Mark Wildman

Markham Wildman was born on 25 January 1936 in Peterborough, England. He attended Deacon's School, Peterborough. He won the championship the following year by defeating John Burgess 400–355 in the final. In 1954 he entered the English Amateur Snooker Championship for the first time, but was eliminated 0–3 by Ron Gross. The next year he lost in the first round and in 1956 he was beaten again by Gross, this time 4–5 in the home counties area final. Billiards and Snooker magazine editor Everton wrote that Wildman "produced some brilliant if unorthodox" play, but "lacked the consistency and a final degree of assurance" on some shots. In 1977, Wildman was runner-up to Michael Ferreira in a World Open Billiards Championship held in Christchurch. In the semi-final, Wildman had eliminated Barrie, who described his former student as "a spasmodic, opportunist sort of player, very unpredictable but always dangerous." Wildman applied to become a professional player in 1979 and was initially rejected by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), before being accepted later that year. ==Professional billiards career==

He reached the final of the 1980 World Professional Billiards Championship by defeating Bernard Bennett, Rex Williams and Ray Edmonds, and was runner-up to Fred Davis with a scoreline of 2,064–3,037. In the 1982 World Billiards Championship, he was runner-up to Williams. During the semi-final, against Williams, he recorded a break of 495, his highest. Wildman had eliminated Paddy Morgan 1,347–759 and Ian Williamson 1,501–859 to reach the final. Halfway through the match against Charlton, Wildman led 599–508. With eight minutes left to play, Charlton came to the table 87 behind, but after taking more than a minute to play a single shot during a break of 54, he ran out of time. He again lost in the semi-finals in 1986, 1–3 to Robby Foldvari. The UK Championship was not held from 1984 to 1986. Wildman was drawn to meet Graham Miles, who withdrew, then defeated Bob Close 3–1 before losing 3–0 to Edmonds in the semi-finals. ==Professional snooker career==

In his first match in a professional ranking tournament, he lost 7–9 to Frank Jonik in the qualifying competition for the 1980 World Snooker Championship. Although his first four shots in his first-round match were all , he led Steve Davis 2–1 before losing 2–5. The 1983–84 season saw him defeat three top-16 players, John Virgo, Silvino Francisco and Charlton, to reach the semi-finals of the 1984 Lada Classic, where he was eliminated 3–5 by Tony Meo, It was the furthest he reached in a professional snooker tournament. He did not reach as far as the quarter-finals of a major tournament again. Edmonds defeated him in qualifying for both the 1985 and 1986 world championships, and after defeating Foldvari in the second qualifying 1987 edition, he was beaten 0–10 by Jon Wright in the third qualifying round. Foldvari eliminated him in the qualifying competition for 1988, as did Francois Ellis in 1989 and Eddie Sinclair in 1990. In his final season as a snooker professional he lost to Derek Heaton in the first qualifying round for the 1991 Classic and then defeated Everton 5–3 in the 1991 British Open before losing to Bob Harris in the second qualifying round for that tournament. ==Non-playing career and death==

Following his national service in the Royal Air Force, Wildman worked in finance and was later an area manager for United Dominions Trust. Wildman retired from professional snooker in 1991, but continued to play professional billiards for several years. Wildman lacked confidence in his snooker abilities up to the early 1980s, but over time as he saw other players making mistakes in matches he was commentating on, he became more confident. During the 1990s and 2000s, he also commented for Screensport, Sky Sports and Eurosport. to 1997. He was appointed chairman of the WPBSA's Billiards Committee when it was inaugurated and he successfully obtained sponsorship for tournaments internationally. After his active involvement in professional cue sports ended, Wildman moved to Spain, where he became a local champion of carom billiards. Murphy remarked that "the knowledge [Wildman] gave me was second to none" and another former world champion, Ken Doherty, paid tribute to the quality of Wildman's commentary. WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said that he had been inspired by Wildman's "great vision for the global development of our sport". Marcus Stead, editor of Snooker Scene magazine, wrote that Wildman "had a reputation as a savvy businessman and a shrewd operator. But he was also a man of great charm, personal kindness, an impeccable manners". ==Career finals==

Junior tournaments English billiards Snooker ==Notes==