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Jackie Rea
John Joseph "Jackie" Rea (6 April 1921 – 20 October 2013) was a Northern Irish snooker player. He was the leading Irish snooker player until the emergence of Alex Higgins. Rea reached the semi-final of the 1952 World Championship losing to Fred Davis. With interest in professional snooker in decline he was one of four entries for the 1957 World Championships, losing to John Pulman in the final. He won the 1954/1955 News of the World Snooker Tournament, winning all his 8 matches and taking the first prize of £500. He continued playing professional snooker for many years, making his final appearances in 1990. Career Rea was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone and began playing snooker at age 9 in the billiard room of the pub his father managed in Dungannon. He won the All-Ireland Snooker Championship in 1947 and also the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship the same year. Rea became the Irish Professional Champion in 1947 through his defeat of Jack Bates and held the champio ...
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Dungannon
Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the town, though since 2015 it has been covered by Mid-Ulster District Council. For centuries, it was the 'capital' of the O'Neill dynasty of Tír Eoghain, who dominated most of Ulster and built a castle on the hill. After the O'Neills' defeat in the Nine Years' War, the English founded a plantation town on the site, which grew into what is now Dungannon. Dungannon has won Ulster in Bloom's Best Kept Town Award five times. It currently has the highest percentage of immigrants of any town in Northern Ireland. History For centuries, Dungannon's fortunes were closely tied to that of the O'Neill dynasty which ruled a large part of Ulster until the 17th century. Dungannon was the clan's main stronghold. The traditional site of inauguration f ...
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John Virgo
John Virgo (born 4 March 1946) is an English former professional snooker player who has since developed a career as a snooker commentator and TV personality. Snooker career Early professional career (1973–1978) Virgo's first notable appearance in a major tournament was during the 1973 American Pool Tournament for The Indoor League where he lost in the semi-final. He turned professional in 1976, at a time when players such as Ray Reardon, John Spencer and Eddie Charlton were at the forefront of the sport. Although he had just turned 30 upon turning pro, Virgo was still among the youngest players on the circuit at the time. In 1977, he reached the semi-finals of the 1977 UK Championship losing to eventual winner Patsy Fagan by a single frame 8–9. UK Champion and Top 10 player (1979–1990) Virgo's snooker-playing fortunes peaked in 1979 when he reached the semi-final of the World Championship, and went on to win the 1979 UK Championship (though this was not a ranking eve ...
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John Spencer (snooker Player)
John Spencer (18 September 1935 – 11 July 2006) was an English professional snooker player who won the World Snooker Championship title at his first attempt in 1969, the year that the event reverted to a knockout tournament. He won the world title for the second time in 1971, and was the first player to win the championship at the Crucible Theatre when it moved there in 1977. Spencer was the inaugural winner of both the Masters and the Irish Masters tournaments, and was the first player to make a maximum 147 break in competition, although this is not recognised as an official maximum because the pockets on the table did not meet the required specifications. Spencer was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire. He started national service when he was 18 years old, and did not then play snooker for 11 years. He won the English Amateur Championship in 1966, before turning professional in February 1967. He won over twenty tournaments in all, including three editions of ''Pot Black''. H ...
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Gary Owen (snooker Player)
Gary Owen (born 1929 in Tumble, Carmarthenshire, Wales; died 1995 in Brisbane, Australia) was an Welsh–born Australian snooker player. Career Owen was the inaugural British Under-16 champion in 1944 and reached the final of the prestigious English Amateur Championship six years later. He then gave up competitive play for a number of years, returning only in the early 1960s. In 1963 he matched the achievement of his brother Marcus, winning the English Amateur Championship. This qualified him to compete for England at the inaugural World Amateur Championship in Calcutta that year. He won all his matches in a round-robin format and took the title. He became world amateur champion for a second time in 1966, beating future world professional champion John Spencer who was the runner-up. In 1968 Owen, Spencer and Ray Reardon become the first players in a generation to turn professional. His best performance as a professional came in 1969 when he reached the final of the reconsti ...
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Pot Black
''Pot Black'' was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single , where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points, but played a large part in the popularisation of the modern game of snooker. The event was first held in 1969 with a field of eight players and ran annually until 1986. The event resurfaced for three years in both 1991 and 2005. The series was followed by events for other categories of players, with a juniors and seniors events, and a celebrity version held in 2006. The series was created by the BBC2 controller David Attenborough, shortly after BBC2 began broadcasting in colour. Snooker, a game using coloured balls, was suggested as a suitable way to sell the new technology. The series helped transform snooker from a minority sport played by just a handful of professionals into one of the most popular sports in the UK. Mark Williams made the highest in the competiti ...
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Jack Karnehm
Jack Karnehm (18 June 1917, Tufnell Park, north London, England – 28 July 2002, Crowthorne, Berkshire) was a British snooker commentator, who was regularly heard on BBC television from 1978 until 1994, and a former amateur world champion at the game of English billiards. Karnehm was also a professional snooker and billiards player. Besides his commentary, perhaps his major contribution to the game was his development of the swivel-lens glasses, which enabled Dennis Taylor to win the World Snooker Championship in 1985. These were spectacles which were set at a compensatory angle, so the player could look along the shot through the optical centre of the lens. The originals had been designed by Theodore Hamblin, and pioneered by Fred Davis in 1938. Karnehm, who had served a five-year spectacle-making apprenticeship, made many pairs in his family business, but his upside-down design was a considerable improvement – it offered wider peripheral vision – and helped Taylor win t ...
