recovered to 4–5 after losing the first five frames against Charlton. Although Miles lost 6–16, the reporter for Snooker Scene wrote that "rarely has anyone played so well and lost so heavily." Owen lost by the same scoreline against Reardon, after winning the first two frames. According to Reardon, in his 1982 autobiography, there were only two spectators for part of the match. Semi-finals The semi-finals, held from 21 to 23 April, were best-of-45 frames matches, played concurrently. Reardon staged a recovery when, having trailed Spencer 12–19, he won their semi-final 23–22. From 12–19, Reardon won eight consecutive frames. The reporter for Snooker Scene described Reardon's comeback as "the greatest recovery the event has ever seen." Charlton took a 6–0 lead against Higgins, and defeated him 23–9. Higgins attributed his defeat to playing with an unfamiliar cue, that he had been using for under two months. Charlton remarked that "I think pressure had an awful lot to do with his poor performance. But I feel he has a lot to learn about the game. Whether he is capable of learning, we shall just have to wait and see." After the match, Higgins challenged Charlton to play for a stake of £100 and won 7–4. Final The final was played as a best-of-75 frames contest from 24 to 28 April. Reardon lost the first session of the final against Charlton 0–7. Reardon started the second session by winning the eighth frame with a break of 84, and took the next three frames as well. Having won five of the eight-second-session frames, Reardon added five of the seven third-session frames. The pair were level at 12–12 and 13–13, but after the fourth session Reardon led 17–13, and was 27–25 up after seven sessions. At the start of the eighth session, Reardon was affected by the bright lighting that had been installed for the purposes of television coverage, and Charlton won three frames. Reardon complained about the lighting, and two large lights focused on the audience were turned off. From 27–28, Reardon won four of the next five frames in the session, and went on to claim victory at 38–32. For the first time, some frames of the final were televised by the BBC. According to snooker historian Clive Everton, "Charlton's dogged consistency proved no match for Reardon's flair and wider range of shots." It was Reardon's second world snooker championship win, after