World Snooker Championship 2022 - Enjoy The Crucible while you still can as the world's best prepare for curtain-raiser

Thank goodness Carole Watterson enjoyed going to the theatre. It was after a trip to Sheffield to see a play almost half a century ago that she told her husband, the promoter of the World Snooker Championship, that she may have found him a new venue. Mike Watterson invented the professional circuit as we know it, understanding the needs of players, broadcasters and spectators in equal measure.

In the 1970s, the World Championship had been played at a series of venues which were not fit for purpose. Rain even stopped play in Manchester in 1973 because of a hole in the roof. Ad/> So he drove to Sheffield to inspect the still relatively new theatre and found it to be just big enough to accommodate two tables, plus the TV production equipment.

The year was 1977 and the Crucible era was born. World Championship'Wow, amazing!' — O'Sullivan on 'incredible' Gazza, 'legend' Senna and snooker great3 HOURS AGO From very early on, it just worked. It was a warm, welcoming place with comfortable seats and good views of the tables wherever you were sat.

The audience were very close to the players, heightening the pressure they were already feeling. It was an arena thick with smoke and tension. The cigarettes are long gone but the stressful atmosphere remains.

This is the room where it happens, where it has all happened – every moment of drama we can all think of in the last 45 years. The intimate surroundings have helped make the World Championship the special event it is and the continuity the venue provides means that each year the test for the players is the same. Enjoy it while you can.