Six-time snooker world champion Ray Reardon has died at the age of 91. 

Known as one of the best snooker players in the world, Mr Reardon died on Friday after battling cancer. 

The Welshman dominated the snooker world in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times in 10 years. 

He was nicknamed "Dracula" due to his widow's peak hairstyle and known as “one of the most popular and charismatic figures of his era”. 

Snooker champion Jimmy White MBE said he was “gutted” to hear of Mr Reardon’s death. 

“A total class act and very kind to me when I was making my way in the game,” he wrote online. 

Mr Reardon was introduced to a version of snooker by his uncle at the age of eight and played his first game as an amateur in 1949 at the age of 17. 

He played professionally between 1967 and 1991. 

Ray Reardon (left) and Alex Higgins, 1980s. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

The Welshman was the first player to be ranked "world number one" when world rankings were introduced during the 1976–77 season, a position that he held for the next five years. 

He remained one of snooker's top players into his 50s, setting several records – including the oldest snooker champion in 1978 at the age of 45. 

Mr Reardon also won the inaugural Pot Black tournament in 1969, the 1976 Masters, and the 1982 Professional Players Tournament. 

The snooker champion was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1985.