Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player. He is the only player ever to have been world amateur (1989) and world professional champion (1997). He was also World Under-21 champion in 1989.

After two semi-finals in the 1991/92 season (his second as a professional), Doherty reached the final of the 1992 Grand Prix, narrowly losing 10–9 to Jimmy White. In the same event a year later, he lost 6–9 to Peter Ebdon. His first ranking title was the 1993 Welsh Open, enough to take him into the top 16 in the world, where he remained until the 2007/08 season. In the 1994 World Championship he reached the quarter-finals, his only run past the first round before 1997.

Doherty became only the third player from outside the United Kingdom (After Australian Horace Lindrum in 1952 and Canadian Cliff Thorburn in 1980) to win the World Championship when he beat Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the 1997 final. Ken also reached the World Championship final in 1998 (losing to John Higgins) and in 2003, losing narrowly to Mark Williams. The latter run was noted for some outstanding comebacks, including final-frame wins over Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy, a 13–8 win over John Higgins in a match where Doherty raced ahead 10–0 but Higgins fought back to 10–7, and a semi-final fightback from 9–15 to beat Paul Hunter 17–16. In that championship he played more frames than anyone before or since. In the final, Williams led 11–4 but Doherty fought back to 12–12 and 16–16. In frame 33, Doherty missed the 2nd to final red with a clearance there for the taking. Williams won that crucial frame and the next to prevail 18–16.

Ronald Antonio "Ronnie" O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player known for his rapid playing style, and is nicknamed "The Rocket". He has been World Champion on four occasions (2001, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and, with career earnings of over £6 million is second after Stephen Hendry on snooker's all-time prize-money list. O'Sullivan has been the world's no. 1 player on five occasions, and has won a total of 24 ranking titles. He is second, again behind Hendry, on the list of players making the most competitive century breaks, with a total of 678. O'Sullivan has compiled 11 maximum breaks in professional competition, a record which he shares with Hendry. He also holds the record for the fastest maximum break, at 5 minutes 20 seconds.

O'Sullivan is considered by many fans, critics and professionals, including fellow multiple-World Championship winners Hendry and Steve Davis, as the most naturally talented player in the history of the game. He has, however, been involved in a number of controversial incidents during his career.

Sir James Sexton CBE (13 April 1856 – 27 December 1938) was a British trade unionist and politician.

Sexton was born in Newcastle upon Tyne to an Irish-born family of market traders, who soon moved to St Helens, Lancashire. After leaving school he worked in a variety of jobs, including as a seaman and in a chemical factory, before becoming a docker on Liverpool Docks. In 1884 he set up his own business as a coal merchant. In 1889 he joined the new National Union of Dock Labourers (later National Union of Dock, Riverside and General Workers) and was elected General Secretary in 1893, defeating James Larkin. He held this post until the union joined the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1922, whereupon he became National Supervisor of the Docks Trade Group of the new union. He retired from the TGWU in 1928.

A founder member of the Independent Labour Party, he later joined the Labour Party and served as Labour Member of Parliament for St Helens from 1918 to 1931. He also sat on Liverpool City Council from 1905 until his death.

Martin Henderson (born 8 October 1974) is a New Zealand actor, well known to American audiences for his starring role in the ABC TV series Off the Map, while remaining known in his home country for his teenage role as Stuart Neilson in the soap opera Shortland Street.

Henderson was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He began acting when he was thirteen years old, appearing in Strangers, a local television production. He attended Birkenhead Primary and Westlake Boys High School.

Henderson starred in the drama Shortland Street, where he played the character of "Stuart Neilson" from 1992 to 1995. He subsequently appeared in a number of Australian films and television productions Echo Point and Home & Away before he moved to the United States in 1997, in order to pursue a career in Hollywood films and to train in a two-year program at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City.

Henderson spent more than a year unsuccessfully auditioning for film roles in Los Angeles, but in 2001, he was finally cast in a supporting role in the John Woo-directed war film, Windtalkers. In 1999 he appeared in a major leading role in Kick for which he was nominated by Australian Film Institute to "Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role".

Steve Davis, OBE (born 22 August 1957 in Plumstead, London) is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire. He has won 28 ranking events in total, second only to Stephen Hendry.

Davis' achievements also include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. In 1988 he became the first player to complete snooker's Triple Crown in a single season. He is also a former four-time World Doubles champion with Tony Meo and won the World Team Classic/World Cup four times with England. In 1982, he became the first player to compile a televised maximum break and is one of four players to have compiled over 300 competitive century breaks. Though he has not won a major tournament since 1997, he continues to play snooker at a high level and reached the quarter-finals at the 2010 World Championship. He was still ranked in the world's top 16 at the age of 50, and is ranked number 51 after the 2012 World Championship.