Ken Doherty on becoming world champion, Eric Cantona and gas ovens

Hi Ken, how are you? You're playing Judd Trump in the English Open, which starts next week. Tell us a bit about it. It's a new tournament, which will be held in Manchester. It's part of a new series – we've got the Scottish Open, the Irish Open and the Welsh Open as well. And if you win all four Opens, there's a huge bonus prize of £1m.

Snooker is in good shape at the moment isn't it? It's in fantastic shape. Barry Hearn, World Snooker and the WPBSA have done a tremendous job over the last few years. The game was on its knees five or six years ago but they've taken it to a new level. We had 300 million people watching this year's World Championship in Asia alone, which is incredible. Hopefully tournaments like the English Open will grow and grow.

Barry Hearn could make tiddlywinks a box-office sport. What's his secret? He's got the Midas touch. He's a very good businessman and he tries to push the boat out. Also, he has an infectious personality and character – I think business people are attracted to that. He's very well liked within the game.

How's your game at the moment? (Laughs) My game is crap! I still love the game and I like competing but I'm not playing the way I was. I'm 47 so I don't expect to be playing like I was at 27 when I won the world championship.

In snooker terms, what's the hardest part about ageing? I'd say it's confidence. You become more conscious of certain things that you wouldn't have thought about before. When you're younger you just get down and play the shot. Other things come into your life as well, family in particular. That's just a fact of life. But apart from my family there's nothing I love more than playing snooker. I still have a great passion for it and I still love being involved in it and that's why I do the BBC tournaments; I love the craic with the other players and the BBC crew. I still think I can cause a bit of an upset before I hang up my cue; that's what I'm hoping for.

What's your most vivid memory of beating Stephen Hendry to become world champion? When I potted the brown in the final frame. I was on the blue, 11 points ahead, and that was the first time that I realised I was gonna win. I'd been dreaming about winning that World Championship from the time I was eight years old, and all the way through that championship I could see myself lifting up the cup, but I never fully believed it until I potted the brown.

When I potted the blue there was a big cheer and I was like a Cheshire cat. I couldn’t wait to get around and pot the pink. It made it even better that my friends from Ireland were in the crowd. None of my family were there. They were too nervous; they couldn’t even watch it. My mother went on the missing list! Nobody knew where she was. It turned out she was roaming the streets of Dublin, going in all the churches and lighting candles for me!

Do you watch the final back very often? No I don't actually. I don't have a DVD of it. Sometimes my son might put it on YouTube. I do love watching it – it still sends the shivers down my spine, because it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. So many players don't get the chance of experiencing those emotions, so I feel lucky. I'm disappointed I didn't win it again because I've been in two other finals, but my name is on the trophy and nobody can take that away. It means you're etched into the annals of snooker history.

I can’t believe it’s 20 years! It’s gone so quick. I was 27 then. I look at some of the pictures and, ah gee, I look like a baby. I thought I knew it all. I thought I knew all about the world and life, and I was so stupid and so naïve! But they were great times.

Marcus Rashford wasn't even born when you became world champion. That really makes me feel good!

How tired were you after your run to the final in 2003? I think that was the most disappointed I've ever been – that and missing the black for the 147 at Wembley. After all the last-frame deciders and comebacks, to have won the world title that year would have been something. I think I played 132 frames out of a possible 137, it was quite incredible.

Did you sleep for days when it was over? Ah, I was so devastated. I don't think I ever really got over it. But it was a great tournament and a great final, and it would have been really special winning it.

It would have arguably been the greatest-ever world championship win … I think it could have been. I had a 10-9 in the first round, 13-12 in the second, 13-9 against John Higgins – I'd been 10-0 up – and the semi-final against Paul Hunter which a lot of people still remember, when I was 15-9 down and won 17-16. Even in the final, being 10-2 down, to come back to 12-12 and lose 18-16, that was quite tough. As they say: would, should, could, no good!

With all those comebacks, did you start to feel invincible? At the World Championship it helps that you have so many frames to claw your way back. I had an inner belief then – I wish I had it now! – that even if a fella went four or five frames ahead of me, I didn't panic. I knew I had the guts and determination, and the game, to claw it back. There's nothing worse than somebody coming back at you when you're quite a few ahead. You get enveloped in a state of nervousness and panic more than anything, because you think, 'Jesus if I lose this I'll never hear the end of it.'

Did anything about being world champion surprise you? I don't know if anything surprised me but there was one funny story afterwards. I met the chief superintendent at Mansion House, the Lord Mayor's residence, for a reception, and he said to me, "You know something, Mr Doherty, from the hours of 7-10pm, during the final session of the World Championship, there wasn't one call into the central police station in Dublin." They thought there was something wrong with the phones! They rang up to ask if there was a problem, and the girl on the other end said, "Are you not watching the snooker?" Even the criminals were watching it!

