Raymond Reardon is a Welsh retired professional snooker player. He turned professional in 1967 aged 35 and dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and more than a dozen other tournaments. Reardon was World Champion in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1978, and runner-up in 1982. He won the inaugural Pot Black tournament in 1969, the 1976 Masters and the 1982 Professional Players Tournament.
John Spencer was an English professional snooker player. One of the most dominant players of the 1970s, he won the World Snooker Championship three times, in 1969, 1971 and 1977. He worked as a snooker commentator for the BBC from 1978 to 1998, and served for 25 years on the board of the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), including a stint as chairman from 1990 until his retirement from the board in 1996.
Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Higgins 18–16 in the final. He is generally recognised as the sport's first world champion from outside the United Kingdom—since Australian Horace Lindrum's 1952 title is usually disregarded—and he remains the only world champion from the Americas. He was runner-up in two other world championships, losing 21–25 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 6–18 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final. At the 1983 tournament, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship match, achieving the feat in his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths.
Desmond Rex Williams is an English retired 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.
Gary Owen was a Welsh–born Australian snooker player. He won the World Amateur Snooker Championship in 1963 and 1966, and was runner-up at the 1969 World Snooker Championship.
Horace Lindrum was an Australian professional player of snooker and English billiards. Lindrum won the 1952 World Snooker Championship defeating New Zealander Clark McConachy. The tournament is disputed, as it had only two participants, and other players boycotted the event to play in the 1952 World Professional Match-play Championship. Lindrum won the Australian Professional Billiards Championship on multiple occasions, first winning the event in 1934.
Clive Harold Everton is a sports commentator, journalist, author and former professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded Snooker Scene magazine, which was first published in 1971, and continued as editor until September 2022. He has authored over twenty books about cue sports since 1972.
The 1986 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 1986 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1985–86 snooker season and the 1986 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927. The total prize fund was £350,000 with £70,000 awarded to the winner and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
The 1969 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament. It was the first World Snooker Championship in a knock-out format since 1957, following a series of challenge matches from 1964 to 1968. John Spencer won the title, defeating Gary Owen by achieving a winning margin at 37 frames to 24 in the final. Spencer had earlier eliminated defending champion John Pulman from the competition, in the quarter-finals.
The 1970 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 October 1969 to 11 April 1970, as an edition of the World Snooker Championship. The final was held at Victoria Hall in London from 6 to 11 April 1970. The championship was sponsored by Player's No.6 for the second and last time.
The 1935 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament held at Thurston's Hall in London, England from 8 to 27 April 1935. It was the first edition of the Championship to incorporate "world" in its name, being called the World's Professional Snooker Championship. Joe Davis won the title for the ninth time by defeating Willie Smith by 28 frames to 21 in the final, having achieved a winning margin at 25–20. Davis recorded the first century break in the history of the championship, a 110 in his semi-final match against Tom Newman.
The 1976 World Professional Match-play Championship was a professional invitational snooker tournament held from 28 November to 11 December 1976 at the Nunawading Basketball Centre in Burwood East, Melbourne, Australia. Eddie Charlton, the event's promoter, won the title by defeating Ray Reardon by 31 frames to 24 in the final. The Championship was sanctioned by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, with the event's title causing confusion with the World Snooker Championship in some media reports. The tournament was not repeated.
Paddy Morgan is an Australian former professional snooker and English billiards player. He was born in Belfast, and moved to Coventry in 1960. Following an amateur career in which he won junior and national titles in both sports, and reached the semi-finals of the 1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship, he emigrated to Australia in 1969. He became a professional player in 1970 and competed in the World Snooker Championship for the first time in the 1971 tournament.
The World Women's Billiards Championship is an English billiards tournament, first held in 1931 when organised by the cue sports company Burroughes and Watts then run from 1932 by the Women's Billiards Association (WBA). It is currently run under the auspices of World Billiards Ltd (WBL), a subsidiary company of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.
The 1966 World Amateur Snooker Championship was the second edition of the championship that later became known as the IBSF World Snooker Championship, following the first staging in 1963. It was played in Karachi, Pakistan as a round-robin. Five players participated. Gary Owen won all four of his matches and took the title, with John Spencer finishing in second place. Owen compiled the highest break of the event, 118. Barrie had set a new championship record break of 76 against Demarco. Owen surpassed it with a break of 106, also against Demarco, before making the 118 break in his match against Lafir.
Sakchai Sim Ngam is a Thai former professional snooker player. He won the IBSF World Snooker Championship in 1995.
Sid Hood (1933–2006) was an English former professional snooker player. He was the runner-up at the 1970 World Amateur Snooker Championship.
Chris Ross (1932–2013) was a former professional snooker player.
Ronald Gross was an English professional snooker player. He won the English Amateur Championship three times before turning professional
Gary Owen (WAL) 71
Frank Harris (AUS)
