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1979 UK Championship (snooker)
The 1979 UK Championship (also known as the 1979 Coral UK Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 19 November and 1 December 1979 at the Guild Hall in Preston, England. This was the third edition of the UK Championship that would later become part of snooker's Triple Crown. The event was sponsored by Coral for the second year in a row. John Virgo won the championship, in his only major tournament win, by defeating Terry Griffiths 14–13 in the final, despite being deducted two frames for arriving late. The defending champion, Doug Mountjoy, was defeated 5–9 by Steve Davis in the opening round. Griffiths compiled the tournament's highest break of 119 in his semi-final win over Bill Werbeniuk. The last session of the final was broadcast by the BBC on their '' Grandstand'' programme; however, due to a strike by BBC personnel, the final frames of the match – including Virgo being awarded the ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Championship
The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the tournament a record seven times, followed by Steve Davis with six titles and Stephen Hendry with five. Mark Allen is the reigning champion, winning his first title in 2022. History The UK Championship was first held in 1977 in Tower Circus, Blackpool as the United Kingdom Professional Snooker Championship, an event open only to British residents and passport holders. Patsy Fagan won the inaugural tournament by defeating Doug Mountjoy by 12 frames to 9 in the final and won the first prize of £2000. The following year the event moved to the Guild Hall, Preston, where it remained until 1997. The rules were changed in 1984 when the tournament was granted ranking status and all professionals were allowed to enter. Since then, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Reardon
Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (graph theory), an infinite sequence of vertices such that each vertex appears at most once in the sequence and each two consecutive vertices in the sequence are the two endpoints of an edge in the graph * Ray (optics), an idealized narrow beam of light * Ray (quantum theory), an equivalence class of state-vectors representing the same state Arts and entertainment Music * The Rays, an American musical group active in the 1950s * Ray (musician), stage name of Japanese singer Reika Nakayama (born 1990) * Ray J, stage name of singer William Ray Norwood, Jr. (born 1981) * ''Ray'' (Bump of Chicken album) * ''Ray'' (Frazier Chorus album) * ''Ray'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) * ''Rays'' (Michael Nesmith album) (former Monkee) * ''Ray'' (soundtrack) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Thorne
William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13–8. He was noted for his break-building, and was among the first players to compile 100 century breaks. He earned the nickname "Mr Maximum". After retiring as a player, Thorne became a snooker commentator, primarily for the BBC. Career Thorne was born on 4 March 1954 at the family home in Anstey, a village located near Leicester, to Bill Thorne, a Desford Colliery miner, and his wife Nancy. He had two brothers. Thorne was educated at the Thomas Rawlins School in Quorn, and played multiple sports but excelled the most in snooker. He began playing snooker while holidaying in Eastbourne at the age of 14. He left school at age 15 and became an estimator for a glass factory while practising snooker in Loughborough and then Leicester's snooker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Taylor
Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a final widely recognised as one of the most famous matches in professional snooker history. Despite losing the first eight frames, Taylor recovered to win 18–17 in a dramatic duel on the last . The final's conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK viewership records for any post-midnight broadcast and for any broadcast on BBC Two that still stand to this day. Taylor had previously been runner-up at the 1979 World Snooker Championship, where he lost the final 16–24 to Terry Griffiths. His highest world ranking of his career was in 1979–1980, when he was second. He won one other ranking title at the 1984 Grand Prix, where he defeated Cliff Thorburn 10–2 in the final, and also won the invitational 1987 Masters, defea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Meo
Anthony Christian Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles Championship titles, partnering Davis, and the 1983 World Team Classic representing England alongside Davis and Tony Knowles. He played snooker together with his schoolfriend Jimmy White as a teenager. Aged seventeen, Meo became the then-youngest person known to have made an unofficial maximum break of 147. He won the British under-19 title in 1978, as well as other junior titles. He turned professional in 1979, and won the 1981 Australian Masters, 1983 Thailand Masters and 1985 Australian Masters. He reached the final of the 1984 Lada Classic but lost in the . He took the 1986 English Professional Championship title, and retained it in 1987. He made a break of 147 in his 1988 Matchroom League match against Stephen Hendry, and won the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Miles
Graham Miles (11 May 1941 – 12 October 2014) was an English snooker player. Career Miles turned professional in 1971. He first gained recognition in 1974, when he reached the final of the World Championship. Although he lost 12–22 to Ray Reardon, this turned out to be the highlight of his career. Despite his modest success in major tournaments, Miles became one of the best known players in Britain, in an era when there was little televised snooker other than the ''Pot Black'' series, because he won the event in consecutive years, in 1974 (after entering as a late replacement for Fred Davis, who withdrew because of illness) and again in 1975. Other notable moments in Miles's career included reaching the final of the 1976 Masters, where he again lost to Reardon. The 1978/79 season saw something of a purple patch for Miles. At the 1978 UK Championship he defeated Rex Williams 9–8 and then hammered Willie Thorne 9–1, which included what was then a championship record brea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pot Black
