John Pulman

John Pulman

Born	(1923-12-12)12 December 1923 Teignmouth, Devon, England
Died	25 December 1998(1998-12-25) (aged 75) Northampton, England
Sport country	England
Professional	1946–1981
Highest ranking	7 (1977/78)
Tournament wins
World Champion	8 times; 1957, and won 7 challenges from 1964–68

Herbert John Pulman (12 December 1923 – 25 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He first won the title at the 1957 Championship and retained it across seven challenges from 1964 to 1968, three of them against Fred Davis and two against Rex Williams. When the tournament reverted to a knockout event in 1969, he lost 18–25 in the first round to the eventual champion John Spencer. After finishing as runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1970, Pulman never again reached the final, although he was a losing semi-finalist in 1977.

He turned professional in 1946, shortly after winning the English Amateur Championship, and achieved three News of the World Snooker Tournament titles, in 1954, 1957 and 1958. An emotional player, he was prone to venting his frustration and missing important shots. He generally played attacking snooker in his early career, but he made more use of safety tactics in the 1970s.

Pulman became a television commentator towards the end of his playing career and retired from competitive play in 1981 after breaking his leg in a traffic accident. He died in 1998 following a fall down the stairs at his home. He was one of the inaugural inductees to the World Snooker Hall of Fame in 2011, alongside seven other winners of multiple world championships.