Markham Wildman (25 January 1936 – 18 November 2024) was a billiards and snooker player and cue sports commentator from Peterborough, England. He won the World Professional Billiards Championship in 1984 and was runner up in 1980 and 1982. He made the first televised snooker century break in 1960, while still an amateur.
After a junior career in which he won titles in both snooker and English billiards, he won the 1963 Working Men's Club and Institute Union Championship, an event regarded as the second-most prestigious amateur title in the UK after the English Amateur Championship, by defeating John Dunning in the final. In 1968, he won the English Amateur Billiards Championship with a 2,652–2,540 victory against Clive Everton. In 1977, Wildman was runner-up to Michael Ferreira in a World Open Billiards Championship held in Christchurch. He was accepted as a professional player by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) in 1979. His best run as a professional snooker player was reaching the semi-finals of the 1984 Lada Classic; in the rankings for the following year he attained his highest placing of 21st.
He reached the final of the 1980 World Professional Billiards Championship, finishing as runner-up to Fred Davis with a scoreline of 2,064–3,037. The 1983 UK Professional Billiards Championship was his first major title win as a professional, secured when he defeated Davis 1,500–1,032 in the final. During the semi-final, against Rex Williams, he recorded a break of 495, his highest. He won the World Billiards Championship title in 1984, narrowly defeating Eddie Charlton 1,045–1,012 in the five-hour final.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Wildman was a snooker commentator for ITV until snooker was dropped by the channel in 1993. He retired from professional snooker in 1991 but continued to play professional billiards for several years. He served as a WPBSA director, including as chairman from September 1999 to 4 December 2001.
Biography
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.
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.
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#98FB98"|Winner
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1953
|British Junior Billiards Championship
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|529–520
|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#98FB98"|Winner
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1953
|British Junior Snooker Championship
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|4–2
|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#98FB98"|Winner
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1954
|British Junior Billiards Championship
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|582–497
|
|}
English billiards
{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Amateur English billiards finals
|-
!scope="col" |Outcome
!scope="col" |Date
!scope="col"|Championship
!scope="col" |Opponent in the final
!scope="col" align="center" |Score
!scope="col"|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#98FB98"|Winner
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1968
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|English Amateur Billiards Championship
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|2,652–2,540
|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#ffa07a;"|Runner-up
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1969
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|English Amateur Billiards Championship
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|2,881–3,722
|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#ffa07a;"|Runner-up
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1977
|Leopard International Billiards
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|Round-robin
|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#98FB98"|Winner
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1984
|World Billiards Championship
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1,045–1,012
|
|
|-
|}
Snooker
{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Amateur snooker finals
|-
!scope="col" |Outcome
!scope="col" |No.
!scope="col" |Date
!scope="col"|Championship
!scope="col" |Opponent in the final
!scope="col" align="center" |Score
!scope="col"|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#98FB98"|Winner
|1
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1963
|Working Men's Club and Institute Union Championship
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|318–268
|
|-
!scope="row" style="background:#98FB98"|Winner
|2
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|1977
|Leopard International Snooker
|bgcolor="FFFFFF"|
|bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="text-align:center"|4–3
|
|}