{"id":319863,"date":"2026-02-04T14:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/319863\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T14:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:06:10","slug":"snooker-great-john-virgo-dies-aged-79-%c2%b7-the-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/319863\/","title":{"rendered":"Snooker great John Virgo dies aged 79 \u00b7 The 42"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-updated-redesign article-updated-redesign-\" title=\"Wednesday 4 Feb 2026, 10:44 AM\">\n<p>                            LAST UPDATE<br \/>\n                            |<br \/>\n                            3 hrs ago\n                        <\/p>\n<p>SNOOKER GREAT JOHN Virgo has died at the age of 79, World Snooker Tour has announced.<\/p>\n<p>Virgo, who won the UK Championship in 1979, enjoyed a long and storied career but was perhaps best known for his work as a broadcaster.<\/p>\n<p>He was an established part of the BBC\u2019s snooker coverage as a commentator, famous for his catchphrase of \u2018Where\u2019s the cue ball going?\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Virgo was also well known for his role on the 1990s snooker show Big Break and was a regular on the exhibition circuit with his vast array of trick shots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone at World Snooker Tour is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of legendary snooker player and broadcaster John Virgo, aged 79,\u201d a WST statement read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur thoughts are with his family and loved ones. Rest in peace, JV.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jason Francis, chairman of World Seniors Snooker, announced the \u201cheartbreaking\u201d news of Virgo\u2019s death in Spain in a post on the Snooker Legends account on X.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\">Everyone at World Snooker Tour is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of legendary snooker player and broadcaster John Virgo, aged 79.<\/p>\n<p>Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>Rest in peace, JV. \u2764\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uaxCQGzQpv\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/uaxCQGzQpv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WST (@WeAreWST) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WeAreWST\/status\/2018977454920970729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cJV was doing what he loved to do right up until the end, entertaining everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cSuch an important person in my life but in our sport in general.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn amazingly loyal friend to me, and someone you felt was sat with you at the match when he was commentating on TV.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHard to take this one . . . one great person who touched so many lives and loved the game. We will never forget you bud. RIP JV.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Virgo spent 18 years as a professional and reached the World Championship semi-finals in 1979, when he also won the UK Championship.<\/p>\n<p>He retired in 1994 and was later inducted into the World Snooker Tour hall of fame for his success on the baize and his work as a broadcaster.<\/p>\n<p>The news of his death led to tributes from those he left an indelible mark on.<\/p>\n<p>Four-time world champion Mark Selby posted on X: \u201cSo so sad to hear the news of the passing of John Virgo!!! Such a great guy and a huge character!! He will be greatly missed! RIP JV\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neil Robertson, who won the 2010 World Championship, said: \u201cSo sad to hear about the news of John Virgo\u2019s passing. He was a great character and an amazing pundit\/commentator.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had the pleasure of sharing the booth with him during the world championships a couple of years ago in which I got a huge appreciation for how good he was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>                <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAST UPDATE | 3 hrs ago SNOOKER GREAT JOHN Virgo has died at the age of 79, World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,19,17,154698,5615,154640,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-319863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-john-virgo","12":"tag-rip","13":"tag-snooker","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116012750298137481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}