Player Profile   Graham Miles Born: 11 May 1941. Birmingham, England Professional Career: 1969 - 1992 Highest Break: 139 (1978 UK Championship) Career Centuries 7 Highest Ranking 5th (1977/78) Graham Miles became one of the world’s top players in the mid 1970s. His bald head and distinctive style, with his chin hanging over his cue made him instantly recognisable and his ready wit endeared him to the fans.   Having been twice Midlands amateur champion, he turned professional in 1969 playing in the world championship for the first time in 1972 when he failed to get beyond the qualifying round. The following year he went all the way to the quarter-finals and was invited as a late replacement to take part in the 1974 Pot black series when Fed Davis pulled out. He went on to win the title which he successfully defended the following year. This television exposure helped to develop his popularity and he was able to make a good living on the exhibition circuit.   Meanwhile, in the 1974 world championships, he reached the final but came up against Ray Reardon at his best and lost 22-12. He also reached the final of the 1976 Benson & Hedges Masters where Reardon beat him again. When the first world ranking list was published at the end of that season he found himself in fifth place.   Two successive world quarter-finals in 1977 and 1978 kept him in the top ten but his only other title came in the 1981 Tolly Cobbold Classic. In 1985 he failed for the first time to reach the Crucible stage of the world championship and from than on, wins became harder and harder to come by. His ranking had dropped to 38th and continued to fall over the next few seasons.   He carried on playing the main tour for a few more years but following the influx of hundreds of new professionals in 1991/92 he decided to call it a day at the end of that season. He made a brief return in 2000 to play in the World Seniors Masters where he reached the quarter-finals. This was to have been the first of a new seniors’ tour but that failed to get off the ground which was a shame as it would have provided a great outlet for players of Graham’s generation.     Career Highlights World Professional Snooker Championship Runner up 1974 Tolly Cobbold Classic champion 1981 BBC Pot Black champion 1974, 1975 Benson & Hedges Masters runner up 1976 Holsten Lager International runner up 1979   © Chris Turner 2009 Back to top