The eyes have it for ex-World Snooker Champion turned commentator

DENNIS Taylor and  Greater Manchester-based Brulimar Optical Group have together crafted the Dennis Taylor eyewear collection for snooker, pool, billiards, and crown green players, inspired by the infamous ‘upside down’ glasses worn by Taylor when he won the 1985 snooker world title at the Crucible Theatre.

The original large square style specs were the result of Taylor’s determination to win a world championship despite his poor eyesight and lack of support to fulfil his dreams as a result.

Taylor was keen to find an optical solution to prove everyone wrong, and tried all options available but nothing was suitable, as he explains: “I always took off my glasses to play and I had a fair amount of success but I had pretty poor eyesight.

“Then in 1979 I tried some new cutting-edge contact lenses out of Germany and almost won the world championship, but they weren’t right; my astigmatisms made the balls look like rugby balls.”

Coming so close to winning pushed Taylor to pioneer his own frames, with assistance from BBC commentator Jack Karneham.

He said: “He got all these old tools out that he hadn’t used in 40 years and actually made those glasses with proper glass, so they were quite heavy, but they worked and I would have never been named world champion without them.”

Immediately following Taylor’s victory, he waved his finger in pride pointing at the spectacles, commonly referred to the ‘upside down glasses’, that were so pivotal in his win.

The legendary snooker frames instantly grew in popularity and Middleton-headquartered Brulimar began manufacturing replicas to meet the demand.

Taylor adapted one of Brulimar’s early models and became a long-term customer prior to calling their office out of the blue, in early 2015, to discuss a collaboration.

The partnership started almost immediately and Taylor became extensively involved in the design process to create a modern spin on the already revolutionary product.

Brulimar managing director Howard Librae said: “Dennis Taylor’s comments and suggestions regarding the width of the bridge, height and width of the lenses, pantoscopic tilt, temple length, additional support for the semi-rimless lenses proved invaluable to us in helping improve our existing product.

“It may seem like a long list of changes but generally they were mainly subtle changes that only a professional snooker player could advise. Dennis even advised us on actual the frames colours too.”