''Pot Black'' was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single , where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points, but played a large part in the popularisation of the modern game of snooker. The event was first held in 1969 with a field of eight players and ran annually until 1986. The event resurfaced for three years in both 1991 and 2005. The series was followed by events for other categories of players, with a juniors and seniors events, and a celebrity version held in 2006. The series was created by the BBC2 controller David Attenborough, shortly after BBC2 began broadcasting in colour. Snooker, a game using coloured balls, was suggested as a suitable way to sell the new technology. The series helped transform snooker from a minority sport played by just a handful of professionals into one of the most popular sports in the UK. Mark Williams made the highest in the competiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patsy Fagan
Patsy Fagan (born 15 January 1951) is an Irish former professional snooker player. Having been runner-up in the 1974 English Amateur Championship, he turned professional in October 1976. He experienced early success with victories at the 1977 UK Championship and the 1977 Dry Blackthorn Cup but following a car accident, developed a psychological block when using the which affected his playing and he did not win another title. He lost his professional status in 1989 following a 2–9 playoff defeat by Brady Gollan and now works as a snooker coach. His highest career ranking was 11, in 1978/79. Early life and amateur career Fagan was born in Dublin on 15 January 1951, one of twelve children. He started playing snooker at the age of 12, and moved to London in 1968. He played at the Chiswick Memorial Club, and in 1974 it was reported in a local newspaper that in a six-frame session he had recorded a break of 106, another over 80, and three more over 70. In the 1974 English Amate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Spencer (snooker Player)
John Spencer (18 September 1935 – 11 July 2006) was an English professional snooker player who won the World Snooker Championship title at his first attempt in 1969, the year that the event reverted to a knockout tournament. He won the world title for the second time in 1971, and was the first player to win the championship at the Crucible Theatre when it moved there in 1977. Spencer was the inaugural winner of both the Masters and the Irish Masters tournaments, and was the first player to make a maximum 147 break in competition, although this is not recognised as an official maximum because the pockets on the table did not meet the required specifications. Spencer was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire. He started national service when he was 18 years old, and did not then play snooker for 11 years. He won the English Amateur Championship in 1966, before turning professional in February 1967. He won over twenty tournaments in all, including three editions of ''Pot Black''. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Johnson (snooker Player)
Joe Johnson (born 29 July 1952) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator, best known for winning the 1986 World Championship after starting the tournament as a 150–1 outsider. A former English Amateur Championship and World Amateur Championship finalist, Johnson turned professional in 1979, and after several years as an unranked player, reached the final of the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, where he lost 9–8 to Tony Knowles. In 1986, as an underdog, he defeated Steve Davis 18–12 to win the 1986 World Snooker Championship. The following year, he reached the final again, losing 18–14 to Davis. At the 1987 UK Championship, Johnson came close to making a maximum 147 break, missing the pink ball on 134. Johnson also won the 1987 Scottish Masters, the 1989 Norwich Union Grand Prix and the 1991 Nescafe Extra Challenge before retiring from professional play in 2004. He has also won the 1997 Seniors Pot Black and the 2019 Seniors Masters, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackie Rea
John Joseph "Jackie" Rea (6 April 1921 – 20 October 2013) was a Northern Irish snooker player. He was the leading Irish snooker player until the emergence of Alex Higgins. Rea reached the semi-final of the 1952 World Championship losing to Fred Davis. With interest in professional snooker in decline he was one of four entries for the 1957 World Championships, losing to John Pulman in the final. He won the 1954/1955 News of the World Snooker Tournament, winning all his 8 matches and taking the first prize of £500. He continued playing professional snooker for many years, making his final appearances in 1990. Career Rea was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone and began playing snooker at age 9 in the billiard room of the pub his father managed in Dungannon. He won the All-Ireland Snooker Championship in 1947 and also the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship the same year. Rea became the Irish Professional Champion in 1947 through his defeat of Jack Bates and held the champio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dunning (snooker Player)
John Dunning (18 April 1927 – 11 September 2009) was an English professional snooker player from Morley, West Yorkshire. Career Dunning joined the Royal Navy aged 18, and served for two years. He later managed a newsagent's shop and was also a window cleaner. Having been Yorkshire amateur champion on eleven occasions, and the CIU Championship in 1963, 1966 and 1969, Dunning turned professional in 1971 at the age of 45. He played his first World Championship match in 1972, when he lost to John Pulman in the first round, after beating Pat Houlihan and Graham Miles in qualifying. He produced his best performance in 1974, when he reached the quarter-final, subsequently losing his match against Miles 13–15. Dunning's final appearance in the main stages of the event came in 1982. In 1977, he reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural UK Championship, losing 0–5 to Alex Higgins. Dunning reached the final of the International Masters in March 1984. The tournament, played on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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