Sydney Raphael Lee (25 April 1910 – 10 November 1986) was an English professional

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player. He was four times a quarter-finalist in the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including ...

during the first half of the twentieth century. He was a snooker referee on ''

Pot Black ''Pot Black'' was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single , where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points, but played a large part in th ...

''. He was the game consultant for a 1970 episode of ''Steptoe and Son'' entitled "Pot Black" and, as well as performing a number of trick shots was the stand-in for many of the more difficult regular shots seen in the show.

Career

Lee enjoyed considerable success as an amateur

player. He won the boys championship in May 1925 but lost to Reggie Gartland in the 1926 event. The winner of the boys championship was presented with the "Harry Lee Challenge Cup", which had been donated by his father. He was also runner-up in the English Amateur Billiards Championship in 1929 and won it 4 times in succession from 1931 to 1934. He was runner-up in the Empire Billiards Championship in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1931 and winner when the event was next held, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1933. Lee turned professional in March 1934 after his fourth English Amateur Billiards Championship. He played competitive professional snooker in 1935, entering the 1936 World Championship. In his first match, he faced Clare O'Donnell, and having trailed 4–8, recovered to lead 15–13; however, O'Donnell won the next three frames to prevail 16–15. His effort at the next World Championship concluded similarly, Lee losing his first match 11–20 to

Horace Lindrum Horace Lindrum (born Horace Norman William Morrell, 15 January 1912 – 20 June 1974) was an Australian professional player of snooker and English billiards. Lindrum won the 1952 World Snooker Championship defeating New Zealander Clark McConach ...

, and the same followed in 1938, when he lost 7–24 to

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is ...

. Having lost to Sydney Smith in the 1939 World Championship, Lee played in the 1939/1940 Daily Mail Gold Cup; there, he defeated Smith, Walter Donaldson, Alec Brown and Tom Newman, but lost to both Joe Davis and Fred Davis. Brown finished top of the group, winning the competition. At that year's World Championship, Lee lost 11–20 again, this time to Fred Davis. Upon the resumption of that tournament in 1946, Lee had no more luck than in his previous attempts, losing his first match 12–19 to Stanley Newman. However, he did enjoy a victory in the 1947 edition, beating Jim Lees 19–16, before losing 10–25 in the second round to Willie Leigh. Lee progressed to the third round of the 1950 World Championship, defeating Canadian Con Stanbury and Herbert Holt, but lost at that stage, 14–21 to Kingsley Kennerley. Lee entered the 1974 World Championship and was seeded to the first round. There, he met

John Pulman Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He first won the title at the 1957 Championship and retained it across seven challenges ...

, but scored only 210 points as the latter whitewashed him 8–0.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sydney English snooker players 1911 births 1986 deaths Snooker referees and officials People from Streatham Sportspeople from the London Borough of Lambeth English players of English billiards World champions in English billiards English referees and umpires