Dates 23 March–2 May 1936 Final city London Organisation(s) BACC | Final venue Thurston's Hall Country England Highest break Horace Lindrum (101) | |
The 1936 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament mostly held at the Thurston's Hall in London, England. There were a record thirteen entries; a significant increase from the five in the previous year and just two in 1934. Joe Davis won the Championship for the tenth time in a row, beating Horace Lindrum in the final. The final signalled that snooker became a major game, with the Daily Mail Gold Cup switching from billiards to snooker and The Billiard Player changing its name to Billiards and Snooker in October 1936.
Contents
Horace Lindrum became the first Australian to compete at the World Championship, and made the highest break of the tournament with 101 in his semi-final match against Stanley Newman.
Detail
The Championship started on 23 March, immediately following the 1935/1936 Daily Mail Gold Cup billiards tournament which has fully occupied Thurston's Hall since the beginning of the year. Sessions were extended to five frames, compared to the four frames that had been played in 1935.
The first match was between Clare O'Donnell and Sydney Lee. O'Donnell led 6–4 after the first day and 11–9 after two days. Lee won the last two frames on the final afternoon to reduce O'Donnell's lead to 13–12 and then won the first three in the evening to lead 15–13 before O'Donnell won the last three frames to win the match 16–15.
Horace Lindrum met Bert Terry in the second match. The score was level at 5–5 after the first day but Lindrum won 8 frames on the second day to lead 13–7. Terry won the first frame on the final day but Lindrum won the next three to comfortably win the match 16–8. The match ended with Lindrum leading 20–11.
Joe Davis met Tom Newman in the first match of the second week. Davis won all 10 frames on the first day and the first 6 on the second to win the match 16–0. Newman won frame 18 to end Davis's run of 17 successive frames but the match ended with Davis 29–2 ahead.
Willie Smith met Sidney Smith in the second match of the week. Sidney Smith won the first four frames and the day end with him leading 6–4. The second day was level and Sidney Smith ended the day 11–9 ahead. Willie Smith made a break of 92 in frame 18, the highest of the Championship at that stage. Sidney Smith won four of the five frames on the final afternoon to lead 15–10, needing just one frame for victory. However, Willie Smith won all six frames in the evening to win the match 16–15. Frame 30 was the closest frame on the final evening; Willie Smith winning the frame 57–54 on the final black.
Conrad Stanbury met Alec Mann in the final first round match at Burroughes Hall. Stanbury led 6–4 and 12–8. He then won the first four frames on the final day to win the match 16–8. The final score was 22–9.
In the first of the quarter-final matches Tom Dennis had to withdraw after having an operation on his right eye. As a result, Newman received a bye to the semi-final.
After a break for Easter, Lindrum met O'Donnell at Burroughes Hall. Lindrum led 8–2 and 15–5 after the first two days. O'Donnell won frame 21 but Lindrum won the match in the next frame, winning 16–6. The afternoon session ended with Lindrum 19–6 ahead. O'Donnell did not appear for the evening session and Lindrum played an exhibition match against Bert Terry.
At the same time Davis played Willie Smith at Thurston's Hall. Davis led 7–3 after the first day. He extended his lead to 10–5 and then won all five frames on the second evening to lead 15–5. Davis won the first frame on the third day to win the match 16–5, the final score being 22–9.
Brown played Stanbury in the last quarter-final match. Brown led 7–3 after the first day but Stanbury has the better of the second day and Brown's lead was reduced to 11–9 after two days. Stanbury won three frames in the afternoon and only trailed by one frame, Brown leading 13–12. Stanbury won three of the first four frames in the evening to lead 15–14 but Brown won frame 30 to level the match. In the final frame Stanbury led 45–30 with just the colours left but Brown gained points from a number of snookers and won the frame 65–45 with just the black remaining.
Lindrum met Stanley Newman in the first semi-final. Newman, the younger brother of Tom Newman, had got to this stage without playing a match. Lindrum dominated throughout, leading 9–1 and 19–1; the match finishing with the score at 29–2. Having already won the match 16–1, Lindrum made a break of 101 in frame 18, which included 13 reds, 10 blacks and 3 pinks.
The second semi-final was between Davis and Brown. Brown won the first frame to great applause but Davis led 7–3 at the end of the day. He extended the lead to 14–6 after two days, needing just two frames on the final day. The match ended quickly on the third day, Davis taking the first two frames to win 16–6. The match ended with the score at 21–10.
The final was played between Lindrum and defending champion Davis. Lindrum led 6–4 and 11–9, before Davis won four out of the next five frames with top breaks of 75 and 78 to lead 13–12. However Lindrum levelled the match at 15–15, before winning six out of ten frames to lead 21–19, and led at the conclusion of the penultimate day 26–24. He then won the first frame of the final day, before Davis won the last ten frames in a row to win 34–27, having already won the match 31–27.
Main draw
Sources:
a Clare O'Donnell did not appear for the final session of the match.