By Elliott West
Introduction
Long before the likes of Alan Hughes and Rob Walker introduced the players for the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre, a certain Bruce Donkin donned the microphone when the World Championship first came to the Crucible in 1977. A man who lived and breathed snooker and was there when snooker first became a national institution.
Career
Donkin was first spotted by Joe Davis after the Second World War when Bruce was an aspiring amateur player and was taken aside by Davis and was anointed by Joe as a future professional player, uttering the wise words of:
“You’re good enough to be a pro, son. Keep it up”.
Joe Davis
This was just after Bruce had become Bristol amateur champion but despite this praise from the former World Champion, Donkin decided that his future was on the other side of a snooker table, promoting the sport. Bruce had learnt his trade as a child, working behind the bars in Soho owned by Tommy Leng. He went on to serve on oil tankers during World War Two and after the war joined billiard table manufacturers Jelks in the Holloway Road where he met Ted Lowe.
Lowe had been associated with the company while working to rebuild Leicester Square Hall and from this base, both their careers took off. Lowe was the general manager and both became the country’s youngest Grade A referees. Bruce used to referee for Ted in the evenings and when he couldn’t, Ted took over. Coincidentally they were also near neighbours in Streatham and so you can imagine that both their houses were awash with snooker conversion, especially after watching Joe Davis, Fred Davis, Horace Lindrum, and the up-and-coming John Pulman. Both Bruce and John couldn’t afford a car and so used to take a tube to Tooting Broadway and walk the rest of the way home.
Bruce then moved on to work for Riley’s and Ted described him as the “greatest ambassador he had ever known”. Bruce was a find salesman but Lowe believed was a slightly better snooker player. Snooker would move on from those early days and progress to the modern era and Bruce Donkin would be one of the ambassadors that moved with it.
In 1977, when Mike Watterson brought the World Championship to the Crucible in Sheffield, it was only natural that Ted Lowe and Bruce Donkin would travel with it, Ted as a commentator and Bruce, front of the house, introducing the players onto the stage. Having a great presence, being tailor-made for the job, and knowing the players inside out, Donkin was the perfect candidate. Bruce was around were there only a handful of players and now worked in an environment where over 700 professional players competed. When you had a problem, you went to find Brucie Baby and he sorted it out for you so there was often a familiar snooker face in his front room.
Summary
Bruce Donkin sadly passed away at 67 after a two-year-long battle with cancer but he will always be remembered fondly and as the man who loved what he did. If he was a stick of rock, it would have the word snooker running down it and he was definitely a trailblazer, witnessing the game in rudimentary and modern forms. Snooker would never look back and as the game grew so did the stature of Donkin. A snooker legend who will never be forgotten.
