Snooker Pre- 1960

[npje]

I have found myself facinated by the glimpes of the game before the period when TV stepped in, when Joe Davis was king. If you look at the scores they used to play games consisting of over a hundred frames!
On Youtube I saw a newsreel of a world championship from the 30's that seemed to consist of one 2 week match.
It's as if it was like boxing where 2 big hitters slugged it out rather than the knock out competition we are familier with.
Does anybody out there know about this period of snooker?
There must be many a story behind the marathon matches they played.
What was the standard like?
You can see Joe Davis completing the first televised 100 on Youtube. The standard looks pretty high to me.

[The Statman]

This thread might give you a bit of an insight:

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ead.php?t=7549

[npje]

Thank you Statman. Have you seen the Joe Davis 100 break on Youtube? His skill set appears very uptodate to me. Long pots, good cue ball control etc. But looking at the scores in the thread you gave me, you can see that that the average scores are much lower than today.

[mattyshinobi22]

a 147 tho with ivory ball must be a feat in itself!

just think of his cue power!
especially for screw back

[cajt]

a 147 tho with ivory ball must be a feat in itself!

just think of his cue power!
especially for screw back

No one could perform much of a screw back in those days. John Spencer was the first to really play that shot well.

[mattyshinobi22]

dont think john played with ivory balls

[ricklyle]

It would be cool to learn more about the history of snooker. Any suggestions on some good articles about this topic?

[Cyril]

This thread might give you a bit of an insight:

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ead.php?t=7549

We had some fun on that thread buddy old pal!! Ha ha x

[npje]

When did they stop using ivory balls?

[mattyshinobi22]

guessing around time of john pullman

saw a web page a while ago about a compound based ball which came in after ivory.

john spencer definately didnt use ivory balls tho

[npje]

Does anyone know when the first recorded 147 was?

[1lawyer]

The first 147 break was in 1955 by Joe Davis against Willie Smith in an exhibition match.
The first one to be televised was Steve Davis in 1982 at the Lada Classic in Oldham. His opponent was John Spencer. John Spencer ironically got one before this in a televised comp but the TV crew were on a tea break and missed it. The Steve Davis break was only shown on Granada TV (the local ITV company), many still think the first televised 147 to be that of Cliff Thorburn in the 1983 World Championships.

[Templeton Peck]

On the "new balls" topic we're pretty certain ivory balls were never used in pro snooker: New Balls Please

[Cyril]

Does anyone know when the first recorded 147 was?

http://www.eaba.co.uk/mags/bqr/1990/...ungMaster.html

New Zealand legend Murt O'Donoghue is often referred to as being the first, if you see the link.

[1lawyer]

http://www.eaba.co.uk/mags/bqr/1990/...ungMaster.html

New Zealand legend Murt O'Donoghue is often referred to as being the first, if you see the link.

Wow did not know this, never heard of him and I stand corrected.