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Thurston's Hall
Thurston's Hall was a major billiards and snooker venue between 1901 and 1955 in Leicester Square, London. The hall was in the premises of Thurston & Co. Ltd which relocated to Leicester Square in 1901. The building was bombed in 1940 and reopened under a new name, Leicester Square Hall, and new management in 1947. The venue closed in 1955 and the building was demolished to make way for an extension to Fanum House. The Hall was used for many important billiards and snooker matches, including 12 World Snooker Championship finals between 1930 and 1953. It was also the venue of the first World Snooker Championship match in November 1926. The hall was sometimes referred to as "Thurston's Grand Hall". There was also a "Minor Hall" in the same building. Opening In 1900 Thurston & Co. Ltd. were forced to relocate from their premises at 16 Catherine Street because it was in the way of a new street from Holborn to the Strand. They moved to 45-46 Leicester Square and built new premises ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester. The square was originally a gentrified residential area, with tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and the artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. It became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, becoming a centre for entertainment. Several major theatres were built in the 19th century, which were converted to cinemas towards the middle of the next. Leicester Square is the location of nationally significant cinemas such as the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire, Leicester Square, which are often used for film premieres (and the now closed Odeon West End). The nearby Prince Charles Cinema is known for its screenings of cult films and marathon film runs. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snooker In England
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century, the game is played with twenty-two balls, comprising a , fifteen red balls, and six other balls—a yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black—collectively called the colours. Using a cue stick, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the white to other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful pot and for each time the opposing player or team commits a . An individual of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points. A snooker ends when a player reaches a predetermined number of frames. Snooker gained its identity in 1875 when army officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, stationed in Ootacamund, Madras, and Jabalpur, devised a set of rules ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billiards Association And Control Council
The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) (formerly called the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC)) was the governing body of the games of English billiards and snooker and organised professional and amateur championships in both sports. It was formed in 1919 by the union of the Billiards Association (founded in 1885) and the Billiards Control Club (founded in 1908). The B&SCC lost control of both the amateur and professional games in the early 1970s, following a dispute with professional players over challenge matches for the World Billiards Championship, and dissatisfaction from snooker associations outside the UK about the balance of voting power in the organisation, with a large proportion of votes being held in a small number of English areas. Following the loss of its government funding, the B&SCC went into voluntary liquidation in 1992 and its assets were later acquired by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The Billiard Ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Smith (billiards Player)
Willie Smith (25 January 1886 – 2 June 1982) was an English professional player of snooker and English billiards. Smith was, according to an article on the English Amateur Billiards Association's website, "by common consent, the greatest all-round billiards player who ever lived". He studied previous Billiard players such as Melbourne Inman, Harry Stevenson, Tom Reece, Edward Diggle and George Gray, describing his play as "the combination of Gray's striking and Diggle's top-of-the-table play". Smith became a professional player in 1913. He entered the World Billiards Championship in 1920 and then again in 1923, winning it on both occasions. Arguments with the governing body prevented him from taking part in the competition more often. In 1930 he started writing for ''The Burwat Billiard Review'', a magazine published by the Cue Sport Manufacturers Burroughes and Watts. These were instructional articles with accompanying illustrations and photographs. He turned to snooker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1954/1955 News Of The World Snooker Tournament
The 1954/1955 News of the World Snooker Tournament was a professional snooker tournament sponsored by the '' News of the World''. The tournament was won by Jackie Rea who won all of his 8 matches. He finished ahead of Joe Davis who won 6 matches. The News of the World Snooker Tournament ran from 1949/50 to 1959 but this was the last to be held at Leicester Square Hall, which closed soon after the end of the tournament. Format The 1954/55 event was a round-robin snooker tournament and was played from 6 September 1954 to 15 January 1955. 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 qualifier Kingsley Kennerley. 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 and John Pulm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Davis (snooker Player)
Fred Davis (14 August 1913 – 16 April 1998) was an English professional player of snooker and English billiards. He was an eight-time World Snooker Championship winner from 1948 World Snooker Championship, 1948 to 1956 World Professional Match-play Championship, 1956, and a two-time winner of the World Billiards Championship (English billiards), World Billiards Championship. He was the brother of 15-time world snooker champion Joe Davis; the pair were the only two players to win both snooker and English billiards world championships, and Fred is second on the list of those holding most world snooker championship titles, behind Joe. Davis' professional career started in 1929 at the age of 15 as a billiards player. He competed in his first world snooker championship in 1937 World Snooker Championship, 1937 and reached the final three years later, losing to Joe by 36–37. From 1947, Davis played in five straight finals against Scottish player Walter Donaldson (snooker player), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Donaldson (snooker Player)
Walter Weir Wilson Donaldson (2 February 1907 – 24 May 1973) was a Scottish professional snooker and billiards player. He contested eight consecutive world championship finals against Fred Davis (snooker player), Fred Davis from 1947 World Snooker Championship, 1947 to 1954 World Professional Match-play Championship, 1954, and won the title in 1947 and 1950 World Snooker Championship, 1950. Donaldson was known for his long and his consistency when playing, and had an aversion to the use of . In 2012, he was inducted posthumously into the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association's World Snooker Hall of Fame. Donaldson became a professional player shortly after winning the under-16's British Junior English Billiards Championship in 1922 and won the Scottish professional billiards title six times. He first competed in the World Snooker Championship in 1933 World Snooker Championship, 1933, but after a heavy defeat by Joe Davis did not enter again until 1939 World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1947 World Snooker Championship
The 1947 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 January to 25 October 1947. The final was held at the Leicester Square Hall in London, England, from 13 to 25 October. The semi-finals were completed in March, but the final was delayed due to building works at the venue, which had been bombed in October 1940. Walter Donaldson won the title by defeating Fred Davis by 82 to 63 in the final, although he reached the winning margin earlier, at 73–49. Davis made the highest break of the tournament with a 135 clearance in frame 86 of the final. The 1947 event was the first to be played since the retirement of Joe Davis who had won all 15 of the previous Championships since it was inaugurated in 1927. Davis had announced in October 1946 that he would no longer play in the competition. A qualifying competition for thirteen entrants at Burroughes Hall in London from 2 January to 8 February 1947 was won by Albert Brown, who then joined sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Smith (snooker Player)
Sidney Smith (26 March 1908 – 26 June 1990) was a professional billiards and snooker player from the 1930s to the 1950s. He was born in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, England.Andy Hunter on the Cue Collector website http://www.thecuecollector.com/files/CueCollectorArticles/Hunter_Article_16__Sidney_Smith_.pdf Retrieved 2011-Dec-7 He was the first player to make a total clearance in snooker competition, a break of 133 on 11 December 1936 in the Daily Mail Gold Cup. Smith's most notable tournament wins were the 1948 United Kingdom Professional Billiards Championship (beating John Barrie 7000–6428) and the 1951/1952 News of the World Snooker Tournament.The Billiards Quarterly Review : October 1990 quoted at http://www.eaba.co.uk/mags/bqr/1990/10/sydneySmith.html Retrieved 2011-Dec-7 Smith was the runner-up to Joe Davis in the World Snooker Championships of 1938 (having beaten Joe's brother Fred 18–13 in the semi-final) and 1939, and he was a semi-finalist on four occasions ( 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
