Tony Knowles

Knowles began the 2011/12 season by entering PTC1.

In 2009, Knowles won the inaugural Snooker Super 6s tournament at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

He remained in the top 16 until the 1990/1991 season, peaking at no. 2 (eclipsed only by Davis). He reached the World Championship semi-finals on three occasions (in 1983, 1985 and 1986), but never the final.

In the 1990s, his success waned, and he dropped off the main tour in 1997. He was critical of a change to the cloths on competition snooker tables in 1986, which led to the pack breaking open more easily. He was involved in a directorial role for World Snooker in the early 2000s. He enters the qualifying event for the World Championship most years and managed to defeat tour professional Stefan Mazrocis in the first qualifying round in 2009.

Knowles shot to prominence in 1982 when he defeated defending champion Steve Davis 10–1 in the first round of the World Championship, earning him overnight stardom in a period when the sport was reaching the peak of its popularity. His good looks resulted in his relationship exploits featuring in the tabloid press. After some particularly sordid revelations he was fined £5,000 by the governing body for "bringing the game into disrepute".

He followed up his strong performance in the World Championship by winning the 1982 International Open against David Taylor, and a year later was victorious in the 1983 Professional Players Tournament and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship, leading Cliff Thorburn 15–13 before losing 15–16, with Thorburn getting a very fortunate fluke on one of the colours in the deciding frame. As a result, he moved to no. 4 in the 1983/1984 world rankings.

Knowles began playing snooker at the age of 3 on the tables at the social club run by his father, Kevin. He went on to win the UK Junior Championship twice, in 1972 and in 1974, and continued to study graphic art. His application to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association to become a professional player was twice turned down leading him to threaten them with legal action before being accepted at the third attempt.

Anthony "Tony" Knowles (born 13 June 1955, in Bolton, Lancashire) is an English former professional snooker player. He was a three times semi-finalist in the World Professional Snooker Championship in the 1980s.