By Elliott West
Introduction
The year was 1952, a year that Queen Elizabeth succeeded her father King George VI after he passed away from lung cancer, aged 56 and Agatha Christie’s play, The Mousetrap began its historic run in London, first at the New Ambassadors Theatre and then its transfer to St Martin’s Theatre in 1974. Sir Winston Churchill was leading his second government since being out being ousted by Clement Attlee in 1945 and smog blankets were causing travel chaos and deaths in London.
In the world of snooker, 1952 was unique because this was the year when the World Snooker Championship had only two participants, Australian Horace Lindrum and New Zealander Clark McConachy. Held at Houldsworth Hall in Manchester and played over a mammoth 145 frames, this specific event had its own fireworks with a dispute escalating between the Professional Billiards Players’ Association and the Billiards Association and Control Council where both bodies wrangled about the importance of honour and financial consideration. A disagreement that caused all but two of the players to withdraw from the tournament. This led to the PBPA creating their own breakaway tournament which in time became the World Championship that is played today.
The Black and White Era
This was a decade when Britain was recovering from the shadows of World War Two, regeneration and employment were key to rebuilding a country that had been ravaged by a reign of bombs and lost a large number of soldiers in foreign campaigns. On home soil, snooker was having its own battle as two players got ready to take part in a fight that makes any World Championship of the modern era look like a sprint. This was hard-fought snooker where both Horace Lindrum and Clark McConachy had used every drop of their mental tank to get through a match that was run over 145 frames and ran between 25 February and 8 March 1952.
Clark McConachy hadn’t faired well prior to this tournament, winning only 11 matches in the annual round-robin handicap of the 1951/52 News of the World Snooker Tournament but he did attain a maximum break in a practice frame at the Beaufort Club in London. However, this was later disallowed as the BACC deemed the table as being slightly above the standard size. So regretfully he wasn’t able to beat Joe Davis’s record of 146.
The Match
This contest was evenly matched at the end of the first day with both players tied at 6-6. However, Horace Lindrum raced away on the second day, winning eight of the next twelve frames and extending his lead to 24-12 after the third day. All twelve frames were shared on day four, with each player winning six but Horace Lindrum still led 28-20. This was extended on the fifth day with Lindrum extending his lead to 38-22 and Horace went on to lead 44-28 at the end of the first week of play.
This was definitely a Lindrum moment and it continued to gain momentum, extending his lead to 53-32 and 61-35. With the winning line of 73 frames in sight, the Australian won another ten frames to continue his blazing trail to lead 73-37. In the end, a total of 143 frames were played with Horace winning the match 94-49. This was a groundbreaking moment in snooker with the Australian becoming the first overseas player to win the World Championship. A trailblazer in his time and followed in time by other overseas players such as Cliff Thorburn in 1980 and Neil Robertson in 2010.