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Joe Davis
Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is now played, such as -building. With the help of equipment manufacturer Bill Camkin, he drove the creation of the World Snooker Championship by persuading the Billiards Association and Control Council to recognise an official professional snooker championship in 1927. Davis won the first 15 world championships from 1927 to 1946, and he is the only undefeated player in World Snooker Championship history. In 1930, he scored the championship's first . A professional English billiards player from the age of 18, Davis was World Billiards Champion four times between 1928 and 1932. He was the first person to win world championship titles in both billiards and snooker. After his 1946 victory, Davis no longer played in the World Snooker Champi ...
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1952/1953 News Of The World Snooker Tournament
The 1952/1953 News of the World Snooker Tournament was a professional snooker tournament sponsored by the ''News of the World''. The tournament was won by Joe Davis who won all of 8 matches. He finished ahead of Jackie Rea who won 5 matches. The News of the World Snooker Tournament ran from 1949/50 to 1959. Format The 1952/53 event was a round-robin snooker tournament and was played from 8 September 1952 to 17 January 1953. All matches were played at Leicester Square Hall in London. There were 9 competitors and a total of 36 matches. The competitors were Joe Davis, Fred Davis, Walter Donaldson, John Barrie, Albert Brown, Alec Brown, John Pulman, Jackie Rea and Sidney Smith. Jackie Read had won the qualifying event. Each match lasted three days and was the best of 37 frames. Each match was separately handicapped. Joe Davis played level with Fred Davis and gave Walter Donaldson 10, Albert Brown and John Pulman 14, Sidney Smith 17, John Barrie and Alec Brown 18 and Jackie Rea 21 ...
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Kingsley Kennerley
Kingsley Kennerley (27 December 1913 – 26 June 1982) was an English billiards and snooker player. Career In the period from 1937 to 1940 Kennerley enjoyed considerable success as an amateur in both billiards and snooker. He won the English Amateur Billiards Championship in 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1940. In 1938 he travelled to Melbourne and was runner-up in the Empire Amateur Billiards Championship, losing to Bob Marshall. He won the English Amateur Snooker Championship in 1937 and 1940 and was runner-up in 1938 and 1939. After World War II Kennerley turned professional. He played in the World Snooker Championship most years from 1946 until 1957 when the Championship lapsed. With the revival of snooker, he played in the first three series of ''Pot Black'' from 1969 to 1971. He continued to play occasionally in professional snooker events, making his last appearance in a major event in the 1982 Bass and Golden Leisure Classic at the age of 68. Kennerley died later that month. ...
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Harry Stokes (snooker Player)
Henry Paul Stokes (19 June 1920 – 10 April 1987) was a Scottish professional snooker and billiards player from Glasgow. He was Scottish Professional Snooker Champion in 1949, 1952 and 1953. He remained the Scottish Professional Champion until the event was restarted in 1980. Career In January 1936 Stokes reached the final of the English Boys' Billiards Championship, losing 618–750 to Donald Cruickshank at Burroughes Hall in London. Stokes turned professional soon afterwards and in January 1938 he lost 6321–7000 to Neil Canney in the final of the Scottish (Residential) Professional Billiards Championship In April Stokes lost 5336–7000 to Walter Donaldson in the Open event. Stokes was Scottish Professional Snooker Champion in 1949, 1952 and 1953 and was the losing finalist in 1951. His first Championship win was in Edinburgh in December 1949. There were four entries. Stokes beat Eddie Brown 6–5 in the second semi-final on 8 December. In the 21-frame final, played on 9 ...
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1949 World Snooker Championship
The 1949 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament held at the Leicester Square Hall in London, England. For the third year running the final was contested by Fred Davis and Walter Donaldson. Davis became the second player to defend his first world title after Joe Davis in 1928 by defeating Donaldson 80–65 in the final, although he had taken a winning lead of 73–58 on the previous day. The match was still in the balance with the score at 63–58 before Davis won 10 frames in a row to take the title. Donaldson made the highest break of the tournament with 115 on the last day of his semi-final match against John Pulman. Schedule Main draw Sources: Qualifying John Barrie withdrew for business reasons, giving Herbert Holt a bye into the final of the qualifying event. Conrad Stanbury beat Herbert Francis 18–17 in his first round match played from 10 to 12 February 1949 and then beat Jackie Rea by the same score in a match played from 14 to 16 February. Stanbury t ...
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World Snooker Championship
The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 World Snooker Championship, 1927, it is now one of the three tournaments (together with the UK Championship and the invitational Masters (snooker), Masters) that make up snooker's Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown Series. The reigning world champion is Ronnie O'Sullivan. Joe Davis dominated the tournament over its first two decades, winning the first 15 world championships before he retired undefeated after his final victory in 1946 World Snooker Championship, 1946. The distinctive World Championship trophy, topped by a Greek shepherdess figurine, was acquired by Davis in 1926 for £19 and continues in use to this day. No tournaments were held between 1941 and 1945 due to World War II, or between 1952 and 1963 due to a dispute between the ...
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