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1979 Castle Open
The 1979 Castle Open was a pro-am snooker tournament held from late 1978 to January 1979 at the Castle Snooker Club. It was won by Alex Higgins, who defeated Fred Davis 5–1 in the final. The promoter, snooker professional Bernard Bennett, who owned the Castle Club, provided a prize fund of £3,500, including a first prize of £750. Almost all of the professional snooker players who were in the country at the time participated, alongside many of the leading amateurs. All matches were played on level terms; no handicaps were applied. The tournament was played across two blocks. The earlier rounds featured amateurs and lower-ranked professionals, with higher-ranked professionals joining in the second block, held from 19 to 21 January 1979. Only two amateurs progressed to the second block: 16-year-old Jimmy White and 19-year-old Tony Meo. White defeated professionals Jack Karnehm and David Taylor, and Meo eliminated eight-time world champion John Pulman. Terry Griffiths, who ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castle Snooker Club
The Castle Snooker Club was a billiard hall at 57-59 Castle Way, Southampton, England. History It was opened in 1970 by professional snooker player Bernard Bennett. Snooker historian Clive Everton described it as "the earliest of the new-style snooker establishments which were to replace the dingy, disreputable billiard halls of old." It was the venue for Bennett's 1971 challenge match against Rex Williams for the World Billiards Championship (English billiards), World Billiards Championship. Williams retained the title, winning by 9,250 point to 4,058. The 1972 World Snooker Championship qualifying match between Bennett and Graham Miles was held at the club; Miles won 15–6. As of 1999, professional player Duncan Moore coached at the club. Bennett died in 2002, having seen the Club resognised as an accredited centre by snooker's governing body. The club closed in June 2007. Castle Open The Castle Open was a pro-am snooker tournament staged at the Club several times during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Charlton
Edward Francis Charlton (31 October 1929 – 7 November 2004) was an Australian professional snooker and billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title. He later became a successful marketer of sporting goods, launching a popular brand of billiard room equipment bearing his name. Early life Charlton was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and came from a sporting family. His grandfather ran a billiards club in Swansea, New South Wales, and Charlton began playing cue sports when he was nine years old. At the age of eleven, he defeated fellow Australian Walter Lindrum in a wartime snooker exhibition match, and he made his first century break when he was seventeen. He was involved in numerous other sports during his youth: he was a first-grade footballer and played in the Australian First Division Football (soccer) for ten years; he was a champion surfer, and played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Darrington
Mike Darrington (born 13 September 1931) is an English former professional 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. Career As an amateur, Darrington was the Home Counties snooker champion seven times, and defeated Steve Davis in the 1978 English Amateur Championship. He also won the first Zimbabwe Open in November 1981. He turned professional in 1982. His only professional tournament in his first season was the 1983 World Championship; he faced Rex Williams in the first qualifying round, and lost 0–10. During the next season, Darrington recorded the best performance his time as a professional would bring, in reaching the last 48 at the 1983 International Open. There, he defeated Ian Williamson 5–3 before losing 2–5 to Silvino Francisco. At ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Williamson
Ian Williamson (born 1 December 1958) is an English former professional snooker and English billiards player. Biography Ian Williamson was born on 1 December 1958. His father was Jim Williamson, founding proprietor of the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds. Williamson was runner up in the English Under 19 English billiards Championships in 1975 and 1976. He lost the 1975 final to Eugene Hughes and the 1976 final to Steve Davis. In 1976, he beat Davis in the semi-final of the Under-19 Snooker championship before losing to him later the same day in the billiards final. Williamson won the Under-19 billiards title in 1977 and 1978, beating John Barnes in the final both years. He was also a semi-finalist in the 1978 English Amateur Championship, beaten 8-4 by Joe Johnson His application to become a professional snooker player in 1980 was refused, along with that of Eugene Hughes, whilst Tony Knowles was the only one of three applicants at the time to be accepted. The following yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Watterson
George Michael Edwin Watterson (26 August 1942 – 8 March 2019) was an English professional snooker player, businessman, sports promoter and television commentator. Watterson established the UK Snooker Championship and moved the World Championship to the Crucible Theatre, where it has remained ever since. He also created the World Professional Darts Championship, staged the first floodlit cricket in Britain and had a stint as chairman of Derby County. Early life George Michael Edwin Watterson was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire on 26 August 1942, the son of steelworker George Watterson and Olive (née Pilkington), and was the third of four children. Business activities Watterson's early business career saw him work as a wages clerk and then as a car dealer. He was a salesman with the Sheffield-based Vauxhall dealers, Bentley Brothers, and was one of the first people in the country to sell the Vauxhall Viva when it was introduced in 1963. In 1977, his late wife, Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Harris (snooker Player)
Bob Harris (born 12 March 1956) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Harris was expelled from school at the age of 15, and started playing snooker matches for money. In 1981, He made a championship record of 123 on his way to reaching the southern area final of the English Amateur Championship, finishing as runner-up after being defeated 9–13 by Vic Harris. He became a professional player in 1982. In the 1982–83 snooker season, Harris lost his first professional match, 4–5 to George Scott in the qualifying competition for the 1982 International Open. In his next tournament, the 1982 UK Championship, he defeated Graham Cripsey 9-6 and Mike Watterson 9–3 to reach the first round of the main competition, where he was eliminated 6–9 by Patsy Fagan. He reached the same stage in the 1983 UK Championship, winning 9–8 against Eddie McLauglin and 9–3 against Jack Fitzmaurice before a 7–9 loss to Ray Reardon. He equalled this progress by reaching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Fitzmaurice
