If anyone is interested the Masters is on. It makes a nice Saturday afternoon tv watching.

Veetle Link

Why is it that when I mention the names Cliff Thorburn, Kirk Stevens and/or Alain Robidoux to a Canadian they look at me blankly? Ask any Brit over the age of 35 and they'll be sure to say that they watched the first televised 147 break etc.

I watched cliff thorburns 147, was it the first one on TV?

No.

"The first televised 147 was made by Steve Davis in the 1982 Lada Classic. In 1983, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championships."

It was indeed the first on TV. One of the most tallented/boring men in "sport"

The Grinder

I loved watching the snooker in that era.

There was another thread on snooker not so long ago. However, its always worth mentioning Big Bill Werbeniuk. A fine example of a proper sportsman - something for all Canadians to aspire to

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...Werbeniuk.html

"He acquired a medical certificate which approved his beer-drinking, and became the envy of every armchair viewer when it was explained that he could offset the cost of beer against income tax."

I believe it was he who had a doctor's note saying he had to drink beer while playing.

I'd forgotten about big Bill Werbeniuk!

But my point was that although Canada had some great snooker players, including a world champion in Cliff Thorburn, Canadians generally hadn't heard of them. At least that's been my experience.

An absorbing final on now.

If all this coverage of bin Laden is getting on your nerves there's a great afternoon of good snooker on BBC 2.

Link

Bugger - missed it - seems nerves got the better of the young lad

It was a great game and yes the young lad seemed to tightened up near the end. Ooh that didn't come out right.
Anyway it was an absorbing match that was well accompanied by a nice chicken vindaloo lunch.

Ted Lowe RIP http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit.../Ted-Lowe.html