Nick Metcalfe picks out 10 of his favourite UK Championship moments from over the years with much-loved faces old and new making the list.
1979: VIRGO DOCKED FRAMES BUT HAS LAST LAUGH
John Virgo has cultivated a pretty impressive persona for himself. There were those impressions of his fellow players to fill television time in the eighties. The 'pot as many balls as you can' catchphrase as he appeared alongside Jim Davidson on Saturday nights in the nineties. The constant refrain of 'where's the cue ball going?' in the commentary box since.
The only problem with all that is, it's sometimes easy to forget what a fine player Virgo was. And the Englishman's finest moment came at the 1979 UK Championship, in the days before it was a ranking tournament.
Virgo being Virgo, there had to be an element of comedy involved. Not that he was laughing much at the start of the final day. Play had been beginning at 1.45pm throughout the tournament, but was moved back to midday for the last session of his final against Terry Griffiths, which was shown live on the BBC's Grandstand.
The only problem was, nobody told Virgo that. When he was eventually informed, he was reading a newspaper in his hotel room. He arrived half an hour late to the arena, and was docked two frames, reducing his lead from 11-7 to 11-9.
Legend has it that Griffiths approached Virgo during the interval, with the score 11-11, offering to share the prize money. Virgo told the Welshman, 'you haven't won it yet.' And lo and behold, Virgo held his nerve and claimed a dramatic 14-13 victory.
1983: HIGGINS STORMS BACK FROM 7-0 DOWN TO DENY DAVIS
If you think great snooker comebacks in the eighties, you'll probably recall first the 1985 world final, when Dennis Taylor fought back from 8-0 behind to beat Steve Davis in that fabled black ball match.
But 18 months before that, at the 1983 UK Championship, came another extraordinary recovery, one that may well have sewn the seeds for that Davis collapse at the Crucible.
Davis played brilliantly in the early exchanges in the 1983 final, storming into a 7-0 lead against Alex Higgins. But Higgins came out a man reborn that evening, reducing his arrears to 8-7. The tide had turned.
The match stayed close from there all the way, with the players locked at 11-11 going into the final night. Roared on by a vociferous Preston crowd, Higgins built up a 14-12 lead, only for the redoubtable Davis to win three frames in a row and move within one of victory.
Higgins dug deep again, picking up the next to send the match into a decider. And he kept Davis pointless in the 31st frame, sealing a 16-15 win for the ages.
1985: MISSED BLUE HAUNTS THORNE AS DAVIS TAKES TITLE
It's funny how a player's career can be best remembered for one shot, one ball. All those decades of playing, all those thousands of frames. And yet, it's that one shot that resonates through time.
That's sadly the case with Willie Thorne. Long before he was a top pundit, and supreme character, Thorne was a terrific player, good enough to win the Mercantile Credit Classic in 1985. But it was at the end of that year that a truly horrible moment arrived for the Leicester man.
Thorne was 13-8 ahead against Steve Davis in the UK final and seemingly heading for his finest hour on a febrile night at the Guild Hall. He looked to be clearing the colours away nicely for 14-8. But then, inexplicably, he missed a regulation blue to middle.
The words 'turning point' have rarely been more applicable. Davis pinched the frame and he never looked back. Thorne looked a haunted man as Davis stormed from behind to record a 16-14 win. It was Thorne's only final at a triple crown event.
1988: COMEBACK KING DOUG STUNS TEENAGER HENDRY
Everyone loves a comeback triumph. And boy, did Doug Mountjoy give us a special one in 1988.
Mountjoy was one of the finest players of his generation, winning the Masters in 1977 and the UK Championship in 1978. He also reached a world final, losing to Steve Davis in 1981. But by the late eighties, with Mountjoy 46, his best days looked well behind him.
However, helped considerably by teaming up with famed coach Frank Callan, he enjoyed a memorable renaissance. The Welshman beat a host of big names on his way to the 1988 UK final - Neal Foulds, Joe Johnson, John Virgo, Terry Griffiths. But he was still very much the second favourite in the final against snooker's new sensation, 19-year-old Stephen Hendry.
Mountjoy was simply inspired in that match however, particularly in a dominant third session, where he took all seven frames to lead 14-7. There were a few wobbles on the final night, with Hendry winning five successive frames to close from 15-7 behind to 15-12, but Mountjoy held his nerve to seal a 16-12 victory.
It was a wonderful moment, one watched by more than 13 million BBC viewers. Mountjoy then proved it was no flash in the pan, winning the next ranking event too, the Mercantile Credit Classic.
1993: RONNIE WINS FIRST RANKING TITLE AT 17
Ronnie O'Sullivan is considered by many pundits and fans to be the greatest snooker player of all time.
We all know he is something of a genius on the table, and he has an outstanding CV of success, but perhaps the main reason for him being top of so many charts is his remarkable longevity. O'Sullivan has just won his sixth world title at the age of 44. Go back 27 years, and the Essex man claimed his first ranking title success when he was only 17.
O'Sullivan really did announce himself to the public at the 1993 UK Championship. He was outstanding in that tournament, seeing off the great Steve Davis 9-6 in the quarter-finals and Welshman Darren Morgan 9-5 in the last four.
