Snooker's historic but unseen 147 maximum break that never officially made the record books
John Spencer was snooker’s first Crucible Theatre world champion in 1977, and the Englishman could have also been first on the list for something else very special within the sport.
Steve Davis famously constructed the first televised 147 maximum break in professional snooker competition at the 1982 Lada Classic, but that historic green baize feat was nearly achieved by Spencer three years before.
Three-time world champion Spencer took part in the 16-player 1979 Holsten Lager International, a professional non-ranking event that took place at the Fulcrum Cente in Slough, England.
Across the opening two rounds of the competition, aggregate point scores were used to determine the victor. In round one, Spencer denied Patsy Fagan in a thrilling finish to the four-frame match.
Going into the final frame, Spencer trailed his opponent by 91 points, but managed to overhaul the deficit and advance with a break of 109.
During the second frame of his quarter-final match against Cliff Thorburn, Spencer potted 15 reds with blacks and all the colours for a 147 break. However, the Lancashire cueman’s feat of perfection was diluted on two counts, and never officially made it into snooker’s recognised record books.
Firstly, the event was being televised, but unfortunately there was no recorded footage of Spencer's maximum due to the Thames Television camera operators going out for a lunch break - apparently at a nearby McDonalds - having just filmed the match between Alex Higgins and David Taylor.
Secondly, the pockets on the table were not confirmed to have been cut to the sport’s official templates, therefore the effort - despite being the first 147 in a top flight snooker tournament - is unofficial. It has been reported that the middle pockets were more generous than the normal.
Spencer went on to defeat Canadian Thorburn 467-296, Rex Williams 6-2 (in frames) in the semi-finals, and then Graham Miles 11-7 in the final to claim the title and £3,500 winner’s purse. He also received a bonus prize from the event sponsors for his 147.
Ironically, when Davis scored the first official, and televised 147 in professional snooker at the Civic Centre in Oldham, England, Spencer was the opponent he did it against.