1980 World Snooker Championship 1980 World Snooker Championship The 1980 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1980 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 22 April and 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Cliff Thorburn won in the final 18–16 against Alex Higgins. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings. Source: There were 11 century breaks at the championship. Kirk Stevens and Steve Davis shared the high break prize when
John Spencer (snooker player) 1970s as snooker emerged from a phase of obscurity to become one of Britain’s most popular sports. From 1969 to 1978, only three players defeated Spencer in the World Championship (Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins and Perrie Mans) and from 1973 to 1977 he did not lose a World Championship match by more than two frames. Pivotal in the rise of snooker as one of Britain's most popular sports was the 1972 World Championship final. As defending champion in the 1972 event, Spencer beat Fred Davis 31–21 and Eddie Charlton 37–32, before facing championship debutant Alex Higgins in the final. The