‘A beautiful man with a big heart’

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN sported a moustache at the Snooker Championship League two weeks ago that he said was in honour of Willie Thorne.

And last night, following the news of Thorne’s death aged 66, O’Sullivan described him as a “beautiful man” with a “big heart”.

That was one of many tributes to the snooker legend, who died after a short battle with leukaemia.

“Just want to say what a beautiful man, big heart, great company,” said O’Sullivan. “Had a week in Ireland with him I’ll never forget.”

Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry called Thorne “one of my favourite people in snooker”, adding: “I know he had faults and weaknesses but he was one of the game’s greatest-ever characters. I’ll miss him.” Referencing his reputation as a prodigious compiler

of 147 breaks, Jimmy White wrote simply: “Rest in peace Mr Maximum man”.

Thorne transcended his sport. Gary Lineker, the former England striker and now TV host, was a close friend of the two-time World Championship quarter-finalist.

Lineker said he was “deeply, deeply saddened” by Thorne’s death in a Spanish hospital. The football legend, who was born in

Leicester like his long-time companion, called him “one of life’s great characters”, adding in a tweet that Thorne was “a marvellous snooker player and a lovely man who’s potted his final black much too soon”.

World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn described him as “a larger than life personality and a major part of the rebirth of snooker [in the 1980s].”