Mark Wildman

Wildman was born on 25 January 1936.[4] He was the British under-16 champion of English billiards in 1951, and the British under-19 winner in 1952 and 1953. He was also the 1952 British Boys Champion in snooker, and British Junior snooker champion in 1954.[5] In 1968, he won the English Amateur Billiards Championship by defeating Clive Everton 2,652-2,540 in the final.[6]^:224

As a snooker professional, he ran Terry Griffiths to 10–8 in the first round of the 1984 World Championship.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he was a 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. He was also dropped by Eurosport as a commentator in 2004. In July 2006, Wildman returned to Eurosport as the leading commentator of their coverage of the new International Pool Tour (IPT).

The IPT folded later in 2006, and Wildman has since retired.

Wildman was a Coach/mentor to a number of Billiards players and ran a Junior Academy at Raunds which produced 3 national Junior Billiards Champions in a 5-year period.

He is also the former coach of 2005 World Snooker Champion Shaun Murphy.

These World Billiards Championships were held on a knockout basis, organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.[6]^:214

Outcome	No.	Date	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1	November 1980	Fred Davis (ENG)	2,064–3,037
Runner-up	2	1982	Rex Williams (ENG)	1,785–3,000
Winner	1	1984	Eddie Charlton (AUS)	1,045–1,012