Tell us a bit about your radio show. I co-host it with Reggie Corrigan, who played over 40 times as a prop-forward for Ireland, and it's live every Saturday on Sunshine Radio from 9am to 11am, and we just talk about sport. It's a bit like TalkSport. It's very light-hearted, a couple of guys talking as if they were in the pub with their mates. We have guests from other sports, depending on what's topical. I absolutely love it, it's a great passion of ours. We have great craic. If I get stopped on the street these days it's because of the radio show, not because of the snooker!

What's this about you becoming a Barnsley fan? I went to Barnsley just to watch them play because I love football, and now everyone thinks I'm a Barnsley fan! But no, I love Man United. That was one of the proudest moments of being world champion, parading the cup around Old Trafford. Alex Ferguson and Martin Edwards were fantastic to me that day. They looked after me, showed me round and introduced me to the players. I met Eric Cantona. It was quite funny, because Alex Ferguson bought me into meet the players, who were all sitting having their lunch. I walked into the canteen, and he introduced me, and everybody just looked around. The whole room went quiet and I was standing there like a lemon with the cup; I didn't know what to do. There was silence for about 30 seconds, and it felt like an hour. Then this fella gets up off his chair and walks straight over and says [Puts on French accent] "Congratulations Mr Doherty". I was shaking, I was looking up because he was so much taller than me and all I could say was, "Thank you Mr Cantona." I shit myself! He was such a hero, and he was such a huge man. I didn't know what he going to say to me. He had a lot of class. It was a nice touch that he was the first up, and once he came up everyone followed suit. What I didn't know is that he'd decided to retire and that would be his last game for United.

What's the best sports book you've read? There are three that stand out: Only A Game by Eamon Dunphy, Open by Andre Agassi and Thomas Hauser's book on Muhammad Ali.

What was the last film you saw? You'll probably laugh at this – it was Pete's Dragon. It was a lovely movie. I took my son, who's eight years old, and my nephew and niece. I took them as a treat for my nephew as it was his birthday. We had a great time. I was welling up and they were sitting there with their popcorn and their jellies, looking at me going, "Are you crying?" I said, "Nah, not at all, I've just got something in my eye!" I'm one of these who weeps at touching things, it's really weird. I shouldn't really be telling you that. I'll ruin my reputation!

What's your favourite TV show? My favourite of all time would be The Sopranos. I'm watching Narcos at the moment but I don't watch soaps or anything like that.

What did you think of the ending? That was fantastic. It wasn't the ending I was expecting, but I wouldn't have liked to see him get shot anyway. It left it open which was quite clever. I was just sad it finished because it was one of the funniest and most brutal dramas you could ever wish to see. The language and the interaction between the characters was fantastic. I love films like that as well – Goodfellas, Casino, The Godfather.

It's easy to forget just how funny it was. It's amazingly funny. The banter between them, and all the conniving. They have a drink and take the piss out of each other and then they're stabbing each other in the back! It's frightening, it was so funny in a dark way.

What's your favourite album? It would have to be The Joshua Tree. My type of music is U2, Coldplay, Rolling Stones, Oasis, that type of thing.

Who's the most famous person in your phone? Who's the most famous person in my phone? Probably Brendan O'Carroll from Mrs Brown's Boys. He's from Dublin and we share the same birthday, though not the same age! I did have a call from someone famous during the 2003 World Championship final though. I don't know how he got my number. I went back to the hotel and was getting ready for the final session. It was 12-12 and I thought I'd check my phone as there were always good-luck messages. One of the messages went like this: "Hey maaaaan, I'm sitting here with Guggi and Simon Carmody. We're watching the snooker, you've made a great comeback so far, keep it going man, we're all proud of you over here. And by the way, it's Bono!"

What's this we heard about a landlord and a gas oven? (Laughs) Oh Jesus! When I first came over to England, before I was even professional. we used to stay in a B&B in Essex. I was 18 or so. The landlord and landlady were Irish, and it was great – it was £50 a week, staying in Chadwell Heath in Essex. It was 10 minutes from the Snooker Club where I used to practice every day. You got your bed, breakfast and evening meal, and sometimes she did your washing as well if she was in a good mood! It was happy days, you couldn't get better. But unbeknown to us, the husband had an alcohol problem and some mental-health issues. One night I was tucked up in bed, dreaming of becoming the world champion, and the husband and wife were in the room next to me. My friend, who shared a twin room with me, used to work late and get home around 1am. He came in the door, and before he went upstairs he smelt something funny. He went into the kitchen and the guy had the gas oven on full blast and three of the hob rings on, not lighting, with just one ring lit up. He was ready to blow the whole place up, and me with it. So my snooker career could have ended before it even began. I always credit my friend with saving my life.

Had the bloke fallen asleep? No, he did it deliberately. We packed our bags and left. We'd thought the £50 deal was too good to be true. We told the woman about it when he wasn't there. I'd say one thing though: she made great breakfasts.

(Guardian service)