Born | 25 January 1936 |
---|---|
Sport country | England |
Professional | 1979–1997 |
Highest ranking | 24 (1983/1984) |
Best ranking finish | Semi-final (1983 Lada Classic) |
Mark Wildman (born 25 January 1936) is an English snooker and pool commentator, and a retired professional player of snooker[1] and English billiards. He made the first televised century break (107) in November 1960 on ATV.
He won the World Professional Billiards Championship in 1984 and was runner up in 1980 and 1982.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s he was a distinguished snooker commentator for ITV until snooker was dropped by the channel. Between September 1999 and September 2002 he was Chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). In recent years, he resumed commentary for Sky Sports and British Eurosport, but was dropped by Sky Sports when they ceased coverage of WPBSA-backed tournaments in 2004, and was dropped by Eurosport as a commentator in the same year. In July 2006, Wildman returned to Eurosport as the leading commentator of their coverage of the new International Pool Tour (IPT).
He is also the former coach of 2005 World Snooker Champion Shaun Murphy.