Fred Davis v Warren Simpson - 1960
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Contrary to the title card, John Pulman was World Champion at the time, and Warren Simpson wasn't, and never has been, the World Amateur Champion -- a tournament that has only existed since 1963. Fred Davis staged a series of exhibitions in a world tour in 1960 which included stops at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, as well as various cities in Australia. According to North Wales Weekly News (21 July 1960) Davis played a number of players from Canada, Australia and South Africa. The paper reports that this break was broadcast on the 'National Broadcasting Station of Australia' (presumably ABC?), so it was a televised century break that preceded those of Joe Davis (filmed 1962) and Mark Wildman (broadcast 14 November 1960).
Simpson was runner-up to Spencer in the 1971 World Final.
I can't say for certain which city this was filmed in. If anyone knows, leave a comment.
Lovely to see this - thanks for posting. I was lucky enough to meet Fred in 1974 when he stayed at a hotel I was working in. I’d noticed a booking for Rex Williams and thought, interesting, same name as the snooker player. Being a huge Pot Black fan I was gobsmacked when he walked in with Fred Davis & Sidney Lee, the Pot Black referee. I had a chat to them and they said they were playing an exhibition at the working men's club. Come along, said Rex, tell them I invited you. Which I did, obviously! They were all lovely and gave me an autographed copy of the Pot Black book. Great memories.
Class story 👌
Wonderful to see the Great One obviously still in his prime, playing for all the world as sharp and accurately as any of the dozen or less great players of today. I well remember those heavy cloths, tricky rails and comparatively lifeless balls, which makes a century clearance like Fred's even more impressive. Thanks so much for this post.
Never seen Fred Davis close to his prime before. He could play a bit: total clearance and one shot left handed!
Played at a good speed too. Squint a bit, and it could be Dennis Taylor, but he looked better with his left hand.
Yes, the left-handed shot is interesting as Ronnie was accused back in the 1990s of being disrespectful for playing left-handed. Yet Fred was obviously doing that decades before.
Fred hated using the rest and was decent left handed.
@@rubsey1 "decent".
There it is in black and White.
Amazing how populsr snooker was even before the days of colour TV with the massive audience watching.
Looks freezing in there. Heavy cloth and balls, could hardly see through the smoke and calmly knocks in a century! Great bit of footage.
Amazing to see the standard he was able to achieve - playing on much heavier and very different tables than today. He makes the break as quickly as the fastest players today as well. And notice the crowd - all wearing big winter overcoats so suggests it was cold conditions to play in. Makes the break even more of an achievement. Keep making these vintage clips available 👌🏻
Yeah you can just see how different the balls are, hence the lack of reaction on the cue ball. Mark Williams would still be able to play with this gear as he plays in very much the same Manner
Proves today's players are no better than the players ever were.
@@chrisdowling8094 Well Fred Davis I’ve no doubt would of been great with the modern tables and balls. I’m always pushing this point in cricket and how fast bowlers in particular have not improved or gotten any quicker
@@chrisdowling8094
If all the greats were all playing right now at the peaks of their careers, I highly doubt one person would be invincible. Nobody's invincible today, so nobody would be.
Fred is forgotten today but he was still a top player deep into old age. Made centuries at the crucible when he was in his late 60s, maybe older. A legend.
That is just awesome from a true legend of the sport.. Heavy cloth on a slow table .. Heavier balls in those days.. And knocks in a century.. Brilliant stuff..
Fred Davis was a true great of the game. He got to the semi final of the World Championship in 1978.
He was a bridge between the game his brother gave us and the modern era.
and got to the quater final in the uk championship in 1980 age 77....lost to alex higgins
a year earlier in 1979 Higgins beat him in the world championship quarter final
Quite unbelievable!!! To see such footage from the archives is amazing.
I saw Fred play well into his sixties on more than a few occasions...he was always wonderful to watch and exuded a class that only a handful of todays players share....consider also the balls Fred and his contemporaries were using were heavier and considerably harder to manipulate than todays players enjoy.
I remember him on television still playing in the 70s and 80s and I can mainly remember him laughing and not taking it too seriously.
Wasn't he 70 when he played at the Crucible in the World Championship for the last time? Lost 10-4 to Bill Werbeniuk in the first round. He only retired from playing in professional tournaments in 1991 or 1992!
Were they the ivory balls?
@@dvidclapperton Ivory was never used for snooker
@@dvidclapperton No. Ivories were never really used for professional snooker. They were phased out in professional billiards in the late 20's. You could only get five billiard balls from an average sized tusk. Therefore you could say that three elephants would have to be slaughtered to make one set of snooker balls. Thank goodness the Crystalate and Bonzoline balls soon became more popular!
