Sporting sensation Barry Hearn OBE visits The Liberty shopping centre in Romford.

Fans of Barry Hearn OBE, queued at Waterstones in The Liberty Shopping Centre last weekend to meet the sporting sensation as he signed copies of his new book.

Barry Hearn transformed snooker into the biggest sport in Britain during the 1980s, promoting events and managing the Matchroom stable of players which included Steve David, Jimmy White and Dennis Taylor. He returned to the top of the sport in 2010, when he became Chairman of WST, and once again developed snooker on a massive scale, making it the global sport we know today.

His Matchroom promotions empire covers over a dozen sports including professional boxing, darts, fishing and ten-pin-bowling. His autobiography ‘My Life’, covers hilarious anecdotes from the golden age of snooker, and behind-the-scenes insights into boxing negotiations and darts bust-ups.

First in the queue was fan 22 year-old Bobby Snelling, from Romford who commented: “I was lucky enough to meet Mr Hearn, he was such a nice and down-to-earth guy.

“He signed my cue and copy of his book. I challenged Mr Hearn to a game of pool and to my shock he agreed. I walked away from the pool table as the victor! It’s certainly a day I won’t forget!”

Centre Manager, Simon Plumb commented: “It was great to see such a good turn-out for the book signing last week.

“The autobiography sounds like a good read and it was great to welcome such a sporting legend to the centre.”

To see the weekly activities and for more information, visit: http://www.theliberty.co.uk/