Aesop missed out on the joys of snooker, a sport that often throws up green baize re-enactments of the Tortoise and the Hare.

That was certainly the case in 1980 when Cliff Thorburn, of Canada, became the first, and still the only non-British or Irish player, to win the World Championship. He did so at the expense of Alex Higgins.

There was no love lost between the two, whose personalities were as contrasting as their styles at the table. Thorburn was known as the Grinder, Higgins the Hurricane. It did not take a genius to pinpoint the hare in this piece.

They even adhered to Aesop’s storyline. The hare, Higgins of course, raced into a 9-5 lead but rather than press home his advantage as day one of the final drew to a close, the Irishman made the fatal decision to effectively show off.

One outlandish shot followed another, Thorburn gratefully gained a foothold and by the end of the evening all Higgins momentum had evaporated. It was 9-9 overnight.

They remained locked together at 13-13 going into the deciding session and at 16-16 but Thorburn outscored Higgins 215-16 in the next two frames to win 18-16 and strike a blow for tortoises everywhere.

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