Willie Thorne Of Snooker died

[jocky king]

Willie Thorne , Mr Maximum , one of the snooker great , died in Spain hospital age 66 .  Fantastic player and person . 

Rest In Peace Mr Maximum. 

 

[fostraswift]

such a pity, seemed like a true gentleman..

will be missed, greet commentator

Struggled with addiction i they say..

RIP

 

[roderick]

I think he was Canadian - was he not?

[davidge]

1 minute ago, roderick said:

I think he was Canadian - was he not?

No. He was from Leicester.

[Czmate]

Very sorry to hear about poor old Willie made life hard for himself. Lived in the same village in South Leicestershire. A bit of a lovable rogue RIP.

Big mates at one time with Gary Lineker.

[ronthebrummie]

Shame, but in real life had a money problem through gambling he borrowed money from friend if mine promised to pay it back within a week she never saw him again.

[Czmate]

59 minutes ago, ronthebrummie said:

Shame, but in real life had a money problem through gambling he borrowed money from friend if mine promised to pay it back within a week she never saw him again.

Sounds like Willie.

[Somchai1]

Not particularly successful as a player but outstanding in commentary and as a pundit. His voice regularly heard during BBC’s World Championship  Coverage. My own father passed away earlier this year age 87, and i cant help comparing everyone else’s age when they die at the moment . 66 is far too early to go . Sad...... RIP.

[Ludhamlad]

3 hours ago, roderick said:

I think he was Canadian - was he not?

I think you've got him confused with Bill Werbeniuk who was Canadian with a drink problem, it was gambling that was Willie's.

Known for making many maximum breaks in practice but just one professional tournament win, he was up against Steve Davis in them days though.  Very sad news.

[Somchai1]

https://t.co/RNOEFFoCfT?amp=1

Worth 20 mins of anyone’s time ....WIllie Thorne dissects and makes a 147 maximum

[vimto66]

On one of my very early Thailand trips he was on the same flight as me and my mate along with his own mate Steve Davies, we were flying from Thailand To Hang Kong or was it Hong Kong to Thailand...anyway they must have been both playing in some tournament or other as they had their precious snooker cues as their only hand luggage.

[paulrob]

I love the self commentary from WT in this clip, video quality is not good but..

 

[PR1977]

RIP. Don't think he ever really got over that missed blue in the UK Final when leading against Steve Davis but was possibly the missing link between the old defensive style players and the new attacking break builders that emerged in the late 1980s.

I think he battled over his gambling addiction too; there was a story about him commentating on a match he had put several thousand on John Parrot losing after hearing on the QT that he had broke his cue and then having to do the TV commentary as Parrot won with the new cue.

I listen to the Snooker Scene podcast and his name came up recently as possibly the best player to never reach the one table format at the Crucible..hard to disagree...

[Red-Devil]

Sad news indeed.

Willie was a rough cut diamond,  who was articulate and humorous when commentating snooker matches.

R.I.P..