Norman Powell Squire (born November 22, 1909, in Christchurch, New Zealand, † December 23, 1974 in Sydney,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) was an Australian

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 ...

player. Squire was born in 1909 in Christchurch, New Zealand to a bricklayer father. He attended a public school and a year of technical college . In 1935 Squire emigrated to Sydney on the advice of snooker player Edward James O'Donoghue, who recognized his talent. He trained for a long time and got better and better. In 1939 he married Annie Ross (d.1965) . In 1943 he went to the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

as an aircraft mechanic and spent two years there. The

Second World War 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 ...

ruined his chances of a career in snooker.

Horace Lindrum Horace Lindrum (born Horace Norman William Morrell, 15 January 1912 – 20 June 1974) was an Australian professional snooker and billiards player. A dominant snooker player in Australia, he lived in Britain for long periods and played in the maj ...

had allegedly been reluctant to accept his challenge for the Australian snooker title in 1944. Nevertheless, he trained at the air force and became a professional snooker at the age of over 50.

Playing career

The sport recovered only slowly in the next decade. It was not until the 1960s, that he recorded his best performances in international competition. On a tour of South Africa in 1963 he made a 147 break. Back in Sydney the following year, he beat some key players in a snooker competition which included

Eddie Charlton Edward Francis Charlton, (31 October 1929 – 8 November 2004) was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winn ...

and Lindrum, winning all ten frames and not losing one. Norman Squire later won the Australian Professional Championship in 1965. In July 1969 he won the Australian Professional Billiard Championship, beating

Warren Simpson Warren Alwyn Simpson (28 March 1922 – 28 June 1980) was an Australian snooker player. He was world amateur champion before turning professional in the early 1960s. Career Simpson won amateur championships at state and national level before be ...

and Charlton in a round-robin tournament; soon afterwards he defeated the veteran New Zealand player

Clark McConachy Clark McConachy (15 April 1895 – 12 April 1980), often known simply as Mac, was a New Zealand professional player of English billiards and snooker. Life and career McConachy was born at Glenorchy in Otago in 1895. He was the New Zealand ...

for the Australasian billiard title. In the 1970 Australian Professional Snooker Championship he failed against Charlton after he had won against Simpson and lost to

Paddy Morgan Paddy Morgan (born 7 January 1943) is an Australian former professional snooker and English billiards player. He was born in Belfast, and moved to Coventry in 1960. Following an amateur career in which he won junior and national titles in bot ...

. With this second place Squire was in the tournaments of the 1970/71 snooker season to participate. Squire competed at the

1971 World Snooker Championship The 1971 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 28 September and 7 November 1970 in Australia. The tournament was the 1971 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927 but was ...

which was held across Australia, but finished with defeats to Eddie Charlton, John Spencer, Gary Owen and

John Pulman Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He won the title at the 1957 Championship, and retained it across seven challenges from 1 ...

to finish last place at the round-robin stage. After this season he lost the right to participate due to a lack of success. Squire always took part in the Australian Professional Championship until 1974, but he often lost first round matches. When he last played, Squire defeated Gary Owen 11–9, but then lost to Warren Simpson.

Personal life

After divorcing his first wife, he married Paula Margaret Taylor in 1969. Besides snooker, his hobbies were gambling with horse racing and dogs. He died of a heart attack in 1974 while playing snooker at the City Tattersalls Club in Sydney. During the game, a cash prize of $6,000 was played.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Squire, Norman Powell 1909 births 1974 deaths Australian snooker players People from Christchurch Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Australian Air Force airmen New Zealand emigrants to Australia