Not since his namesake, the great Joe (no relation) had anyone so completely dominated the game in the way Steve did during the 1980s. In the ten seasons from 1980/81 he reached eight world finals, winning six and won fifteen other ranking events out of a possible 36. Add to this eight victories in major tournaments which only later achieved ranking status, two Wembley Masters, five Irish, three Scottish and some twenty-four other wins, all in ten seasons and you have some idea how far ahead of the rest he was. It was only when Stephen Hendry came along that anyone really challenged him.

Although Steve Davis began playing snooker at the age of 12, he had no great record as an amateur although he did win the National Under-19 billiards championship in 1976. A businessman named Barry Hearn spotted him playing at a club in Romford, later to become the famous Matchroom. Hearn realised his potential and a contract was drawn up.

His father, Bill, was no mean player and what Steve lacked in natural talent he made up for by shear determination to win and hatred of losing. Hearn brought to professionals to his club to play him, and his game got better and better. He won the 1978 Pontins Open before joining the paid ranks.

Success was not instant. He reached the Crucible at his first attempt in 1979 following this with UK and world quarter-finals the next season but it was in 1980/81 that things started to happen. In that season he won the Wilson’s Classic, UK Championship, English Professional and the Yamaha Masters and arrived at Sheffield in April as favourite to take the world title which he duly did beating Doug Mountjoy in the final 18-12.

The following season he won seven more titles including the Masters and a second UK. and, in January 1982, he made the first ever televised maximum break in the Lada Classic against John Spencer. It was no surprise therefore that when April came along, he was one of the hottest ever favourites to retain his Embassy title. He was however trounced 10-1 by Tony Knowles in the first round.

This only made him more determined and in 1982/3 he entered eleven tournaments and won seven including regaining the world crown. The next season it was the same story and by now he was just about the wealthiest sportsman in Britain. No one ever expected him to lose.

He arrived at the Crucible in 1985 with another five titles under his belt that season plus three semi-finals and four comfortable wins saw him in anther final. Dennis Taylor was his opponent and when Steve opened up an 8-0 lead everyone thought it was all over - except Dennis. We all know what happened; Dennis came back and back until it was 17 all and all down to the final black with 18 million watching on TV well after midnight and it was Dennis who finally came out the winner.

Another brilliant season followed but again ended in disappointment at Sheffield. This time it was Joe Johnson who beat him but revenge over Joe came in 1987. Terry Griffiths was his final victim in 1988 and in 1989, his seventh successive final gave him his sixth win, this time over John Parrott, to equal Ray Reardon’s modern day record.

All this time he continued to win the major ranking events at the rate of about three a season and together with the other top players who had also by now joined up with Barry Hearn’s Matchroom stable began to take the game to new countries especially in the far east.

Steve was by now snooker’s first millionaire with all the trappings of success but as we entered the nineties, a young man from Scotland came on the scene who was to dominate that decade in much the same way as Steve had during the eighties. He was by no means finished and the next few years saw him claim four more ranking titles, another Benson & Hedges Masters and three more Irish Masters. Steve’s most recent victories have been in China with the 1997 China International and the last one, in June 1998, The Red Bull Super League.

A series of poor results saw him lose his top 16 place at the end of the 1999/2000 season but that did not, as many had predicted, persuade Steve to retire. He continued to battle over the next three seasons and fought his way back to the top -most level at the end of 2002/3 helped by a semi final spot in that season’s LG Cup, his first for more than five years. He was back up to 11^th and the following season reached his first ranking final for nine years in the Welsh Open. He was actually 8-5 up on Ronnie O’Sullivan but eventually lost 9-8.

With his top sixteen status again under threat in 2004/5, he reached the quarter finals at the Crucible for the first time since 1996 and then, later in 2005 he reached his tenth UK Championship final losing to Ding Junhui who was nearly 30 years his junior. By the time the 2006/7 season ended he was still in the top 16 which ensured that he would fulfil his ambition of being in that elite group at the age of 50 but he dropped down to his lowest ever position of 29^th after the 2007/8 campaign.