That was more exciting than anything I saw Peter Ebdon do … *EVER*
What people forget about those days is that the top players had to contend with playing in temperatures of approximately minus 10 as evidenced by the coats - and even gloves - being worn by the audience.
Great clip of Fred making a century. He could also switch to his left hand. Had a great style. Thanks for sharing
The was one commentary incident from Ted Lowe some time in the 80s when Fred Davis was in his mid to late 60s and was struggling to stretch on a shot that required him to put his leg up on the table, so instead he got back up and played the shot left-handed, with Ted saying and then after pausing a little, trying to overcompensate:
'Fred Davis, the doyen of snooker, now 67 years of age and too old to get his leg over,...............so he prefers to use his left hand instead'.
Marvellous snooker in the 60s. Fred Davis just like god of snooker back to then. He played the yellow left handed with no hesitation. All respect to you Fred. Thank to ur clearance i can see that how good u are even though the conditions at that time were so poor. Thanks for these vintage clips @mjtsnooker
His brother Joe was the real master, I think that Fred only beat Joe twice in a tournament, Joe Davis won the title fifteen times.
@@honestchris7472
Fred also won the world title 8 times.
Fred becoming better than him is one of the reasons Joe retired.
@@michaeltrumph121 Joe was twelve years older than Fred and that was the reason he retired, not because Fred was beating him, in fact the record of the times they played is very heavily on Joe`s side. Fred first won the title in 1948, Joe retired in 1946. The modern era is far more competed for by many players, in Joe and Fred`s time, very few players entered or were allowed to enter, sometimes only ten competed.
@@honestchris7472
Before he retired, Joe was losing lore than winning against Fred.
I know there was less competition back then, Joe was blocking potential threats to his rule.
@@michaeltrumph121 As I said, he was 12 years older than Fred so perhaps that was the reason that Fred could finally beat him, not that I have bothered to find out if that was correct that he was losing to Fred.
Seen Fred play a few times on tv and he was excellent and very funny, but my dad used to say he wasn’t as good as his brother Joe but Fred was the goat for me I don’t think any of today’s players could play in those conditions
A Century break in 6 minutes ! Great play Fred.
A few years later Alex Higgins did 104 in 2 minutes 55 seconds. The video is on CZcams
@@denisdaly1708 the fastest century break made by Tony Drago
Great snooker player. Also let’s not forget that Fred Davis was also World billiards champion. Great video.🇬🇧👍
Copyright: Ray & Claude Harris. R. Claude Harris was a long-term billiards and snooker administrator, President of the Victorian Amateur Billiards Association and the Australian Amateur Billiards Council in the 50s and 60s - he takes the microphone at the end of the clip. Festival Hall in West Melbourne was Melbourne's largest indoor venue for many years (capacity 1700+), it had no heating hence all the overcoats. It is likely George Ganim Snr in black in the front row, level with the black spot. The exhibition was on July 7 1960, just three weeks before Walter Lindrum's death.
@mjt_snooker, did you see this comment?
Wow! Thanks for uploading this. People forget how niche a sport snooker was before Pot Black came along and brought it to the masses. It may be from 1960, but it feels like a former universe.
And we have David Attenborough to thank for Pot Black.
And this guy was playing long enough that he actually played against Ronnie O’Sullivan. (Preliminary rounds of the 1992 Grand Prix)
Talk about longevity. He really did love the game, arguably more so than Joe.
I had to google this to confirm it. Absolutely crazy that match happened! He does remind me of Dennis Taylor here.
They all love the game. But some love winning even more than they do loving the game
That is a crazy stat. The 1948 champion played the 2022 champion in a competitive match. That's absolutely nuts.
@@CasperLDFred was a professional at 16 in 1929. Made his World Championship debut in 1937 at Thurston’s Hall, London.
Thank you mjt so much for this upload. This is absolute snooker gold.
Love how the other player pushed the pink back to the referee with his cue after Joe potted it. 😂
Fred Davis not Joe Davis.
When I was a young whipper snapper & lived in South Melbourne I climbed up a wall at St Lukes & sat on a window sill & Watched the greatest WALTER LINDRUM give an exhibition...I was only a youngster, but I have never forgotten his display...An absolute WIZARD...
Yes. Walter was probably the greatest cueist who ever lived. Some of those vintage films of his billiards exhibitions when over sixty years of age are just mesmerising. I don't think it would have mattered whether it was English Billiards, snooker or pool - Walter would have beaten anybody of any era at any one of those games. Just imagine him with modern balls, modern cloths, modern venues - the mind boggles.
Wow. he was fast wasn't he? Really nice find - thankyou.
