The 1980 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker
tournament played from 22 April to 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre
in Sheffield, England. The total prize fund was £60,000, of which
£15,000 went to the winner. There were 53 entrants to the competition,
and the main stage featured 24 players: the 16 top-ranked players and 8
qualifiers. The defending champion Terry Griffiths lost in his first
match, to Steve Davis. Cliff Thorburn (pictured) won the final 18–16
against Alex Higgins, the champion in 1972. Both Kirk Stevens and Steve
Davis made breaks of 136, the highest of 11 century breaks compiled
during the main championship. The tournament was sponsored by the
cigarette manufacturer Embassy, and received 70 hours of television
coverage by the BBC in the United Kingdom. Coverage of the final was
interrupted by a live broadcast of the Iranian Embassy siege, which
caused numerous complaints to the broadcaster. The end of the final
attracted 14.5 million viewers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_World_Snooker_Championship>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1782:
The Badge of Military Merit, the precursor to the U.S. Purple
Heart, was established as a military decoration of the Continental Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge_of_Military_Merit>
1897:
Mahdist War: Anglo-Egyptian soldiers clashed with Mahdist
Sudanese rebels in the Battle of Abu Hamed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Abu_Hamed>
1955:
Hurricane Diane, the first Atlantic hurricane to cause more
than $1 billion in damages, formed between the Lesser Antilles and Cape
Verde.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Diane>
1987:
Lynne Cox became the first person to swim between the U.S. and
the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede to Big Diomede in the
Bering Strait in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tall story:
(idiomatic) Synonym of tall tale (“a tale or story which is fantastic
and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a
lie, an untruth”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tall_story>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There can be no self-government without self-discipline. There
can be no self-government without self-control. There can be no liberty
unless it is grounded in moral discipline and the ability to do what is
right.
--Alan Keyes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Keyes>