Willie Thorne

Willie Thorne
birthday	March 4th 1954
place of birth	Leicester , England
date of death	June 17, 2020 (age 66)
Place of death	Torrevieja , Spain
nationality	England
Nickname (s)	The Great WT The Maximum Man Mr. Maximum
professional	1975 - 2001
Prize money	£ 1,174,929
Highest break	147 ( UK Championship 1987 )
Century Breaks	136
Main tour successes
Ranking tournament victories	1
World rankings
Highest WRL place	7 ( 1986/87 + 1993/94 )

William Joseph Thorne (born March 4, 1954 in Leicester , England - † June 17, 2020 in Torrevieja , Spain ) was an English snooker player who spent 26 years as a professional player between 1975 and 2001 and was ranked 7th for two seasons during this period Snooker world rankings occupied. At the 1985 Classic , he won a ranking tournament for the only time in his career.

Career

Thorne was born in Leicester in 1954 , where his parents owned a pub . At the age of 14, Thorne began playing snooker on the snooker table in his parents' pub and quickly became a successful junior player in both snooker and English billiards . He won several tournaments, including the British U16 championship in snooker and English billiards just two years after his first experience. Between 1971 and 1973 he also won the U19 English Billiards Championship three times, last year together with the corresponding age group in snooker. At least during his amateur years, Thorne was employed by Q Promotions Ltd. managed who also had Alex Higgins and Graham Miles under contract. In addition, Thorne - like John Virgo , who was also an amateur at Q Promotions Ltd. was under contract - participated in numerous competitions and the like.

As a snooker player Thorne first drew attention to himself when he reached the round of 16 of the southern qualifying competition of the English Amateur Championship in 1972 , where he lost to Marcus Owen . In 1974 he took part in the Canadian Open as an amateur and lost in the quarterfinals against eventual winner Cliff Thorburn . The next year he also managed to get into the finals of the southern qualifying competition of the English Amateur Championship with a victory over the future professional world champion Terry Griffiths , where he defeated Chris Ross before losing 6:11 to Sid Hood in the final of the championship . Only a little later, for the 1975/76 season , Thorne became a professional player. Before that, he had worked as a bookmaker's errand boy and as a photo model.

First professional years

Thorne's first professional season was relatively mixed: he did not win a single game at the Pontins Professional and Pot Black , and at the World Snooker Championship he was eliminated in the third qualifying round. Only at the Canadian Open and the Pontins Spring Open , a Pro-Am tournament that was not officially part of the professional tour, he reached the semi-finals and lost to John Pulman and Doug Mountjoy .

The next season was slightly worse for Thorne when he lost his opening game at the Canadian Open and the Pontins Spring Open and was only able to win one of five games in the group stage of the Pontins Professional . In addition, he lost the game for third place at Pot Black during the season , but reached the round of 16 of the World Snooker Championship with a win over Bernard Bennett and lost in this against Graham Miles . At the World Snooker Championship, Thorne was the youngest player in the main round at the age of 23. Due to his success Thorne was first out on the snooker world rankings; he finished in the following rank 20. But the 1977/78 season began with an opening defeat at the Canadian Open , but before he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship and later again the second round of the World Snooker Championship . As a result, he improved to 15th place in the world rankings.

The following season Thorne again lost his opening game at the Canadian Open , but also made it to the quarter-finals of the UK Championship again with wins over Bernard Bennett and Ray Reardon , before finishing 8-9 at the end of the season at the World Snooker Championship in the round of 24 lost to John Virgo . He lost two places in the world rankings and was now 17th.

Years in the top 25

During the 1979/80 season Thorne was eliminated from the British Gold Cup in the group stage, the World Snooker Championship in the round of 24 and the UK Championship in the round of 16. At Padmore / Super Crystalate International Thorne reached the semifinals and lost to Alex Higgins , before he won the Pontins Spring Open for the only time after defeating Steve Davis with a 7-3 final victory over Cliff Wilson . However, since this tournament was not a professional tournament, let alone had an impact on the world rankings, it slipped to 20th place on the world rankings.

A similar picture emerged the following season : Thorne was eliminated in the Yamaha Organs Trophy in the first possible group stage, in the World Snooker Championship in the round of 24 and in both the Canadian Open and the UK Championship in the round of 16. In return, he reached the semifinals of the English Professional Championship and had to admit defeat in this Tony Meo before he reached the final of a professional tournament for the first time at the Pontins Professional with wins over Ray Reardon and Cliff Wilson and in this Terry Griffiths 8: 9 was subject. In the world rankings, however, he deteriorated to 22nd place due to his poor performance at the World Snooker Championship.

