Markham Wildman (25 January 1936 – 18 November 2024) was a billiards and snooker player and cue sports commentator from Peterborough.
A junior career saw him lift titles in both billiards and snooker, events played in the sport's top venues in London.
His best run as a professional snooker player was reaching the semi-finals of the 1984 Lada Classic; in the rankings for the following year he attained his highest placing of 21st.
[5] Coached by his father Royce Wildman and by professional player John Barrie, he entered the 1950 British under-16 Billiards championship and lost 154–200 to Marcus Owen in the semi-finals.
[15] Billiards and Snooker magazine editor Everton wrote that Wildman "produced some brilliant if unorthodox" play, but "lacked the consistency and a final degree of assurance" on some shots.
In the semi-final, Wildman had eliminated Barrie, who described his former student as "a spasmodic, opportunist sort of player, very unpredictable but always dangerous.
[19] He reached the final of the 1980 World Professional Billiards Championship by defeating Bernard Bennett, Rex Williams and Ray Edmonds, and was runner-up to Fred Davis with a scoreline of 2,064–3,037.
[28] Wildman was one of six contestants, along with Williams, Fred Davis, Charlton, Ray Reardon and Alex Higgins, in a competition played over games where each player's time was limited to 15 minutes.
[29] His attempt to defend the world title in 1985 when the format switched to a best-of-five games of first-to-400 saw him beat Tony Jones and Peter Francisco both 3–0 before Edmonds defeated him 3–0 in the semi-finals.
[33] Wildman was drawn to meet Graham Miles, who withdrew, then defeated Bob Close 3–1 before losing 3–0 to Edmonds in the semi-finals.
[34] In his first match in a professional ranking tournament, he lost 7–9 to Frank Jonik in the qualifying competition for the 1980 World Snooker Championship.
[3] Following his national service in the Royal Air Force, Wildman worked in finance and was later an area manager for United Dominions Trust.
[44][45][46] He was appointed chairman of the WPBSA's Billiards Committee when it was inaugurated and he successfully obtained sponsorship for tournaments internationally.
[12][47] After his active involvement in professional cue sports ended, Wildman moved to Spain, where he became a local champion of carom billiards.
[8] WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said that he had been inspired by Wildman's "great vision for the global development of our sport".
[8] Marcus Stead, editor of Snooker Scene magazine, wrote that Wildman "had a reputation as a savvy businessman and a shrewd operator.