World Snooker Championship successive title. There were 48 century breaks during the final stages, a new record. In the first round of 1997 championship Ronnie O'Sullivan made the fastest maximum break in snooker history, taking just 5 minutes and 20 seconds. The final was between Stephen Hendry and Irishman Ken Doherty. Doherty led 15–7 before Hendry won 5 frames in a row. Doherty then won the next three frames to win 18–12, ending Hendry's winning run of 29 consecutive matches. Stephen Hendry lost to Jimmy White in the first round of the 1998 championship. Doherty reached the final again meeting 22-year-old John Higgins.
1952 World Snooker Championship scored one of the early snooker maximum breaks in a practice frame at the Beaufort Club in London. An official of the BACC later examined the table and found it slightly over the standard size and so the break was not accepted as official. At the time Joe Davis held the record for the highest official break of 146. Lindrum did not play in the 1951/1952 News of the World Snooker Tournament, his last competitive tournament being the 1951 World Snooker Championship. In that championship he had lost to Walter Donaldson in the semi-final, Donaldson taking a winning 36–25 lead