I was a potato farmer and am an absolute loon – now I’m fighting for £500,000 World Snooker Championship jackpot
DAVID GILBERT has gone from being a potato farmer to chasing a half a million snooker jackpot.
The 42-year-old is in World Snooker Championship action this afternoon.
He faces Kyren Wilson in the semi-final with the winner set to take on Ronnie O’Sullivan conqueror Stuart Bingham or Jak Jones for the crown and £500,000 prize.
Gilbert has reached the final four for the first time in five years after his 13-8 triumph over Stephen Maguire.
The star, who is married to Abigail who he has a daughter with, has come a long way since he was ploughing fields.
Although, despite his success in snooker, he still loves nothing more than helping out on his father’s potato farm in Staffordshire.
But just how did his “Angry Farmer” nickname come about?
Well it is all down to fellow snooker ace Matthew Selt, 39.
Gilbert told SunSport: “The Angry Farmer. Matt Selt came out with it ages ago.
“Obviously I was a farmer and now and again an absolute loon so he stuck the angry bit on.”
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And when he is not in action himself with his cue, Gilbert insists he does everything possible to avoid the sport.
He added: “I hardly ever watch snooker. I try to stay well clear of it.”
Meanwhile, Maguire was slammed by a former world snooker champion for “jacking it in” as he conceded his final Crucible frame.
Trailing 12-8 to Gilbert, the Scotsman was 31 points behind with the six colours – a total of 27 points – left on the table in frame 21.
Requiring one snooker, Mags potted the yellow but then the cue ball unfortunately nestled against the pink but rather than try to hit the green and hide it, he turned round and shook Gilbert’s hand to say well done.
Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, said: “One snooker required. Don’t jack it in!
“This is the World Championship. Anything can happen.
“You win that frame with a snooker and the other guy is sort of twitching a little bit. Never give up in a month of Sundays.”
But Gilbert, into the semi-finals for the first time since 2019 when he was beaten by John Higgins, said: “It was fantastic when he shook my hand!
“I will buy Stephen a pint if I ever bump into him.
“I was surprised as much as anybody. I am a huge Stephen Maguire fan. It’s his decision.
“Of course, you want your hand shaken as quickly as you can and get out of there.
“This is a massive achievement.
“Five weeks ago I couldn’t be even bothered to turn up to play the qualifiers – I’d turn up and take my £10k.”
