CLIFF THORBURN was chased by his old boss after quitting his job to play snooker full-time.
Eleven years before he won the 1980 World Snooker Championships, the Canadian cueist decided to try to make ends meet by picking tobacco.
But he soon realised the arduous gig wasn’t for him and quit after just a day – using his pay as his stake in a tournament that night.
And the farmer who gave him the job – which paid a mere £9.40 (CA$16.51) a day – blew a gasket after he dropped the bombshell news.
Thorburrn, now 77, told the Henley Standard: “In 1969 I hadn’t won a major tournament yet and I was 21.
“I was picking tobacco in a place called Delhi, Ontario, and that was new to me.
“It was a big industry there and still is. It was a slow process and I didn’t enjoy it.”
He continued: “They didn’t have lighting over the tables, it was just neon stuff.
“They had 15 yellow balls instead of reds.
“Afterwards, having been tired from working and playing snooker for five hours, I think I had to walk back to the farm.
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“I thought that I could have a little lie-in the next day, but of course the owner was there, and I was the last one to get up. I told him I was going to quit.
“The farmer said, ‘What?’ He started looking mad and dropped the wheelbarrow he had been carrying.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”‘Let’s have a re-rack then’, jokes snooker world champion as Masters crowd erupts into laughter during bizarre frame” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6367130048112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“Then he starts to come towards me and chases me towards the road and now I’m running back, with the $300, running back towards town.
“I was 21 years old too and didn’t even know that there was a World Championship until about a year before that.
“I had played about two or three tournaments and become barred from tournaments.
“Because I didn’t have a job.”
Thorburn, of course, etched his name into the snooker history books when he became the first player to complete a 147 break at the Crucible.
He said of his stunning 1983 achievement: “I had a dream about making a 147 in the World Championship about two months beforehand.
“In the match, I wasn’t feeling well, I had a cold.
“I felt horrible. I slept about an hour the previous night and my nose was running.
“Before I potted the black I was blowing my nose.
“Afterwards, I took a break and that settled me down a little bit.”