Snooker was an immensely popular sport in Britain during the 1980s, with both BBC and ITV devoting extensive coverage to the major events throughout the year. The World Championships, held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield since 1977 and televised since 1978, was almost as big an event as Wimbledon fortnight, with the BBC providing blanket coverage each April.
In 1983, Canadian player Cliff Thorburn, a former world champion, achieved a notable first, becoming the first player to make a 'maximum' 147 break in the World Championships, at the Crucible in front of the television cameras. It was not the first maximum to be televised, that honour belonged to Steve Davis who scored a 147 in another televised tournament a year previously. Thorburn's feat was achieved in a match against another former world champion in Terry Griffiths, and the break began in bizarre fashion with a fluked red. Neither player was renowned for playing quickly, and the break took almost 15 minutes from start to finish. During the course of the break, when it was becoming clear that a maximum was on, play stopped on the other table as fellow Canadian Bill Werbeniuk started to take an interest. When it got to the final black, commentator Jack Karnehm's throwaway line of 'Good luck, mate' went down in commentating folklore. Thorburn sank to his knees when the last ball went in, as the audience rose to acclaim the feat. He was congratulated by the referee, his opponent Terry Griffiths and also by Bill Werbenuik (who had briefly left his own match behind on the other side of the wall dividing the hall up, in order to join the celebration).
Thorburn made it to the final that year, only to lose heavily to the then seemingly-invincible Steve Davis. The outcome would mean that 1983 saw another first, in that a former Crucible champion would win the tournament again. That had never happened until that year, although Davis went on to dominate the scene in the 1980s. The so-called 'Crucible curse' remains today in that no first-time champion has ever successfully defended his title. Steve Davis is the last man standing from the glory days of the 1980s, still playing to a high standard today, while Thorburn retired and returned to Canada, returning to the UK on occasion to take part in veteran exhibitions, and has appeared on television to relive that 1983 maximum.
2023 Update: Steve Davis finally retired from top-level snooker in 2016. He was given an opportunity to say farewell to the Crucible by parading the World Championship trophy he won on six occasions, to a cheering audience in Sheffield.
Fittingly, for the 40th anniversary of the Thorburn maximum, two more were scored during the 2023 tournament. Firstly by Kyren Wilson in the second round, then Mark Selby whose maximum was another Crucible first, a 147 had never before been scored in the final itself.
The 147 Thorburn achieved that year arguably overshadowed Steve Davis's second world title, and there is little doubt that the BBC will commemorate his maximum break again at the Crucible 30 years on. We can do so now with the entire frame available to view here:
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