Notable happening

• David Taylor
  David Taylor (snooker player)
  David Taylor is a semi-retired English professional snooker player. He won the World and English Amateur Championships in 1968, before the success of those wins encouraged him to turn professional. Although an excellent player, Taylor never quite reached the very top of the game...
  
  , having turned professional after winning the 1968 World Amateur in Sydney, brought about an increase of one on the entry for the previous year. He held John Pulman
  John Pulman
  John Pulman was an English professional snooker player who dominated the game throughout the 1960s....
  
   12-12 at Grimsby
  Grimsby
  Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
  
   before going down 20-31.
• Pulman also crushed the previous year's runner-up Gary Owen in a semi-final at Middlesbrough
  Middlesbrough
  Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
  
   and after trailing 14-27 to Ray Reardon
  Ray Reardon
  Ray Reardon, MBE is a retired Welsh snooker player. He dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning six World Championships in that decade...
  
   in the final in London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
   recovered to 33-34 before losing 33-37.
• Controversy attended the other semi-final for which a diabolically difficult table was installed at Bolton
  Bolton
  Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
  
  . Defending world champion John Spencer
  John Spencer (snooker player)
  John Spencer was an English professional snooker player who won the World Professional title at his first attempt, was the first winner at the Crucible Theatre, was the inaugural winner of the Masters and Irish Masters and was the first player to make a 147 break in competition...
  
   let the difficulties it presented get the better of him and Reardon, adapting himself better to the conditions, scored a narrow victory of 37-33 to reach the final.
• This year was the first of Reardon's six world titles; he held the title for only 7 months until the next championship in Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
   during November 1970.

Main draw