List of world number one snooker players
Per season
Table:
Season
Nationality
Player

1975/1976
Wales
Ray Reardon (1)

1976/1977
Wales
Ray Reardon

1977/1978
Wales
Ray Reardon

1978/1979
Wales
Ray Reardon

1979/1980
Wales
Ray Reardon

1980/1981
Wales
Ray Reardon

1981/1982
Canada
Cliff Thorburn (2)

1982/1983
Wales
Ray Reardon

1983/1984
England
Steve Davis (3)

1984/1985
England
Steve Davis

1985/1986
England
Steve Davis

1986/1987
England
Steve Davis

1987/1988
England
Steve Davis

1988/1989
England
Steve Davis

1989/1990
England
Steve Davis

1990/1991
Scotland
Stephen Hendry (4)

1991/1992
Scotland
Stephen Hendry

1992/1993
Scotland
Stephen Hendry

1993/1994
Scotland
Stephen Hendry

Leveraging the accompanying table together with the supporting text below.

Solve the question: What was the first year the best snooker player of the 1977 to 1978 season won the championship of the world ? Output only the correct answer as {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}.

Wales ( Welsh : Cymru [ ˈkəmri ] ( listen ) ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom . It is bordered by England to the east , the Irish Sea to the north and west , and the Bristol Channel to the south . It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 ( 8,023 sq mi ) . Wales has over 1,680 miles ( 2,700 km ) of coastline and is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas , including Snowdon ( Yr Wyddfa ) , its highest summit . The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable , maritime climate . Welsh national identity emerged among the Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century , and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations . Llywelyn ap Gruffudd 's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England 's conquest of Wales , though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century . The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 . Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century . Welsh Liberalism , exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George , was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party . Welsh national feeling grew over the century ; Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962 . Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998 , the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters .
Raymond Reardon , MBE ( born 8 October 1932 ) is a Welsh retired snooker player who dominated the sport in the 1970s , winning six World Championships . He is widely considered as one of the greatest players of all time . His dark widow 's peak and sharp-toothed grin earned him the nickname Dracula . Reardon was world champion in 1970 , 1973 , 1974 , 1975 , 1976 and 1978 , and was world runner-up in 1982 . In 1969 he became the inaugural winner of Pot Black . Reardon was snooker 's first dominant force of the modern era and was the first number one ranked player , when rankings were introduced in the 1976/77 season- holding that spot for the next five years . His dominance during the 1970s prefigured that of Steve Davis in the 1980s and Stephen Hendry in 1990s . He regained the number one ranking in 1982 , but thereafter his form declined , and he dropped out of the elite top-16 ranked players after the 1986/87 season . He retired from the professional game in 1992 . Reardon remained one of snooker 's top players into his 50s , and thus set a number of records which still stand . He is snooker 's oldest world champion ( in 1978 , aged 45 years and 203 days ) , the oldest player to win a ranking event ( in 1982 , 50 years and 14 days ) , and the oldest player to hold the number one ranking ( 1982 , 50 years old ) . Reardon also worked with Ronnie O'Sullivan in a coaching role , helping him to win the 2004 World Championship title .
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America . Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean , covering 9.98 million square kilometres ( 3.85 million square miles ) , making it the world 's second-largest country by total area . Its southern border with the United States , stretching some 8,891 kilometres ( 5,525 mi ) , is the world 's longest bi-national land border . Canada 's capital is Ottawa , and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto , Montreal , and Vancouver . As a whole , Canada is sparsely populated , with most of its land area dominated by forest and tundra . Its population is highly urbanized , with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities , and 70 percent residing within 100 kilometres ( 62 mi ) of the southern border . Canada 's climate varies widely across its vast area , ranging from Arctic climate in the north to hot summers in the southern regions , with four distinct seasons . Various indigenous peoples inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years before European colonization . Beginning in the 16th century , British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast . As a consequence of various armed conflicts , France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 . In 1867 , with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation , Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces . This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom .
Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM ( born January 16 , 1948 ) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player . Nicknamed The Grinder because of his slow , determined style of play , he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980 , making him the first world champion in the sport 's modern era from outside the United Kingdom . He remains the only world champion from the Americas . He was runner-up in two other World Championships , losing to John Spencer in the 1977 final and to Steve Davis in the 1983 final . During his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths in 1983 , Thorburn became the first player to compile a maximum break in a World Championship match . Thorburn 's other notable achievements include holding the number one ranking during the 1981/82 season and winning the prestigious invitational Masters three times , in 1983 , 1985 , and 1986 , which made him the first player to win the Masters more than once and the first to retain the title . He retired in 1996 and was inducted into Canada 's Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 .
