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1979 Holsten Lager International
The 1979 Holsten Lager International was a non-ranking snooker tournament held on one occasion in January 1979 in Slough, England. The tournament had an unusual format. There were sixteen players in a straight knockout but the first round was decided by aggregate scores over four frames and the second by aggregate over six frames. The semi finals and final were ‘Best of 11’ and ‘Best of 21’ respectively. The quarter final between John Spencer and Cliff Thorburn is how the event is best remembered. In the afternoon session, Spencer made the first ever 147 in a professional tournament. As it was the afternoon, the TV cameras were not running and the pockets were not measured to check conformity, so the break was never officially ratified for record purposes. Spencer went on to beat Graham Miles Graham Miles (11 May 1941 – 12 October 2014) was an English snooker player. Career Miles turned professional in 1971. He first gained recognition in 1974, when he reached the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slough
Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the population of the town was 143,184. The wider Borough of Slough had a population of 158,500. Slough's population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the United Kingdom, attracting people from across the country and the world for labour since the 1920s, which has helped shape it into a major trading centre. In 2017, unemployment stood at 1.4%, one-third the UK average of 4.5%. Slough has the highest concentration of UK HQs of global companies outside London. Slough Trading Estate is the largest industrial estate in single private ownership in Europe, with over 17,000 jobs in 400 businesses. Blackberry, McAfee, Burger King, DHL, Telefonica and Lego have head offices in the town. History The name was first recorded in 1195 as ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Werbeniuk
William Alexander Werbeniuk ( ; 14 January 1947 – 20 January 2003) was a Canadian professional snooker and pool player. Recognisable for his girth, he was nicknamed "Big Bill". Werbeniuk was a four-time World Championship quarter-finalist and also a UK Championship semi-finalist, reaching a career high world ranking of #8 for the 1983–84 season. Early life Werbeniuk was born on 14 January 1947 in Winnipeg. His paternal grandfather had immigrated to Canada from Ukraine; his father, according to Werbeniuk, "was one of the biggest fences in Canada" and "committed armed robberies, peddled drugs, every larceny in the language." His father also owned Pop's Billiards on Logan Avenue in Winnipeg, where Werbeniuk began playing snooker as a child. Werbeniuk spent a portion of his youth travelling with Cliff Thorburn and playing pool for money. Career Werbeniuk won the Amateur Championship in 1973, with a 16–15 victory against Robert Paquette after being 12–15 behind. This qualifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perrie Mans
Pierre "Perrie" Mans (25 October 1940 – 13 September 2023) was a South African professional snooker player. He first won the South African Professional Championship in 1965 and lifted the title 20 times. Mans won the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1979 and reached the final of the World Championship in 1978. Background Mans' father, Peter Mans, who died in 1975, was also a professional snooker player, making the quarter-finals of the 1950 World Snooker Championship. Snooker career Mans won the South African Amateur Championship in 1960, the only occasion in which he competed in the event. He then turned professional and took the South African Professional Championship from Fred Van Rensburg in 1965. Mans first entered the World Snooker Championship in 1970. His first victory in the Championship came in the 1973 event when he defeated Ron Gross 9–2 before losing 8–16 to Eddie Charlton. However, in 1974, he pulled off a major surprise by defeating John Spencer 15� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Taylor (snooker Player)
David Taylor (born 29 July 1943) is an English former professional snooker player. He won the English Amateur Championship 11–6 against Chris Ross in 1968 and the 1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship 8–7 against Max Williams later that year. Those wins encouraged him to turn professional. He was nicknamed "The Silver Fox" because of his prematurely grey hair. Taylor reached three major professional finals, the 1978 UK Championship, 1981 Yamaha Organs Trophy and the 1982 Jameson International, but lost them all. Together with his team-mates Steve Davis and John Spencer, he won the 1981 World Team Classic, representing England. His best performance at the World Snooker Championship was in 1980 event, when he reached the semi-finals. He was also a losing quarter-finals in three editions. Taylor was a member of the elite top 16 of the world rankings for ten consecutive years until the 1985–86 snooker season, reaching a high of number 7 in the 1981–82 season. Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Charlton
Edward Francis Charlton (31 October 1929 – 7 November 2004) was an Australian professional snooker and billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title. He later became a successful marketer of sporting goods, launching a popular brand of billiard room equipment bearing his name. Early life Charlton was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and came from a sporting family. His grandfather ran a billiards club in Swansea, New South Wales, and Charlton began playing cue sports when he was nine years old. At the age of eleven, he defeated fellow Australian Walter Lindrum in a wartime snooker exhibition match, and he made his first century break when he was seventeen. He was involved in numerous other sports during his youth: he was a first-grade footballer and played in the Australian First Division Football (soccer) for ten years; he was a champion surfer, and played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex Higgins
Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" for his rapid play, and known as the "People's Champion" for his popularity and charisma, he is often credited as a key figure in snooker's success as a mainstream televised sport in the 1980s. Higgins turned professional in 1970 and won the World Snooker Championship in 1972 World Snooker Championship, 1972, defeating John Spencer (snooker player), John Spencer 3731 in the final to become the first qualifier to win the world title, a feat that only three other players—Terry Griffiths in 1979 World Snooker Championship, 1979, Shaun Murphy in 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 and Zhao Xintong in 2025 World Snooker Championship, 2025—have achieved since. Aged 22, he was then the sport's youngest world champion, a record he held u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Davis (snooker Player)
