By Elliott West
Introduction
Let’s go right back in time and look at a snooker player of a bygone age. The player in question is the London born Alec Brown. Alec the son of Alexander Brown who was a professional billiards player, was born in 1908. A winner of the 1938/1939 and the 1939/1940 Daily Mail Gold Cup, Brown was also triumphant in the 1950/1951 News of the World Tournament.
Left out in the Shadows
Snooker had to pause during the Second World War and as the country emerged from the pounding of bombs and bullets, Alec Brown was ready to hit the ground again but the call didn’t come and instead Alec was denied the opportunity to have an invitation to the prestigious News of the World tournament. Despite complaints to the players and the promoters, his gripe fell on deaf ears and Brown would have to wait another four years before with a new man in charge and a change of promoter, that Brown’s raised voice was finally heard.
However, when he did get to play in the News of the World tournament in 1950, he had to play a qualifying match. Playing Albert Brown, he only had to win one of the last seven frames but managed to lose all of them. He then had to wait until the following years to compete again, raring to go and very positive in his approach, saying:
“I told the other players that I would thrash them and that’s exactly what I did. I won all my seven matches and received £350. The victory and the two Gold Cups are obviously the outstanding memories of my career”.
Alec Brown
Brown actually earned more on the exhibition circuit than he did on the professional tour, a staggering £100 a week compared to the £4 per week as a professional during the immediate post-war years. However, tragedy struck in 1955 when the Londoner’s career was severely threatened, developing arthritis in his arms, shoulders and legs. It was a fatal blow that meant that the world championship of that year would be his last.
Impressive
Alec Brown had made his championship debut in 1936 beating Con Stanbury 16-15 in the second round before losing 21-10 to Joe Davis in the semi-final. A match where winning the first frame meant so much to him. A semi-finalist again in 1939, 1948 and 1954, Alec had been seeded to the last four when he played John Pulman in Jersey. Getting off to a great start, taking an overnight lead but had to battle with arthritis in his wrist during his performance, an excruciating condition that would lead to him losing the match and subsequently retiring.
Personal Life
Brown married his sweetheart Maureen at Caxton Hall, London in 1949, an employee of the Billiards Association and Control Club in Fleet Street with their wedding photograph appearing in several newspapers including the London Evening News. However all editorials displayed a typo under the wedding photograph, referring him to Horace Lindrum in the early editions, an error only rectified when a stern phone call was made to the offending editorial news desk.
After retiring as a professional snooker player, Brown was employed by Rotax in the aviation component’s electrical department and he never played snooker again apart from a three frame match in 1966 but he never forgot the game he so dearly loved, being a great supporter of Jimmy White in his later life. A player who he described as a natural. Alec Brown passed away in Plymouth, Devon in 1995, aged 87.
