The World Snooker Championship is professional snooker's longest-running, most prestigious, and wealthiest tournament, with total prize money in 2021 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it is now one of the three tournaments that make up snooker's Triple Crown Series. The reigning world champion is Mark Selby.
Pierre "Perrie" Mans is a retired professional snooker player from South Africa, who first won the South African Professional Championship in 1965, and won the event 20 times. Mans won the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1979 and reached the final of the World Championship in 1978.
John Spencer was an English professional snooker player who won the World Professional title at his first attempt, was the first winner at the Crucible Theatre, was the inaugural winner of the Masters and Irish Masters, and was the first player to make a 147 break in competition. This is regarded as an unofficial maximum break as the event used non-templated tables. He was born in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester.
Clifford Charles DevlinThorburn 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 to become the first world champion in the sport's modern era from outside the United Kingdom.
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 1984 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place between 21 April and 7 May 1984 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and was the eighth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible since the 1977 event. The event featured 94 participants, of which 78 players competed in a qualifying event held at the Redwood Lodge in Bristol from 1 to 13 April. Of these, 16 players qualified for the main stage in Sheffield, where they met 16 invited seeds. The total prize fund for the event was £200,000, the highest total pool for any snooker tournament at that time; the winner received £44,000.
The 1983 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 1983 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. This was the third and final world ranking event of the 1982–83 snooker season following the 1982 Professional Players Tournament. Sixteen seeded players qualified directly for the event, with an additional sixteen players progressing through a two-round qualification round held at the Romiley Forum in Stockport, and Redwood Lodge in Bristol. The winner of the event received £30,000, and the tournament was sponsored by cigarette company Embassy.
The 1981 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place between 7 April and 20 April 1981 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The championship was the 1981 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927. It was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), and was the fifth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible since the event was first held there in 1977. The total prize fund for the event was £75,000; the winner received £20,000.
The 1980 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 April to 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), it was the fourth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible, the first tournament having taken place in 1977.
The 1973 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament that took place between 16 and 28 April 1973 at the City Exhibition Hall in Manchester, England.
The 1981 UK Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England, between 22 November and 5 December 1981. This was the fifth edition of the UK Championship, the fourth staging of the competition in Preston, and the fourth consecutive UK Championship to be sponsored by Coral. The televised stages were shown on the BBC from 28 November through to the end of the championship.
The 1983 Professional Players Tournament was a professional ranking snooker tournament which took place between 3 September and 21 October 1983.
The 1984 Rothmans Grand Prix was the first edition of the tournament under the Grand Prix name and had replaced the Professional Players Tournament name, which was used first in 1982. Total prize money was £225,000, then the largest in the history of snooker. Unlike the Professional Players Tournament, the BBC televised the event, which was held at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading, England. The venue had previously hosted the World Team Classic since 1981, an event formerly also televised by the BBC. The last-16 televised stages took place between 20 and 28 October 1984.
The 1985 Rothmans Grand Prix was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 19 to 27 October 1985 at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading. A two table set-up meant that the televised stage at Reading could start at the last-32 stage.
The 1983 Benson & Hedges Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between from Sunday 23 January to Sunday 30 January 1983 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England. The event was increased to 16 players and extended from 6 to 8 days. Although there were 16 players they were not the top 16 ranked players that would compete in the following years. BBC Television coverage did not start until 26 January and so only two of the eight first round matches were televised.
The 1986 Langs Supreme Scottish Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 and 21 September 1986 at the Hospitality Inn in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 1984 Langs Supreme Scottish Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 and 23 September 1984 at the Skean Dhu Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 1983 Langs Supreme Scottish Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 22 and 25 September 1983 at the Skean Dhu Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 1978 Pontins Professional was the fifth edition of the professional invitational snooker tournament which took place from April to May 1978 in Prestatyn, Wales.
The 1982 Jameson International Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 27 September to 10 October 1982 at the Assembly Rooms in Derby, England. This was the first tournament outside of the World Snooker Championship to be given ranking status. Tony Knowles won the tournament, defeating David Taylor 9–6 in the final.
Cliff Thorburn (CAN) (111)
Jimmy White (ENG)
