Graham Miles (11 May 1941 – 12 October 2014) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player.

Career

Miles turned professional in 1971. He first gained recognition in 1974, when he reached the final of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. Although he lost 12–22 to

Ray Reardon Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

, this turned out to be the highlight of his career. Despite his modest success in major tournaments, Miles became one of the best known players in Britain, in an era when there was little televised snooker other than the ''

Pot Black ''Pot Black'' was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single , where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points, but played a large part in th ...

'' series, because he won the event in consecutive years, in 1974 (after entering as a late replacement for Fred Davis, who withdrew because of illness) and again in 1975. Other notable moments in Miles's career included reaching the final of the 1976 Masters, where he again lost to Reardon. The 1978/79 season saw something of a purple patch for Miles. At the

1978 UK Championship The 1978 UK Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 22 November and 1 December 1978 at the Guild Hall in Preston, England. The 1978 tournament was the first of twenty UK Championship comp ...

he defeated

Rex Williams Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the Worl ...

9–8 and then hammered

Willie Thorne William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13–8 ...

9–1, which included what was then a championship record break of 139 in the last frame. However, he was then dispatched 1–9 by eventual winner

Doug Mountjoy Doug Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the ...

. This form continued in January 1979, when he reached the final of the Holsten Lager International by defeating

John Pulman Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He won the title at the 1957 Championship, and retained it across seven challenges from 1 ...

Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a ...

and

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Wor ...

. He led John Spencer 7–6 in the final, having made a break of 107, but eventually lost 7–11 to take £2000 as runner-up. Miles led defending champion Ray Reardon 3–0 and 5–3 in the first round of the 1979 World Championship, but he came down with

flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

and lost 8–13. Straight after this, Miles defeated Doug Mountjoy 4–3 and

Perrie Mans Pierre "Perrie" Mans (born 14 October 1940) is a retired professional snooker player from South Africa, who first won the South African Professional Championship in 1965, and won the event 20 times. Mans won the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1979 ...

5–2 in the group stages of the Pontins Professional Event. Miles then beat

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

4–0 in the semi-final, but lost 4–8 in the final to Doug Mountjoy. At the inaugural World Team Cup, Miles represented England along with John Spencer and Fred Davis, where they reached the final only to be beaten 3–14 by Wales. His last major title was the 1981 Tolly Cobbold Classic, when he beat

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

5–1 in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. During the 1980s he slid down the rankings, and 1984 saw his last appearance at the

. Following a period of poor form Miles developed an idiosyncratic sighting style when using his cue as he was left-eye dominant and had a large chin. This style became more pronounced over time, to the point where the cue ran beneath his left ear.

Personal life

After retiring from the game in 1992, he ran two snooker clubs at Sandwell, West Midlands, and one in Crewe, Cheshire. He came out of retirement to play at the Seniors Pot Black competition in 1997. Miles died on 12 October 2014, aged 73.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Non-ranking finals: 8 (3 titles)

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

Team finals: 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Graham 1941 births 2014 deaths English snooker players Sportspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands