‘Famous people coming to Pembrokeshire’ feature:

 

Joe Johnson – a world champion and a true gentleman of snooker!

 
Joe Johnson was very much a Bradford boy, had taken the snooker world by storm in 1986 when he won the World Championships as a 150-1 outsider, edging out Terry Griffiths by 13-12 in the quarter-final, then Tony Knowles (16-8) in the semi-final, followed by hot favourite Steve Davis in the final, where he played superbly to register a 16-12 victory.
 
He had turned professional after previously winning the World Under 19 amateur championships in 1971, followed by being runner-up in the World and English Amateur championships in 1978, where he lost respectively to two great Welsh players in Cliff Thorburn and Terry Griffiths.
 
After turning pro a year later, it was in 1983 when he came close to a first real taste of success when he was runner-up to Tony Knowles in the Professional Players’ Tournament.
 
Then came that stunning win in snooker’s major tournament in 1986 and he caused another surprise the following year as defending champion, beating Stephen Henry (13-12) and Neil Foulds (16-9) to reach the final - but lost to Steve Davis by 18-14 in what was described as ‘an epic final’.
 

Other successes followed

 
He was there or thereabouts for a long time before in 2019 he won the BBC’s ‘Senior Pot Black’’ tournament in 1997 - and then the Senior Masters’ Championship in 2019.
 
Joe was the subject of ‘This is Your Life’ and in more recent years he has joined Dave Shipley in owning three snooker clubs, where he coaches talented youngsters - as well as being involved in giving advice to top players like Shaun Murphy.
 
Amazingly, at the last count, he had survived seven heart attacks and was still enjoying life to the full, which I think is a tribute to his joy of life, alongside a bit of good fortune, perhaps.
 

Joe was known for his shoes . . .

 
Joe Johnson was nicknamed ‘Shoe’ by other snooker players and that was because he had a large footwear collection, he was proud of, including, would you believe it, one very unusual pair that was pink, white and green!
 
But on his visit to the Texaco Snooker Challenge in Tenby, he accompanied his smart blue three -piece suit with a very shiny brown pair which received a mention when he was playing against Paul Hunter, who sadly passed away so very young when he was looking as if he could well be one of the real stars of the game. He had been coached for a while by Joe and they were obviously great pals.
 
On this occasion, Paul was playing particularly well and when he missed a rare chance from a long-range Joe was waxing about how so many youngsters were breaking into the game and beating the old timers like him. The game was refereed by my old friend Phil Thomas, of Cresselly cricket fame.
 
At this point he pulled up a trouser leg and put his foot on the table’s cushion and said in his rich Bradford accent,” see these bu**ers. They are older than that bl**dy kid who’s giving me a hammering!”
 

. . . And discovered a new sport at Hetherton!

 
On the second day with Texaco in Tenby, we had a real afternoon treat when we all guests at Heatherton of owner Charles Davies and we were able to try out all the great activities there. I was lucky to be paired with Joe on the laser clay-pigeon shooting and to be honest I was delighted because I knew I would have a good laugh and he certainly was nowhere as good as he was aiming darts at a board.
 
But he was really taken by the activity and would have stayed there for the duration but was eventually ‘hurried along’; whereupon he turned to me and said,
“Eh lad, we’ve nowt like this round our way!”
 

And finally . . .

 
One of the first things I noticed about Joe Johnson was how popular he was with the other top players. I was lucky that I donned my smart dinner jacket, shirt and bow tie, supplied by the superb ‘Mr Robert’s’ shop in Pembroke Dock, in the same changing room as these top stars, who all showed him the utmost respect and smiled at his great good humour and infectious chuckle.
 
The other thing I remember about Joe was how unfailingly eager he was to please people who asked him for his autograph or a photograph with him (I think it’s called a ‘selfie’ now) - and he spent time chatting to them all and I can safely say he was one of the most amiable top players in any sport that I was lucky enough to come across!