Horace Lindrum

Personal life

Horace Lindrum was born Horace Norman William Morrell on 15 January 1912 in Paddington, Sydney. He was the son of Clara (known as Violet), sister of Frederick III and Walter Lindrum. Clara was an Australian women's snooker champion in her own right. Horace was the great-grandson of Australia's first billiards champion Friedrich Wilhelm Von Lindrum and the grandson of the great billiards coach Frederick William Lindrum II.

Lindrum died on 20 June 1974 at the Delmar Private Hospital, Dee Why, Sydney. The cause of death was bronchial carcinoma. He was survived by his wife, Joy, and two daughters.

Early years

Horace Lindrum made his first snooker century at the age of 16 and his first four-figure break at billiards at the age of 18. He challenged Frank Smith for the Australian Professional Snooker Championship and on 5 December 1931, at the age of 19, won by an aggregate score of 8899–8262. Lindrum accepted a challenge from Smith for a rematch and won convincingly 8060–5942. Three years later, on 24 November 1934, he also won the Australian Professional Billiards Championship, successfully challenging his uncle Fred who had held the title since 1908. Horace won by 18,754–9,143.

Unofficial World Championship

In late June and early July 1934, Joe Davis had travelled to Australia to play in the World Billiards Championship. 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. 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. An 81-frame snooker match was arranged to be played at the Tivoli Billiard Theatre, Bourke Street, Melbourne from 29 October to 6 November with two sessions of five frames played each day. Davis insisted on using the same table that had been used for the World Billiards Championship final. The match was reported as being the unofficial world championship.

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. Davis extended his lead to 12–8 on the second day and then won eight frames on the third day to lead 20–10. Davis made breaks of 56 and 54 on the third day. Davis extended his lead to 27–13 on the fourth day but Lindrum won 6 frames on the fifth day to leave Davis 31–19 ahead. On the Saturday, the sixth day, Davis won 8 frames to lead 39–21, including a 50 break. 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. 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. Fred Lindrum 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.

World Professional Snooker Championships 1936 to 1951

Lindrum was runner-up in the World Professional Snooker Championship to the World Champion, Joe Davis in 1936, 1937 and 1946, losing all three finals. Lindrum also played in 1939, where he lost to Alec Brown in the quarter-final, and 1947 and 1951, losing to Walter Donaldson in the semi-final on both occasions.

1952 World Professional Snooker Championship

Lindrum won the 1952 World Snooker Championship beating New Zealander Clark McConachy. There were only two entries, Lindrum and New Zealander Clark McConachy, following a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC). The BACC thought the championship is primarily about honour, and financial consideration should come at second place. The PBPA established an alternative 'world championship' called the PBPA Snooker Championship.

Lindrum won the 145-frame match comfortably, taking a winning 73–37 lead early on the 10th day. The remaining 35 "dead" frames were due to be played, although in the end only a total of 143 frames were played, Lindrum winning 94–49. Lindrum described the match, over two weeks in Manchester, as the toughest battle of his career. (Snooker, Billiards & Pool, Australia: Paul Hamlyn Pty. Limited, 1st edition, 1974).

Lindrum was the only Australian to win the championship until Neil Robertson in 2010, 58 years later.

Later years

In 1957 Lindrum retired from competitive play to become an exhibition player. He had been the Australian Professional Champion 28 times. In 1963, the Australian Professional Billiards & Snooker Association asked him to return to competitive play to combat the flagging interest in the sports in Australia. The president of the Australian Association, Dennis Robinson, described Lindrum's return to competitive play as a 'magnanimous gesture', and the program published for the event contained 'A tribute to Lindrum'. Horace Lindrum won the Australian Open title that year.

Non-ranking wins: (30)

Broadcasting

At 3 pm on 14 April 1937 the BBC showed a short, 10-minute, TV programme, "an exhibition of play by Horace Lindrum and Willie Smith. This is the first television demonstration of snooker. Both the players are expert professionals. Horace Lindrum, a nephew of the great Walter Lindrum, comes from Australia and is one of the few snooker players who can rival Joe Davis, the champion." The programme was repeated at 9:35 pm on 16 April.