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"I would have played no matter what. I loved it. You couldn't keep me away from the table. It gripped me. There was no other game."

Doug Mountjoy loved to play snooker but until the age of 34 it was a hobby, with coal mining his job.

Yet despite his late start, he is one of the finest Welsh players to pick up a cue.

In the first episode of the new series of Legends of Welsh Sport, Mountjoy's career is examined by those who knew him best, including former world champions Ray Reardon, Mark Williams, Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, as well as family and friends.

Mountjoy won many amateur tournaments and was twice Welsh amateur champion before taking the ultimate accolade, the 1976 world amateur title.

Mountjoy was a World Championship runner-up in 1981, one of only six Welshmen to reach snooker's biggest contest.

The 1977 Masters champion - who stunned compatriot Ray Reardon to win the final - is also one of only four Welsh players to win the UK Championship.

Mountjoy's defeat by Steve Davis at the Crucible in 1981 left him devastated and his career slumped for a time.

However, with help from legendary coach Frank Callan, Mountjoy transformed his game again.

Mountjoy was the surprise winner of the 1988 UK Championship at the age of 46, beating future seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry 16-12 in the final.

After retiring in 1997 - four years after he battled lung cancer and had a lung removed - he would spend the next two decades giving back to the game he loved, coaching some of the next generation of talent.

Legends of Welsh sport: Doug Mountjoy - is on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One Wales on Wednesday, 15 February at 20:00 GMT and later on demand.

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