George Michael Edwin Watterson (26 August 1942 – 8 March 2019)[1] was an English professional snooker player, businessman, sports promoter and television commentator.

He also created the World Professional Darts Championship, staged the first floodlit cricket in Britain and had a stint as chairman of Derby County.

[3] In 1977, his late wife, Carole, went to see a play at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, and suggested to her husband that it would make the ideal setting for snooker.

[3] Knowing that there was a real danger that there would be no World Snooker Championship that year, Watterson spoke to the theatre's then-manager, Arnold Eliiman, and asked if he could stage the tournament there.

[4] At various times, he also managed some well-known professional snooker players including Kirk Stevens, Cliff Thorburn, and Bill Werbeniuk.

However, a breakdown in relationship with BDO chairman Olly Croft and the late Peter Dyke of Imperial Tobacco saw him exit the sport.

He took over promotion of ITV's Pro-Celebrity Snooker, held in Leeds, securing new backing after Canadian Club withdrew their sponsorship.

Watterson won the national breaks competition for 1975-76, and the Working Men's Club and Institute Union snooker championship in 1979.

[1] While promoting ITV's Pro-Celebrity Snooker in the early 1980s (a series presented by Mike Smith, a former master of ceremonies at major snooker events who went on to have a long career at Eurosport), Watterson commentated on one episode alongside Rex Williams, however his main career as a commentator began in 1989 with Eurosport, then jointly owned by Sky Television plc and the EBU.

He stepped down from Sky in 1994 to spend more time enjoying his property in Spain during the winter months,[7] briefly returning to commentary with Eurosport for a short while after that.