive years, from 1984 to 1992. He also won the Masters in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and the

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican in York, England. Ronnie O'Sull ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, completing snooker's Triple Crown. Griffiths was runner-up at the Masters three times and reached the final of the 1989 European Open, where he lost the to John Parrott. Although he also won several other tournaments, Griffiths's determination to match his rival Davis led to changes in technique which commentators said cost him his natural flair for playing. He retired from the professional tour in 1996 to become the

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards. It is headquartered in Bristol, England. Founded as the Professional Billiard Players Association (PBPA) in ...

's director of coaching. During his coaching career, he worked with leading players including

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and a current Sports commentator, commentator and pundit. One of the most successful players in snooker history, he turned professional in 1985, ag ...

, Mark Williams and Ding Junhui. Griffiths died in December 2024, aged 77.

Early years

Griffiths was born in

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

on 16 October 1947. He was admitted to a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

but was expelled for

truancy Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorized, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will and usually does not refer to legitimate excused absences, such as ones related to medic ...

and became a student at a

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

, where he played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

with future Welsh national-team members

Phil Bennett Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...

and Derek Quinnell. Griffiths began playing

when he was 14. After leaving school, he worked in a

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

and became the youngest winner of the Llanelli and District snooker championship at age 16. Griffiths subsequently began working as a bus conductor, a job which gave him more time to practise. He later worked as a

postman A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...

and as an insurance salesman. At age 17, Griffiths won the West Wales snooker championship. When he was 18 and working as a bus conductor, he met Annette, and the couple married in 1969. They had their first son, Wayne, a year-and-a-half after their wedding, and their other son, Darren, two years later. Griffiths compiled his first

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

at age 24, the first year he entered the Welsh Amateur Championship (where he was runner-up). Griffiths played in the amateur

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

internationals fourteen times, winning twelve of his matches; after winning the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975, he reached the quarter-finals of the 1976 World Amateur Snooker Championship. He won the English Amateur Championship in 1977 by defeating Sid Hood 13–3 in the final, and retained the title in 1978 by winning 13–6 against Joe Johnson.

Professional career

1978–1982

Griffiths became a professional player on 1 June 1978 after he was accepted as a member by the

(WPBSA) at its meeting during the

1978 World Snooker Championship The 1978 World Snooker Championship (officially known as the 1978 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 and 29 April 1978 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the s ...

. Anticipating his acceptance as a professional, '' Snooker Scene'' said in May 1978 that "his power screws and long potting are second to no one's ... it will not be in the least surprising, if very soon he becomes a serious challenger for snooker's top professional titles." In his first professional match, qualifying for the 1978 UK Championship, Griffiths lost 8–9 to Rex Williams after leading 8–2. Williams took a 2–1 lead; Griffiths won the next seven frames, and Williams took the following seven. In the , Griffiths rushed when potting the and went , a shot. Williams later potted the pink for the victory. After qualifying for the 1979 World Championship by eliminating Bernard Bennett 9–2 (from 0–2 behind) and Jim Meadowcroft 9–6 (from 6–6), Griffiths defeated the previous year's runner-up Perrie Mans 13–8 in the first round and

13–12 in the quarter-finals. After beating Eddie Charlton 19–17 in a long semi-final which finished at 1:40 am, Griffiths told interviewer David Vine: "I'm in the final now, you know." In the final, he faced

, who had been a professional since 1973 and was also playing in his first World Championship final. The match was close for the first four of the six and level at 15–15 before Griffiths took a 17–16 lead and won 24–16, becoming world champion at his first attempt in his second tournament as a professional. The result saw him placed eighth in the Snooker world rankings 1979/1980. He was the second player to win the championship after playing in qualifying competition (after Higgins in

), and the first to win it at

the Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

in Sheffield, the venue for the championship since

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, as a qualifier. By 2021, the only other player to achieve this was

. Griffiths reached the final of the 1979 Canadian Open the following season, losing 16–17 to

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

, and was part of the Welsh team that won the inaugural World Cup of snooker;

Ray Reardon Raymond Reardon (8 October 1932 – 19 July 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player who dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and claiming more than a dozen other professional titles. Due to h ...

