John Parrott

John Parrott

John Parrott in October 2008
Born	(1964-05-11) 11 May 1964 (age 52) Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Entertainer Mr JP The Carrot
Professional	1983–2010
Highest ranking	2 (3 years)
Career winnings	GB£3,160,747
Century breaks	221
Tournament wins
Ranking	9
Non-ranking	7
World Champion	1991

John Parrott, MBE (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player and television personality, remembered as one of the best players in the early 1990s.

Parrott won the World Snooker Championship in 1991, defeating Jimmy White in the final. Two years earlier he had lost 3–18 to Steve Davis, the heaviest final defeat in modern times. He repeated his win over White to add the UK Championship title later that year, and is one of only five players to win both championships in the same calendar year. He spent three successive seasons at number 2 in the world rankings, and having compiled 221 centuries is one of several players to have compiled more than 200 competitive centuries during his career.

Until the age of 12 Parrott was a keen bowls player but then discovered snooker and has been a keen player ever since. At the age of 15 his talent was spotted by Phil Miller who would become his long-term manager in 1980. Parrott was successful at an early age. He lost in the final of the English Under-16s Championship in 1980 and won the Pontins Junior Championship in 1981. He was Pontins Open Champion in 1982, Junior Pot Black champion in 1982 after narrowly defeating Mark 'Lightning' Lockwood and success followed in 1983, and turned professional the following year after winning a record 14 tournaments in his last year as an amateur player.

Parrott turned professional in 1983 and he made his televised debut as a professional during the 1984 Classic in which he played Alex Higgins in the last 16 of the competition in front of a packed house at Warrington near his home town of Liverpool. He then caused a stir when he won the match 5–2. He then beat Tony Knowles in the next round before losing to Steve Davis in the semi-finals. By then, bookmakers had him tipped to be the World Snooker Champion within five years (it took him seven years). He took his first ranking title in the 1989 European Open, and defended his title in 1990.