The 1940 World Snooker Championship was a professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournament held at

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 reope ...

in London, England from 22 February to 20 March 1940. It was the fourteenth edition of the

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 Wor ...

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 i ...

defeated his younger brother Fred Davis by 37 to 36 in the final, to retain the title that he had held since the tournament's inception in

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 * ...

. Joe Davis compiled a

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

in the penultimate frame to win the match at 37–35 before a was played out. The only other century break of the tournament was 101 by Fred Davis earlier in the final. There were nine participants. Herbert Holt and

Conrad Stanbury Conrad Stanbury ( 1894–1975) was a Canadian professional snooker player. He was the first player to make an officially-recognised century break at snooker. In 1935, he became the first player from outside the British Isles to compete in the Wo ...

played a qualifying match, which Holt won to join the other seven players in the competition proper. Holt was eliminated in the first round by

Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (February 15, 1893 – July 15, 1947) was an American prolific popular songwriter and publishing company founder, composing many hit songs of the 1910s to 1940s, that have become standards and form part of the Great American Song ...

. This was the last World Championship to be held until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the next edition being held in

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

Background

The

is a professional tournament and the official

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

of the game of

. The sport was developed in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India. Professional

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the United Kingdom and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team us ...

player and

billiard hall A billiard, pool or snooker hall (or parlour, room or club; sometimes compounded as poolhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve ...

manager

noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

-based billiards equipment manager

Bill Camkin William Alexander Camkin (1894 – 26 April 1956) was a billiard hall owner who came to prominence in the early years of the World Snooker Championship, when many of the tournament's matches were held at his clubs. He was involved in various aspe ...

, persuaded the

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 ...

(BACC) to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. In 1927, the final of the first professional snooker championship was held at Camkin's Hall; Davis won the tournament by beating Tom Dennis in the final. The annual competition was not titled the World Championship until the 1935 tournament, but the 1927 tournament is now referred to as the first World Snooker Championship. Davis had also won the title every year from

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

. There were nine entries for the championship. There were eight places in the competition proper, with a qualifying match scheduled between Herbert Holt and

to determine which of them would join the other seven participants in the main draw.

Summary

First round (quarter-finals)

The first round was held as the best of 31 . Holt, who joined the main draw by defeating Stanbury in the qualifying round, met

in the first match of the competition proper from 22 to 24 February. Donaldson claimed the first four and led 6–4 overnight. Donaldson won eight frames on the second day to lead 14–6, two frames from victory, and took the first two frames on the final day to win 16–6. He eventually won 10 of the 11 frames played, for a final score of 24–7. All 11 frames on the final day were completed in 2 hours 15 minutes. ''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' reported that Donaldson "created what must be a world record for fast scoring". Joe Davis and

Alec Brown Alec Thomas Brown (born July 23, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for BC Budivelnyk of the European North Basketball League and the Champions League. He played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. Br ...

played in the second quarter-final from 26 to 28 February. Brown had recently won the Daily Mail Gold Cup beating Davis 39–22 in October 1939. However, in that match he had received a start of 25 in each frame. Brown took a 2–1 lead but Davis led 7–3 after the first day. Davis extended his lead to 10–3 but at the end of the second day Brown had reduced Davis's lead to 12–8. By winning the last frame of the final afternoon , Davis achieved a decisive 16–9 lead. The final score was 20–11. From 29 February to 2 March, Fred Davis faced Sydney Lee in the third quarter-final. On the first day Lee won frame 4 but Davis led 9–1. The players each won five frames on the second day so that Davis led 14–6. Davis took the first two frames on the third day to win the match 16–6. The final score was 20–11, with Davis making a of 88 in the evening session. The last quarter-final was between Sidney Smith, a tournament finalist in the two preceding years, and Tom Newman, from 4 to 6 March. Newman won the first frame with a break of 53 but Smith led 8–2 overnight and won comfortably 16–3 on the second day. The final score was 22–9.

Semi-finals

Both Semi-finals were also played as the best of 31 frames, with the first taking place from 7 to 9 March. Joe Davis and Donaldson met in the first semi-final. Davis won the first three frames but Donaldson levelled the match at 5–5 at the end of the first day. Davis won 7 frames on the second day to lead 12–8. On the final day Donaldson won the first frame but Davis won the next four to win the match 16–9. Davis then extended his winning run to 10 frames to leave a final score of 22–9. From 11 to 13 March, the second semi-final, between Fred Davis and Sidney Smith, was played. Smith established a 7–2 lead, before Davis won the last frame of the day to reduce the gap to four frames. Davis won seven frames on the second day to level the match at 10–10 and then added three of the five frames on the final afternoon to lead 13–12. Winning first two frames in the concluding evening session gave him a 15–12 lead and, although Smith won the following frame, Davis took the match 16–13. The final score was 17–14.

Final

Brothers Joe and Fred Davis met in the final from 14 to 20 March (with no play on 17 March, a Sunday). The match was played as the best of 73 frames. Joe took an 8–4 lead on the first day by winning both sessions 4–2. Joe led 14–10 after the second day. Fred won the first 10 frames on the third day and led 21–15 at the end of the day. Including the last frame on the second day, Fred had won 11 frames in succession. Joe won 9 frames on the fourth day to level the match at 24–24. The fifth afternoon session was shared. Fred made a 101 break in frame 50, including 13 , 11 , a and a . It was the first

of the tournament. Joe won four frames in the evening to lead 31–29. On the final day Joe won the first three frames to lead 34–29 but Fred won the next four frames. When Joe won frame 70, he took a 36–34 lead but Fred won the next. In frame 72 Fred scored the first 12 points but Joe then made a 101 break to take a winning 37–35 lead. Joe got his century by the blue, leaving just the pink and black remaining. The spectators cheered for nearly a minute when Joe made his century. Fred won the last frame, giving a final score of 37–36. Snooker historian

Clive Everton Clive Harold Everton (born 7 September 1937) is a sports commentator, journalist, author and former professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded ''Snooker Scene'' magazine, which was first published (as ''World Snooker'') in ...

noted that this was the closest that Davis had ever come to defeat in the history of the championship. It was the last time that the pair met in the tournament. Joe Davis retired from the competition after winning for the fifteenth time when the tournament was next held, which was in

, after a break due to

. In his book ''Talking Snooker'', Fred Davis recalled of the 1940 final that "The cynics were not slow to suggest that Joe had 'taken it easy' with his younger brother, but those on the inside knew how wrong they were." ''The Billiard Player'' magazine's correspondent wrote that there was no incentive for Joe Davis not to try to win every frame, as "the hall would be packed just the same" even if he had a commanding lead, and attributed the closeness of the result to the younger brother playing the best snooker of his career whilst the defending champion was not consistently at his best. In Joe Davis's autobiography, he claimed that he had always tried his hardest when playing his brother, and commented that 1940 was the "toughest" of all his championship finals.

Schedule

Main draw

Match results are shown below. Winning players and scores are denoted in bold text.

Final

Qualifying

Herbert Holt and Conrad Stanbury met at

for their qualifying match, played from 19 to 21 February. Holt led 6–4 after the first day and 13–7 after day two. Although he lost the first frame on the final day, he took the next three to secure a winning 16–8 lead. Stanbury won five of the seven for a final score of 18–13.

Century breaks

There were two century breaks during the tournament, both during the final. * 101 Fred Davis * 101 Joe Davis

References

{{World Snooker Championship

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

World Snooker Championships 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, i ...