Doug Mountjoy Douglas James Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within t ...

and Griffiths defeated England 14–3 in the final. At the end of 1979, Griffiths faced

John Virgo John Trevor Virgo (born 4 March 1946) is an English snooker commentator and former professional snooker player. After turning professional in 1976, Virgo won four professional titles, including the 1979 UK Championship, the 1980 Bombay Int ...

in the

final. Virgo had been penalised two frames for arriving late to a session (not realising that the start time had been moved up as requested by the television broadcasters), which reduced his lead to 9–11. When the scores were 11–11, Griffiths offered to split the prize money. Virgo declined and went on to win the match, 14–13. Griffiths was named the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year for 1979, and was the subject for a '' This Is Your Life'' episode the following year. He won the 1980 Masters, defeating Alex Higgins 9–5 in front of 2,323 spectators (a record crowd for a UK snooker event) at the Wembley Conference Centre after compiling a break of 131 to win the decisive frame. It was his first Masters appearance and his only Masters title, although he was runner-up at the event three times in the subsequent four years. He also won the 1980 Irish Masters, defeating Mountjoy 10–9 in the final. Defending champion at the 1980 World Championship, Griffiths lost the first seven frames against Davis in his first match and ended the first session trailing 1–7. Davis won the opening frame of the second session to extend his lead to 8–1, and had a seven-frame lead again at 10–3 before Griffiths won three frames to end the session 6–10 behind. In the third session, Griffiths won the first four frames to level at 10–10; Davis won the next three for a 13–10 victory, which included a 116 break in the 22nd frame. With this first-round defeat, Griffiths became the first victim of the so-called "

Crucible curse The "Crucible curse" (also known as "The curse of the Crucible") is a quip in professional snooker, referring to the fact that no first-time winner of the World Snooker Championship has retained the title since the tournament moved to Sheffield's ...

", a term later adopted to describe the failure of any first-time champion to defend their title at the venue. He moved up three places in the annual rankings, to fifth for 1980/1981. Griffiths and his Wales teammates retained the 1980 World Challenge Cup, and he again won the Irish Masters in 1981 before losing to eventual winner Davis in the quarter-finals of the 1981 World Snooker Championship. Griffiths lost 3–16 to Davis in the 1981 UK Championship final, the first of five finals in consecutive events contested by the pair. Griffiths won two of the five, winning 9–8 on the final black in the deciding frame of the 1982 Classic after Davis had recovered from 3–8 to 8–8. He also won the 1982 Irish Masters, his third consecutive title at the event, defeating Davis 9–5 in the final. After Tony Knowles's surprise 10–1 win over Davis in the first round of the 1982 World Championship, Griffiths became the bookmakers' favourite for the title. However, Griffiths also exited in the first round, losing 6–10 to

Willie Thorne William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13– ...

. Despite this, he advanced again in the rankings, achieving third place, which would be his highest-ever ranking, in 1981/1982. He won the 1982 UK Championship at the end of the year, defeating Alex Higgins 16–15 in the final.

1983–1989

Griffiths won several further invitational events, including

Pot Black ''Pot Black'' was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single , where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points, but played a large part in th ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, and the 1984 Malaysian Masters (where he topped a round-robin group in which

Tony Meo Anthony Christian Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles C ...

was the runner-up). He also gained titles at the 1984 Singapore Masters, where he also topped a round-robin group in which Davis was the runner-up; and the 1985 Hong Kong Masters, where he defeated Davis 4–2. The

1985–86 snooker season The 1985–86 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1985 and May 1986. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events. __TOC__ New professional players The World Profess ...

saw Griffiths win the Welsh Professional Championship for the first time after defeating Mountjoy 9–4. He also won the 1986 Belgian Classic, where he saw off Kirk Stevens 9–7 in the final. His ranking had dropped to fourteenth in 1982/1983 when his 1979 points were no longer counted towards his total, which at the time was calculated purely on the basis of results of the preceding three world championships. He improved to ninth rank in 1983/1984, and was eighth for both 1984/1985 and 1985/1986 before falling to tenth for 1986/1987. Two months before the

1986 World Snooker Championship The 1986 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1986 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 1986 at the Crucib ...

