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
2012 World Snooker Championship the title in 1985, O'Sullivan became the oldest world champion since 45-year-old Ray Reardon in 1978. John Higgins, the defending champion, lost 4–13 to Stephen Hendry in the second round. On the opening day of the televised stage Hendry made the 88th official maximum break, his third at the Crucible and the 11th of his career. He announced his retirement from professional snooker following his defeat by Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. The tournament was sponsored by online casino Betfred.com. This is to date, the last World Championship to feature a maximum break. The prize fund for the championship was