The all-conquering Steve Davis, the defending champion and three-time winner, faced off against Dennis Taylor in one of snooker’s greatest finals.
The world’s best snooker player against the unfancied challenge with the upside-down glasses.
A final mismatch however, produced one of the sport’s greatest finals. A record-breaking 18.5m TV viewers stayed up in the early hours of April 29, 1985 to watch the legendary match.
The final is still the most watched broadcast on BBC Two and lingers in the memory of many players and fans. Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor have since become one of the sport’s best double acts and have recreated the final on several occasions on UK tours.
Here we look at the background of the epic snooker final that gripped a nation:
Dominant Davis
Davis, a red-hot favourite at the start of the tournament, had been tested somewhat by Neal Foulds in the opening round, but had subsequently booked his place back in the final by sweeping aside former winners Terry Griffiths and Ray Reardon.
Taylor, a finalist in 1979, had beaten his own pair of ex-champions in Eddie Charlton and Cliff Thorburn en route, before hammering Tony Knowles 16-5 in the semi-finals to suggest he posed a threat to the reigning champion.
Davis establishes mighty lead
A post-midnight finale seemed a distant dream as Davis raced into an 8-0 lead, only missing the chance to further extend his lead when he missed a cut on the green in the following frame.
It proved to be a remarkable turning point, as Taylor stormed back to trail only 9-7 overnight, and had hauled the match level at 11-11 in the first session on the following day.
“No!”
Dennis Taylor turns 75 today.
— WST (@WeAreWST) January 19, 2024
We had to, didn’t we?#snooker pic.twitter.com/nUlCG7HIPS
Davis looked to have regained his composure when he moved one frame from victory at 17-15. But Taylor again clawed his way back to force the final frame decider – a 68-minute showdown that would fall to the final ball.
Watched by a record post-midnight television audience of 18.5 million, Taylor missed the first chance, a double, before leaving Davis a relatively simple cut into the bottom pocket for the title.
“No!” gasped ‘Whispering’ Ted Lowe in the commentary box, as Davis proceeded to over-cut it. Taylor duly potted the black into the same pocket, and shook his cue above his head in celebration.
An enduring double-act
“Steve and myself were part of snooker history together,” Taylor told the PA news agency when Davis announced his retirement in 2016. “
I was the lucky one with the big upside-down glasses who potted the black, but snooker was the real winner that night.”
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