Billiards in the Twentieth Century

year."

CHAPTER I.

GREAT PLAYERS I HAVE WATCHED.

W. J. PEALL.

W. J. Peall, the great spot-stroke player and holder of the world’s record at the all-in game, was born December 31st, 1854. Like all other great players he began his billiards at an early age, though not at the tender age that many of our present-day professionals began theirs. As a matter of fact he was 13 when he first handled a cue, whereas Willie Smith was only about 10 when he first began knocking the balls about. Newman was only 9 when he began to play in his father’s room at Bow, London, and within two years had made his first hundred, and long before he was 13 had actually passed the double century. It was, however, left to W. J. Peall’s own son, the well-known Arthur Peall, who made a break of 731 a few years ago, to begin at the record early age of 61 At this tender age he used to climb on to his father’s table, and when sitting on it, knock the balls into the pockets with the side of the cue. And later on when he began to play properly he made such astounding progress that he actually made a century break by the time he was nine. It was thus a case of billiards being in the blood with the son of the old-time professional.

For many years W. J. Peall played as an amateur, and he did not turn professional until he was a few days over 26. His first match was 1,000 up for £25 a side, and though he won it easily enough he gave little promise in this match of soon becoming a great player, since with everything in his favour—the game was played on a brand new table by a celebrated firm—his biggest break was only 56!

Three years later, however, Peall was playing big billiards, for on December 11th, 1883, in a game of 1,000 up against F. White, who was in receipt of 250, he went out in four innings, the while his opponent scored four points. Peall’s breaks in this matcfi were 827 and 174 (unfinished), and his average worked out at 333.3! Five months later he made a break of 1,989 against Mitchell in a game played at Cambridge, and in this break he made a sequence of 548 consecutive spot strokes. From this time until the day when the spot stroke was finally abolished he was regularly making four-figure breaks.

This is an example of what the great spot-stroke player was capable of when he had a period of great form. In a match against W. Mitchell—who was also a great spot-stroke player—which was played at the Royal Aquarium, London, in November, 1885, he made the following breaks:

November 4th, 1380 and 1709.

November 5th, 1135.

November 6th, 1257.

November 7th, 1922.

Five four-figure breaks in four days, with an average of practically 1,500 per break.

In November, 1890, Peall made his great record of 3,304 in a match against Charles Dawson, who was in receipt of 3,000 in 15,000. Although practically the whole of this break was made up of spot-strokes, it was not, as is generally supposed to-day, composed of one great run of consecutive spot-strokes, but was in reality a series of spot-stroke breaks linked together. That is to say, after a great number of spot-strokes, position was temporarily lost for a continuance of this method of play, but regained a few strokes later. The series of spot-stroke runs which were contained in this 3,304 break were 92, 151, 123, 172, 120 and 400 consecutive pots. In this match, in addition to the big break, Peall was also responsible for such trifles as 1,637, 1,494, 1,322, half a dozen from 500 to 700 odd, a few 300’s and 400’s, to say nothing of a little 694 unfinished. His average for the whole game—misses being included as innings—worked out at the truly extraordinary one of 325!

Altogether Peall compiled during the spot-stroke days no less than 49 four-figure breaks, one of which exceeded the 3,000 mark and eight others the 2,000 mark.

At the spot-barred game Peall frequently crossed the 400 line, and occasionally made a break which exceeded 500. In those days the push-stroke had not, however, been abolished. W. J. Peall’s record break off the red ball at the in-off game is 222—his son Arthur a few years ago made 600 off the coloured ball in his record of 731.

Peall is perhaps the shortest man who ever became a great player, as he is only slightly above five feet in height. It used to be said, at the time he was making his great breaks, that his shortness was a great asset in his favour, in that he had not to bend down so much as a taller man when playing his stroke, and that consequently he could play longer than others without getting tired. In my opinion, however, there was little or nothing in this, for in the days when Peall was the greatest scoring force in billiards, players bent but little to their strokes, and it always took him considerably less than an hour to score a thousand points by means of spot-stroke play. His break of 3,304, although it caused Dawson to sit out for three sessions, only occupied two hours and 40 minutes of actual play, and this works out at a little over 1,200 points per hour.

W. MITCHELL.

William Mitchell—or Billy Mitchell as he was known to all his friends and billiards acquaintances—was born at Berkinlee, a tiny Derbyshire village about 12 miles from Sheffield, on October 13th, 1854. Like practically all other great players he began billiards at a very early age, for when only 13 years old he was employed as a marker at an hotel in Sheffield, and thus had plenty of facilities for practice. From Sheffield he went to Scarborough to a man named Bradley, who had billiards rooms in this famous watering place. So rapidly did young Mitchell improve that his employer soon arranged money matches for him, and for a considerable time this rising young player was known as Bradley’s boy.

