Historical Pot Pourri
I was interested to read of the player in this year's Amateur Championship who was reprimanded for his style of clothing. Tantalisingly little information was provided, leaving the reader to imagine just what sort of outrageous attire could have warranted such a rebuke.
Dress code for players is not a new topic and has always been a subject to a mixture of public convention and personal opinion. In the 1850's participant's in public matches would usually play in a frock coat, and often also wear a hat. But even at this time there were no hard and fast rules. On 18th October 1866 in a match against John Roberts Senior at the St.James Hall, London, Charles Hughes raised a few eyebrows when he appeared wearing a flannel shirt and a pair of red carpet slippers. Roberts himself invariably wore a soft felt hat during his games. By 1870, the wearing of coats had generally been discarded in English billiards, although the French and American players retained this tradition well into the following century. The editor of the original Billiard Dress Code for the EABA?
Player magazine was obviously one of the "old school" for he once wrote: "It would be interesting to know whence arose the practice of leaving off the coat when playing billiards. There is nothing dignified in a man in shirt sleeves and nothing but custom now urged in favour of what could only have been regarded as a barbarous innovation. No man in a civilised society would take off his coat under the plea of being too warm, and even when gardening many would prefer to exchange into a lighter coal than to wear none at all."
Hats however, and especially top hats, remained a frequently seen accessory for the well dressed English billiard player. Prominent players who continued this tradition right up to the beginning of the 20th century included John North from Bristol and Manchester professional, Billy Moss.
The following is the account of an incident in Manchester in 1877 which involved Moss and his famous hat: "We spent a somewhat hilarious evening, which culminated in an excitable frequenter of the place knocking Moss s silk hat into the fountain which adorned the centre of the hall. This was little short of an act of sacrilege, for even Moss's most intimate friends had never seen him without his hat. He wore it at meals, and when he played billiards; indeed, he was popularly believed to sleep in it, and it came as quite a shock, even to those who knew him best, to realise that he was perfectly bald." Billy Moss was reputed to be as a good a fighter as he was billiard player, but it is not recorded whether the "excitable" one found this out.
There is little doubt that fashions are set to a large extent by the example of the leading players. For many years the trend-setter for sartorial elegance was John Roberts Junior, who was always immaculately dressed during his matches. The extent to which he was copied by his fellow professionals is illustrated by this commentary relating to events in 1904: "I shall always remember how well Roberts looked in evening dress with a while waistcoat at the time when they first became the fashion. The week after he wore it for the first time Inman and Reece were playing a tournament heal at the old Burroughes Hall in Soho Square. On the Monday evening both turned up in while waistcoats, and there was a general titter. Inman grasped the situation at once, and the following evening donned the customary black waistcoat. Reece suffered with his while one for the week, but I never saw either of the garments again."
I'm not too sure exactly what the EABA dress code is, but as one of the few players who will still occasionally wear a waistcoat for league matches (amongst the growing ranks who prefer more "casual" attire) I would be quite happy if it included white waistcoats and top hats.
... from tall hats to tall stories?
I notice that Andy Hunter's article this month is about William Cook, which reminds me of a little story which the younger Cook used to tell about the time when he was entertaining the troops during the First World War.
On one occasion, William Cook and Tom Reece were engaged to play an exhibition match at a military camp. Before the start the master of ceremonies approached and, saying he knew little about billiards, asked for a record he could mention when introducing the visitors. Cook suggested his break of 42,746. The M.C. gasped then went to Reece and made the same request. "You might mention my break of 499,135 said Reece." "Oh, come off it," exclaimed the M.C., "I thought the other fellow was a bit of a liar, but tell us something they'll believe".