article_snippet.sent: Thirty years ago this month something as basic as two men hitting balls around a table with a stick gripped the nation by the throat.
article_snippet.sent: It was as iconic a moment of the Eighties as Duran Duran, yuppies, football hooliganism and Mrs Thatcher handbagging the unions.
article_snippet.sent: The 1985 final was watched by 18.5million, a BBC2 record, but The 1985 final is way behind the most-watched sporting events: .
article_snippet.sent: With those words the biggest British television audience for a post-midnight programme and BBC2’s biggest for anything ever, settled down to watch the 35th and final frame of the 1985 World Championship, a torture of edgy, error-ridden, nerve-frayed snooker lasting 68 minutes.
article_snippet.sent: It was the biggest twitch ever seen at the Crucible.
article_snippet.sent: I remember that walk was surreal, an out-of-body experience.
highlights_snippet.sent: Snooker's most dramatic final gripped 18.5million viewers in 1985 .
  