Mitchell practised the spot-stroke day in and day out for years, and reward came at last, but it was not until he was well on in the twenties fhat he did anything very noteworthy at this extremely difficult phase of the game. His first break of real importance was one of 522, unfinished, and this contained a sequence of 171 spot strokes. The break was all the more remarkable in that he made it in a match of 1,000 up against Joseph Bennett, who was conceding him a start of 100. This break was made in December, 1879, and in the following January, in a return match of 1,000 up, against the same player—on level terms this time—he excelled his previous performance by running to game with a break of 679 unfinished which contained a sequence of 224 spot strokes.

From this time onwards Mitchell became recognized as one of the great cuemen of the day, and wherever he played he drew full houses. Spot-stroke play was greatly appreciated at the time because the colossal breaks which were destined to kill it some years later had not yet been compiled—Peall was a contemporary of Mitchell, having been born in the same year. In those days it was a comparatively new phase of the game, and a 500 break by its means was something to marvel at. Indeed, it created just as much sensation in the billiards world as a 500 break at the spot-barred game did some 20 or 25 years ago.

THE FIRST 1,000 BREAK.—If a dozen billiards players are congregated together to-day, and you ask them to tell you the name of the player who made the first thousand break in public it is unlikely that any of them will be able to answer you with any certainty. Most of them will tell you that they believe that Peall was the first to reach four figures. This great distinction, however, belongs to Mitchell, who created billiards history in this respect by making a break of 1,055, which included a sequence of 350 spot strokes on October 5th, 1882, against Peall in a match which was played at the Black Horse Hotel, Rathbone Place, London.

One of Mitchell’s most remarkable wins was in an all-in championship of 15,000 up, with W. J. Peall as his opponent. On the last day of the match, when it looked long odds on Peall’s winning, Mitchell actually scored 4,427 points to Peall’s 1,267, and in the end won comfortably by something over a thousand points.

The following is a list of four-figure breaks by Mitchell:

The break of 1,839 was compiled by 613 consecutive spot strokes.

MITCHELL AND THE PUSH STROKE.—Mitchell always disliked the push stroke which he once described as the odious push stroke, and was largely instrumental in getting the law passed which made it a foul stroke.

The following was Charles Dawson’s description of Mitchell as a billiards player when he was in his prime:

He is an excellent all-round player, with great power of cue. His great strength lies in his accurate hazard striking. He plays with a free style, and tries to avoid getting the balls too close for nursing cannons. There is not a better winning hazard striker, on which form of play he is very accurate.

As regards Mitchell’s accuracy in potting in the old days of the spot stroke, I well remember having ocular demonstration of this one night many years ago in Birmingham. I do not recollect who was his opponent, indeed if I remember aright Mitchell monopolized the table the whole of the session. First, the red went into one pocket, and then into the other, and this was continued right to the close of play. My seat faced one of these pockets, and thus I was able to observe very clearly how the red entered this pocket. And not once during the whole of the unfinished break did it so much as graze either angle of the pocket. It always appeared to travel straight to its centre.

CHARLES DAWSON.

Charles Dawson was born in Huddersfield, December 20th, 1866. He began his billiards at an hotel in his native town, where he was a marker at the age of fifteen. A year later he was put to learn a trade, and in the evenings he used to play bagatelle. Later on, when he was old enough to frequent billiards-rooms, he was continually playing pool—snooker pool was unknown in those days—and he soon became so good at potting that he could hold his own with the best players in the town.

The first billiards handicap he played in was at a billiards hall which was opened in Westgate, Huddersfield, in 1886. The heats were only 200 up, the limit man being in receipt of 100, but though Dawson owed 60 he had the satisfaction of winning the first prize, a handsome marble timepiece, which in after years he always used to regard with great pride. Although, up to that time, Dawson’s record break was only 85, he made a great name locally by winning this handicap. So much so was this the case that a well-known Huddersfield sporting man named Jackson backed Dawson for £100 to beat John Roberts in a spot-barred match of 12,000, the terms being that the great master had to concede Dawson 9,000 start on a new table to be specially put up for the match. The match was played at the Gymnasium Hall, Ramsden Street, Huddersfield, in March, 1887. To the delight of his backer and friends, Dawson not only succeeded in setting up a new personal record with a break of 116, but also won the game with the greatest ease, as Roberts only succeeded in scoring 6,780 points, whilst Dawson scored the 3,000 necessary to win. Incidentally, this match throws some light on the difference between the leading cuemen of to-day, and John Roberts. Suppose that a match were to be arranged to-day between, say, Willie Smith and some amateur who has never yet made a hundred break, the conditions to be the same as those arranged for the Roberts-Dawson match, to which reference has just been made. Does any billiards player who knows anything at all about Smith’s capabilities believe that any amateur who has never made a hundred break could score 3,000 points, whilst Smith was collecting 6,780? With Smith really out to win no amateur in the country would do anything approaching this.