It was the first year the UK final was cut back from best of 31 frames to best of 19. That was undoubtedly a shame for traditionalists, but this was still a major prize and O'Sullivan seized the hour against Stephen Hendry, winning 10-6 for a memorable success. It was the start of an incredible era for O'Sullivan. More of that later.
2004: DOMINANT MAGUIRE MAKES IT A GRAY DAY FOR DAVID
The 2004 UK Championship became famous not just because of the event, but a much repeated prediction that came with it.
Stephen Maguire, who had won the European Open at the start of the year, simply blitzed his way to the title in York that November. The Scot beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-6 in the last 32. And frankly, he never had a hard game after that. Maguire eased past Steve Davis, Stephen Lee and Mark King to reach the final and a meeting with David Gray.
It was a no contest, Gray never at the races as Maguire cantered to a 10-1 victory at York's Barbican. It was party tricks all the way as Maguire neared the finishing line, with breaks of 110, 131, 80 and 122 in the last four frames of the match.
O'Sullivan was so impressed with Maguire's performance, he promptly predicted that he would dominate snooker for the next decade.
That hasn't happened of course, Maguire by his own admission underachieving in his career to date. He's still a very fine player, good enough to reach last year's UK final and claim the prestigious Tour Championship title in the summer. But another triple crown success has eluded him.
2005: TEENAGE STAR DING TOO HOT FOR DAVIS TO HANDLE
China's teenage sensation Ding Junhui had already burst on to the snooker scene in the spring of 2005, seeing off Stephen Hendry to win the China Open. When he then picked up a first triple crown event just before Christmas that year, we knew this would be someone special in the game.
That 2005 UK final said a lot about the beauty of snooker really. Eighteen years old plays forty eight years old. The man taking on the Chinese youngster was an all-time great of the game, Steve Davis, who was enjoying a glorious late career hurrah.
Davis had beaten already beaten a young Mark Allen and defending champion Stephen Maguire when he edged out Ken Doherty 9-7 in the quarter-finals. An even more impressive win came in the last four, 9-6 over Stephen Hendry.
A victory over Ding never really looked likely though. The youngster had beaten a host of big names on his way to the final, including Jimmy White and Paul Hunter, and always looked too strong for Davis in the showpiece match.
Ding moved 5-3 ahead after the first session, and eventually closed out a 10-6 win. It was the first of three UK triumphs for Ding - he also won the title in 2009 and last year.
2010: HIGGINS PRODUCES LATE RECOVERY TO STUN WILLIAMS
The heralded Class of 92 trio - John Higgins, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams - have been at the top of snooker for nearly three decades now. When two of them, Higgins and Williams, met in the 2010 UK final, it gave us a bonafide classic.
It had been a nightmare year for Higgins - he was the victim of a newspaper sting operation in the spring, which eventually led to a six month suspension for failing to report a suspicious betting approach. Also, his father John had become gravely ill.
On the table, it looked like Williams would prevail in the showpiece match in Telford. The Welshman opened up a 7-2 lead, and when he went 9-5 ahead, Higgins needed to win five successive frames to deny him.
Remarkably, that's exactly what the Scot did, drawing on all his tenacious reserves to claim a magnificent 10-9 victory. Little wonder that an emotional Higgins talked afterwards about it being fate.
Funnily enough, the two contested an even better match eight years later, Williams winning 18-16 in maybe the finest Crucible world final of them all.
2014: O'SULLIVAN HOLDS NERVE AFTER TRUMP COMEBACK
Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump are surely the two most compelling characters in modern snooker. They've never met in a world final - what an event that would be - but we did at least have one epic UK final between the pair to enjoy.
O'Sullivan hardly had the best preparation for the 2014 UK Championship, breaking his ankle while out running before the tournament. But he didn't let the injury hold him back as he went all the way to the final, edging out Stuart Bingham in a deciding frame in the last four.
He started like an express train against Trump too, opening up an early 5-1 lead. Try as he might, the Bristol man couldn't really get close to O'Sullivan, and it looked all over bar the shouting at 9-4.
It was then that Trump hit a memorable purple patch, winning five frames in quick succession to level, with breaks of 120 and 127 along the way.
Lesser players would have buckled in the decider, but O'Sullivan composed himself and won the 19th frame for a 10-9 victory.
2018: TRIPLE CROWN KING RONNIE SURPASSES HENDRY
Ronnie O'Sullivan announced himself to the sporting public a quarter of a century earlier - by the time of the 2018 UK Championship, his legend had long since been cemented.
It was a typical O'Sullivan roadshow at York that fortnight really - he found himself in the headlines during the tournament for threatening to launch a breakaway tour.
O'Sullivan had a big early scare on the table, coming from 4-1 behind to beat Ken Doherty 6-5, but apart from that it was plain sailing all the way as he set up a meeting in the final with Mark Allen.
O'Sullivan picked up six frames in a row to lead 7-2, and there was only one winner from there, the Essex man sealing a 10-6 victory. He had secured a record seventh UK title, moving him above Steve Davis, and a record 19th triple crown, one more than Stephen Hendry.
The scenes of jubilation afterwards said so much about how much the public still adore O'Sullivan, the champion climbing into the crowd to joyously celebrate with fans. The famous old tournament had delivered another moment to treasure.
