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| |  Friday, 12 April, 2002, 12:58 GMT 13:58 UK Meet the BBC team BBC Sport Online profiles the BBC's World Championship team. Over the two weeks of the World Championship, the BBC team will bring you expert analysis, news, views and interviews from the Crucible. The BBC team: Ray Stubbs | Hazel Irvine | Clive Everton | Steve Davis | John Parrott | Dennis Taylor | John Virgo | Willie Thorne
In 1986, Stubbs moved to BBC Manchester as an assistant producer, working on a number of sports including snooker, darts and bowls, as well as A Question of Sport. He also worked as a producer, reporter and presenter on BBC2's investigative series On the Line, a series which saw him go to Italy in 1990 to report on England football fans at the World Cup Finals. Later that year, Stubbs began working as a reporter on Grandstand, Match of the Day and Sportsnight. At the start of the 1998-99 season he hosted two editions of Match of the Day Extra. He also co-hosted coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics and co-presented coverage of the 1998 Commonwealth Games and has reported for BBC One's On Side. He covered the last two World Cups for BBC Sport as well as the European Championships in 1996 and 2000. Stubbs has become a regular fixture in the Grandstand team after replacing Gary Lineker as Football Focus host at the start of 1999-2000.
Irvine's broadcasting career began in 1986 as a production assistant with Radio Clyde in Glasgow. Her move into sport came a year later when she joined Scottish Television as a reporter. She worked as a presenter on ITV's coverage of the 1988 Olympics and reported for the ITV Network on the 1990 World Cup Finals. Irvine joined BBC Scotland in August 1990 as presenter of its Friday night sports preview programme Sportscene. She went on to work as part of the BBC's award winning team covering the Barcelona Olympics, and in the same year reported in Sweden on the European Football Championships. Later that year she joined BBC Sport in London.
His network TV commentary career began at the 1978 World Championship. As a player, he reached the 1975 and 1977 world amateur billiards semi-finals, but in the latter he exacerbated a back problem which later needed surgery, ending his hopes of a professional career. Everton reached a high of ninth in the world billiards rankings, and is still 20th despite rarely playing. In a varied career, he has also covered Wimbledon for The Times of India, rugby for the Sunday Telegraph and football for The Times. He played tennis for Worcestershire for 13 years until 1974 and wrote a book with Ann Jones following her 1969 Wimbledon triumph. He also managed Jonah Barrington when he was world squash number one. Steve Davis Davis is one of the greatest players ever seen in the modern game.
The "Golden Nugget" will also be remembered for taking part in one of the greatest televised matches of all time, when he lost on the black to Dennis Taylor in the 1985 Crucible final. His run as world number one ended when a Scottish teenager by the name of Stephen Hendry arrived on the scene. John Parrott With his role as a captain on BBC TV's Question of Sport programme, Parrott has become one of snooker's best-known faces.
He has an impressive record in the major events, with nine ranking event victories during his long career. Parrott, a passionate Everton fan, has also reached eight world quarter-finals, one semi-final and two finals. His crowning moment at the Crucible came in 1991 when he won the title before clinching a UK Championship victory in the same year. More recently he led England to victory in the 2000 Nations Cup at Reading.
The Irishman turned professional in 1972. He reached the World Championship semi-finals in 1975 and 1977 before making the final in 1979, where he lost to Terry Griffiths. Although he became one of the most consistent players on the circuit, a major title eluded him until he won the Rothman's Grand Prix title in 1984. He never quite matched the heights of his famous triumph over Davis in Sheffield, but did win the 1987 Masters title and remained in the world's top 16 until 1994, having entered it in 1976. John Virgo John Virgo is known to millions as Jim Davidson's trickshot-playing partner in BBC TV's Big Break. He was also no mean player as a pro.
In 1979 he reached the semi-finals of the World Championship where he lost to Dennis Taylor, but ended the season with a career-highest ranking of 10th. He claimed the UK Championship crown in the same year, beating Terry Griffiths 14-13 in the final, but that proved to be the pinnacle of his playing career. He reached two ranking-event semis in 1982, and the last four of the British Open in 1986, but subsequently dropped down the rankings and finally quit the circuit in 1994. John has remained a big exhibition draw, however, thanks to his reputation as one of the game's great entertainers. A former WPBSA chairman, he found his niche on national TV in the mid-1990s with Davidson and is a regular commentator on the BBC's snooker coverage.
The following season was also a good one for Thorne as he reached the final of the UK and British Open. During the 1986-87 season he also won the Hong Kong Masters and the Matchroom Championship. Thorne is now a fully-fledged memeber of the Seniors Tour and won the World Seniors Masters in 2000. | |
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