1935 World Snooker Championship

The 1935 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament held at the Thurston's Hall in London, England. The 1935 Championship introduced a number of significant changes. It was the first Championship to incorporate "world" in its name, being called the World's Professional Snooker Championship.[1][2] There was also a change in the organisation of the event with the matches being played consecutively at the same venue. Previously the draw for the event was made early in the season and the players made their own arrangements about the dates and venue.

World Snooker Championship
Tournament information
Dates8–27 April 1935
VenueThurston's Hall
CityLondon
CountryEngland
Organisation(s)BACC
Highest break Joe Davis (110)
Final
Champion Joe Davis
Runner-up Willie Smith
Score28–21
← 1934
1936 →

Joe Davis won his ninth World title by defeating Willie Smith 28–21 in the final, although the winning margin was reached at 25–20.[3] Davis recorded the first century break in the history of the World Championship, a 110 in his semi-final match against Tom Newman.[4]

From July to November 1934, Davis had been in Australia and from 29 October to 6 November he played an 81-frame match against Horace Lindrum which was reported as being the unofficial world championship.[5][6] Davis won comfortably, taking a winning 41–22 lead. The match ended 46–29.

Unofficial World Championship

In late June and early July 1934, Joe Davis had travelled to Australia to play in the World Billiards Championship. Davis left Tilbury on 26 June[7] and started his tour playing Clark McConachy in an exhibition billiards match in Sydney starting on 9 July.[8] Davis received a bye to the final of the Billiards Championship and played Walter Lindrum, the defending Champion, in Melbourne, from 14 to 27 October. Walter Lindrum won a close match 23,553–22,678.[9]

Davis had been due to leave Australia on 30 October but accepted an offer of a snooker match against Horace Lindrum, delaying his departure until 7 November.[10] An 81-frame snooker match was arranged to be played at the Tivoli Billiard Theatre, Bourke Street, Melbourne from 29 October[11] to 6 November with two sessions of five frames played each day.[12] Davis insisted on using the same table that had been used for the World Billiards Championship final.[13] The match was reported as being the unofficial world championship.[5][6]

Lindrum won the first two frames of the match but Davis led 6–4 at the end of the first day. Davis made a break of 56 in the fifth frame.[5] Davis extended his lead to 12–8 on the second day[14] and then won eight frames on the third day to lead 20–10. Davis made breaks of 56 and 54 on the third day.[15] Davis extended his lead to 27–13 on the fourth day[16] but Lindrum won 6 frames on the fifth day to leave Davis 31–19 ahead.[17] On the Saturday, the sixth day, Davis won 8 frames to lead 39–21, including a 50 break.[18] Davis won frames 1 and 3 on the Monday afternoon to take a winning 41–22 lead. With the result decided the match became more open and Lindrum had breaks of 54 and 80, the highest of the match.[19] The final Tuesday afternoon session was abandoned, because it clashed with the Melbourne Cup. After a final evening session of 5 frames Davis finished 46–29 ahead.[6][20]

In late November, Fred Lindrum, Horace's uncle, criticised Davis for demanding a £100 side-bet and for insisting on the use of the match table that had been used for the World Billiards Championship final against Walter Lindrum. Horace had just successfully challenged Fred for the Australian Professional Billiards Championship.[21]

Schedule
Match Dates Venue, city
Willie Smith v Conrad Stanbury8–10 April 1935Thurston's Hall, London
Willie Smith v Alec Mann11–13 April 1935Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis v Tom Newman15–17 April 1935Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis v Willie Smith22–27 April 1935Thurston's Hall, London

Detail

The opening match was the first round match between Willie Smith and Conrad Stanbury. The opening day ended 4–4 but Stanbury won five frames on the second day to lead 9–7. Smith won three frame in the final afternoon session to level the match at 10–10. Stanbury took a 12–11 lead but Smith won the last two frames to win the match.[22]

Smith played Alec Mann on the following three days. Smith won all eight frames on the first day, including a 74 break in frame 5. Mann won the first three on the second day but the score at the end of the day was 12–4 to Smith, just one frame from victory. Smith won the first frame on the third day 50–44 to win the match 13–4. The remaining "dead" frames were played with the final score being 18–7 to Smith.[23]

The following Monday, Davis and Tom Newman met in the second semi-final. Newman won the first frame but at the end of the first day Davis led 5–3, extending his lead to 10–6 after two days. On the final day Davis won the first three frames to win the match 13–6. In frame 24, a "dead" frame, Davis made a break of 110 winning the frame 135–0. Davis eventually finished 15–10 ahead.[4]