Also in the course of the 1981/82 season Thorne left the majority early, although he was able to record two successes with a round of 16 participation in the UK Championship and a quarter-final participation in the World Snooker Championship . In the world rankings this meant an improvement to 16th place. In the next season , however, he was eliminated from three tournaments in the round of 32 and the World Snooker Championship in the round of 16, while he reached the semifinals at the International Masters and the Pontins Professional . Due to the continuously increasing number of tournaments with an impact on the world rankings from this season on, Thorne deteriorated to 18th place in the world rankings.

Establishment in the top 16

During the 1983/84 season Thorne managed to lose in only two opening games. In return, he reached the round of 16 at both the UK Championship and the World Snooker Championship, the quarter-finals at the International Open and the semi- finals at the Professional Players Tournament and the non-ranking tournaments Pot Black and International Masters . At the end of the season he also made it into the final of the Pontins Professional , in which he triumphed 9: 7 over John Spencer . In the world rankings he improved significantly to 12th place.

Over the next season Thorne lost his opening game in two invitation tournaments. Among them was the Masters , to which he was invited for the first time due to his increased world ranking position. He was also eliminated from two tournaments in the round of 32, the Grand Prix and the English Professional Championship in the round of 16 and in three other tournaments in the quarterfinals. While he lost in the semifinals of one of the other two tournaments, the Pontins Professional , he reached the final of the Classic , which is now a ranking tournament, with a narrow 9: 8 win over Steve Davis and defeated the Canadian Cliff 13: 8 Thorburn to win a ranked tournament for the only time in his career. Thorne's style of playing in that very endgame was described as "one of the best performances of all time on a snooker table". Together with Thorburn, Thorne had also reached the final of the World Doubles Championship at the beginning of the season , in which he had to admit defeat to Alex Higgins and Jimmy White with 2:10 . On the world rankings, however, this only had a slight improvement to rank 11 in the world rankings.

At the beginning of the 1985/86 season Thorne took part with some success in a number of invitation tournaments, in which his best result was a 7-9 final defeat by Cliff Thorburn at the Scottish Masters . In the other tournaments he only lost his opening game in two cases, but was eliminated from two tournaments each in the eighth and quarter-finals. In the remaining four tournaments Thorne reached the final, but lost it in all cases: While he had to admit defeat to Steve Davis at 14:16 at the UK Championship and 7:12 at the British Open , he lost at the Irish Masters 5-9 against Jimmy White to end the season with a 6-9 final defeat by Terry Griffiths at the Pontins Professional . On the world rankings he improved to 7th place, which he could not surpass during the rest of his career. In 1986 he released the single Snooker Loopy with several other snooker players .

Also during the following season Thorne reached the finals in various tournaments, this time primarily in invitation and non-ranking tournaments. He won the Hong Kong Masters 8: 3 against Dennis Taylor , the Matchroom Professional Championship 10: 9 against Steve Davis and the Kent Cup 5: 2 against Jimmy White , while he won the Canadian Masters Steve Davis 3: 9 and at the Irish Masters with 1: 9 and in the final of the Pontins Professional Neal Foulds with 8: 9. In the other invitation and non-ranking tournaments, Thorne also achieved passable results with a quarter-finals participation in the Masters . However, things looked very different in the ranking tournaments, where Thorne lost half of his opening game or half in the second round. As a result, he lost the four places he had gained on the world rankings and was now ranked 11th.

Recent successes

As early as the 1987/88 season , Thorne managed to reach the final in just one tournament, despite several passable results; at the Matchroom Professional Championship he lost 3:10 to Dennis Taylor. Apart from that, he reached the round of 32 or the round of 16 and also the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix and the semi-finals of the UK Championship twice in the ranking tournaments . In the world rankings, he worsened by two places to 13th. Although Thorne did not reach a single final in the following season , he improved his performance in the ranking tournaments and he reached the semi-finals in addition to five round of 16 at the Classic . As a result, he improved to 9th place in the world rankings.

Right at the beginning of the 1989/90 season Thorne reached another final at the New Zealand Masters and won it 7: 4 against Joe Johnson . While he was able to build on the previous seasons in the other tournaments without affecting the world rankings, Thorne made it to at least the second round in only five of nine ranked tournaments and only in one of these tournaments - the Asian Open - the quarter-finals, in which he played against Stephen Hendry lost, who became world champion for the first time at the end of the season. Thorne fell back to 11th place in the world rankings as a result of the season.