, Griffiths began working with coach Frank Callan. After eliminating Higgins 13–12 in the last 16, he praised Callan for helping his game: "I tried to do the right things myself for three years... Frank has knitted it all together for me. I didn't think anyone knew that much about snooker." He led eventual winner Johnson 12–9 in their quarter-final match, but Johnson won four consecutive frames, two with century breaks, for a 13–12 victory. He ended the season by winning the 1986 Pontins Professional, defeating Willie Thorne in the final. Griffiths was the only player to reach the televised stages of each ranking tournament in the 1986–87 season, but did not reach the semi-finals in any of them. At the end of the season, he moved up four places in the rankings to sixth. He won the Welsh Professional Championship again in 1986, defeating

9–3. In 1987, Griffiths opened a

billiard hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ha ...

: the Terry Griffiths Matchroom in Llanelli. The next year, he won the 1988 Welsh Professional Championship final 9–3 against Wayne Jones. At the 1988 World Snooker Championship, Griffiths defeated Steve Longworth, Willie Thorne,

Neal Foulds Neal Foulds (born 13 July 1963) is an English former professional snooker player and six-time tournament winner, including the 1986 International Open, the 1988 Dubai Masters and the 1992 Scottish Masters, as well as the invitational Pot Bla ...

and

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

to reach his second world final, but lost 11–18 to defending champion Davis. The players had been level at 8–8 after the first of two days' play in the final, and Terry Smith of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' said after the match: "Griffiths knows he produced his best snooker since he became world champion in 1979, and still lost." The 1989 European Open was his only final the following season. Although Griffiths won four of the first five frames, John Parrott tied the scores at 4–4 after the first session. Griffiths later led 8–7, but Parrott won the match (and his first major title) 9–8.

1989–1997

In the 1989–90 snooker season, Griffiths reached the semi-finals of the

1989 Asian Open The 1989 555 Asian Open was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament that took place in August 1989 in Bangkok, Thailand. Stephen Hendry won the tournament by defeating James Wattana 9–6 in the final. __TOC__ Main dra ...

and the 1989 UK Championship and the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Snooker Championship. His only final was in the 1989 Scottish Masters, where he lost 1–10 to

. Griffiths dropped one place in the world rankings, to sixth, at the end of the season. The following season, he was again runner-up to Hendry at the Scottish Masters; he had little success in other ranking events, however, and fell from sixth to eleventh place at the season's end. Griffiths moved back into sixth place after the 1991–92 season, during which he reached three ranking semi-finals, including that of the 1992 World Championship, where he scored victories over Bob Chaperon, Neal Foulds and Peter Ebdon before losing to Stephen Hendry. His best performance at a ranking tournament the following season was the semi-final of the 1992 Grand Prix, which he lost 6–9 to

Ken Doherty Kenneth Joseph Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From Ranelagh in Dublin, he is the sport's only World Snooker Championship, wor ...

; his best showings at ranking tournaments over the next three seasons were a single quarter-final appearance in each. At the 1996 World Snooker Championship, Griffiths eliminated Jamie Burnett 10–9 in a first-round final-frame decider after trailing 0–6 and 5–9. In the second round, he lost to old rival Steve Davis (whom he never defeated at the Crucible in six attempts) and announced his retirement from the game to become the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association's Director of Coaching. Griffiths retired at 23rd in the rankings (the first year since his debut season that he had not been in the top 16).

