Two of the most honoured and influential names in connexion with amateur billiards are those of Major William Broadfoot and Mr. Russell D. Walker, and, whilst Major Broadfoot celebrates the eightieth anniversary of his birth this year, Mr. R. D. Walker will be the same age in February next. A portrait of Major Broadfoot appears on the first page of this issue of The Billiard Player, and we hope to publish next month one of Mr. Walker (famous in younger days as a member of the wonderful family of gentlemen cricketers that gave to Middlesex the celebrated trio of R. D., I. D., and V. E. Walker.
Major William Broadfoot, who is known in the world of billiards as author of the classic work on the game published as part of the Badminton Library in 1896, and again (in revised form) in 1906, retired from the Royal Engineers in 1881, after serving with the Hazara Field Force (Black Mountain) in 1868, for which he received the medal and clasp, and subsequently, until 1878, in various civil capacities in the Punjab Government. During his retirement he has been engaged chiefly in literary work, scientific geography, the study of small arms, ammunition, and bullet wounds, municipal management, and public health. His recreations are stated in "Who's Who" to be: Sport, travel, rowing, landscape painting in water colour, and—last, but by no means least—billiards.