After starting the 1986 world championships as a 150-1 outsider victory against Steve Davis led to watching tennis with royalty and being mobbed in Tesco
“I
t was like a strange dream,” Joe Johnson says as he remembers becoming the world snooker champion 40 years ago as a 150-1 outsider and former gas board and factory worker who was the father of six children. Johnson had never previously won a game at the Crucible and he had struggled for years to make a living as a pro.
It was a time when Britain was “snooker loopy” and Johnson played characters such as Bill Werbeniuk who, in 1985, beat him in the first round while drinking a staggering amount of beer.
The following year, Johnson outplayed the great Steve Davis in the world championship final. He was suddenly outrageously famous and became the lead singer for an obscure band, Made In Japan, who then had a hit record.
