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1980 UK Championship
The 1980 UK Championship (also known as the 1980 Coral UK Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England, between 16 and 29 November 1980. This was the fourth edition of the UK Championship and the third staging of the competition in Preston. The event was sponsored by Coral for the third consecutive year. The televised stages were shown on the BBC from 22 to 29 November – the BBC's television coverage had been extended to eight days after the success of other competitions such as the World Championship. Steve Davis defeated Alex Higgins 16–6 in the final to win his first major title, after making his first major quarter-final in the previous year's championship. Davis whitewashed Terry Griffiths 9–0 in the semi-finals on his way to the final. The highest break of the tournament was a 134 made by Higgins. Prize fund *Winner: £6,000 *Runner-up: £3,000 *Semi-final:  ... [...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] |
Eddie Sinclair
Eddie Sinclair (5 May 1937 – January 2005) was a Scottish professional snooker player. Career Sinclair turned professional in 1979 at the relatively advanced age of 42, reaching a high ranking of 26th in 1982 and holding that position for two years. He won the 1980 and 1982 editions of the Scottish Professional Championship, beating Chris Ross 11–6 in the former and Ian Black 11–7 in the latter, and reached the final in 1983 and 1985, losing to Murdo MacLeod 11-9 and 10–2. Sinclair enjoyed his best performance in a ranking event at the 1982 Professional Players Tournament, where he beat the veteran Fred Davis 5–2 and Jim Meadowcroft 5–3 before being defeated 5–3 by Terry Griffiths in the last 16. He also appeared in the last 32 of seven ranking tournaments, and reached the semi-final of the 1987 Scottish Professional Championship, losing this time to Jim Donnelly 6–4. By 1987, Sinclair had fallen out of the top 64 in the world rankings, and his decline con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Werbeniuk
William Alexander Werbeniuk ( ; 14 January 1947 – 20 January 2003) was a Canadian professional snooker and pool player. Recognisable for his girth, he was nicknamed "Big Bill". Werbeniuk was a four-time World Championship quarter-finalist and also a UK Championship semi-finalist, reaching a career high world ranking of #8 for the 1983–84 season. Early life William Werbeniuk was born on 14 January 1947 in Winnipeg. His paternal grandfather had immigrated to Canada from Ukraine; his father, according to Werbeniuk, "was one of the biggest fences in Canada" and "committed armed robberies, peddled drugs, every larceny in the language." His father also owned Pop's Billiards on Logan Avenue in Winnipeg, where Werbeniuk began playing snooker as a child. Werbeniuk spent a portion of his youth travelling with Cliff Thorburn and playing pool for money. Career Werbeniuk won the Canadian Snooker Championship in 1973, with a 16–15 victory against Robert Paquette after being 12–15 behi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Virgo
John Virgo (born 4 March 1946) is an English former professional snooker player who has since developed a career as a snooker commentator and TV personality. Snooker career Early professional career (1973–1978) Virgo's first notable appearance in a major tournament was during the 1973 American Pool Tournament for The Indoor League where he lost in the semi-final. He turned professional in 1976, at a time when players such as Ray Reardon, John Spencer and Eddie Charlton were at the forefront of the sport. Although he had just turned 30 upon turning pro, Virgo was still among the youngest players on the circuit at the time. In 1977, he reached the semi-finals of the 1977 UK Championship losing to eventual winner Patsy Fagan by a single frame 8–9. UK Champion and Top 10 player (1979–1990) Virgo's snooker-playing fortunes peaked in 1979 when he reached the semi-final of the World Championship, and went on to win the 1979 UK Championship (though this was not a ranking eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doug Mountjoy
Doug Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 11 consecutive years. He began his professional snooker career by taking the 1977 Masters, which he entered as a reserve player. He won both the 1978 UK Championship and the 1979 Irish Masters. Mountjoy reached the final of the 1981 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by Steve Davis. He was also runner-up at the 1985 Masters losing to Cliff Thorburn, but by 1988 he had dropped out of the top 16. Mountjoy enjoyed a resurgence in his 40s, and at the age of 46 he defeated Stephen Hendry in the final of the 1988 UK Championship. He followed up by also winning the next ranking event, the 1989 Classic, and by the end of the 1988–89 season he was back in the top 16, where he remained until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rex Williams
Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the World Professional Billiards Championship from Clark McConachy in 1968, the first time that the title had been contested since 1951. Williams retained the title in several challenge matches in the 1970s, and, after losing it to Fred Davis in 1980, regained it from 1982 to 1983. He played a leading role in the re-establishment of the World Snooker Championship on a challenge basis in 1964, and lost twice to John Pulman, once in a single match and once in a series of matches played in South Africa. When the Championship reverted to being a knockout from 1969, he reached the semi-finals three times. In 1968 he initiated the revival of the Professional Billiards Players Association (known as the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Associatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Pulman
Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He won the title at the 1957 Championship, and retained it across seven challenges from 1964 to 1968, three of them against Fred Davis and two against Rex Williams. When the tournament reverted to a knockout event in 1969 he lost 18–25 in the first round to the eventual champion John Spencer, and he was runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1970. He never reached the final again, although he was a losing semi-finalist in 1977. Having won the English Amateur Championship in 1946, Pulman turned professional, and achieved three News of the World Snooker Tournament titles, in 1954, 1957, and 1958. He became a television commentator towards the end of his playing career, and retired from competitive play in 1981 after breaking his leg in a traffic accident. He died in 1998 after a fall down stairs at his home. Early life Herbert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Andrewartha
Roy Andrewartha (23 April 1938 – 15 October 2020) was a Welsh professional snooker player. Career Born in 1938, Andrewartha lost in the 1976 final of the English Amateur Championship to Chris Ross. He played in the World Amateur Snooker Championship in Johannesburg later in 1976, representing England, finishing third in his qualifying group and then losing an elimination match 0–4 against Terry Griffiths. As an amateur he had played against Ray Reardon in the 1976 Canadian Club Masters; Reardon won 3–2. He turned professional in the 1976–77 snooker season. In qualifying for the 1977 World Championship, Andrewartha faced John Virgo, but lost 1–11. At the 1978 tournament, he whitewashed Jack Karnehm 9–0 before being defeated 3–9 by Doug Mountjoy in the last 24. In the 1978–79 snooker season, Andrewartha reached the quarter-finals of the 1978 UK Championship. In his last-24 match, he defeated Pat Houlihan 9–3; in the following round he faced John Spencer ... [...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] |
Mark Wildman
Markham Wildman (born 25 January 1936) is an English retired professional snooker and English billiards player and cue sports commentator. He won the World Professional Billiards Championship in 1984, and was runner up in 1980 and 1982. He made a televised snooker century break in 1960. Biography Wildman was born on 25 January 1936. He was the British under-16 champion of English billiards in 1951, and the British under-19 winner in 1952 and 1953. He was also the 1952 British Boys Champion in snooker, and British Junior snooker champion in 1954. In 1968, he won the English Amateur Billiards Championship by defeating Clive Everton 2,652–2,540 in the final. Following his national service in the Royal Air Force, Wildman worked in finance, and was later an area manager for United Dominions Trust. In 1960, he compiled a televised snooker century break. He applied to become a professional player in 1979, and was initially rejected by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Meadowcroft
Jim Meadowcroft (15 December 1946 – 25 September 2015) was an English professional snooker player who latterly was a coach and a commentator on the game. His most successful years were during the 1970s; he was ranked number 12 in the world in 1976–77 and reached the second round of the world championship three times. Meadowcroft is the author of ''Higgins, Taylor and Me'' and served as a director of pro snooker's governing body the WPBSA. Meadowcroft reached the last 16 of the World Championship in 1974, however he lost 10–16 to 6 times world champion Ray Reardon. He went one step further in 1976, reaching the quarter-final by beating Rex Williams 15–7, before he was beaten 8–15 by Perrie Mans. He also progressed to the quarter-final of the 1977 UK Championship (The inaugural edition of the tournament), beating Pat Houlihan and Ray Reardon both by 5–4 scoreline, before being beaten by eventual winner Patsy Fagan, once again by a 5–4 score. He qualified for the Wo ... [...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] |