Clive Everton Clive Harold Everton (7 September 1937 – 27 September 2024) was an English sports commentator, journalist, author and professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded '' Snooker Scene'' magazine, which was first published (as ...

wrote that Griffiths was "the only player to retire when his standard was still in touch with the circuit's top players." At the 1997 World Championship, Griffiths came out of retirement, and won his qualifying match against Alfie Burden 10–4, to play in the main tournament at the Crucible one last time. He led fellow countryman Mark Williams 9–8, but lost the next two frames, each on the final , and was eliminated 9–10. During his professional career, he played a total of 999 frames at the Crucible. In their book, ''Masters of the Baize'', Luke Williams and Paul Gadsby wrote that Griffiths may have won more tournaments if he had not adjusted his playing technique to challenge Davis. Gordon Burn reported in his 1986 book, ''Pocket Money'', that Ray Reardon felt that Griffiths began to decline as a player after he signed a management contract with Barry Hearn (Davis's manager) at the end of the 1981–82 season and changes Griffiths made to his stance and cueing cost him his "natural flair". Burn wrote that after Hearn became Griffiths's manager, "In the first year, Hearn tripled Griffiths's income and halved his work." He quotes Griffiths: "I just found it difficult to accept that there was a better player than me in the world", but "I wasn't even getting at Steve Davis, because other players were beating me first." Everton wrote about Griffiths's change of technique, "While he acquired an encyclopaedic technical knowledge in the process and maintained an admirable consistency, he could never quite recapture the flair and inspiration that had brought him the world title." As winner of the World Championship, UK Championship and Masters during his career, Griffiths achieved the snooker Triple Crown.

Later career, retirement and death

Griffiths resigned as the WPBSA director of coaching in 1998, describing the association as "a hopeless set-up with no one giving the staff any direction at all." He coached a number of top players, including Mark Allen, Ali Carter, Ding Junhui, Marco Fu, Barry Hawkins, Stephen Hendry, Stephen Maguire, Joe Perry and Mark Williams. Griffiths said about his coaching that "it used to be a lot of technical stuff years ago – probably 90% on the technical side. Now it's the other way about, perhaps 80–20% on the mental side." He was the director of coaching at the South West Snooker Academy, and a snooker commentator for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Griffiths received an OBE appointment in 2007 for his "services to snooker". He launched "SQ", a

handicapping Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which t ...

system for snooker, in 2021. His son, Wayne Griffiths, is head snooker coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute and has coached three-time women's world champion

Ng On-yee Ng On-yee (; born 17 November 1990) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player who has won three IBSF World Snooker Championships and three World Women's Snooker Championship, World Women's Snooker world championships. She held the number one ...

. During his career, Griffiths won over a million pounds in prize money. In 2024, his family announced that he had

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. He died in his hometown of Llanelli, on 1 December 2024, at the age of 77.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Sources for the ranking and non-ranking final results can be found in the Performance timeline section above.

Ranking finals: 3 (1 title)

Non-ranking finals: 40 (17 titles)

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1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, Canadian Open , data-sort-value="Thorburn, Cliff" , , align="center" , 16–17 , - bgcolor="dfe2e9" , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 2. ,

, data-sort-value="Virgo, John" , , align="center" , 13–14 , - bgcolor="ffffcc" , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 1. ,

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major golf championships, men's major championships in Professional golf tours, professional golf. Schedul ...

, data-sort-value="Higgins, Alex" , , align="center" , 9–5 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 2. ,

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1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, data-sort-value="Higgins, Alex" , , align="center" , 6–9 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 3. ,

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, International Masters , data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , , align="center" , 7–9 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 6. ,

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, data-sort-value="Higgins, Alex" , , align="center" , 16–15 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 9. ,

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, Tolly Cobbold Classic , data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , , align="center" , 5–7 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 10. ,

Hong Kong Masters The Hong Kong Masters is a professional invitational snooker tournament which was initially held for six editions in the 1980s, before being revived in 2017. The tournament was originally one of several established in Asia in the 1980s by Barry H ...