However, the next season went a little worse , in which he reached the round of 16 in only half of the ranking tournaments and was eliminated in each of these. In the other tournaments he never got beyond the round of 16, which he reached with his participation in the Masters . As a result, he slipped to 17th place in the world rankings.

In the top 16 for recent years

During the 1991/92 season Thorne was eliminated again mostly in or before the round of 16 and could only come in three tournaments beyond this round. He reached the quarter-finals at the Benson & Hedges Satellite Championship , a non-ranking tournament, and at the Welsh Open and was only eliminated from Steve Davis in the semi-finals of the Asian Open . On the world rankings, however, this only had a slight improvement to 15th place. A similar picture emerged in the following season , in which Thorne was eliminated again in most cases in the round of 16 at the latest, but reached the quarter-finals at the Dubai Classic , the Benson & Hedges Championship and the Asian Open and only lost there. On the world rankings, he jumped to 7th place on the world rankings, which he equalized his record for the best world rankings from the 1986/87 season, but could not surpass it.

In the 1993/94 season Thorne finally lost most of his opening games and could only show a relatively large success in two tournaments. He reached the semi-finals at the Scottish Masters , an invitation tournament, and, like in previous years, moved into the second round of the World Snooker Championship , which was his only round of 16 participation in a ranking tournament this season. In the world rankings he deteriorated to 15th place. Apart from that, Thorne reached the final of the Australian Open Championship in 1994 at amateur level and was defeated in this 5: 9 by John Higgins .

The 1994/95 season went a little better when, in addition to some successes in invitation tournaments at the UK Championship , the Thailand Open and the Snooker World Championship , he reached the quarter-finals at the European Open and lost to Stephen Hendry . On the world rankings, he slipped ten places to 25th place.

Farewell to the professional tour

During the 1995/96 season Thorne was able to reach the round of 32 in several ranking tournaments, but only moved into the round of 16 at the Thailand Open and lost there against local hero James Wattana . His best result of the season, however, was a quarterfinal participation, which he achieved at the Charity Challenge invitation tournament . In the world rankings this meant for Thorne that he could keep his 25th place. However, after he was able to win his opening game in only three tournaments in the following season and reached the round of 32 at the Asian Classic and the Welsh Open and the second round at the British Open , he slipped to 36th place in the world rankings from, so that from now on he had to qualify for the main round of all world ranking tournaments.

Also in the 1997/98 season Thorne was able to win his opening game in only three tournaments and was eliminated from the UK Championship and the British Open in the round of 64 and the Grand Prix in the round of 32. The low number of opening wins was repeated in the next season , when he reached the round of 64 at the Irish Open, the round of 48 at the Thailand Masters and the round of 32 at the Scottish Open with only three opening games . He fell from 51st to 75th in the world rankings.

With the 1999/2000 season , the number of opening wins increased to six, but Thorne only reached the round of 64 in three cases and was eliminated from the Grand Prix and the China Open in this round. His best result of the season he achieved at the Thailand Masters , where he again lost the round of 48 and in this against Billy Snaddon . In the world rankings, he was able to hold onto the previous year's level and only lost one place. At the same time he was able to win the World Seniors Masters at the amateur level . In the 2000/01 season , Thorne could only win three opening games again and this time lost at the Thailand Masters in the round of 96 and both the British Open and the China Open in the round of 96. As a result, he fell on the world rankings on rank 94, which Thorne lost his professional status after 26 professional years.

Further life

During the following season Thorne tried unsuccessfully to re-qualify on the Challenge Tour . In addition, he managed to move into the fifth qualifying round of the snooker world championship , in which he was finally eliminated. As a result of his failure on the Challenge Tour, Thorne gave up professional snooker for good. The following year he was given another chance to qualify as an amateur for the World Snooker Championship , but gave up this game without a fight. In 2019 Thorne qualified to participate in the World Seniors Championship , where he lost his opening game 3-0 to Darren Morgan .

As early as the early 1980s, Thorne owned the Leicester-based Willie Thorne Snooker Center , which was run by his brother Malcolm, who had died before him, and which became one of the most important in Great Britain. One of the most famous players of the Snooker Center is the multiple snooker world champion Mark Selby . Over the years, however, Thorne got into financial difficulties several times due to gambling and tax problems. As a result, Thorne accepted various offers as a TV commentator, a job he had been doing for the BBC since the 1980s and later for ITV and Sky . He was best known as the presenter of the BBC until he was removed from the ranks of commentators in 2017. Nevertheless, Thorne had amassed a good £ 90,000 in debt due to his gambling addiction, which in 2002 resulted in depression and a failed suicide attempt. He later declared his bankruptcy . In the years that followed, Thorne continued to play and accumulated debt again, before going bankrupt again in 2015 and attempting suicide again. That same year Thorne was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. he had previously suffered two minor strokes. As a result, at the beginning of 2019 he took part in a show on the TV channel ITV , which is intended to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer. In mid-March 2020, he announced that he had been diagnosed with leukemia and that he would undergo chemotherapy .

