| Born | 16 October 1947 Llanelli |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  Wales |
| Professional | 1978–1997 |
| Highest ranking | 3 (1981/82) |
| Highest break | 139 |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 1 |
| Non-ranking | 9 |
| World Champion | 1979 |
Terrence "Terry" Griffiths OBE[1] (born 16 October 1947) is a retired Welsh snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. He won the World Championship in 1979 at the first attempt, and reached the 1988 final. He also won the Masters in 1980 and the UK Championship in 1982, making him one of seven players to have completed snooker's triple crown. He was renowned for his slow, highly cautious style of play.
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Early years [link]
Griffiths was born in Llanelli. A former postman,[2] insurance salesman, miner and bus conductor, he had a long amateur career, winning the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and the English Amateur Championship in 1977 and 1978 before turning professional.
Career [link]
In his first professional match, at the 1978 UK Championship, he lost 8–9 to Rex Williams after leading 8–1.[3] However, he could hardly have expected what would come in the 1979 World Championships. After qualifying he beat Perrie Mans and Alex Higgins. Interviewed after beating Eddie Charlton in a long semi-final, it suddenly dawned on him what he had done, and he said "I'm in the final now, you know!" in his broad Welsh accent.[4] He went on to beat Dennis Taylor 24–16 in the final, becoming world champion at the first attempt.[5] In the same year he was part of the Welsh team that won the inaugural World Cup of snooker: he, Ray Reardon and Doug Mountjoy beat England 14–3 in the final. But at the end of 1979, he lost 13–14 in the UK Championship final to John Virgo.
1980 started well for Griffiths as he won the Masters, beating Alex Higgins 9–5 in front of 2,323 spectators at the Wembley Conference Centre. It was his first appearance at the Masters and turned out to be his only win there. He then won the Irish Masters also at the first attempt, beating Doug Mountjoy 9–8, but the Crucible Curse struck at the World Championships that year, as he lost his second-round match (which was then a 'first round' for the top eight players, who had byes) to the up-and-coming Steve Davis.
He retained the World Cup later on in 1980 for Wales and again won the Irish Masters in 1981 before losing to eventual winner Steve Davis again in the World Championship.
He also lost 3–16 to Davis in the UK Championship final in 1981, beginning a six-month period in which he and Davis faced each other in almost every major tournament final. Griffiths triumphed twice, in the Classic in early 1982 and later the Irish Masters (becoming the first player to win three consecutive titles) beating Davis on both occasions (the Classic 9–8 and the Irish Masters 9–5). Unsurprisingly, after Davis was sensationally beaten by Tony Knowles in the first round of the 1982 World Championship that year, Griffiths was immediately installed as the bookmakers' favourite for the title. However, a second surprise followed as Griffiths was beaten, also in the first round, by Willie Thorne. He never again won a ranking event, although he won several major invitational events; the 1984 Malaysian Masters, where he topped a round robin group (Tony Meo was the runner up), the 1984 Singapore Masters, where also topped a round robin group (Davis was runner up), the 1985 Hong Kong Masters, where he beat Davis 4–2; the 1986 Belgian Classic, where he beat Kirk Stevens 9–7 in the final, in an event featuring 8 of the top 9 in the year's rankings.
At the end of 1982, he won the UK Championship, beating Alex Higgins in a classic 16–15 final. He did take the Pot Black title in 1984 and the Welsh Professional Championship between 1985, 1986 and 1988. He reached the final of the World Snooker Championship again also in 1988, but he lost to old rival Steve Davis 11–18. During the final session of the championship, he accidentally knocked over a globe on the Crucible set, denting part of it with his foot: he was awarded the globe at the end of the match. He achieved the notable feat of reaching at least the quarter-finals of the World Championships for nine consecutive years between 1984–1992.
By the 1990s he began to struggle in the rankings but he still reached the semi-final of the 1992 World Championship, with victories over Bob Chaperon, Neal Foulds and the young Peter Ebdon, losing to Stephen Hendry. Having lost at the Crucible in 1996 against his old rival Steve Davis (who he never beat at the Crucible in 7 attempts) in the last 16 (after beating the young Scottish player Jamie Burnett in a final frame decider 10–9 in the first round, having trailed 0–6 and 5–9), he immediately announced his retirement from the game.
