The greatest moment of John Virgo's career was both the best and worst day of his life. The snooker icon's death was announced on Wednesday morning, triggering a wave of tributes from across the sport.

Most younger snooker fans will know Virgo through his commentary and his role as Jim Davidson's deadpan sidekick on the 1990s gameshow Big Break. But he also played an important role in snooker's heyday of the 1980s, mixing it with the likes of Steve Davis, Jimmy White and Alex Higgins. His sole major title came in 1979 at the UK Championship. In keeping with his eventful life and career, it was anything but ordinary. In fact, it was downright traumatic. The record shows that Virgo beat Terry Griffiths 14-13, but that only tells part of the story of surely the most chaotic major tournament victory in snooker history.

The final had been going well for Virgo, who led the reigning world champion 11-7 going into the third and final session. A best of 27 match, he was just three frames from glory.

The drama began when he didn't realise that the final session had been brought forward to accommodate live coverage on the BBC's Grandstand programme, prompting a panicky drive up the M6 from his hotel to Preston's Guild Hall.

"It was the only major I won and it was the best and worst day of my life," recalled Virgo in an interview with the Express ahead of the 2024 UK Championship. "I didn't stay in a hotel close by. I ended up staying in a Premier Inn on the M6, about five or six miles outside of Preston.

"Throughout the tournament, the afternoon sessions had started at two o'clock. So I'm in my hotel room and all of a sudden I get a phone call [saying], 'where are you?' because it was now ten to one. I said I wasn't due but because it was live on Grandstand they'd moved the start time to one o'clock. You can imagine my panic, I wasn't even dressed!

"I had to get dressed quickly, jump in the car, drive down to the Guild Hall. As I'm relaying the story now, 45 years later, I'm still getting cold sweats thinking about driving down the M6.

"I remember parking, running through the car park. I'd forgotten about the match, I just wanted to get there. I did well to only be 20 minutes late!

"But for the first time, they'd brought in a rule which said if you were 15 minutes late, you'd forfeit a frame. Then you'd lose another frame for every five minutes afterwards, so I was deducted two frames. You can imagine I wasn't happy about it. Having got to the venue 11-7 in front, it was now 11-9."

Virgo was understandably all over the place as the final resumed, with Griffiths winning the first two frames of the session to make it 11-11. With the final in the balance, Virgo then received a sporting, if unwelcome, offer from his opponent.

He said: "Terry Griffiths came into my dressing room, bless him, and said, 'Look, I don't want to win like this, shall we split the prize money?'

"And that just fired me into a state of mind. I said, 'You haven't won yet, I'm not splitting anything'. It wasn't about the money, I'd come to win a title.

"I'd only been a pro for two years and was desperate to get my hands on a trophy. I go out after the interval and I'm still a bit angry with myself but I'm managing to calm down a bit.

"Somehow, I win the first frame after the interval before he goes 13-12 in front and I'm thinking, 'This is it, I've blown it'. But when I went 13-12 behind, I just seemed to calm down and I ended up beating him 14-13."

The final stages of the final saw another bizarre twist that had nothing to do with Virgo. Despite being brought forward at the BBC's behest, there were no cameras rolling as he clinched victory.

He said: "I looked at the cameras but they were unmanned. I thought, 'What's going on here?' It turned out there was an industrial dispute and the BBC cameramen went on strike!

"So although I beat Terry Griffiths, who was then world champion, there is no film of it because the BBC were on strike. As I say, it was the worst and best day of my life, I put it in that order. It was a rollercoaster."