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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Sunderland

Snooker MC reveals how players' nicknames are decided - and the one he came up with

Rob Walker Neil Robertson

Nicknames play an important role in snooker's pageantry, and announcer Rob Walker has helped build the profiles of the sport's biggest names for more than a decade.

However, the master of ceremonies' input when it comes to branding doesn't stop at mere introductions. That's after the 47-year-old appeared on the BBC's Framed snooker podcast and revealed he's even had a hand in deciding what certain stars should be called.

"A lot of those nicknames I inherited - the Rocket ( Ronnie O'Sullivan ), the Wizard of Wishaw ( John Higgins ) the Welsh Potting Machine ( Mark Williams ), the Jester from Leicester ( Mark Selby ) - most of those names were already established," said Walker. "But there is one I can definitely take credit for.

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