Fred Davis (14 August 1913 – 16 April 1998) was an English professional player of snooker and English billiards. He was an eight-time World Snooker Championship winner from 1948 to 1956, and a two-time winner of the World Billiards Championship. He was the brother of 15-time world snooker champion Joe Davis; the pair were the only two players to win both snooker and English billiards world championships, and Fred is second on the list of those holding most world snooker championship titles, behind Joe. Davis' professional career started in 1929 at the age of 15 as a billiards player. He competed in his first world snooker championship in 1937 and reached the final three years later, losing to Joe by 36–37. From 1947, Davis played in five straight finals against Scottish player Walter Donaldson, winning three. When the event merged into the World Professional Match-play Championship in 1952, Davis won five more championships, defeating Donaldson three times and then John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Taylor
Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He turned professional in 1972 and won the 1985 World Snooker Championship, in which he lost the first eight frames of 1985 World Snooker Championship final, the final to defending champion Steve Davis but recovered to win 18–17 in a duel on the last . The final's conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK viewership records for any post-midnight broadcast and for any broadcast on BBC Two that still stand. Taylor had previously been runner-up at the 1979 World Snooker Championship, where he lost the final 16–24 to Terry Griffiths. He attained his highest world snooker rankings, world ranking in Snooker world rankings 1979/1980, 1979–1980, when he was second. He won one other ranking title at the 1984 Grand Prix (snooker), 1984 Grand Prix, where he defeated Cliff Thorburn 10–2 in the final. He reached two other World Open (snooker), Grand Prix ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Pulman
Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He first won the title at the 1957 Championship and retained it across seven challenges from 1964 to 1968, three of them against Fred Davis and two against Rex Williams. When the tournament reverted to a knockout event in 1969, he lost 18–25 in the first round to the eventual champion John Spencer. After finishing as runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1970, Pulman never again reached the final, although he was a losing semi-finalist in 1977. He turned professional in 1946, shortly after winning the English Amateur Championship, and achieved three News of the World Snooker Tournament titles, in 1954, 1957 and 1958. An emotional player, he was prone to venting his frustration and missing important shots. He generally played attacking snooker in his early career, but he made more use of tactics in the 1970s. Pulman be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Edmonds
Earnest Raymond Edmonds (born 25 April 1936 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire), better known as Ray Edmonds, is a former English professional player of English billiards and snooker. He twice won the World Amateur Snooker title, and won the World Professional Billiards Championship in 1985. Playing career Edmonds first played snooker as an amateur, winning the World Amateur crown in 1972 and 1974. After turning professional he reached the main stages World Snooker Championship on four occasions, in 1980, 1981, 1985 and 1986, on each occasion losing in the first round. He was as a semi-finalist at the 1981 English Professional Championship, and runner-up in the invitational 1982 Bass and Golden Leisure Classic. Edmonds became World Professional Billiards Champion in 1985. At the 1988 Grand Prix (snooker), he reached the last-16 round. In the qualifying competition for the 1994 World Snooker Championship, he lost 3–5 to Surinder Gill, and the following year he lost 4–5 to Darr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Reardon
Raymond Reardon (8 October 1932 – 19 July 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player who dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and claiming more than a dozen other professional titles. Due to his dark widow's peak and prominent eye teeth, he was nicknamed "Dracula". Until his mid-thirties, Reardon worked as a coal miner and then as a police officer while pursuing snooker at an amateur level. His titles during this era included six consecutive Welsh Amateur Championships from 1950 to 1955 and the English Amateur Championship in 1964. He turned professional in 1967 and became World Champion in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1978; he was also runner-up in 1982. His other major tournament wins included the inaugural '' Pot Black'' tournament in 1969, the 1976 Masters, and the 1982 Professional Players Tournament. The first player to be ranked "world number one" when world rankings were introduced during the 1976–77 s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rex Williams
Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is an English retired professional billiards and snooker player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break in snooker, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the World Professional Billiards Championship from Clark McConachy in 1968, the first time that the title had been contested since 1951. Williams retained the title in several challenge matches in the 1970s and, after losing it to Fred Davis in 1980, regained it from 1982 to 1983. He played a leading role in the re-establishment of the World Snooker Championship on a challenge basis in 1964, and lost twice to John Pulman, once in a single match and once in a series of matches played in South Africa. When the Championship reverted to being a knockout from 1969, he reached the semi-finals three times. In 1968 he initiated the revival of the Professional Billiards Players Association (known as the World Professional Billiards and Snoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