, data-sort-value="Mountjoy, Doug" , , align="center" , 3–4 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 8. ,

, data-sort-value="Spencer, John" , , align="center" , 2–1 , - bgcolor="ffffcc" , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 11. ,

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, Irish Masters , data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , , align="center" , 1–9 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 13. ,

Thailand Masters The Thailand Masters was a professional snooker tournament. Previously known as Asian Open and Thailand Open, it was a Snooker world rankings, ranking tournament from 1989/90 to 2001/02. An event called the ''Thailand Masters'' also formed part o ...

, data-sort-value="White, Jimmy" , , align="center" , 3–4 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 9. ,

, Malaysian Masters , data-sort-value="White, Jimmy" , , align="center" data-sort-value=99, , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 10. ,

Singapore Masters The Singapore Masters was an annual men's professional golf tournament which was played in Singapore from 2001 to 2007. It was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour, and was one of many European Tour events established in East Asi ...

, data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , , align="center" data-sort-value=99, , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 11. ,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, Welsh Professional Championship , data-sort-value="Mountjoy, Doug" , , align="center" , 9–4 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 12. ,

, Pontins Professional (2) , data-sort-value="Spencer, John" , , align="center" , 9–7 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 13. ,

, data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , , align="center" , 4–2 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 14. ,

(2) , data-sort-value="Taylor, Dennis" , , align="center" , 0–4 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 15. ,

, data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , , align="center" , 2–4 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 14. , 1986 , Belgian Classic , data-sort-value="Stevens, Kirk" , , align="center" , 9–7 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 15. , 1986 , , data-sort-value="Mountjoy, Doug" , , align="center" , 9–3 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 16. , 1986 , Pontins Professional (3) , data-sort-value="Thorne, Willie" , , align="center" , 9–6 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 16. , 1986 ,

(3) , data-sort-value="Wattana, James" , , align="center" , 1–2 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 17. , 1986 , China Masters , data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , , align="center" , 0–3 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 18. ,

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, Tokyo Masters , data-sort-value="Taylor, Dennis" , , align="center" , 3–6 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 19. ,

, Scottish Masters , data-sort-value="Johnson, Joe" , , align="center" , 7–9 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 17. , 1988 , {{nowrap, Welsh Professional Championship (3) , data-sort-value="Jones, Wayne" , {{flagathlete, Wayne Jones, WAL , align="center" , 9–3 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 20. ,

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, Welsh Professional Championship (2) , data-sort-value="Mountjoy, Doug" , {{flagathlete,

, WAL , align="center" , 6–9 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 21. ,

, Scottish Masters (2) , data-sort-value="Hendry, Stephen" , {{flagathlete,

, SCO , align="center" , 1–10 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 22. ,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, Scottish Masters (3) , data-sort-value="Hendry, Stephen" , {{flagathlete,

, SCO , align="center" , 6–10 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 23. ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, Seniors Pot Black , data-sort-value="Johnson, Joe" , {{flagathlete, Joe Johnson, ENG , align="center" , 0–2

Team finals: 5 (2 titles)

{, class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders" , +Team finals contested by Terry Griffiths , - !scope="col" width="80" , Outcome !scope="col" width="20" , No. !scope="col" , Year !scope="col" , Championship !scope="col" , Team/partner !scope="col" , Opponent(s) in the final !scope="col" align="center" width="70" , Score !scope="col" , {{abbr, Ref., Reference , - !scope="row" style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 1. ,

, World Challenge Cup , {{flagcountry, WAL , {{flagcountry, ENG , align="center" , 14–3 , align="center" , {{sfn, Morrison, 1989, pp=98–99 , - !scope="row" style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 2. ,

, World Challenge Cup (2) , {{flagcountry, WAL , {{flagcountry, CAN , align="center" , 8–5 , align="center" , {{sfn, Morrison, 1989, pp=98–99 , - !scope="row" style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 1. ,

, World Team Classic , {{flagcountry, WAL , {{flagcountry, ENG , align="center" , 3–4 , align="center" , {{sfn, Morrison, 1989, pp=98–99 , - !scope="row" style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 2. ,

World Doubles Championship The World Doubles Championship, also known as the Hofmeister World Doubles (1982–1986) or the Fosters World Doubles (1987) for sponsorship purposes, was a non-ranking team snooker tournament held from 1982 to 1987 as the major event. History ...