As a result of Dawson’s victory over Roberts, pool players and billiards players in Huddersfield fought shy of him. Pool players barred him from their games, and billiards players left him severely alone, and as a result of this he determined to take up billiards as a profession. During the next few years he was always playing money matches and taking part in handicaps. Sometimes he won, and sometimes he lost, but he was always advancing as a player, and on February 17th, 1890, in an exhibition game with a Mr. Guy Crossland at the Borough Club, Huddersfield, he had the satisfaction of making his first four-figure break, viz., 1,001 unfinished—it contained a series of 331 spot strokes.

In the autumn of 1890 Dawson won a great game against Peall. He was in receipt of 2,000 in a spot-barred match of 9,000 up, and Peall passed him shortly after entering the last thousand, and later on the score was called 8,607—8,306 in Peall’s favour. Dawson then began to do most of the scoring, but when he went to the table for the last time Peall only wanted 15 for game, whereas he wanted 169. Playing, however, with the dogged determination which was so characteristic of the Yorkshireman, he ran to game with the 169 required to win. The following week Peall and Dawson played an all-in match, and Peall had his revenge, for it was in this match that he made his great record of 3,304, in addition to breaks of 1,637, 1,494, 1,322, and numerous others from 500 to 700 odd.

One of the most surprising finishes to a game occurred in a match between Dawson and J. Watson, which was played in Newcastle in April, 1890. The game was 6,000 up for £100 aside, and the score board showed 5,806—4,915 in Dawson’s favour when Watson went to the table. The game seemed practically over, but Watson, playing the game of his life, actually made a break of 1,075—his record—and got within 10 points of game. So great was the applause and even uproar at this great performance of Watson’s that it was several minutes before Dawson could begin the break which took him to game.

At the all-in game Dawson reached four figures on four occasions, the breaks being 1,001, 1,201, 1,207, and 1,848, the latter containing 613 consecutive spot strokes. His record break at the spot-barred game was 722, made in 1899—in those days a 500 break was considered a great performance—and his biggest red-ball break at the in-off game was 279.

E. DIGGLE.

Edward Diggle, who often used to be called the Mechanical Methodical Mancunian, was born in Manchester—this city was also the birthplace of the great John Roberts—in January, 1864. He did not begin billiards at an early age, but as he had a billiards-room in Manchester, he was always playing or practising. It was not until 1891 that he really came to the front. In January of that year he played for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Championship Cup and defeated the holder, Charles Dawson, by 560 points in a game of 3,000 up, and as he was never challenged afterwards, the trophy became his own property.

Diggle made his first 500 break—a break of 530—on November 2nd, 1893, in a match against W. J. Peall, and in January, 1895, in a spot-barred match against John Roberts at the Argyle Hall, London, he eclipsed all previous records with a break of 985. This break was made on a standard table fitted with the fast, low cushions which are in vogue to-day, but when we compare this record break of Diggle’s with the numerous four-figures breaks which stand to the credit of Smith and Newman with ivory balls it must not be forgotten that whereas all the big breaks of these two great cue-men have been made with the push-stroke barred, this 985 break of Diggle’s was made in the days when a push was not a foul stroke. Diggle made more use of the push-stroke than any of his contemporaries, indeed so much so was this the case that he was sometimes called The Push Champion. Included in this 985 break were runs of 21, 25, 37, and 41 close cannons, and not only was there no restriction in those days as to the number of close cannons which could be made by ball-to-ball strokes, but nursery-cannon play was largely composed of what Mitchell termed the odious push-stroke. Irrespective of odd push-strokes which may have been played when all three balls were not bunched, this break of Diggle’s must have contained any number of push cannons, and it is thus easily conceivable that had the push-stroke been barred in those days the break might have terminated before the first or second hundred had been reached. In comparing great players of the past with our professionals of to-day one must contrast only their push-barred records with breaks made by present-day players under more or less similar conditions. It must also be remembered that the players of the past played on tables which, when they were standard, had 3 5/8in. pockets, whereas to-day a standard pocket measures a shade less than 3 1/2in. at the fall of the slate, and this narrowing of the pocket by 1/8in., little as it may seem on paper, has made break-building far more difficult than it used to be.

