THE MAGIC OF HAIRY POTTER
WILLIE THORNE 1954-2020 Snooker Loopy star came within a whisker of glory
WILLIE THORNE wore his Groucho Marx moustache like a crown.
Even among sporting heroes, from cricketers Graham Gooch and Merv Hughes to Formula One’s Nigel Mansell and Craig Stadler, the former US Masters golf champion, his enviable tash was the cat’s whiskers.
Thorne, one of the first snooker players to hit a 147 maximum break in professional competition, has died at the age of 66 in Spain after his battle with leukaemia was complicated by respiratory failure.
If the national Under-16 champion 50 years ago never converted his youthful promise into a big title, his charisma earned him other breaks.
He was a willing fall guy on Strictly Come Dancing.
When Chas and Dave churned out Snooker Loopy with backing vocalists from Barry Hearn’s Matchroom stable, Thorne’s cameo – “Perhaps I ought to chalk it” – raised a laugh.
And, sadly, when one of Leicester’s most famous sporting sons had his chance to land a major title, he blew it.
Leading Steve Davis 13-8 in the 1985 UK Open final, he missed a straightforward blue when 59-50 ahead in the 22nd frame as his mind wandered towards the £24,000 winner’s cheque.
It was the turning point of his career and Davis roared back to win 16-14.
Years later, he said: “Davis was almost impossible to beat and I had outplayed him, absolutely destroyed him, up to that stage.
“It always hurt me that I let that match go because I could have gone on to become a top two or three player in the world.”
Throughout his career, he used the cue mum Nancy gave him for his 14th birthday – costing precisely three pounds, two shillings and sixpence – after he revealed a gift for compiling century breaks on the full-size table at Anstey Conservative club in Leicester.
Within six months he was the best player at the club – and by 26 had his own snooker hall in the city.
His friendship with another of Leicester’s famous sporting sons, Gary Lineker, often extended to chauffeuring the England captain to games.
And, during one purple patch, it even became a superstition.
Every time Thorne drove
■ his mate