By Elliott West
Introduction
This week during the Scottish Open, Alan McManus left an intriguing Tweet on social media about a place he would be going to film at with John Higgins and the Eurosport television crew. It read:
“Tomorrow I’m getting the chance to do some filming in a place you can hardly believe still exists. Think walking in the footsteps of snooker Tsar’s and you would be getting warm. I’ll let you know when it will be aired this week on @Eurosport. A must-see for all snooker fans”.
Subsequent to this post, Alan revealed that the team have been allowed access to film at somewhere a snooker fan could only dream to go and probably thought still didn’t exist. It is, of course, the late and great former World Champion, Fred Davis’s private snooker room in his once home.
A Hidden Gem
Fred Davis was a perfectionist and a stickler for detail and so it warms my heart that the current owners of his property, have literally kept this snooker room preserved to almost the same layout as when he was still alive. Seeing the pictures that Alan has posted, transports you back to a bygone era when snooker was in its infancy and Fred and his brother Joe would entertain a small audience by playing an exhibition match on this beautiful snooker table.
Hidden beneath a brown cloth cover, lies a snooker table that literally has Fred Davis’s DNA engrained in it. Sitting on a red stone floor and surrounded by a plush red, patterned carpet border, lies a piece of history that would make your brow and hands perspire. A table where Fred spent many an hour practicing and perfecting some of his many shots in billiards and snooker. A piece of snooker furniture that still has the original long shaded light, suspended above it.
Dotted around the room, are some of the original items that Fred would have used at the time. A table iron and brush lies perched on a chest of drawers in the corner of the room and his original piano sits in the opposite corner of the room by the window. Dotted additionally around this beautifully preserved snooker room, is a wicker trickshot basket and used and unused snooker tips.
The highlight of the room apart from the table are two photographs of Fred and his brother Joe.
Afterthought
This is probably one of those rare snooker moments that are few and far between. It is not often that someone has the privilege to get to spend some time walking in the footsteps of a snooker giant and this snooker time capsule resonates a period of snooker history that is often forgotten by the modern-day snooker fan and player. If it hadn’t been for Fred and Joe Davis, the game would have most definitely crashed and burned in its infancy. They made the game palatable and entertaining, controlling the cue ball as if it was on a piece of string and mesmerising the audience as they played with their multitude of talents. Both may no longer be with us but their legacies are etched into snooker history, snooker pioneers and journeymen that prised the floodgates open to release the modern game.
Photographs and information were collated from Alan McManus’s Twitter page.