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom . It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north . The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest . England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south . The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain , which lies in the North Atlantic , and includes over 100 smaller islands , such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight . It is the largest country of British Isles . The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period , but takes its name from the Angles , a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula , who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries . England became a unified state in the 10th century , and since the Age of Discovery , which began during the 15th century , has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world . The English language , the Anglican Church , and English law - the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world - developed in England , and the country 's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations . The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England , transforming its society into the world 's first industrialised nation . England 's terrain is chiefly low hills and plains , especially in central and southern England . However , there is upland and mountainous terrain in the north ( for example , the Lake District and Pennines ) and in the west ( for example , Dartmoor and the Shropshire Hills ) .
Steve Davis , OBE ( born 22 August 1957 ) is an English retired professional snooker player from Plumstead , London . He dominated the sport during the 1980s , when he reached eight World Championship finals in nine years , won six world titles , and held the world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons . He is also remembered among the wider public for the 1985 World Championship final against Dennis Taylor , which was decided on the final black and still holds the record for the UK 's largest post-midnight television audience , with 18.5 million viewers . Davis won a total of 28 ranking events , placing him fourth on the all-time list . In addition to his six world titles , he won the Masters three times and the UK Championship six times , for a total of 15 Triple Crown titles , behind only Ronnie O'Sullivan ( 19 ) and Stephen Hendry ( 18 ) . During the 1987-88 season , he became the first player to win all three Triple Crown events in a single season , and remains one of only three players ( along with Hendry and Mark Williams ) to achieve this . The first player to earn over £1 million in the professional game , he earned a total of £5.5 million in career prize money . He compiled a career total of 355 competitive century breaks , including the first officially recognised and first televised maximum break in professional competition , at the Classic in 1982 . Named the BBC 's Sports Personality of the Year in 1988 , he remains the only snooker player ever to win the award . Davis ' dominance of snooker ended with the emergence of Hendry in the 1990s , but he continued to compete at a high level over the next two decades . He won the Masters in 1997 , reached the final of the UK Championship in 2005 , and was still a top-16 player when he turned 50 during the 2007/2008 season . In 2010 , aged 52 , he made a record 30th ( and final ) appearance at the World Championship , and defeated reigning world champion John Higgins to become the oldest world quarter-finalist since 1983 .
Scotland ( Scots : Scotland , Scottish Gaelic : Alba [ ˈal̪ˠapə ] ( listen ) ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom . It covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain , with a border with England to the southeast , and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west , the North Sea to the northeast , the Irish Sea to the south , and more than 790 islands , including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides . The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the European Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707 . By inheritance in 1603 , James VI , King of Scots , became king of England and Ireland , thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms . Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain . The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain , which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England . In 1801 , Great Britain entered into a political union with Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ( in 1922 , the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom , leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927 ) . Within Scotland , the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles , titles and other royal symbols of statehood specific to the pre-union Kingdom of Scotland . The legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland ; Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law . The continued existence of legal , educational , religious and other institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the 1707 union with England . In 1997 , a Scottish Parliament was re-established , in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members , having authority over many areas of domestic policy . The head of the Scottish Government is the first minister of Scotland , who is supported by the deputy first minister of Scotland .
Stephen Gordon Hendry MBE ( born 13 January 1969 ) is a Scottish former professional snooker player and current commentator for the BBC and ITV . One of the most successful players in the history of snooker , he has won snooker 's most prestigious tournament , the World Snooker Championship , a record seven times and holds the record for most seasons as world number one ( 9 ) . His first world title in 1990 , at the age of 21 , made him the youngest-ever World Champion , a record that he still holds . Hendry also won six Masters titles ( including five consecutively ) , and five UK Championship titles . His total of 18 Triple Crown tournament wins is surpassed only by O'Sullivan 's 19 . One of only three players to have won all three Triple Crown events in a single season , Hendry is the only player to have achieved the feat twice , in the 1989/1990 and 1995/1996 seasons . He shares the record for the most ranking titles ( 36 ) with Ronnie O'Sullivan . A prolific break builder , he recorded a total of 775 career century breaks , and made 11 officially-recognised maximum breaks in professional competition . He was awarded an MBE in 1994 , and voted BBC Scotland 's Sports Personality of the Year in 1987 and 1996 . In May 2012 , after featuring in his 27th consecutive World Championship , he announced his retirement from the game , bringing to an end his record 23 consecutive seasons in the top 16 of the world rankings .