Snooker legend Ray Reardon at 90: 'Proud for Wales, proud for myself'

As he celebrates his 90th birthday, former World Champion Ray Reardon says he is "proud" for Wales and himself as he reflects on an illustrious snooker career.

Reardon won the World Championship six times in the 1970s and was the first player to be world number one when rankings were introduced in 1976.

"That's why I turned professional, to be number one," he says.

In the same year he was the Masters champion and among his other titles he won BBC's Pot Black twice, in 1969 and 1979.

Born on 8 October, 1932 in the coal mining community of Tredegar, Reardon left school at 14 and followed his father Ben down the mine at Ty Trist Colliery.

After pit closures in south Wales the family moved to North Staffordshire in 1956 and a year later Reardon had a terrifying experience at Florence Colliery in Stoke-on-Trent.

While he was working underground the roof collapsed and he was trapped for three hours.

Reardon was hugely relieved his hands weren't damaged as he was rescued.

"When they came to rescue me they started shovelling and I thought if a shovel comes in it's going to hit my fingers and cut my fingers off," he recalls.

"I was very worried about that, so as soon as I felt some freedom I wiggled my fingers, just to let them know I'm still alive because they didn't know."

Reardon gave up mining and joined the police in 1960 before becoming a professional snooker player in 1967.

Three years later he won the World Championship for the first time and he secured another five World titles in six years: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1978, when he beat Perrie Mans in the final.

That was the only title he won at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield after the sport's biggest tournament moved there in 1977. In 1982 he lost against Alex Higgins in the final at the Crucible.

He was awarded the MBE in 1985 and Reardon retired in 1991, but in 2004 he helped Ronnie O'Sullivan to win his second World title, acting as O'Sullivan's coach and mentor.

"When I saw him at the table on the first day I was picking the balls up for him, it was something special, without doubt the best player I'd ever seen," says Reardon.

O'Sullivan celebrated by wearing a pair of false teeth as a light-hearted tribute to Reardon who was nicknamed 'Dracula' because of his prominent teeth and dark 'widow's peak' hairline.

The two are still in touch and Reardon describes their relationship as "pure friendship".

He is also in no doubt that the current World champion, who equalled Stephen Hendry's record of seven World titles in the modern era this year, can beat that record.

In 2016 the Welsh Open trophy was renamed the Ray Reardon Trophy in his honour and he presented it to Stuart Bingham in Cardiff the following year.

Also in 2017 Reardon returned to the Crucible to take part in a parade of players who had won the World Championship there for a ceremony marking 40 years of the event being held in Sheffield.

"It was wonderful, heart-warming," says Reardon.

"It's easy to respond to that when you get such a warm welcome. I loved it."

Reardon still plays snooker - "very badly," he jokes - and, with the same smile that captured the hearts of millions of people who watched him dominate the sport in the 1970s, he feels very fortunate to be in such good health at the age of 90.

"I had a hip operation recently. I've got a bit of a limp, but other than that I feel fine. How lucky is that?"