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 Higgins (snooker player) once again lose, this time to Mark Williams. Higgins married Denise in 2000; they have three children together: sons Pierce and Oliver, and daughter Claudia. Higgins is a dedicated supporter of Celtic and frequently attends the team's matches. He enjoys playing poker. Higgins also follows English club Everton. Higgins was escorted off a plane for being drunk in 2006 after losing the Malta Cup final to Ken Doherty, but became teetotal in preparation for the 2007 World Snooker Championship, which he went on to win. Higgins was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008