Clive Everton

Clive Harold Everton (7 September 1937 – 27 September 2024) was an English sports commentator, journalist, author and professional billiards and snooker player. He founded Snooker Scene magazine, which was first published (as World Snooker) in 1971, and continued as editor until September 2022. He authored over twenty books about cue sports from 1972 onwards.

Everton began commentating on snooker for BBC radio in 1972 and for BBC Television from 1978 until 2010. In the snooker boom years of the 1980s, he commentated alongside Ted Lowe and Jack Karnehm, and became the leading commentator in the 1990s. As an amateur player, he won junior titles in English billiards and the Welsh billiards title several times. He was five-times runner up in the English amateur billiards championship and twice a semi-finalist at the world amateur championship. In snooker, he partnered Roger Bales as they won the United Kingdom National Pairs Championship. Everton turned professional in 1981, achieving a highest ranking of 47th in the world in ten years as a snooker professional. He reached a peak of ninth place in the professional billiards rankings and remained in the top 20 ranked players even into his sixties.

Everton played county-level tennis for Worcestershire for 13 years and was once the agent of Jonah Barrington, the former world number one squash player. In 2017, he was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame and was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to snooker. In 2022 the British Open tournament trophy was renamed the "Clive Everton Trophy".

Early life Clive Harold Everton was born in Worcester on 7 September 1937. He was educated at King's School, Worcester, City of Birmingham College of Commerce, and later at Cardiff University, where he obtained a B.A. in English. After graduating, he taught English and Liberal Studies at Halesowen College of Further Education, before a career change into freelance journalism. He entered the British Boys (under-16) English billiards Championship for the first time in 1951, when he was 14, and lost in the first round to Brian Brooking by 147 points to 201. He won the 1953 under-16 billiards championship by defeating John Lambert by 401–197 in the final. and won the 1980 Canadian Open, making a of 141 after trailing Steve Davis 195–400 in the 500-up final. He resigned his membership of the WPBSA in April 2006 during a dispute with the Association, which was seeking to take action against him through the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel as a result of criticism of it that he had published in Snooker Scene. Re-instated as an amateur, he won the Midlands amateur billiards title for the 14th time in 2008, having first taken the title in 1962.

In snooker, he reached the southern area final of the 1977 English Amateur Championship where he lost 1–8 to Terry Griffiths. A couple of months later, Everton and his playing partner Roger Bales won the 1977 National (UK) Pairs Championship after a 3–0 victory against Dickie Laws and John Pike in the final. In his professional debut, at the qualifying tournament for the 1981 International Open, he won his first match 5–4 against Kingsley Kennerley. In Everton's second match, Mike Watterson, who was also the tournament promoter, arrived 15 minutes late after not realising that the official start time was thirty minutes earlier than on publicity and tickets for the event, and therefore conceded a frame to Everton as per the tournament rules. Watterson won the match 5–4.

Everton's most notable win as a professional snooker player was a 5–2 defeat of Patsy Fagan in the last 64 of the 1982 Professional Players Tournament, representing the furthest that he ever reached in a major tournament.

He was the editor of the magazine Billiards and Snooker, owned by the Billiards Association and Control Council, from the December 1966 issue until the February 1971 issue. According to Everton, he was sacked at the instigation of Jack Karnehm, the Chairman of the Billiards and Snooker Control Council (as the Billiards Association and Control Council had renamed itself) for "giving professionals publicity". In Everton's account, this followed him including pictures of four professional players on the cover of Billiards and Snooker at a time when the Billiards and Snooker Control Council and the professional players were in dispute over the World Billiards Championship. This dispute led to the Professional Billiards Players Association renaming itself as the WPBSA and splitting from the Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC). Following his sacking, Everton established his own magazine, World Snooker.

In 1972, the B&SCC approached Everton to take over Billiards and Snooker and paid him £1,000 to do so. Everton merged Billiards and Snooker and World Snooker into Snooker Scene, which published its first issue in April 1972. Snooker Scene has sometimes featured criticisms of the WPBSA which have led to legal disputes. Everton said of Snooker Scene: "I had started this as a simple journal of record of what was happening on the table, but it became a crusading vehicle ... Taking Wisden and Private Eye as our models we sometimes made our point through hard reporting, sometimes through satire." and became the leading commentator in the 1990s. In September 2007 he published Black Farce and Cueball Wizards: The Inside Story of the Snooker World, which has a history of snooker as well as being autobiographical. The Independent on Sunday praised the book at "Revelatory stuff, masterfully written." Nick Harris of The Independent, noting that Everton was a correspondent for the publication's Sunday sister publication but saying that "nepotism is not required to recommend this book", wrote that it was a "terrific memoir-cum-history of the game." A review for his 2013 book A History of Billiards in The Independent on Sunday stated that "his affection for and encyclopaedic knowledge of the three-ball game shines through"

In 2009, it was announced that Everton would effectively lose his position as the BBC's primary snooker commentator; he did not commentate on the Masters, and only commentated on the World Championship until the quarter-final stages. This was variously attributed to his criticism of the game's governing body, World Snooker, his age and old-fashioned style, and his lack of fame relative to the former players on the BBC's commentary roster. Everton commented, "I'm hurt and angry, because I find the reasons presented to me incomprehensible." After his departure from the BBC, Everton continued commentating for ITV until the Champion of Champions tournament in November 2019.

In the September 2022 issue of Snooker Scene, Everton announced that he would not be continuing as editor.

Personal life, illness and death Everton married Valerie (née Teasdale) in 1961 and they had four daughters and a son.

Everton played county-level tennis for Worcestershire for 13 years, and managed Jonah Barrington, the former world number one squash player. In 2017, he was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame at the annual Snooker Awards. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to snooker.

In later life, Everton suffered from Parkinson's disease. He died on 27 September 2024, aged 87, following a long period of ill health.

Snooker performance and rankings timeline

Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / not held means an event was not held.NR / Non-ranking event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking event means an event is/was a ranking event.

Career finals

+Career finals (English billiards)OutcomeYearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreWinner 1953 British Junior (under 16) Championship John Lambert 401–197 Runner-up 1955 British Junior (under 19) Championship Donald Scott 360–538 Winner 1956 British Junior (under 19) Championship Granville Hampson 429–277 Runner-up 1967 English Amateur Championship Leslie Driffield 2,328–3,395 Runner-up 1968 English Amateur Championship Mark Wildman 2,540–2,652 Winner 1973 Welsh Amateur Championship J. Terry Winner 1976 Welsh Amateur Championship Roy Oriel

+Career finals (snooker)OutcomeYearChampionshipOpponents in the final ScoreWinner 1977 National (UK) Pairs Championship (with Roger Bales) Dickie Laws and John Pike 3–0

Publications Everton authored, or-co-authored, the following books:

Notes and references