Famous black ball final re-enacted 40 years on

"The greatest snooker match of all time" will be relived in Stoke-on-Trent after Dennis Taylor gained icon status 40 years ago by beating arch rival Steve Davis to become world champion.

Taylor played the "Black Ball Final" of 1985 in Sheffield, in a match seen by 19 million people on BBC 2 that lasted until gone midnight.

The match remains the channel's highest-rated show, and saw Taylor go cue-to-cue with Davis, who had won the title three times.

Inevitably, Davis was favourite to win again, and had taken a seven frames lead. But Taylor - famed for his "upside down" glasses - made a miraculous comeback and potted the final black to win the match.

It provided the sport with the iconic moment of Taylor, wearing those glasses and raising his cue above his head, in celebration.

He will appear at the Victoria Hall in Hanley for a show as part of a tour alongside Steve Davis and host John Virgo.

The pair will recreate the classic match and also chat with audience members on the night.

"John usually gets a couple of people out to do a few trick shots, then Steve and me play a couple of frames, then of course we re-enact that black ball final with the last few colours," Taylor said.

"Steve's very amusing about it as well, and the amazing thing about it is we re-enact that black ball final and I get to win every night."

Taylor said during the second half of the show, they each do their "own little bit" – adding that Davies is "very funny" despite his previous reputation for seriousness.

"He was very, very serious when he was playing, he was very focussed - but he's so much fun. I love working with him," Taylor continued.

"The three of us interact with the audience and have a lot of fun."

He said people still come up to him to talk about that night in 1985, and to take photos with him – adding that sometimes people turn their own glasses upside down.

"It's something that they all remember, they remember where they were when Steve and me were battling it out," he said.

"To keep nearly 19 million people up past midnight, watching a fella with ginger hair playing another fella with a big pair of upside down glasses, it's amazing how it captured everybody's imagination.

"Steve says he'll remember that final more than the six that he won."

Taylor says they were involved in a "bit of snooker history", although at the time they had no idea how many people who might have been tuning in.

"If we'd ever thought there was that many people watching I don't think we'd have been able to hold the cue," he said.

"The audience kept building, and the BBC were cancelling programmes to stay with it, and it just built and built.

"The pressure on both of us was unbelievable, but we weren't thinking, we were just concentrating on the game."

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