What is it?Snooker's most prestigious annual tournament - though that isn't as lofty a position in world sport as it once was.
And why's that?The World Championship was first held in 1927, when the prize money was £6 10s, which seems over-generous considering the highest break in the tournament was only 60. It was not until the late 1970s that the event began to gain a national and world following when the tournament (and the players) fully embraced cigarette sponsorship and the BBC began to take the competition seriously.
But while as recently as 2001 the world snooker final drew more viewers than the same year's FA Cup final, the sport is struggling to retain interest.
Memorable games?The competition will always be remembered for the 1985 final when Dennis Taylor, despite wearing a windscreen on his nose, defeated Steve Davis 18-17 in one of the slowest, and yet most absorbing, deciders ever.
However, the most famous frame in the event's history is Ronnie O'Sullivan's 147 in 1997, which took only five minutes and 20 seconds, the fastest maximum recorded in the professional game and roughly the same length of time it used to take Cliff "the Grinder" Thorburn to play one shot.
To be fair to Thorburn, he is also a member of the exclusive 147 World Championship club, though, amazingly, he began that break by fluking a red ball.
So what else do I need to know?The knockout tournament begins this Saturday at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and runs until Monday, May 5th.
The first round, which involves 32 players, is the best of 19 frames, with a player needing to win four matches to reach the decider - ... which will be decided on the best of 35 frames over two days.
And the players?Several Irish players will be in action during this year's tournament - including Michael Judge, Mark Allen, Joe Swail and 1997 world champion Ken Doherty.
But while the quality on the table has, if anything, increased during the past decades, the "characters" are gone - with Ronnie O'Sullivan the one possible exception. World number one John Higgins versus world number two Graeme Dott simply does not sound glamorous. Snooker badly requires the colourful characters who made the game so popular in the 1980s - even spectators at the Crucible have been known to read a book during games.
Remember when Steve Davis was considered the most boring snooker player on the planet? Now, either as a commentator or player he's the life and soul of the World Championship party.
The commentator: The greatest snooker commentator Ted "that's inches away from being millimetre perfect" Lowe is, of course, retired, which has left a huge gap. And Davis has filled it the best he can. Still, Lowe will always be known for snooker's most famous comment: "For those viewers watching in black and white, the pink ball is just behind the green."
- DAMIAN CULLEN
