Editing Ray Reardon (section)

==Early life==
The son of Ben and Cynthia Reardon,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Everton |first=Clive |date=2024-07-21 |title=Ray Reardon obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/jul/21/ray-reardon-obituary |access-date=2024-07-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> he was born on 8 October 1932 in the coal mining community of [[Tredegar]] in [[Monmouthshire]], Wales.<ref name="then and now"/> When eight years old, he was introduced to a version of [[snooker]] by his uncle, and at ten he was practising [[cue sports]] twice-weekly at Tredegar Workmen's Institute as well as on a scaled-down [[billiard table]] at home. He primarily played [[English billiards]] rather than snooker, which, according to authors Luke Williams and Paul Gadsby, helped improve his control of the {{cuegloss|cue ball}} and his {{cuegloss|pot|potting}}.{{sfn|Williams|Gadsby|2005|p=68}} At the age of 14, following in the footsteps of his father, Reardon turned down a place at a grammar school to become a miner at [[Tredegar Iron and Coal Company|Ty Trist Colliery]]. He wore white gloves while mining, to protect his hands for snooker.{{sfn|Williams|Gadsby|2005|p=68}} He made his first [[century break]] on his 17th birthday.<ref name=":0" />

In March 1959, Reardon married Sue, a pottery painter.<ref name="AUTOB">{{cite book |last1=Reardon |first1=Ray |last2=Buxton |first2=Peter |title=Ray Reardon |year=1982 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbott |isbn=0715382624 }}</ref>{{rp|43}} After a rockfall in which he was buried for three hours, and with Sue's encouragement, he quit mining and became a police officer in 1960 when his family moved to [[Stoke-on-Trent]] in [[Staffordshire]], England.{{sfn|Williams|Gadsby|2005|p=68}}<ref name="AUTOB"/>{{rp|43}} While serving in the police force, Reardon earned commendations for bravery. On one occasion, he disarmed a man who was wielding a shotgun. On another, he crawled across an icy rooftop and dropped through a skylight onto a burglar.<ref name=":0" />