Graham Miles facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Graham Miles

Born	(1941-05-11)11 May 1941 Birmingham, England
Died	12 October 2014(2014-10-12) (aged 73)
Sport country	England
Professional	1971–1994
Highest ranking	5 (1976/77)
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (x1)

Graham Miles (born May 11, 1941 – died October 12, 2014) was a famous English snooker player. He became a professional player in 1971 and was known for reaching the World Championship final in 1974. He also won the popular Pot Black tournament twice in a row.

Career Highlights

Miles started his professional snooker career in 1971. His biggest moment came in 1974 when he reached the final of the World Championship. Even though he played well, he lost to the legendary player Ray Reardon.

Miles became very well-known in Britain, especially because he won the Pot Black TV series in 1974 and 1975. This was a big deal because back then, not many snooker games were shown on television. In 1974, he actually joined the tournament at the last minute when another player got sick!

Another important part of Miles's career was reaching the final of the 1976 Masters tournament. He faced Ray Reardon again in that final and lost.

In the 1978/79 season, Miles played some of his best snooker. At the 1978 UK Championship, he won against Rex Williams and then easily beat Willie Thorne. In one of those games, he made a fantastic break of 139 points, which was a record for that championship at the time.

His good form continued into 1979. He reached the final of the Holsten Lager International tournament. He beat strong players like John Pulman, Dennis Taylor, and Alex Higgins to get there. In the final, he was leading John Spencer for a while, even making a break of 107 points, but he eventually lost.

At the 1979 World Snooker Championship, Miles was playing well against Ray Reardon again. He was even leading the game at one point. However, he got sick with the flu and ended up losing the match. Soon after, he reached another final at the Pontins Professional Event, but lost to Doug Mountjoy.

Miles also played for England in the first World Team Cup alongside John Spencer and Fred Davis. They made it to the final but were beaten by the team from Wales. His last major win was in 1981 at the 1981 Tolly Cobbold Classic, where he beat Cliff Thorburn. As the 1980s went on, his ranking in snooker started to drop. His last appearance at the World Snooker Championship was in 1984.

Later in his career, Miles developed a unique way of holding his cue stick. This was because he was left-eye dominant and had a large chin, which changed how he aimed.

Life After Snooker

After he stopped playing snooker professionally in 1992, Graham Miles managed two snooker clubs in West Midlands and one in Cheshire. He even came out of retirement briefly in 1997 to play in the Seniors Pot Black competition.

Graham Miles passed away on October 12, 2014, when he was 73 years old.

Career Finals

Graham Miles played in several important snooker finals during his career.

Ranking Finals: 1

• World Championship (0 wins, 1 runner-up)

Result	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1974	World Snooker Championship	Ray Reardon	12–22

Non-ranking Finals: 9 (4 titles)

• The Masters (0 wins, 1 runner-up)
• Other Tournaments (4 wins, 4 runner-up)

Result	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1974	Pot Black	John Spencer	Aggregate Score
Winner	2.	1974	Burscough Professional	Unknown	Round–Robin
Winner	3.	1975	Pot Black	Dennis Taylor	1–0
Runner-up	1.	1976	The Masters	Ray Reardon	3–7
Runner-up	2.	1978	Pot Black	Doug Mountjoy	1–2
Runner-up	3.	1979	Holsten Lager International	John Spencer	7–11
Runner-up	4.	1979	Pontins Professional	Doug Mountjoy	4–8
Runner-up	5.	1979	Golden Masters	Ray Reardon	2–4
Winner	4.	1981	Tolly Cobbold Classic	Cliff Thorburn	5–1

Pro-am Finals: 1 (1 title)

Result	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1973	Castle Open	Meadowcroft, JimJim Meadowcroft	4–1

Team Finals: 2

Result	No.	Year	Championship	Team/partner	Opponent(s) in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1975	Ladbroke International	England	Rest of the World	Cumulative score
Runner-up	2.	1979	World Challenge Cup	England	Wales	3–14