Brilliant post, thanks a lot , superb to see Fred at his peak.
“Can you put your messenger pigeons on silent please”
Fascinating film. Everyone so close to the table wearing winter coats and having conversations during play. What's more scary is that when this took place in 1960 I was 19 years old. How things have changed, but snooker is as popular as it ever was.
Snooker was often on TV in those early days in black and white. In fact I recall that one commentator once said "For those with black and white televisions the green ball is the one behind the yellow ball", or words to that effect.
Fred and brother Joe were local and my dad used to drink with one of them (can't remember which) at our local pub.
Whispering Ted Lowe, was it?
Wonderful break. Thanks for the upload 🙏
Fantastic, thank you. What a beautiful, simple action Fred had, dead straight cue action and a perfectly still head.
The corner pockets at the black spot end look tiny, perhaps that's a camera illusion because the middle ones look enormous! It's interesting to see how lively the side cushion seems too, and he hardly needed to use the top cushion at all!
I did see Warren Simpson play a lot of snooker and new him as well when I worked at City Tattersalls Club . I also got to see Norman Squire as well and was there the night he died while playing .
sweet, I never got to see warren who also made pub pool tables
Why just 10 reds??? Was that the format in those days??… awesome video though… makes you wonder how good he would be playing with all today’s advancements… tons back then couldn’t have been too easy though he made it look pretty easy
I guess because it was an exhibition match? With those slow conditions, the reds were hard to break up, so there's more chance of a break with 10?
Yes , table conditions were not as good then and the balls were heavier so this is impressive from Fred and yes he did make it look easy. I make a 20 break look a lot harder than this, haha
The ten reds was because the film cameraman informed them beforehand that there was not enough film in the camera for a full frame, so they agreed to play a frame with the top five reds removed. Fred knew he was being filmed, for this frame only.
Fred Davis was certainly very gifted...with heavy cloths and balls, an amazing clearance.
West of England Match cloths- like fireside rugs!
What an absolute Gentleman of the Sport, Fred Davis one of the very best, ever.
Wow, it's great to see just how good Fred was in his prime. Very nice to watch.
A pleasure to watch history and greatness. Thank you for sharing.
Yes, a rare treasure.
Wow, the audience have a great view. Couldn't get any closer!
This was filmed, not live TV, and I'm not sure it was ever broadcast. Perhaps an excerpt, for the news. The frame was only ten reds because the film camera didn't have enough film for continuous coverage of a full-length frame. As far as I know this was the only frame that was filmed, so Fred was motivated to put on a good show.
And Fred still made a Century with five reds less than normal , that makes the break even more impressive 😎
@@PhilipKerry Indeed! A brilliant player, no doubt about it.
Most televised snooker matches in the UK were pretty much demonstrations in those days. The 1962 century by Joe was no exception. They were done as a filler in on Grandstand and shown when outdoor sports such as horse racing, were affected by bad weather. The other players were instructed to open the balls to enable the master (Joe) to try to make a big break. Notice in Joe’s break, Pulman hit the pack unusually “full” on his break off, leaving the white at the top end amongst the reds.
@@chrisbland6942 Only it was Fred playing not Joe ........
Can you imagine todays players in this environment, people so close you could touch them, whispering moving and smoking.
Great standard, well done 👏👏👏
Nice to see and know that the oldies were just a good and could be fast as the good television era moderns!
Fantastic video. What a great clearance. A couple of good long pots and then Fred had the cue ball on a string. Don't be fooled by the back and white. An exhibition table in 1960 was probably as good as an exhibition table now. It's not some worn out working man's club table. You can see by the ball reaction it's good, even though it looks cold. Modern Aramith balls came out in 1950.
Fantastic break this. Great control of the cue ball. And look at 5:15 in the video here: He played the yellow ball left handed.
Wow, what a find this is. How did you manage to come by this old footage? Thanks for posting anyway
I've got a couple of tickets for the snooker exhibition love...oh and don't forget yer coat.. bloody hell this just shows what a depressing era this was.
As good a break as you’d see today, great stuff. I noticed that he changed hands for a shot too. Mad to think that Ronnie was getting press about it and Fred was doing it 30 plus yrs earlier.
Fred at this era can definitely compete all today's top players. Cannot even imagine Joe at his prime.
That's probably the first time I see Warren Simpson in action (even if just for the break-off). I'd like to know if there are other footages of the Australian. Fred was an amazing player, I'd love to see play him in his prime.
I'd heard a bit about Warren Simpson,largely from Clive Everton's writings,and was interested to see what he looked like and how he played.
Looks so cold in there. I wonder if a modern player could make a 50 in those conditions? If the cold didn't get them, the smoke in the eyes would.
