Former snooker world champion who worked on farm

A FORMER world snooker champion gave a talk in Henley of his memories playing at the Crucible.

Cliff Thorburn, who turned 77 yesterday (Thursday), was in conversation with Jason Francis, who chairs the World Seniors Snooker Tour, at Trinity Snooker Club on Saturday night.

Thorburn, who is the oldest living masters champion and one of only four to successfully defend the title back-to-back, flew in from Canada ahead of the start of the Masters snooker tournament last Sunday.

About 30 snooker enthusiasts from Henley and surrounding areas heard how he dreamed of making a 147 maximum break two months before he eventually achieved the historic feat.

Thorburn made snooker history by completing the first 147 break at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 1983. He said: “I had a dream about making a 147 in the World Championship about two months beforehand.

“In the match I wasn’t feeling well, I had a cold. I felt horrible. I slept about an hour the previous night and my nose was running. Before I potted the black I was blowing my nose. Afterwards, I took a break and that settled me down a little bit.” He also recalled when he first met his “hero” John Spencer when he was on a trip to Canada playing exhibition matches in 1971.

He played him in three and ended up losing all of them but impressed the world champion enough to have him recommend him to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, which accepted him as a professional in 1972.

Thorburn said: “I fared quite well. I think I made five centuries one night and we had a pretty close match and then John started to play much better. Playing him six days a week, afternoon and evening, it was very well received. That’s when I said, ‘do you think I'm good enough to turn professional?’ and he agreed.”

He spoke about needing to “hustle” to supplement his pursuit of a career in snooker before the days it could stand on its own as a career.

Thorburn would work during the day to make money to play take snooker in the evening. He said: “In 1969 I hadn’t won a major tournament yet and I was 21.

“I was picking tobacco in a place called Delhi, Ontario, and that was new to me. It was a big industry there and still is. It was a slow process and I didn’t enjoy it.”

He said he quit his $16.51 per day job after a day and used the money as his stake that night and won $300.

Thorburn said: “They didn’t have lighting over the tables, it was just neon stuff. They had 15 yellow balls instead of reds. Afterwards, having been tired from working and playing snooker for five hours, I think I had to walk back to the farm.

“I thought that I could have a little lie-in the next day, but of course the owner was there, and I was the last one to get up. I told him I was going to quit.

“The farmer said, ‘what’, he started looking mad and dropped the wheelbarrow he had been carrying. Then he starts to come towards me and chases me towards the road and now I’m running back, with the $300, running back towards town.

“I was 21 years old too and didn’t even know that there was a World Championship until about a year before that, had played about two or three tournaments and become barred from tournaments because I didn’t have a job.”

He finished the talk by picking Judd Trump or Mark Allen as potential winners of the Masters.