, data-sort-value="Mountjoy, Doug" , {{flagathlete,

, WAL , data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" , {{flagathlete,

, ENG and {{flagathlete,

, ENG , align="center" , 2–13 , align="center" , {{sfn, Hale, 1987, pp=224–225 , - !scope="row" style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 3. ,

, World Team Classic (2) , {{flagcountry, WAL , {{flagcountry, ENG , align="center" , 2–4 , align="center" , {{sfn, Morrison, 1989, pp=98–99

Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title)

{, class="wikitable sortable" , +Pro-am finals contested by Terry Griffiths ! scope="col" style="width:80px;" , Outcome ! scope="col" style="width:20px;" , No. ! scope="col" style="width:50px;" , Year ! scope="col" style="width:200px;" , Championship ! scope="col" style="width:200px;" , Opponent in the final ! scope="col" style="width:50px;" , Score ! scope="col" , {{abbr, Ref., Reference , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 1. , 1977 , Pontins Spring Open , data-sort-value="Higgins, Alex" , {{flagathlete,

, NIR , align="center" , 4–7 , {{sfn, Morrison, 1987, p=100 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 1. , 1983 , Pontins Spring Open , data-sort-value="Reardon, Ray" , {{flagathlete,

, WAL , align="center" , 7–3 , {{sfn, Morrison, 1987, p=100

Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles)

{, class="wikitable sortable" , +Amateur finals contested by Terry Griffiths ! scope="col" , Outcome ! scope="col" , No. ! scope="col" , Year ! scope="col" , Championship ! scope="col" , Opponent in the final ! scope="col" , Score ! class=unsortable scope="col" , {{abbr, Ref., Reference , - , style="background:#ffa07a;" , Runner-up , 1. , 1972 , Welsh Amateur Championship , data-sort-value="thomas, Geoff" , {{flagathlete, Geoff Thomas, WAL , align="center" , 2–6 , align="center" , {{Cite web , title=Welsh championship records , url=https://www.welshsnooker.com/welsh-championship-records , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013145330/https://www.welshsnooker.com/welsh-championship-records , archive-date=13 October 2018 , access-date=15 July 2021 , website=Welsh Snooker , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 1. , 1975 , Welsh Amateur Championship , data-sort-value="thomas, Geoff" , {{flagathlete, Geoff Thomas, WAL , align="center" , 8–7 , align="center" , {{sfn, Williams, Gadsby, 2005, pp=95–102 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 2. , 1977 , English Amateur Championship , data-sort-value="Hood, Sid" , {{flagathlete, Sid Hood, ENG , align="center" , 13–3 , align="center" , {{sfn, Morrison, 1987, p=37 , - , style="background:#98FB98" , Winner , 3. , 1978 , English Amateur Championship (2) , data-sort-value="Johnson, Joe" , {{flagathlete, Joe Johnson, ENG , align="center" , 13–6 , align="center" , {{sfn, Morrison, 1987, p=37

Publications

{, class="wikitable" ! Year ! Title ! Authors ! Publisher !

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase or receive ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. A different ISBN is assigned to e ...

, - , 1981 , ''Championship Snooker'' , Terry Griffiths with

, Queen Anne Press, London , {{isbn, 0362005435 , - , 1984 , ''Complete Snooker'' , Terry Griffiths with Julian Worthington , Pelham, London , {{isbn, 0720715024 , - , 1989 , ''Griff : the Autobiography of Terry Griffiths'' , Terry Griffiths with Julian Worthington , Pelham, London , {{isbn, 0720718864