Probably not. All the top players would struggle to make a decent break in those conditions
Fred had a century aged 64 in the 1978 World Championships against Kirk Stevens. Kirk was 19 then. Its on UTUBE somewhere.
Wow, that was fairly nippy! This is a gem of a video.
Marvelous bit of footage. I can't believe the crowd sitting with their heavy coats on .... Was it that cold? The players seemed ok with it.
Fred was a great player,I remember when he made it the World's late in his career.
Still impressing the crowds back then. These guys are geniuses. The backswings and follow throughs seem different to the long lazy pausey actions we see in todays game.
Just find out on the amazing on-line archive of the Australian National Library a copy of "The Bulletin", date 13 Oct. 1954. You can read inside that in Brisbane Australian Warren Simpson defeated 8-3 Englishman Frank Edwards to win the "world amateur title", setting also Australian amateur break record with a 92 against Bob Marshall. Don't know what tournament that was and why it was considered a world title, but that's probably why in the snippet there is that assertion.
Nice find. That must be what they're referring to.
Lovely man and what a great player fir more than six decades…!
Joy to watch.
Days long gone.
Fred's average shot time on the break was just under 14 seconds, amazing.
I had no idea Captain Mainwaring played snooker….His opponent this night was Peter Sellers, who didn’t get a look in.
This is classic old school stuff. Chalking the cue maybe every third shot, using a loop bridge for the draw shot, guy two feet away blowing smoke in your face.
This is wonderful. Also note that Davis switched hands for the yellow
Fred and Joe were also great billiard players.
Audience so close, all with big heavy coats on , moving around talking, some even smoking cigarettes, just classic, wow how the game has changed Brilliant footage
Thank you for sharing this
Fred Davis making a very difficult game look easy.
It seems at that time the game was with 10 red balls only.
Amazing to see a player playing that good with left and right hands at that time.
The reason the crowd was that close was so they could breathe on the players to keep them warm...
And to see through the somke!
Look how close the audience are to the table
Fred Davis always reminded me of my late gfather (also called Fred) in looks & stature, both were great gentlemen
According to Frank Callan, a legendary English snooker coach, every bit as good as his brother for several years
just brilliant. Is it my eyes , There does not look 15 reds there??
Brilliant footage
For those in black and white the yellow ball is behind the pink 😳
You beat me to it.
Wow. Thanks so much.
Alain Robidoux does not approve of that yellow lol
Fred had a proper 100 break at the Crucible in 78
79.
Must have been really cold there. Everyone in the audience seems to have a heavy coat on !
Fred Davis's bridging hand and cue ball address is almost identical to that of Dennis Taylor.
That must have been hard for the people in the audience watching that in black and white ;-)
That's a colourful comment.
Less than 12 years later Alex Higgins was world champion
What's that got to do with this video
Shows how much the game had changed in such a short time.
Judging by the thick coats it was very cold in the hall. Wonder if this was a problem for the players? No heated tables in those days either.
Great video and great player
Great break nice to watch
His cue action never changed either.
That was a fantastic break
Less red balls unless i gone crazy !! Still beautiful cueing and cueball control !!
Strange break-off by Simpson and it must have been a bit cold in Festival Hall, as the spectators are in thick overcoats.
Good to see Fred doing his stuff back then. Is that Ray Reardon sitting in the front row behind the middle pocket?
Yes, some of those olde-worlde players were amazing. I think Joe Davis had about 15 or twenty world championships under his belt.
With old Uncle Albert Tatlock in the audience … legendary star of Castration Street.
Amazing, new respect for Fred!
Festival Hall is in Melbourne.
Any know if this was full size table? Baulk line makes it look like a 10 footer. Could just be camera tho.
Notice how the low camera angle from the side makes the table look like a pencil, the same angle from the end makes the table look square
So strange to see this with the people bundled up like there freezing and smoking cigarettes and real sportsmanship, unlike today.
Is no one going to mention the guy in the second row with ears like dustbin lids?
Nosferatu you mean?
@@bramjanssens9996 No. He's in the front row. The bloke behind with elephant ears. Every time he turns he smothers the chap next to him.
@@davidcopson5800 hahaha.. true..
Interesting breakoff shot.
Exhibition game, so the break is intended to leave balls available.
He even chucked in a left handed yellow 👍
103 break with a left handed yellow. This was when he was past his best in 1960 when he was roughly the age that Ronnie is now.
8 times World Champion, he would make the World semi final in 1978!!
Yep probably would have won a few titles in the 70s had ge been at his peak. Joe Davis would have dominated the 70s in his peak though. 😊
Wow strange break off!
Fine play and a knowledgeable crowd, not just clapping everything.