Thorne was close friends with former soccer player Gary Lineker . In 2007 he also took part in the fifth season of the British TV show Strictly Come Dancing . In 2011 he published his autobiography Taking A Punt On My Life . Between 1995 and until their divorce in October 2019, he was married to Jill Saxby, a former Miss Great Britain . A few months earlier he had moved to Spain with his wife. Shortly after the divorce, Thorne's gambling debts were about £ 1 million, so his Leicester home was seized. In early 2020, a lawsuit began after the UK bankruptcy service accused him of borrowing £ 18,000 from a private individual in 2015 without disclosing his bankruptcy.

As a result of his leukemia, he was taken to the hospital with low blood pressure at the beginning of June 2020 and put into an artificial coma after he had stopped breathing. After a septic shock, no more treatments worked, so the hospital decided to turn off the life-support machines. He died on the morning of June 17, 2020 at the age of 66 in Torrevieja, Spain . Barry Hearn , one of the most influential snooker officials at the time of Thorne's death and former manager of Thorne, recognized him as "a very great personality and an important part of the rebirth of snooker [from the 1980s]." Association chairman Jason Ferguson regretted the loss of one “Always lively character” and “a great personality of our sport”; John Higgins spoke of a "sad loss for the snooker world", Ken Doherty of a "sad day for snooker". Numerous other (former) players also expressed their condolences.

Style of play

Thorne said he played more than a hundred maximum breaks in training - but only one at the professional level at the 1987 UK Championship - which is why Thorne was also known as The Maximum Man or Mr. Maximum . Another nickname Thornes is incidentally The Great WT Chris Turner, an English author who published one of the first databases on the sport of snooker with the Chris Turner's Snooker Archive , judged Thorne's way of playing that Thorne could really have become one of the leading players, he but would never have been able to show his undoubted skills during a tournament. The six-time snooker world champion Steve Davis , however, said that Thorne had a very good orientation on the table, but "maybe", especially in pressure situations, had poor game ball control. Mainly because Thorne had learned the game of snooker in a pub, he had a great ability for breakbuilding. He also had an aggressive hole game and a passable safety game. However, his problem was his mental weakness, which prevented him from being able to use his skills in crucial game situations. This also led, for example, to Thorne losing concentration in the final of the UK Championship 1985 after a missed blue in the score of 8:13 for Thorne and thus lost with 16:14. Another problem was Thorne's constant attempt to play high breaks, which - if he failed at this attempt - gave up entire games. Nevertheless, he achieved a total of 136 century breaks during his career , making him one of the first players of all time with over a hundred century breaks .

Thorne was also known for being able to play trick shots . Because of this, and his cheerful character and easily recognizable hairstyle, he became a crowd favorite.

Successes (selection)

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Amateur tournaments
winner	1975	English Amateur Championship - South	Chris Ross	8: 5
Second	1975	English Amateur Championship	Sid Hood	6:11
winner	1980	Pontins Spring Open	Cliff Wilson	7: 3
Second	1994	Australian Open Championship	John Higgins	5: 9
winner	2000	World Seniors Masters	unknown
Professional tournaments
Second	1981	Pontins Professional	Terry Griffiths	8: 9
winner	1984	Pontins Professional	John Spencer	9: 7
Second	1984	World Doubles Championship	Alex Higgins Jimmy White	2:10 1
winner	1985	Classic	Cliff Thorburn	13: 8
Second	1985	Scottish Masters	Cliff Thorburn	7: 9
Second	1985	UK Championship	Steve Davis	14:16
Second	1986	British Open	Steve Davis	7:12
Second	1986	Irish Masters	Jimmy White	5: 9
Second	1986	Pontins Professional	Terry Griffiths	6: 9
winner	1986	Hong Kong Masters	Dennis Taylor	8: 3
winner	1986	Matchroom Professional Championship	Steve Davis	10: 9
Second	1986	Canadian Masters	Steve Davis	3: 9
winner	1987	Kent Cup	Jimmy White	5: 2
Second	1987	Irish Masters	Steve Davis	1: 9
Second	1987	Pontins Professional	Neal Foulds	8: 9
Second	1987	Matchroom Professional Championship	Dennis Taylor	3:10
winner	1989	New Zealand Masters	Joe Johnson	7: 4

