As King Cricket becomes paramount in the realm of sport and pastime the billiard professional temporarily quits the halls that have become familiar to him and the billiard-loving public during the previous eight months, and seeks recreation and change. He is not always eager to go, as he may, in some instances, dislike a "long vacation" that becomes irksome as time goes on, possibly because it is largely a case of paying out and living on his capital, or, as some would put it, "living on his losses." Still, he is a sensible individual in the main, and recognizes that a summer vacation is essential alike to his own welfare and that of the game that brings him in his living.
First-class billiards all the year round might answer for a limited period, but there would assuredly come a time when players and public would lose their zest, and for people to become bored with anything is fatal to it, however excellent it may be. So when the increasingly-brilliant sunshine makes one long for the outdoor life, the billiard professional exchanges his evening dress for tweeds and hies himself—whither? That brings me to my little story of how and where the leading professionals spend the summer months, and with particular reference to the months that lie immediately ahead. You already know the summer programme of two of them.
Falkiner will combine business with pleasure in South Africa, whither he sailed in the "Briton" on April 29, and the combination should prove profitable. He will have the satisfaction and benefit of a nice holiday, with the assurance that his banking account will not thereby be very appreciably depleted, if at all. Falkiner will be back in September, and straight away go into harness in another campaign.
Stevenson preceded Falkiner to South Africa by three weeks, but the old champion goes much farther afield before returning in 1923.
East Africa, India, Burma, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia are included in Stevenson's itinerary, and here again a wonderful holiday should also result in material advantage.
Newman will probably spend a part of his holiday in Margate (a favourite haunt of his), and the other part in looking after his business enterprises at Forest Gate and Kentish Town, where he runs large and successful billiard halls. Incidentally he may pick up an evening engagement in the country or at the seaside to pay for the occasional cigarette that he smokes.
Smith will be in the public eye for some time yet before he can think of a real holiday. He has engagements with Inman in Liverpool and Glasgow that will carry him well into June, and in July he takes Arthur Peall over to Jersey for a week's game there. When these engagements have been completed Smith may jump into his Sunbeam four-seater and resume acquaintance with the English highways and byways. He will probably also indulge in a few rounds at golf (of which he is no mean exponent), and generally live in the open air until recalled to the cue some time in September next.
Inman usually holidays as enthusiastically and whole-heartedly as he plays billiards. After his match with Smith in Glasgow he will tie himself to the Cornish coast, where he has taken a nice little place for two months. The call of the race-course, too, will not go unheeded by Inman, who himself possesses a small racing stud that includes the fine colt Twickenham. Inman enjoys a day's racing, and by no means the least agreeable part, to him, of his holiday period will be that during which he is treading one or other of our famous racing heaths.
The lesser-known professionals, usually designated the second division, do not worry much about the summer holidays. Some of them will tell you that most of the year is a vacation to them as far as big billiard shows are concerned, and that they only come in when the big guns leave off, so to speak. For these Thurston's will be kept open for practically the whole of the summer, and such as Peall, Raynor, Lawrence, Brady, Shepherd, Tothill, and Davis will have a good show, even if this does not bring much grist to the mill.