The son of Italian parents, Tony Meo decided at 13 to stay in London with his friends rather than return to Italy with his family. Perhaps it was a good thing for snooker that he did.

Tony went to the same South London school as Jimmy White and although he was some three years older than the young ‘Whirlwind’, the two became good pals and spent more time down the local snooker hall than they did at school. A local taxi driver spotted their talents and ferried them around the country, playing matches but soon they were too big for him to handle.

At 17 Tony became the youngest person to make a 147 and a year later he beat professional, Doug Mountjoy, in the Warners Pro-Am. He also beat Jimmy in the Pontins Junior event and became National Under-19 champion in 1978. Still an amateur he entered the Canadian Open where he beat no less than Alex Higgins in the semi-final before losing to Cliff Thorburn 17-15 in the final. That was all the encouragement he needed to turn professional which he did in 1979.

In his first visit to the Crucible for the 1980 Embassy he only narrowly lost to Alex Higgins 9-10 in his first round match. He went one stage further the next year and followed that with runner-up spot to Steve Davis in the English Professional and then victory in the Australian Masters and semi-finals in both the UK Championship and Benson & Hedges Masters.

In 1982 Steve Davis’ manager, Barry Hearn, signed him up and he teamed up with Steve to win the first World Doubles event. The pair became almost unbeatable, winning the event four times in five years. Tony was still looking for a major title of his own and he nearly got it in the 1984 Lada Classic. In the final against Steve, it was 8-8, deciding frame, and Tony needed only the last few colours to win when, just as he was playing his shot, someone shouted “Come on, Tony.” He missed the shot and Steve took frame and match.

He did win the English Professional title in 1986 and retained it the following year plus another Australian Masters along the way but the ranking titles proved elusive. His best in the world championship had been a quarter final in 1983 following which he started a sequence of first round exits in that particular event. It was the same in most of the other events and, after three years in the top 16, by the end of the 1987/88 season he was down to 31st in the rankings.

The one high spot in that season came in February 1988 when, during a Matchroom League match against Stephen Hendry at Chesterfield, Tony made his only 147 break as a professional. At the time it was only the seventh officially recognised maximum and the fifth seen in competitive play.

Things went no better the next season and he went into the 1989 Anglian Windows British Open at Derby as a 200-1 outsider. Although he put out the new rising star, Stephen Hendry, he avoided most of the other big names. It was still a major surprise when he lifted the trophy, his one and only ranking title, with a 13-6 win over Dean Reynolds. This must have boosted his confidence as he followed it with his best ever Embassy, reaching the semi-final. This projected him right back into the top 16 but sadly the revival did not last.