Hearn has turned around the sport in the two-and-a-half years he has been at the helm with now almost 30 tournaments on the calendar with the promise of an even busier 2012/13 season.

Hearn, speaking at the launch of the Betfred.com World Championship which gets under way in Sheffield on Saturday, April 21, is convinced the recession would soon be consigned to history if everyone bought into his philosophy.

He might have echoed David Jason's Del Trotter as he said: "We're going to make everybody millionaires."

But Hearn was gushing with pride as he spoke of the huge strides snooker has taken.

"This is the year that snooker went back to work," he said.

"These kids, these boys, these men, are playing better than they've ever played before. In the year that we're trying to get the country back to work, snooker is leading the way.

Graft

"The only way to get around these problems, whether it's a national or a sporting problem, is to graft, to go to work.

"You cure a recession easily if you start an hour earlier and finish an hour later. It's not rocket science.

"That as a country is what we've got to do. As a sport, what we have to do is create events, give players more opportunity to earn a living playing their chosen sport. Pretty well all of them have grasped the nettle."

Hearn held up Stephen Lee as the poster boy of his drive to bring snooker closer in line to the tennis and golf tours.

Former world number five Lee had fallen out of the top 20 and was playing barely 20 days of competitive snooker a year as recently as two years ago.

His enthusiasm waned, and it seemed Lee was nearing the end of his career.

But the Trowbridge player has a ranking title to his name this season after earning £70,000 for triumphing in the PTC Grand Final. He has also reached the World Open final and semi-finals at the German Masters and China Open.

Lee, 37, was also at the launch event, and Hearn said: "Stephen Lee is for me the greatest advert I have for what can go right in snooker and justifies all the plans we've had.

"A bloke that was going nowhere is now tipping taxi drivers.

"He's got off his backside and put the work in.

Playboys

"So you've got to decide if you're a professional sportsman or a part-time playboy. Part-time playboys lay in bed and go skint. Professional sportsmen make money for their families and for their future."Hearn, in salesman mode, positions the annual Crucible event right at the pinnacle of British sport.

"This is the greatest sporting event on the calendar in this country," he said.

"This sits up there with Wimbledon, with Test matches, and it's one of those rarities: sport on the BBC."

Lee was minded to agree with the veteran promoter, and added: "My revival is all down to Barry's good work, giving us tournaments every week. I struggled a couple of years ago when we had six events and I felt like I had a monkey on each shoulder screaming at me every shot I took on.

"I've been enjoying my snooker in the last three months and I've got rid of those monkeys.

"I've enjoyed getting out of bed in the mornings, when before I wasn't getting out of bed in the mornings."