Alexander Edward Brown (27 May 1908 – 3 September 1995) was one of the leading professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...

players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. Brown was a former speedway driver. He was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the son of Alexander Brown, a professional billiards player. Alec Brown became a professional player aged 14. The official rules of both snooker and billiards state that "A cue shall be not less than 3 ft (914 mm) in length and shall show no change from the traditional tapered shape and form, with a tip, used to strike the cue-ball, secured to the thinner end." This rule was introduced following an incident on 14 November 1938 when Brown was playing Tom Newman at

Thurston's Hall Thurston's Hall was a major billiards and snooker venue between 1901 and 1955 in Leicester Square, London. The hall was in the premises of Thurston & Co. Ltd which relocated to Leicester Square in 1901. The building was bombed in 1940 and reopen ...

in the

1938/1939 Daily Mail Gold Cup The 1938/1939 Daily Mail Gold Cup was a professional snooker tournament sponsored by the ''Daily Mail''. The cup was won by Alec Brown with Sidney Smith finishing in second place in the final table. It was the fifth Daily Mail Gold Cup tournamen ...

. In the third frame, Brown potted a red, after which the cue ball was left amidst several reds, with only a narrow way through to the black, the only colour not , and which was near its spot. Playing this with conventional equipment would have been awkward. To the surprise of spectators, Brown produced a small

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an i ...

-sized cue from his vest pocket, chalked it, and played the stroke. Newman protested at this. The referee, Charles Chambers, then inspected the implement, a strip of ebony about five inches long, with one end having a cue tip. Chambers decided to award a foul, and awarded Newman seven points. In response to questions, the referee quoted the rule that said all strokes must be made with the tip of the cue, so he did not regard the "fountain-pen cue" as a valid cue. Eight days later, the

Billiards Association and Control Council The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) (formerly called the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC)) was the governing body of the games of English billiards and snooker and organised professional and amateur championships ...

, which owned the rules, met and decided to introduce a new rule, which has been developed into today's version: "A billiards cue, as recognised by the Billiards and Control Council, shall not be less than three feet in length, and shall show no substantial departure from the traditional and generally accepted shape and form.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament wins

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Alec 1908 births 1995 deaths English snooker players English players of English billiards Snooker players from London