By Elliott West
“My father Kingsley and the poet Philip Larkin both said that there is no nicer end to the day than watching half an hour of snooker. It’s restful and satisfying. The sound, the click of the balls, is soothing and civilised.”
Martin Amis
Introduction
Snooker lovers come from all walks of life and one such world is that of literature. This week came the sad news that the writer Martin Amis passed away at the age of 73 after a battle with oesophagal cancer. Martin who was the son of Sir Kingsley Amis, the author of satirical works such as Lucky Jim and Ending Up, was a devoted snooker fan for over 40 years with his love for the game starting in his 20s. Perhaps not the best at this extremely difficult cue sport, Amis was still proud that his highest break was 31 and even told Dennis Taylor on one occasion, leaving the former world champion slightly bemused and embarrassed. Yet as a devoted fan, Martin understood the true skill of being able to play snooker well. The control of the cue ball, the importance of position, the magical chemistry of the big break and the sheer art of using flamboyance work well.
Characters and True Life
You only have to delve into the literature of Martin Amis to witness how the great characters of darts and snooker fed back into the fictional characters of his novels. These individuals were shady and yet bewitching. These include Keith Talent, the untrustworthy darts player in London Fields and John Self, the rogue, a central character in the novel Money. Amis also wrote a short story entitled Snooker with Julian Barnes. A story where he takes on another fellow writer in a duel-style snooker match and the sheer rivalry that ensues. Even the players take on typically apt nicknames, Earthquake Amis and Barometer Barnes. A piece that has strong echoes of the playing careers of Alex Higgins and Jimmy White.
The Key to Success
Martin Amis believed that the key to match success was a relaxed attitude. A mindset is achieved when things are going well. Positivity creates a pendulum of change in a game, causing doubt to flood the mind of your opponent and negative thoughts to prevail. As is eloquently shown in a quote by Amis.
“I find that when things are going well, you can relax and play better, and you can feel your opponent’s confidence going. But the last time I played, I had five fouls in my first seven shots, while my opponent fluked two reds and landed perfectly on the blue both times. My bonce completely went and I hardly scored a point for three frames.”
Martin Amis
The Write Stuff
Described as the “Mick Jagger” of the literary world”, Martin Amis had a rare gift, the gift to light up the world with his words. An art that combined piercing prose with razor-sharp observational comedy. A man who was touched with his own sorrow when he lost his cousin Lucy Partington to the brutal hands of the serial killer Fred West. The cigarette-smoking author who was known for his eye for the ladies included a bevvy of beautiful women including aristocrats and writers, he was still able to mix his love of partying with his serious dedication to craft words into a perfect formula. A writer who was conscious of precision, tinkering with a sentence in his head until there was nothing wrong with it. An author who had a “constant daily urge to write”. Someone who had a unique comedy voice and ferocious, incisive wordplay.
