George Gray

The Australian George Gray seemed certain to dominate the second decade of the 20th century through his mastery of in-offs. With a total command of a relatively limited range of shots and the concentration needed to repeat them. By gauging the strength and direction of the shot so well, he could make the red travel up the table and back off the top cushion to within an inch of its previous position.

With composition balls and Rileys cushions of his own selection he could make a thousand break almost at will.

Once at Manchester his opponent and also his road manager George Nelson wanted to catch a train home to his family for the weekend. The last train on Saturday was 9.15 pm but the session did not end until 10.00 so Nelson made sure Gray was in play at 9.00 and left to catch his train secure in the knowledge that he would play out time.

              MASTER CUEMAN No 4 WILLIE SMITH

Willie Smith, a former linotype opertator from Darlington, only entered the Billiard Championship twice, and won it on both occasions. The first was in 1920 against Claude Falkiner, and then in 1923 he regained the title from Tom Newman. Willie was possibly the best non-specialised, all round billiard player of all time.

                MASTER CUEMAN No.5 JOE DAVIS           

For the first two decades of the 20th century, snooker was not taken too seriously, it was a relaxing break between the much more important bouts of billiards. One man changed this, setting the game up as a real test of strategy and skills, turning it into an exiting spectator sport and dominating it completely for over 30 years, both on and off the table. That man was the legendary Joe Davis.

             MASTER CUEMAN No.6 WALTER LINDRUM

The greatest