On this week: Hendry

The Charity Challenge at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham gave us one of the greatest finals ever seen. Stephen Hendry (pictured) led Ronnie O'Sullivan 8-2 to be one frame away from victory, but O'Sullivan rattled off six frames in a row to level the match and force a decider.

Remarkably, Hendry - who had spent most of the previous six frames in his seat - then compiled the fourth tournament 147 of his career to clinch the match. It was the first time that a maximum had been made in the final of a major event.

The second Charity Challenge, at the ICC in Birmingham, was won by O'Sullivan who beat John Higgins 9-6 in the final.

At the Gresham Hotel in Dublin, Alex Higgins won the Irish Professional Championship for the first time with a 28-12 victory over Jackie Rea, who had held the title since 1952.

In the first qualifying round of the Welsh Open at Prestatyn, Tom Ford made four centuries in his 5-3 defeat of Gary Wilson. Ford became only the second player to achieve this feat in a best-of-nine frame ranking match.

One of the game's top referees prior to his retirement in 1995, Street took charge of no less than five Crucible finals. His first was Cliff Thorburn's victory in 1980, and his last was Hendry's fifth win in 1995. Street was also part of the team who carried out a review of the rules of snooker a few years ago. He died on January 6, 2009.

Leading referee John Smyth died at the age of 78. The former London Underground train driver became snooker's first full-time referee in 1978. He took charge of the first world final at the Crucible in 1977 and also handled the 1982 final when Alex Higgins beat Ray Reardon.