Norman Dagley

Norman Dagley (1930 – 15 January 1999) was an English world champion player of English billiards. He won both the world amateur and world professional titles twice. Early Career and English Amateur Championship Titles Dagley learned to play billiards from two brothers who were good amateur players, Reg and Jack Wright, in his home village of Earl Shilton. He served in the Korean War whilst on National Service, and once spent a night in a group on a dinghy after the American transport plane that they were on had to ditch. He said that this experience of not knowing what the dawn would bring gave him a perspective on the game: "After that, you don't get worked up over a game of billiards." He was runner-up in the English Amateur Billiards championship in 1963, and from 1964 won the title fifteen times in twenty-one attempts, never again losing in the final. He set many records, including a world and English championship record break of 862 and session average of 116.6 in 1978. In the 1984 final, his average was 147.7. He also enjoyed success in the CIU championships, another major tournament in England, winning the title 11 times between 1964 and 1981. IBSF World Amateur Championship Dagley won the IBSF World Billiards Championship in 1971, defeating Mannie Francisco in the final, and again in 1975, with Michael Ferreira as runner-up. He received a cigarette box from the Mayor of Hinckley to commemorate the second of his world championship wins. He was also runner-up in 1979 to Paul Mifsud and in 1981 to Michael Ferreira.