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. This is regarded as an unofficial maximum break as the event used non-templated tables. He was born in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester. Three times world champion: 1969, 1971, and the first Crucible winner in 1977!

Spencer was the first major professional snooker player to use a two-piece cue, which he used to win the 1977 title. Spencer was given the cue by Al Selinger of the Dufferin Cue Company during Spencer’s victorious run in the 1976 Canadian Open. He did not use the cue straight away but switched to it a few weeks before the 1977 World Championship.A few months later he changed his cue again to another 2 piece, this time from Japan.

His cue action included an unusually long backswing which gave him immense cue power, and allowed him to develop shots using deep-screw from long-distance and maximum side spin which aided the progression to modern break-building