John Dunning (18 April 1927 – 11 September 2009) 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 ...

professional

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 from

Morley, West Yorkshire Morley is a market town and a civil parish within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England. Morley is the largest town in the Borough of Leeds after Leeds itself. Morley forms part of the Heavy Woollen District. It l ...

Career

Dunning joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

aged 18, and served for two years. He later managed a

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and was also a window cleaner. Having been Yorkshire amateur champion on eleven occasions, and the CIU Championship in 1963, 1966 and 1969, Dunning turned professional in 1971 at the age of 45. He played his first World Championship match in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, when he lost to

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 ...

in the first round, after beating

Pat Houlihan Patrick Houlihan (7 November 1929 – 8 November 2006https://wst.tv/the-greatest-snooker-player-you-never-saw/) was an English snooker player. He was born in Deptford, London. Houlihan turned professional in 1971 at the age of 42 after many ...

and

Graham Miles Graham Miles (11 May 1941 – 12 October 2014) was an English snooker player. Career Miles turned professional in 1971. He first gained recognition in 1974, when he reached the final of the World Championship. Although he lost 12–22 to Ray Re ...

in qualifying. He produced his best performance in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, when he reached the quarter-final, subsequently losing his match against Miles 13–15. Dunning's final appearance in the main stages of the event came in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. In 1977, he reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural UK Championship, losing 0–5 to

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 ...

. Dunning reached the final of the

International Masters FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating an ...

in March 1984. The tournament, played on a three-man-group round-robin basis, saw Dunning start as a 7–1 outsider to qualify from his first group. He beat Tony Knowles 2–1 in the opening game, he became favourite, before comfortably winning his next match against

Les Dodd Les Dodd (born 11 February 1954) is an English former professional snooker player. He was runner-up in the 1987 English Professional Championship. Career Dodd was born on 11 February 1954 in Stockport, and turned professional in 1982. In his ...

. In his semi-final match, he played against Australian Warren King and

Terry Griffiths Terence Martin Griffiths (born 16 October 1947) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. In his second professional tournament, he became world champion when he won the 1979 World Snooker Champion ...

of Wales. Dunning lost to King, but beat Griffiths, which earnt him a place in the final, in which he met Dave Martin and the reigning World Champion and world number one

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 ...

. He lost both matches, finishing third, with Davis winning the title, but received a cheque for £6,000. He became the oldest-ever finalist in a major snooker event, aged 56 years and 11 months. Dunning played his last match as a professional in 1997 at the age of 69. His highest world ranking was 11th, in the 1976/1977 ranking list. He died in Morley, West Yorkshire, on 11 September 2009, aged 82.

References

Sportspeople from Chesterfield, Derbyshire 1927 births 2009 deaths Snooker players from Leeds Sportspeople from Morley, West Yorkshire English snooker players {{England-snooker-bio-stub de:John Dunning