Snooker In the early 1970s, looking for a property investment, Hearn bought a snooker hall in
Romford,
Greater London. The same year, the
BBC began promoting snooker on
BBC2 in
colour television, resulting in queues of people wanting to play snooker. Hearn began promoting sporting events in 1974, working with amateur snooker players Geoff Foulds, father of
Neal Foulds, and
Vic Harris. In 1976, he became manager of
Steve Davis, who went on to win the
World Championship six times. Hearn prospered from the snooker boom of the 1980s when he formed Matchroom with players Davis and
Tony Meo. Later Matchroom snooker players include
Terry Griffiths,
Dennis Taylor,
Willie Thorne,
Neal Foulds,
Jimmy White,
Cliff Thorburn and
Ronnie O'Sullivan. Hearn appeared alongside many Matchroom players in the video for "
Snooker Loopy", a hit for "rockney"
pop rock duo
Chas & Dave. In December 2009 Hearn was elected as the new
WPBSA Chairman after
Sir Rodney Walker failed to get re-elected and left his post. In June 2010, following a vote by the members, Hearn took over a 51% controlling interest in the organisation's commercial business World Snooker Limited with a view to revitalising the game. The commercial business was separated from the regulatory body, the
WPBSA.
Boxing Hearn moved into
boxing in 1987, his first promotion being the
Frank Bruno versus
Joe Bugner bout at
White Hart Lane in October 1987. He offered the television rights to
Greg Dyke of London Weekend Television for £200,000, who agreed to pay £250,000 because he did not believe Hearn could deliver for the quoted price. Hearn said, "But to be honest I was very pleased with myself in Hong Kong. I stood my ground. How many others would have?" In April 2008 Hearn introduced the
Prizefighter series, a knockout tournament featuring 8 different boxers. His son Eddie now manages the boxing side of the business.
Darts Hearn was until April 2021 the chairman of the
Professional Darts Corporation, one of darts' two governing bodies, the
sport having been split since the world's leading players left the
British Darts Organisation in 1992. He made several attempts to buy out the rival body, which would reunify the game, but has been unsuccessful.
Football Hearn was the chairman of the
football league club
Leyton Orient from 1995 to 2014. Before Hearn's takeover the club was facing a financial disaster due to the collapse of the then chairman Tony Wood's coffee business in
Rwanda at the time of the
Rwandan genocide. Hearn's intervention and financial input assured the club's future. Although Hearn has been successful in stabilising the club financially, his tenure included the club's longest run in the bottom division (the fourth tier) of the Football League since its creation (in 1958). At the culmination of the 2005–06 season, Orient earned promotion to the third tier of English league football (
League One), their first automatic promotion since the 1969–70 season. In April 2017, Hearn resigned as honorary president of Leyton Orient registering his disapproval of the new owner, Francesco Becchetti, who he claimed had "not played by the rules" leaving Leyton Orient players and staff unpaid for March 2017.
Fishing Hearn is a fisherman. After watching the first recording of Wrestle Mania in
Ockenden, he pitched the idea of Fish-o-Mania to Greg Dyke at LWT. Turned down, he sold the idea to
Sky Sports, establishing a 19-year television franchise. ==Personal life==