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.
1978 World Snooker Championship and eventually won the match 25–18. Reardon became the oldest winner of the World Championship aged 45 years and 203 days this passed the previous record of Joe Davis who was aged 45 years and 33 days in 1946. This record still stands to this day. This was Reardon's sixth and last world title. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings. Sources: Source: There were seven century breaks at championship, the highest being 138 by John Spencer. 1978 World Snooker Championship The 1978