HISTORICAL POT POURRI
No sooner had my last article about the 1996 Trick-shot Championship appeared in print, than we were treated to a showing of the 1997 event. Obviously, nobody had chance to practice my suggested routines, which is no doubt why Ray Reardon's "50 Best Trick Shots" proved, once again, to be the main source of inspiration. Steve Davis attempted to demonstrate that even a 7 year old boy could make most of these shots - and his honesty was rewarded by his being declared the joint-winner! Again the highlight was provided by American Mike Massey, who produced a spectacular Pique stroke with his final effort.
The Pique is of course, a variant of the Masse stroke, essentially being a screw-back rather than a swerve, and played with the same high cue action. As the names of these strokes would suggest, they were developed on the Continent as an essential part of the close cannon game. But while the French and Americans used these strokes as a part of common positional play, the English have always applied them as a last resort.
Although the Pique had been part of the English game since the 1830's, the Masse was generally considered unnecessary while the push-stroke was still legal and it was only seriously addressed by all professional players after the push-stroke was abolished in 1898.
One of the first Continental players to display his skills in England was Claudius Berger who played against the English Champion, John Roberts in the mid-1860's. Berger was a big man, standing at 6'2" and weighed in the region of 300lb. He would perform the Masse while standing on a box, in order to give more power to the stroke! It was also considered"proper"technique to raise the bridge hand a foot or so above the ball to impart even greater power to the shot. Some players would hook a thumb into their waistcoat pocket for some much needed stability.
At this time the Pique was loosely translated as the "Harpoon stroke" in England. William Dufton, who was a leading professional player and billiards tutor to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) advised that"great care should be taken that the point of the cue shall come flat upon the table after striking, which will prevent the player's ball cutting the cloth". No doubt the Prince avoided many a nasty accident on the Sandringham table by following this good advice. However, the somewhat crude technique of powering through the shot from a great height was eventually found to be unnecessary and one of the earliest of the English players to establish this by a serious study of the stroke, was John Patrick (Jack) Mannock. Mannock's ability can be judged from a diagram appearing in his book published in 1904 and it can be seen from this, that with cue ball and object ball almost touching, and by a selection of either Pique or Masse strokes, he could cannon a ball in almost any position while moving the object ball in the same direction every time. (Ref. dotted line).
Mannock regularly managed the tours of the great American champions when they visited London. These included Frank Ives, in 1892 and Eugene Carter in 1895 both of whom stayed at the Victoria Hotel, where Mannock had his billiard rooms. His time spent with these great players was used to good effect in exploring all the possibilities associated with the close cannon game. This not only included the Masse but also the delicate side-effect shots which controlled the nursery cannon game. Ives also introduced Mannock to the anchor cannon techniques which would be used by Tom Reece, William Cook Jnr; and other leading professionals, to construct mammoth breaks in the early 1900's
Never quite reaching the top rank of professional players himself, Mannock nonetheless achieved a great reputation a coach, giving lessons to many of the rich and famous amongst London's high society. To supplement his teaching, he developed a number of innovations which were intended to assist his pupils. One of these was a special cue which was designed to "prevent making miscues especially in the Masse stroke". The shaft was parallel for the first 17" from the tip, so that the point of aim would not be deflected by the taper. It was tipped with goat's horn and was about 2/3 the length of an ordinary cue to make it easier to handle in an upright position. The cue proved so popular that Burroughes & Watts took over its manufacture, and with various modifications from the original design, (most noticeably to the length) it was still being produced into the early 1960"s. Still much sought-after by players and collector's alike, a good example of a Mannock cue will currently cost anywhere from £150 to £800.
I notice that the Northumberland cue-expert, Andy Hunter has a feature in the current issue and hopefully he will give us some more information on the Mannock cue in a later article. But for now, I'm off to practice my Pique.