Snooker legend John Parrott heading for Gainsborough

Liverpool-born Parrott, now 53, will be showing off his skills and taking on challengers in an event organised by Wayne Noble and Tony Wallace in a bid to raise awarness of the Gainsborough Snooker League, especially among youngsters.

It follows on from a similar event last year when multiple world champion Steve Davis earned a standing ovation at the club for an entertaining exhibition that he hosted. Davis even popped into Wallace’s shop for some fish and chips!

The money raised from the Davis event went towards refurbishing a snooker table, which Davis signed. Any proceeds from tonight’s event will go towards the snooker league.

Parrott is also a former world champion, having taken the title in 1991 when he defeated Jimmy White in the final. Two years earlier, he had crashed 18-3 to Davis, which was the heaviest final defeat in modern times.

Parrott repeated his eclipse of White later in 1991 in the final of the UK Championship, and he remains one of only five players to take both titles in the same year.

He spent three successive years at number two in the world rankings and is one of an elite band of players to have compiled more than 200 century-breaks during his career, posting 221 in total. Overall, Parrott won nine world-ranking events, which puts him 11th on the all-time list.