PUSH STROKE ABOLISHED IN 1898.—When the push-stroke was finally abolished in 1898 it was stated that Diggle’s play would be killed by the new rule. A great player can, however, soon accustom himself to altered conditions, and though, of course, Diggle did not make quite as big breaks as he was in the habit of compiling with the assistance of the push, he crossed the 400 line and even the 500 line fairly frequently, and on February 22nd, 1902, in a match against Charles Dawson at Brighton, he made his great record of 791, which at the time was the record break at the spot-barred and push-barred game. Dawson had to sit out the whole of one session while Diggle was compiling this break, and though since that time the table has frequently been monopolized for the whole of a session by some great player or other, Diggle has the distinction of being the first player to keep his opponent from it for the whole of a session, after the rules which barred spot-stroke play and made a push a foul stroke had come into force.

To-day, if the red ball, after being potted, cannot be spotted, it goes on the pyramids spot, and then on the centre spot if potted twice off the pyramids spot. But it was not always thus. In the early days after the abolition of the spot-stroke, if the location of the object white prevented the red from being placed on the spot after it had been potted, it went, as now, on to the pyramids spot, and then no matter how many times it was sent down it was always placed on this spot. In a match against Dawson, Diggle saw an opportunity of playing a new kind of spot-stroke which was not barred by any rule. With his opponent’s ball covering the spot, Diggle potted the red and then actually put down the coloured ball no less than 56 more times off the pyramids spot. To accomplish this great and unique feat he made use of four pockets, viz., the two top pockets and the two centre pockets. This new method of play became known as the Diggle Spot-stroke, but no other player was given an opportunity of emulating Diggle’s great feat, for the governing body quickly passed the new rule which is in force to-day, and which makes the red go on the centre spot after two pots off the pyramids spot, and then back on the pyramids spot after one pot off the centre spot.

GEORGE GRAY.

In the old days, no billiards player in his first public matches in Great Britain created anything approaching the great sensation in billiards circles that George Gray did, when, as a boy of 18, he began playing in England. His fame had preceded him, for before he came to us he had already twice travelled into the ninth hundred in exhibition matches in Australia. When it was known that Gray was on his way to London, speculation was rife both amongst amateurs and professionals as to what breaks he would compile in this country. I remember discussing the question with a well-known professional. Something like the following exchanges were made between us:

How long do you think it will be before Gray makes a thousand break when he gets here? I asked.

He’ll never make a thousand break here, replied the professional.

Why not? You know very well that he has twice got well over 800 by red-ball play.

Yes, I’ve read of those breaks, but you know as well as I do what mistakes markers often make when they call out the breaks.

I know all about that, but markers or referees don’t make mistakes of hundreds. And even if we allow that either or both of these two great breaks were only 700 odd, or even only 600 odd, instead of close on 900, have you yourself ever made a 600 odd by red-ball play?

I tell you he’ll never make breaks of this size in England.

Why won’t he?

"Why won’t he? Because he’ll be up against a different class of players here. He’ll be playing on different tables, and against different opponents, too, and the English climate will also affect his play.

I don’t agree with you. A boy who has already made such colossal breaks is bound to come on a lot more in the next year or two. In my opinion, he will not only succeed in reaching four figures here, but will accomplish this more than once. You don’t believe he will make a thousand break in England because you don’t want him to.

Well, we shall see.

Yes, we shall see.

And we did see, because Gray had only been playing here for a few weeks before he made his first thousand break and in the same month that saw that great break no less than four other breaks which exceeded four figures came from his cue. Two or three months later I wrote an article on the great Australian which commenced with these words:

I confess to a feeling of disappointment when I open my paper in the morning and find that George Gray’s biggest break on the preceding day was only a mere 700 or 800.

This will show how much British players were always expecting of the Australian, and, of course, the reason that they expected so much was because he was regularly putting up such wonderful achievements. During his first season in Great Britain, Gray, in addition to making a vast number of breaks which exceeded 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900, crossed the 1,000-mark line on no less than 23 occasions. Quite a number of his compilations exceeded 1,300, 1,400, and 1,500, and in a match against the late Cecil Harverson he ran to game with a colossal 2,196 unfinished. And had this break not made him