Willie Thorne

Thorne released on twitter on 18 March 2020 that he has been diagnosed with Leukaemia.

Thorne is known for his friendship with retired professional footballer Gary Lineker. Their friendship was the subject of the Home Video, "Best Of Friends – The Official Story Of Gary Lineker & Willie Thorne".

Thorne competed in Series 5 of Strictly Come Dancing with professional dance partner Erin Boag, before being voted out on 20 October 2007 in 12th place (out of 14).

Thorne also won the World Seniors Masters in 2000, beating Cliff Thorburn in the final.

He peaked at no. 7 in the rankings in the mid-1980s, while also battling a serious gambling problem. In one incident, Thorne bet £38,000 on a match involving John Parrott, betting that Parrott would lose as Parrott had lost his personal cue and had to use one supplied by the venue. Much to Thorne's dismay (not least because he was actually commentating on the match), Parrott recovered from a slow start to win, only worsening Thorne's debts. Also, in an interview with The Guardian newspaper in 2004, Thorne admitted to placing bets of up to £20,000 on a horse.

Thorne first began commentating on snooker for the BBC during the 1980s, and he continued to work on the BBC's networked snooker coverage until the end of the 2017/18, when he was dropped, though his involvement had been reduced for the previous few years. Thorne also worked extensively on Sky Sports's snooker coverage from the 1990s until the sport was dropped by the channel in the mid-2010s. He also worked on ITV's coverage of the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge tournament in the mid-late 1990s. Thorne's only current commentary work is with BBC Wales on their coverage of the Welsh Open in February each year.

Thorne became national under-16 champion at snooker in 1970. He turned professional in 1975 but never really converted his early promise into professional success, only ever winning one ranking snooker tournament (The Classic in 1985). The same year, he reached the 1985 UK Championship final against the then dominant Steve Davis, and seemed to have built himself an unassailable 13–8 lead. But a miss on a straight forward blue off its spot during the first frame of the final session allowed Davis to take the frame and eventually win the title. Thorne later said that he had hardly looked at the blue, considering it a certainty. He reached the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship in 1982 and 1986.

William Joseph "Willie" Thorne (born 4 March 1954) is an English former professional snooker player.