¹Together with Cliff Thorburn

Web links

• Profile of Willie Thorne on CueTracker
• Willie Thorne in the Snooker Database (English)
• Willie Thorne in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Chris Turner: Player Profile: Willie Thorne. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2009, archived from the original on November 1, 2011 ; accessed on February 29, 2020 (English).  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Willie Thorne. In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , accessed February 29, 2020 .  
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Willie Thorne - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 24, 2020 .  
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Willie Thorne. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 24, 2020 .  
5. ↑ Alex Higgins, Sean Boru: My Story - From The Eye Of The Hurricane . Headline Publishing Group, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-7553-1661-8 , pp. 101 .
6. ^ ^{A b} Steve Davis : Interesting . 1st edition. Dragonstars Eventmanagement, Fürth 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-053061-6 , p.  200 f . (English: Interesting . Ebury Press, London 2015.).
7. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1971-1972 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
8. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1974-1975 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
9. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1974-1975 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
10. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Then, now: Willie Thorne. Eurosport , March 18, 2010, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
11. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1975-1976 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
12. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1975-1976 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
13. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1976-1977 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
14. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1976-1977 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
15. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Willie Thorne Passes Away. In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , June 17, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020 .  
16. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1977-1978 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
17. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1978-1979 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2020 .  
18. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1979-1980 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2020 .  
19. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1979-1980 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2020 .  
20. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1980-1981 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2020 .  
21. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1981-1982 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2020 .  
22. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1982-1983 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2020 .  
23. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1983-1984 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
24. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1984-1985 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
25. ↑ Chris Turner: World Doubles Championship - Non Ranking Event. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on November 21, 2011 ; accessed on February 29, 2020 (English).  
26. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1985-1986 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
27. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1986-1987 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
28. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1987-1988 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
29. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1988-1989 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
30. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1989-1990 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
31. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1990-1991 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
32. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1991-1992 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
33. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
34. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
35. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1993-1994 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
36. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1994-1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
37. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1995-1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
38. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1996-1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
39. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1997-1998 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
40. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1998-1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
41. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
42. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 2000-2001 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
43. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 2001-2002 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
44. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 2002-2003 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
45. ↑ Ron Florax: Willie Thorne - Season 2019-2020 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 28, 2020 .  
46. ↑ ^{a b c} Holly Christodoulou, Tracey Kandohla: Empty Pockets - Snooker legend Willie Thorne has £ 475k house repossessed days after splitting from wife and racking up £ 1m debt. The Sun , November 17, 2019, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
47. ^ Toby meets Willie Thorne. BBC , April 2004, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
48. ↑ ^{a b c} Snooker legend Willie Thorne's wife heartbroken after finding texts from another woman. Irish Mirror , December 8, 2019, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
49. ^ Former snooker player Willie Thorne reveals he is suffering from cancer. The Guardian , June 7, 2015, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
50. ↑ Katrina Turrrill: Willie Thorne health: 'I will beat it' Snooker star's deadly condition - the symptoms. Express , May 7, 2019, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
51. ↑ Willie Thorne to undergo chemotherapy treatment for leukemia. BBC Sport , March 18, 2020, accessed May 1, 2020 .  
52. ↑ Monica Greep, Emily Webber: Snooker star Willie Thorne loses his home days after split from Miss Great Britain wife Jill Saxby who saved him from gambling addiction. Daily Mail , November 17, 2019, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
53. ↑ Phil Cardy: Willie Thorne's wife explains reasons why she had to end marriage to snooker ace. Mirror , November 30, 2019, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
54. ↑ Suzy Gibson: Snooker veteran Willie Thorne appears at Leicester Crown Court. Leicester Mercury , January 13, 2020, accessed February 29, 2020 .  
55. ↑ ^{a b} Willie Thorne Passes Away. WPBSA , June 17, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 .  
56. ↑ Willie Thorne dead: Snooker legend passes away aged 66 after leukaemia battle. Daily Mirror , June 17, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 .  
57. ↑ Tributes Pour In For 'Great WT'. In: wst.tv. WPBSA , June 17, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020 .  
58. ↑ ^{a b} Willie Thorne. In: seniorsnooker.com. WPBSA World Seniors Tour, accessed February 29, 2020 .