(The Lindrum family.) Walter Lindrum with his father, brother and nephew Horace Lindrum [first from left]. ）
3. Lindrum (1936)
The 1936 World Championships was an important stop in the history of snooker's development and a watershed in the trend of British billiards. At this World Championship, the number of registered participants reached an unprecedented 13. Behind the surge in the number of participants, in addition to the rapid development of snooker itself, it has something to do with the collapse of the Billy World Championship. This brings us to a legend in the World of Billy, Walter Lindrum (1898-1960).
in Walter Lindrum
The Lindrum family is a famous billiards family in Australia, of which Walter Lindrum is one of the most outstanding. Lindlem is definitely a talented player in the Billy world, holding several of Billy's world records, and even because of him, BA&CC has modified the relevant Billy rules. Lindlem became famous as a teenager and had a high popularity in Australia, his attendance in the game was often explosive, and the Australian billy market was very hot at that time, even surpassing the United Kingdom. In 1929, The British billy champion Willie Smith visited Australia to compete with Lindrum and discuss Lindrum's trip to England. It was certainly a good thing, but the final development of the event was somewhat unexpected, as Joe Davis wrote in his autobiography, which triggered a series of subsequent changes that brought innovation to Billy, but also eventually killed Billy.
Smith and Lindrum planned to play three games, and after a draw, the third Victory in Lindrum was in sight, but his wife died of a critical illness and Lindrum immediately gave up the game. However, the death of his beloved wife indirectly promoted Lindlem's journey to England. In order to escape the pain of his wife's death, Lindrum went to England for the first time with Smith in 1929, accompanied by Clark McConaghy. After Lindlem arrived in England, he was stunned by four and constantly set a world record for Billy scoring. King George V also invited Lindrum to Buckingham Palace for a royal performance, a rare honor for the Beree players. In the British press at the time, Lindlem and Joe Davis, Newman, McConaughey and Smith were known as the big five in the Billy world.
Lindrum continued to perform in the United Kingdom, but due to various entanglements in commercial sponsorship and other reasons, Lindrum did not participate in the Billy World Championship for the first time until 1933, but once he competed, he defeated Joe Davis to win the championship. It was also the first time billy world championships had been won by a non-British player. But the next thing, it is completely off track.
Lindrum took the Billy Trophy back to Australia without permission, and then said that if he wanted to take it back, he would come to Australia. Lindrum insisted on putting the Billy World Championship in Australia, which was both financial considerations and some elements of arrogance, I was the champion, why did I have to go all the way to England to compete. Lindlem's approach annoyed BA&CC. BA&CC was furious at first, but in the end there was nothing they could do, and reluctantly agreed to put the next World Championship in Australia, which was managed by the Billy Association of Australia.
(In 1934, Joe Davis went to Australia to compete at the Billy World Championships.) McConaughey and Walter Lindrum [right] board the boat to greet Joe. ）
(The Mayor of Sydney meets joe Davis.) ）
At the 1934 Billy World Championships, only three people competed, Joe Davis, McConaughey and Lindlem. Joe was alone, on the road at his own expense, the boat stopped and went, and walked for two months to reach Australia. Joe's trip to Australia was a bit stretched because of the Impact of the Great Depression, but it coincided with Melbourne's centenary celebrations and the government gave some support to the game. But Joe's final against Lindrum ended in defeat. After defending his title, Lindrum was still reluctant to return the trophy, and BA&CC finally had to entertain himself, putting the World Championship aside and making another British championship, which was limited to British players. As a result, Lindrum held the Billy World Championship championship until he abdicated himself in 1950. During this time, no one challenged Lindrum. Billy's World Championships are like this, in name only. Lindlem himself has not since returned to England.
(Walter-Lindrum's cemetery)
Of course, the decline of billy's movement is not something that Lindlem alone can decide. The flaws of the Billy movement itself, coupled with the inefficiency of the governing body, gradually reduced Billy to a supporting role.
(Herris Lindrum)
Pull back to the 1936 World Snooker Championships. After walking a Lindrum, there came another Lindrum, Horace Lindrum (1912-1974), nephew of Walter Lindrum; but Herris came to England, mainly to play snooker.
13 people signed up, and three players drew a bye in the first round to advance directly to the second round, but the veteran Tom Dennis who bye in the first round eventually withdrew due to physical reasons; three years later, Dennis died of illness. The actual 12 players, from three countries, is also the first time in the World Championships, in addition to Lindrum, there are two Canadian players. In contrast to Billy's closed country, Snooker began to have a bit of an international model.
(Herris Lindrum as a young man)
The young Herris Lindrum made his first world championship three consecutive levels to reach the final, and in the semi-final brushed the second stroke of the world championship to break the hundred, a single shot of 101 points. In the final, Lindlem played joe Davis. The first confrontation between the two dates back to Joe's trip to Australia in 1934. Before Joe Davis left, Herris's strong mother arranged a game between her son and Joe, hoping that her son would pick out snooker first, but Joe Davis easily defeated Lindlem. In this meeting, Lindrom had a head start ahead, but Davis came behind, winning the game 31-27, after which the two played the allotted 61 innings, and the final score was fixed at 34-27.
Speaking of trends, after the 1936 World Snooker Championships, another thing happened that same year. The Daily Mail Gold Cup, which was previously sponsored by the British Daily Mail and specializes in the Professional Event of Billy, has turned into a snooker event, which has become the second professional event in Snooker history. At the same time, the identity of the player is also changing, from the previous Billy player to billy and snooker player.
Regarding the Daily Mail Gold Cup, there was an interesting incident that affected the rules of snooker clubs, which will be discussed in another article.
The images in this article are various, and I would like to express my deep apologies and gratitude to the copyright owners of the pictures.