Leslie Driffield (1912–1988) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

world champion player of

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 ...

. He won the

World Amateur Billiards Championship The IBSF World Billiards Championship (previously known as the World Amateur Billiards Championship) is the premier, international, non-professional tournament for the game of English billiards. Dating to some form to 1951, the event has been sanc ...

title twice, in 1952 and 1967; and the

Billiards and Snooker 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 championship ...

version of the world professional championship, played on a challenge basis, in 1971 and 1973.

Early Career and English Amateur Championship Title

Driffield started playing

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

aged 12, and was making breaks by 13. His day job was as an executive at an Ellerby

Foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Ltd in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, where his father was

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

. He learnt on a 6x3 foot table at home, then played and practised at the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

for 23 years, before winning his first English Amateur Championship title. He was coached by George Nelson, and won the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

Championship in 1937, 1938, 1950, and 1951, and the

Championship in 1949. In the 1952 English Amateur Championship final against

Herbert Beetham James Herbert Beetham (1909 – April 1992) was an English billiards player and soft drink manufacturer. He won the 1960 World Amateur Billiards Championship which also marked the pinnacle of his career. Beetham was regarded as one of the t ...

, a mineral water manufacturer, Driffield was 98 points behind when his came off and he had to use his reserve cue. In his first six using the reserve cue he scored a total of only 31 points, compared to his average score per visit of 36.4 in the previous session. Beetham increased his lead to 271, but Driffield fought back, with the help of a 142 break, to be 174 behind at the end of that session. At the end of the match, Driffield was the victor by 101 points, 2,894–2,793.

World Amateur Championship

Following an appeal by the

for funds to send Driffield to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

for the 1952

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, ...

, he travelled to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

a couple of weeks before the competition began. He was the only player in the competition to win all of his matches, netting 8,538 points for, and 4,254 against, and took the title. Before leaving India, he won all-India Billiards Championship, beating fellow world championship competitor Walter Ramage of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

3002-2256, and also won the all-India

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 ...

championship. He left the original trophies in India because of the possible

customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

problems involved in returning them, and took

replica A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...

trophies back to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Between winning the English and World titles, Driffield lost his Yorkshire title that he had been attempting to defend. In 1958, having won further English Amateur titles, Driffield was the

runner-up to Wilson Jones. Following his English Amateur title victory in 1967 Driffield played at the 1967

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

and was, as in 1952, the only unbeaten player, and the champion.

BA&CC World Title and WPBSA breakaway

Driffield was a member of 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 ...

, and was present at the meeting where the Council nominated him as the challenger to

Rex Williams Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the Worl ...

for the professional Billiards Championship. Williams declined to play Driffield within the five months time limit that the B&SCC Council had set, which expired on 7 July 1970, and forfeited the title, which was then contested between Driffield and

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 t ...

. Driffield beat Karnehm 9,029–4,342 in June 1971, in a match not recognised by most professional players. Meanwhile, on 12 December 1970, the Professional Billiard Players Association, which had been reestablished in 1968 Williams and seven other players, changed its name to the

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

and declared itself the governing body for the professional game, recognising Williams as champion. Driffield retained his title against Albert Johnson of Australia 9,204–4,946 in January 1973. He has also won a tournament in 1972 called the World Open, beating Paddy Morgan 3055-2404 in 10-hour final.

Personal life

Driffield was known for his concentration and tenacity as a player. During

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 ...

, he was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. He was married to Pia and had three daughters, Barbara, Gitte, and Jytte and son Peter Leslie'. Driffield died in 1988, aged 76.

Career Highlights

*English Amateur billiards champion 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1967 *1952 World Amateur Billiards Champion *1958

runner-up *1967 World Amateur Billiards Champion *1971 World Professional Billiards Champion (Challenge basis,

) *1973 World Professional Billiards Champion (Challenge basis,

)

References

External links

Photo of Driffield from Getty Images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Driffield, Leslie 1912 births English players of English billiards World champions in English billiards 1988 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Royal Engineers officers