Jack Fitzmaurice (25 April 1928 – January 2005) was an English professional snooker player. Career Born in Solihull, Fitzmaurice was runner-up in the English Amateur Championship in 1958, defeated 8–11 by Marcus Owen in the final. He turned professional in 1981 at the age of 53. He reached the last 32 of the 1982 World Snooker Championship, defeating Mario Morra 9–7 before losing his match against Kirk Stevens 4–10. At the time of Fitzmaurice's death, the 548 minutes match duration of his defeat of Morra was still the longest best-of-seventeen frames match on record. Fitzmaurice never again progressed beyond the last 32 of a ranking tournament, recording his final victory at the 1997 European Open, 5–4 over Ian Glover. Without a ranking after the 1998–99 season, he played his final match in 2001 at the World Championship, losing 0–5 to Carl Stringer, and subsequently left the tour, concluding his professional career aged 73. Personal life Fitzmaurice died in Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoff Foulds
Geoffrey Foulds (born 20 November 1939) is an English former professional snooker player. He is the father of fellow professional snooker player Neal Foulds. Career Born in 1939, Foulds turned professional in 1981 after a successful amateur career that included winning the London championship in 1971 and each year from 1975 to 1979. His first two seasons brought little success, but in the 1983–84 snooker season, he reached the last 32 at the UK Championship, where he defeated Steve Duggan 9–8 and Les Dodd 9–7, before losing 1–9 to Steve Davis. The next season saw Foulds progress to the last 48 at the 1985 Classic, beating Bob Chaperon, Frank Jonik and Jack Fitzmaurice to set up a meeting with Mike Hallett. Foulds lost 4–5. A run to the same stage of the 1985 World Snooker Championship, featuring victories over Maurice Parkin, Clive Everton and Colin Roscoe, was ended with a 6–10 loss to Joe Johnson. Foulds' son, Neal, had joined him in the professional ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Newbury
Steve Newbury (born 21 April 1956) is a former Welsh professional snooker player from Neath. Career Amateur career He started playing snooker in Neath. As an amateur, he reached the final of the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1978, where he was defeated in the final by Alwyn Lloyd. On his way to the final he defeated Terry Griffiths, a fateful win that encouraged Griffiths to turn professional as he could no longer qualify for the World Amateur Championship, and within 12 months Griffiths was the world professional champion having won as a qualifier. Newbury won the 1979 National Pairs Championship (with Cliff Wilson), and the 1980 Welsh Amateur Championship. At the 1980 World Amateur Snooker Championship, he was eliminated by Jimmy White in the quarter-finals. Professional career Newbury turned professional in 1984. In his first professional tournament he reached the last-16 of the 1984 International Open. He was a quarter-finalist at the 1987 Grand Prix, a run which includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Spencer (snooker Player)
John Spencer (18 September 1935 – 11 July 2006) was an English professional snooker player. One of the most dominant players of the 1970s, he won the World Snooker Championship three times, in 1969, 1971 and 1977. He worked as a snooker commentator for the BBC from 1978 to 1998 and served for 25 years on the board of the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), including a stint as chairman from 1990 until his retirement from the board in 1996. Born in Radcliffe, Lancashire, Spencer started playing snooker on a full-sized table at age 14 and compiled his first century break aged 15. He was conscripted for National Service at age 18 and lost interest in playing snooker for over ten years before taking it up again in 1964. He reached the final of the English Amateur Championship for three years in a row, claiming the title at his third attempt in 1966. He turned professional in 1967—the same year as his amateur rivals Gar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Reardon
Raymond Reardon (8 October 1932 – 19 July 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player who dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and claiming more than a dozen other professional titles. Due to his dark widow's peak and prominent eye teeth, he was nicknamed "Dracula". Until his mid-thirties, Reardon worked as a coal miner and then as a police officer while pursuing snooker at an amateur level. His titles during this era included six consecutive Welsh Amateur Championships from 1950 to 1955 and the English Amateur Championship in 1964. He turned professional in 1967 and became World Champion in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1978; he was also runner-up in 1982. His other major tournament wins included the inaugural '' Pot Black'' tournament in 1969, the 1976 Masters, and the 1982 Professional Players Tournament. The first player to be ranked "world number one" when world rankings were introduced during the 1976–77 s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Miles
Graham Miles (11 May 1941 – 12 October 2014) was an English snooker player. Career Miles turned professional in 1971. He first gained recognition in 1974, when he reached the final of the World Championship, losing 12–22 to Ray Reardon. As he was left-eye dominant, the right-handed Miles developed an idiosyncratic sighting style with his cue crossing his chin on the left side. This style became more pronounced over time, to the point where the cue ran beneath his left ear. Miles became one of the best known players in Britain, in an era when there was little televised snooker other than the ''Pot Black'' series. He won this tournament at his first attempt in 1974 (after entering as a late replacement for Fred Davis, who withdrew because of illness) and again in 1975. Other notable moments in his career included reaching the final of the 1976 Masters, where he again lost to Reardon. The 1978/79 season saw something of a purple patch for Miles. At the 1978 UK Championship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |