After Dinner Speakers: John Parrott, Richard Attenborough, Steffi Graf

John Parrott is one of snooker's most instantly recognisable faces and has done much to popularise the sport both on and off the table. He has managed to combine playing with a highly successful television career, most notably through his team captaincy against footballer Ally McCoist on the BBC's 'A Question of Sport'. The lifelong Everton fan, who has won tournaments in nine different countries, has been an ever-present at the Crucible since 1984. He has reached eight quarter-finals, one semi-final and two finals. His first final came in 1989, but he was taught a harsh lesson by Steve Davis, who won 18-3 - the biggest margin of victory in an Embassy final. But Parrott learned from the experience and two years later, he put it to good use, beating Jimmy White 18-11 in the 1991 final to win snooker's greatest prize. He added the UK Championship for good measure later that year and is one of only four players - Davis, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins are the others - to have held both titles in the same year. Parrott led England to victory in the 2000 Nations Cup at The Hexagon, Reading. He marshalled his troops - Stephen Lee, Ronnie O'Sullivan and White - to a 6-4 victory over defending champions Wales. Fittingly, it was the skipper who held his nerve against opposite number Darren Morgan in the deciding frame to seal the match for the host nation. After a disastrous start to the 2000-2001 season, Parrott was always fighting a losing battle to retain the top-16 place he had held for 13 successive seasons. It was not until the fourth ranking event in China that he managed to win a match and although he reached the semi-finals of the Thailand Masters in March, it was a case of too little too late. The wise-cracking Liverpudlian, who is also an accomplished after-dinner speaker, was finally sentenced to life outside the elite top 16 by Michael Judge, who beat him 10-6 in the first round of the World Championship