Unusually for a snooker player Griffiths retired whilst still inside the top 32 and 23rd in the rankings[6]. This was despite only entering the 1997 qualifiers in his final season as a professional [7]. He won this match and qualified to play at the Crucible one last time. He lost that match to fellow countryman and debutant Mark Williams, in another final-frame decider, 9–10. This meant that he played a total of 999 frames at the Crucible.[8]
Coaching career [link]
Griffiths is renowned as a coach and has coached many top players. Having retired from professional play in 1997, he currently coaches players such as Mark Williams, Marco Fu, Mark Allen, Ali Carter, Joe Perry and in the past has coached Stephen Hendry and Stephen Maguire. He also frequently commentates on snooker for the BBC.
World Championship finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up) [link]
| Outcome | Year | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
| Winner | 1979 |  Dennis Taylor |
24–16 |
| Runner-up | 1988 |  Steve Davis |
18–11 |
Tournament wins [link]
Ranking tournaments [link]
- World Championship (1979)
Non-ranking tournaments [link]
- Masters (1980)
- Irish Masters (1980–1982)
- Classic (1982)
- UK Championship (1982)
- Pot Black (1984)
- Hong Kong Masters (1985)
- Belgian Classic (1986)
- Welsh Professional Championship (1985, 1986, 1988)
Team events [link]
- World Cup with Wales team (1979, 1980)
Trickshot events [link]
- World Trickshot (1992, 1994)
References [link]
- ^ "Terry Griffiths receives an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours". Retrieved 16 June 2009
- ^ "1979: Griffiths creates miracle". BBC. 2002-04-12. https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/world_champs_2002/1921202.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
- ^ "Where are they now? – Terry Griffiths". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2010-08-15. https://www.webcitation.org/5s02jg3jC. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
- ^ "Hall of Fame – Terry Griffiths". BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/halloffame/sport/terrygriffiths.shtml. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ^ "A Profile for Terry Griffiths". Terry Griffiths Snooker. https://www.terrygriffithssnooker.com/profiles/terry-griffiths-obe.aspx. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
- ^ https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Still+POTTY+after+all+these+years.-a061117799
- ^ https://www.snookerisland.com/blog/interview-with-terry-griffiths-part-1-of-2/
- ^ BBC: Crucible 2008 – some potential milestones
External links [link]
https://wn.com/Terry_Griffiths
Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing
The Sydney Hilton bombing occurred on 13 February 1978, when a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the time the hotel was the site of the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM), a regional offshoot of the biennial meetings of the heads of government from across the Commonwealth of Nations.
The bomb was planted in a rubbish bin and exploded when the bin was emptied into a garbage truck outside the hotel at 1:40 a.m. It killed two garbage collectors, Alec Carter and William Favell. A police officer guarding the entrance to the hotel lounge, Paul Birmistriw, died later. It also injured eleven others. Twelve foreign leaders were staying in the hotel at the time, but none were injured. Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser immediately called out the Australian Army for the remainder of the CHOGRM meeting.
The Hilton case has been highly controversial due to allegations that Australian security forces may have been responsible. This led to the New South Wales parliament unanimously calling for the Commonwealth to hold an inquiry in 1991 and 1995. The federal government refused to hold an inquiry.
Terry Griffiths (politician)
Major Terence Allan "Terry" Griffiths (22 June 1944 – 18 June 2009), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Georges River from 1988 to 1995 initially for the Liberal Party and then as an independent member. During his political career with the Liberal Party, Griffiths held a number of portfolios including Minister for Justice, Minister for Police and Minister for Emergency Services.
Early years and background
Griffiths was born in Marrickville, New South Wales; his father was Richard Patrick Griffiths, an Officer of the Cadet School Portsea. He was educated at Liverpool Boys High School and the School of Military Engineering in Portsea. By 1962 he was a commissioned army officer with the rank of Major, and was also Chief Executive of the New South Wales branch of the Scout Association. In 1965 he married Jann Mariette Hart, with whom he had two children. He served in South Vietnam 1969–70; he and his wife divorced, and he remarried Diane Maree von Westernhagen on 19 January 1974, with whom he had three children (they would be divorced in 2000). Griffiths was an army attache in Washington 1978–81. He joined the Liberal Party of Australia in 1987.
