Background
Standing by then at 5"4", Knowles began playing snooker at the age of 9 on the tables at the social club run by his father, Kevin.
Standing by then at 5"4", Knowles began playing snooker at the age of 9 on the tables at the social club run by his father, Kevin.
He was a three times semi-finalist in the World Professional Snooker Championship in the 1980s. Knowles"s application was twice turned down, leading him to threaten the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association with legal action before being accepted at the third attempt. His good looks resulted in his relationship exploits featuring in the tabloid press
After some particularly sordid revelations he was fined £5000 by the governing body for "bringing the game into disrepute".
He followed up his strong performance in the World Championship by winning the Jameson International in 1982 against David Taylor, and a year later was victorious in the Professional Players Tournament and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship, leading Cliff Thorburn 15–13 before losing 15–16. As a result, he moved to northern
4 in the 1983/1984 world rankings. He remained in the top 16 until the 1989/1990 season, peaking at northern
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 began the 2011/12 season by entering PTC1.
He supports Bolton Wanderers F.C. One of the suites in the rebuilt Phoenix Club was named after Knowles in Peter Kay"s Phoenix Nights. Ranking wins (2)Editorial Non-ranking wins (1)Editorial Team wins Amateur wins.