Thirty-Six Shots Without a Mistake, at Two in the Morning, in a Match He Lost
Cliff Thorburn's 147 at the 1983 World Championship — the first maximum at the Crucible, the session it was played in, the opponent, and the result of the match.
Section 5
Records
The frame's landmark numbers — the 147, the century count, the 1985 final — and the rules that make them mean what they mean.
5 pieces · The MaximumThe Rules
The Foul, the Miss, and the Free Ball — Three Rules That Change What Winning Looks Like
An explainer of the three rules that most affect professional match play: the foul and a miss as a defensive tool, the free ball after a snooker on a foul, and how the combination of these rules…
Safety Play Is How Tournaments Are Won, and It Is the Least Televised Part of the Sport
An argument that the tactical long game — snookering, hiding the cue ball, forcing errors — is the dominant skill in professional snooker and the one television coverage compresses or cuts.
Pot Black Ran on BBC Two in 1969 Because Colour Television Needed Something to Demonstrate
How a programme designed to show off colour broadcasting created the audience that eventually filled the Crucible — the commission, the format, the players involved, and what the viewing figures said…
18.5 Million People Watched Dennis Taylor Pot the Last Ball at Twenty Past Midnight
The 1985 World Championship final, the last-frame decider, the television audience, and what that night established about snooker's place in British broadcasting.