1939
The first record of Jack making a century break but not the last.
1942
This was four years before he reached his first billiards final against Victor Muff, which he lost 897 – 569. I don’t think it’s that he was such a bad billiards player, but more that his peers were so much better.
1939
We must remember that Jack at this time of his career was best known as a snooker player but obviously was honing his billiards skills.
1946
Jack must have taken this from the notice board of the club where the first leg of the semi-final was played. As Jack’s name is first I presume it must have been his home club of Meltham Conservative Club
1946
On the back of the notice Jack had written down all the results from the matches that were played in the Snooker Championship that year. As it was an “Invitation” only competition there were just 16 players invited, so it only took 4 games to win it. The matches were of eight frames, four at home and four away with the aggregate score determining the winner, rather than frames won or lost. This means that you could, in theory, lose five of the frames by small amounts but win three by big margins and thus win the match.
1946
Also on the back of the notice, Jack had written down the prizes that were on offer for the competition. I presume there were prizes for losing semi-finalists as well as the Championship winner and runner up. I can remember that, although we weren’t well off, we always had good things like a canteen of cutlery, Pyrex dishes or a set of fish knives. What we ever did with a set of fish knives I don’t know, as in those days you would eat the fish out of the newspaper it came in from the chip shop.
1947
I think this was the second year that Jack entered the All England Amateur Billiards Championship and was beaten by Victor Muff, 2903 – 1567. Victor made three century breaks of 102, 107 and 191 plus nine breaks between 50 and 100, highlighting the difference in class between pupil and the teacher.
1947
Huddersfield entered/were invited to this Blackpool Inter-Town competition in season 1945/46 along with Derby and won the Oxenham Cup.
1947
As holders, Huddersfield were again in Blackpool but this year there were eight teams, not just three like the previous year. The extra teams didn’t make any difference as the team of Jack, Clifford and Selwyn, Victor and Ronnie were travelling reserves, brought back the cup. Against Bradford, Jack won 2 frames to 1, Clifford lost 2 frames to nil and Selwyn won 2 frames to nil, meaning that they won by 2 points to 1. The semi-final against the hosts Blackpool saw Clifford atone for his previous defeat by winning 2 frames to nil, while Selwyn won 2 frames to 1 thus gaining the 2 points required to win the match and meaning that Jack was not even required to play. The final against Sheffield was won without Jack playing again as both Clifford and Selwyn won by 2 frames to 1 to retain the trophy. The winners received a silver cigarette casket, and the donor of the trophy Mr. S Oxenham has said he will provide next years winners with gold watches.
Jack Mellor 