Notes

{{notelist

References

Citations

{{reflist

Bibliography

{{refbegin, 30em * {{Cite book , last=Burn , first=Gordon , author-link=Gordon Burn , title=Pocket Money , publisher=Faber & Faber , year=2008 , isbn=978-0-571-23683-1 , location=London , orig-year=1986 * {{Cite book , last=Downer , first=Chris , title=Crucible Almanac , year=2019 , location=Bournemouth * {{Cite book , last=Everton , first=Clive , author-link=Clive Everton , title=The Guinness Book of Snooker , date=1981 , publisher=Guinness Superlatives , isbn=978-0-85112-230-4 , location=Enfield * {{Cite book , last=Everton , first=Clive , title=Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards , date=2012 , publisher=Mainstream , isbn=978-1-78057-568-1 , location=Edinburgh * {{Cite book , last=Hale , first=Janice , title=Rothmans Snooker Yearbook 1987–88 , date=1987 , publisher=Queen Anne Press , isbn=978-0-356-14690-4 , location=Aylesbury * {{Cite book , last=Hayes , first=Dean , title=Snooker Legends: and Where are They Now? , publisher=Sutton , year=2004 , isbn=978-0-7509-3233-2 , location=Stroud * {{Cite book , last=Hayton , first=Eric , title=The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History , last2=Dee , first2=John , date=2004 , publisher=Rose Villa Publications , isbn=978-0-9548549-0-4 , location=Lowestoft * {{Cite book , last=Morrison , first=Ian , title=The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker , date=1987 , publisher=Hamlyn Publishing Group , isbn=978-0-600-55604-6 , edition=Revised , location=Twickenham * {{Cite book , last=Morrison , first=Ian , title=Hamlyn Who's Who in Snooker , date=1988 , publisher=Hamlyn , isbn=978-0-600-55713-5 , location=London * {{Cite book , last=Morrison , first=Ian , title=Snooker: Records, Facts and Champions , date=1989 , publisher=Guinness Superlatives , isbn=978-0-85112-364-6 , location=Enfield * {{Cite book , last=Nickless , first=Graham , title=Benson and Hedges Snooker Year , publisher=Pelham Books , year=1986 , isbn=978-0-86369-166-9 , editor-last=Everton , editor-first=Clive , edition=3rd , location=Aylesbury , chapter=Terry Griffiths * {{Cite book , title=Pot Black , publisher=BBC Books , year=1984 , isbn=0563202939 , editor-last=Perrin , editor-first=Reg , location=London , orig-year=1975 * {{Cite book , title=Benson and Hedges Snooker Year , publisher=Pelham Books , year=1987 , isbn=978-0-7207-1797-6 , editor-last=Smith , editor-first=Terry , edition=4th , location=Aylesbury * {{Cite book , title=Benson and Hedges Snooker Year , date=1989 , publisher=Pelham Books , isbn=978-0-7207-1944-4 , editor-last=Smith , editor-first=Terry , edition=6th , location=Aylesbury * {{Cite book , title=Benson and Hedges Snooker Year , date=1990 , publisher=Pelham Books , isbn=978-0-7207-1955-0 , editor-last=Smith , editor-first=Terry , edition=7th , location=Aylesbury * {{Cite book , title=Benson and Hedges Snooker Year , date=1991 , publisher=Pelham Books , isbn=978-0-7207-1983-3 , editor-last=Smith , editor-first=Terry , edition=8th , location=London * {{Cite book , last=Williams , first=Luke , title=Masters of the Baize , last2=Gadsby , first2=Paul , date=2005 , publisher=Mainstream , isbn=978-1-84018-872-1 , location=Edinburgh {{refend

External links

* {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328225901/https://www.terrygriffithssnooker.com/ , date=dmy , title=Official website * {{IMDb name * {{Snooker.org player * {{WST player, terry-griffiths, archive=20231201235228 {{World snooker champions {{UK Championship winners {{Masters winners {{BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year winners {{Authority control {{Portal bar, Biography, Cue sports, Wales {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Terry 1947 births 2024 deaths Deaths from dementia in Wales BBC sports presenters and reporters British postmen Masters (snooker) champions Officers of the Order of the British Empire Snooker players from Llanelli Trick shot artists UK champions (snooker) Welsh snooker players Welsh sports broadcasters Winners of the professional snooker world championship 20th-century Welsh sportsmen