The final between Davis and Smith was held the next week, after Easter. Davis won the first four frames but the evening session was tied to leave the score at 6–2.[24] Smith then reduced the gap after the second day, with Davis leading 9–7.[25] Davis led 14–10 at the half-way stage[26] with the score at 18–14 after day 4[27] and 22–-18 after day 5.[28] After the final afternoon session the score was 24–20 and the match ended on the first evening frame which Davis won 58–39, winning the match 25–20. The remaining frames were played out with Davis eventually winning 28–21.[3] Davis scored the highest break of the final, a 92 break in frame 38, with 12 reds, 8 blacks and 4 pinks.[28]

Main draw

Sources:[3][4][22][23]

Round 1
Best of 25 frames		 Semi-finals
25 frames		 Final
49 frames
     
        Joe Davis 15  
        Tom Newman 10  
          Joe Davis 25
          Willie Smith 20
        Alec Mann 7
Willie Smith 13     Willie Smith 18    
Conrad Stanbury 12  

Final
Final: Best of 49 frames.
Thurston's Hall, London, England, 22–27 April 1935.[3][24][25][26][27][28]
Joe Davis
 England		 25–20 Willie Smith
 England
Day 1: 56–52, 65–41, 95–9, 66–37, 44–68, 62–48, 65–27, 40–55
Day 2: 26–88, 109–9, 26–77, 84–1, 53–27, 51–64, 35–85, 27–76
Day 3: 88–15, 72–44, 70–42, 60–46, 48–76, 69–45, 30–67, 43–56
Day 4: 35–69, 62–45, 104–11, 26–93, 71–34, 58–63, 50–54, 81–29
Day 5: 20–77; 35–83; 35–77, 65–55, 80–39, 100–28 (92), 44–53, 76–18
Day 6: 52–62; 64–51; 101–24 (75); 28–89; 58–39
"Dead" frames were played, Davis had won the match 25–20.

Century breaks

The 110 break by Joe Davis in his semi-final match against Tom Newman was the first century in the eight-year history of the tournament.

References
  1. "Billiards – Professional title". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 3 November 1934. Retrieved 24 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. "Canadian's bid for Snooker title". Dundee Courier. 20 October 1934. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Snooker's Pool – Davis retains the Championship". The Times. 29 April 1935. p. 5.
  4. "Snooker's Pool – The Professional Championship". The Times. 18 April 1935. p. 6.
  5. "International Snooker". The Argus. Melbourne. 30 October 1934. p. 10. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Billiards – Davis's tour at an end". The Glasgow Herald. 7 November 1934. p. 6.
  7. "Joe Davis". Dundee Courier. 28 May 1934. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Billiards in Australia". The Times. 10 July 1934. p. 7.
  9. "World's billiards championship – Lindrum retains his title – British champion beaten". The Glasgow Herald. 29 October 1934. p. 9.
  10. "For £100 Aside". Sporting Globe (Edition1 ed.). Melbourne. 24 October 1934. p. 9. Retrieved 19 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Advertising". The Age. Melbourne. 27 October 1934. p. 17. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "Snooker in Australia". The Times. 30 October 1934. p. 7.
  13. "Snooker Championship". The Age. Melbourne. 25 October 1934. p. 15. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. "Davis leads at Snooker". The Argus. Melbourne. 31 October 1934. p. 11. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "Davis Brilliant". The Argus. Melbourne. 1 November 1934. p. 17. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "Snooker Challenge". The Argus. Melbourne. 2 November 1934. p. 15. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Lindrum Improves". The Argus. Melbourne. 3 November 1934. p. 24. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "Winning lead at Snooker". The Argus. Melbourne. 5 November 1934. p. 7. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. "Snooker Challenge". The Argus. Melbourne. 6 November 1934. p. 12. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "International Snooker". The Age. Melbourne. 7 November 1934. p. 6. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. "Billiards title". The Cairns Post. Qld. 27 November 1934. p. 7. Retrieved 20 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. "Snooker's Pool – The Professional Championship". The Times. 11 April 1935. p. 6.
  23. "Snooker's Pool – The Professional Championship". The Times. 15 April 1935. p. 7.
  24. "Snooker's Pool – The Championship Final". The Times. 23 April 1935. p. 6.
  25. "Snooker's Pool – The Championship Final". The Times. 24 April 1935. p. 5.
  26. "Snooker's Pool – The Championship Final". The Times. 25 April 1935. p. 5.
  27. "Snooker's Pool – The Championship Final". The Times. 26 April 1935. p. 5.
  28. "Snooker's Pool – The Championship Final". The Times. 27 April 1935. p. 14.
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