According to his friend James Malyon, Virgo woke his wife Rosie Ries around 2:30 AM on the day of his death, and she called an ambulance. He was taken to hospital, where he died approximately three hours later. Malyon told the Daily Mirror that the doctor said the ruptured aorta was not caused by any underlying health issues or ongoing illness, describing it as a sudden event that could happen to anyone.
A memorial service for Virgo was held at Sheffield Cathedral, with 600 spaces available for fans. His son Gary read a eulogy, and his daughter Brooke-Leah read a poem. Ken Doherty also read the poem 'Death is nothing at all' at the service. A reception was held at Sheffield Town Hall afterward. Ronnie O'Sullivan did not attend, according to Jason Francis, chairman of World Seniors Snooker.
John was like a second father to him. I witnessed in Spain his grief at losing JV.
Tributes have poured in from across the snooker world. A minute's applause was held at the Crucible in honour of Virgo before the start of play on Saturday, and a minute's silence was observed at the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong after his death. According to Hazel Irvine, Dennis Taylor asked Virgo's family for permission to use some of his famous phrases on air during the World Snooker Championship. Virgo's last commentary appearance was 17 days before his death, at the Masters final where Kyren Wilson defeated John Higgins.
Virgo was a professional snooker player for 18 years, winning the UK Championship and reaching the semi-finals at the Crucible in 1979. After retiring from playing in 1994, he hosted Big Break alongside Jim Davidson and later became a BBC snooker commentator.
John wasn't only loved by snooker fans around the world, he was loved for what he did on Big Break with Jim Davidson - people watched that show in their millions - and, of course, he did a lot of pantomime. He had an awful lot of support there, which was wonderful. There were some lovely words from Brook Leah, his daughter, and Gary, his son.
It was a tremendous shock to all of us. John was universally loved by everyone in this sport and well beyond it, too. John really was the voice of snooker. And so while we are all desperately sad here, we're determined to celebrate this great man's life and work in this sport. We miss him more than we can possibly put into words. It's as if he's about to walk into the arena at any minute. But we carry on, and we carry on with gusto because that's exactly how JV lived his 79 years of life.