Terry Griffiths spent his twenties working as a bus conductor, a printer and an insurance agent in the snooker hotbed of Llanelli.

In those pre-boom days, professional snooker was a viable economic option for only a select few but after capturing back-to-back English Amateur Championship titles in 1977 and 1978 Griffiths decided to take the plunge aged 31.

His career began inauspiciously with a 9-8 defeat, from 8-2 up, by Rex Williams in the qualifying competition of the 1978 UK Championship but, five months later, the Welshman would clamber from obscurity to household name.

Griffiths opened his glorious Crucible campaign with a 13-8 win over Perrie Mans, the beaten finalist a year earlier.

High drama surrounded the fearless rookie’s 13-12 quarter-final win over Alex Higgins but the defining moment of the championship arrived seconds after Griffiths had beaten Eddie Charlton 19-17 with one of the most gutsy displays the Crucible has ever seen.

As the BBC’s David Vine approached, Griffiths said: “I’m in the final now, you know.”

He was, and three days later, after beating Dennis Taylor 24-16 he was world champion at the first attempt.

Griffiths remained the only qualifier to win the championship until Shaun Murphy in 2005.

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