ALAN HUGHES, snooker’s “greatest ever MC”, has died – with tributes pouring in for the man who gave iconic stars their famous nicknames.
The “Voice of Snooker” turned Ronnie O’Sullivan into “the Rocket” while Jimmy White became “The Whirlwind of London Town”.
And fans of the sport are saluting Hughes as the finest compere in World Championship history – a well-loved Crucible figure for than two decades.
He was also MC at 42 title fights in boxing, involving golden-age legends such as Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn, as well as previously playing for Tottenham alongside heroes like Jimmy Greaves.
Hughes “oozed showbusiness” as he whipped up crowds and helped make snooker iconic even bigger household names.
He once explained to the BBC he never went full on with his football career – so he could carry on as a stage entertainer too.
Hughes said: “In those days you could sign part-time forms and that’s what I did.
“I could combine the football with a summer season at Great Yarmouth and it would fit together nicely because the football year wasn’t too long. You could never do it now.”
It was his passion, warmth, knowledge and sheer professionalism that made him such a success in snooker.
Promoter Barry Hearn gave him his first such job – as he knew Hughes, who was a friend of top cuer Willie Thorne, had the lively personality he wanted.
GettyExciting cuer Jimmy White saw his nickname rebranded by Hughes[/caption]Hughes told his website: “When I came into snooker the players were just known by their names and I just thought that the players had more about them than that.”
He added: “So I started to slip some nicknames into the introductions. Cliff ‘the Grinder’ Thorburn was one of the first I came up with.”
What I like to do is build up a player’s nickname. For a while Jimmy White was known as ‘the Wind’, but I didn’t like that – it sounded like a bad case of indigestion!” he said.
“So I changed it to ‘the Whirlwind’, and then ‘the Whirlwind of London Town’ and then ‘the Wonderful Whirlwind of London Town’.”
But when arguably snooker’s greatest ever player objected to his nickname, Hughes changed it – only for the new moniker to never quite stick
He wrote: “I started off calling Ronnie O’Sullivan ‘the Rocket’ but he didn’t like it.
“Apparently there was a bloke in Birmingham they called ‘Rocket Ron’ because he couldn’t pot a ball!
“But now I call him ‘the Essex Exocet’ because I think that’s a bit more classy.”
Affectionate praise for Hughes has flowed in on social media.
One fan called him the greatest of all snooker MCs” who was “widely regarded as the man who introduced an entertainment side to the sport, coming up with player nicknames and making more of an event of the introductions”.
Another described Hughes as “the original snooker MC who no doubt paved the way for many in the business today” and added: “Lovely man and great company at the tournaments back in the day.”
A third said “snooker’s best ever compere” had “oozed show business. Pure old school. And boy did he give that job gravitas”.
A fourth fan posted: “He was just brilliant & also came up with my fav nickname bar none “The Outlaw Joe Swail”.
Another admirer recalled the ex-MC’s “fantastic, colourful life”.
And this tribute spoke for many: “A wonderful MC, brilliant at introducing the players and never messed up either, a true pro, RIP Alan Hughes.”
GettyCanadian star Cliff Thorburn, known for his cautious style, was the first snooker player to get the Hughes treatment with his name, becoming ‘the Grinder’[/caption] Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Alan Hughes dead: Legendary ‘Voice of Snooker’ behind Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White’s nicknames passes away )
Also on site :
- Trump administration says Harvard will receive no new grants until it meets White House demands
- WWE makes major Jey Uso announcement ahead of RAW
- ‘Hope is not a strategy’ – 49ers general managers gives rare update on Brock Purdy negotiations