# Charles Chambers (referee)

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{{good article}}
{{Short description|English cue sports referee}}
{{Infobox snooker player
| name          = Charles Chambers
| image         = Charles_Chambers_(billiards_and_snooker_referee).jpg
| caption       = Charles Chambers (circa 1937)
| birth_date    = {{circa}} 1897
| birth_place   = England
| death_date    = 21 July 1941 (aged 44)
| death_place   = [Cheltenham](/source/Cheltenham)
| Sport country = {{ENG}}
| Professional  = 1910–1940
| High ranking  = 
| Official maximums = 
| Best finish   = 
| Ranking wins  = 
| World champ   = 
}}

'''Charles Chambers''' ({{circa}} 1894 – 21 July 1941) was a referee for the [cue sport](/source/cue_sport)s of [snooker](/source/snooker) and [English billiards](/source/English_billiards). He worked at [Thurston's Hall](/source/Thurston's_Hall) in London for three decades and was as well known in billiards circles as the leading players. He was the referee during [Walter Lindrum](/source/Walter_Lindrum)'s world record billiards {{cuegloss|break}} of 4,137 points in 1932. Chambers was the first referee to receive an "A class" certificate from the [Billiards Association and Control Council](/source/Billiards_Association_and_Control_Council), and refereed the final of the [1937 World Snooker Championship](/source/1937_World_Snooker_Championship) between [Joe Davis](/source/Joe_Davis) and [Horace Lindrum](/source/Horace_Lindrum). His ruling in a 1938 match led to a minimum length {{cuegloss|cue}} being specified in the official rules of the game.

Snooker historian [Clive Everton](/source/Clive_Everton) wrote that Chambers was "recognised as supreme in his profession".

==Early life and career==
Chambers was born {{circa}} 1897.<ref name="BPA"/> [Willie Smith](/source/Willie_Smith_(billiards_player)) recalled that Chambers had first refereed in 1910, when Smith played [H. W. Stevenson](/source/H._W._Stevenson) at [English billiards](/source/English_billiards). Chambers had been working at [Thurston's Hall](/source/Thurston's_Hall) as a {{cuegloss|spot boy}}, but took over refereeing duties in the match when the original referee did not appear for the second day of the match.<ref name="BPA">{{cite magazine |title=The passing of Charles Chambers: an appreciation |magazine=The Billiard Player |date=August 1941 |pages=11–16}}</ref>

Among the matches he refereed were the final of the 1929 [World Professional Billiards Championship](/source/World_Professional_Billiards_Championship),<ref name="T29">{{cite news |title=Billiards |newspaper=[The Times](/source/The_Times) |date=2 April 1929 |page=6}}</ref> and the final of the [1937 World Snooker Championship](/source/1937_World_Snooker_Championship) between [Joe Davis](/source/Joe_Davis) and [Horace Lindrum](/source/Horace_Lindrum).<ref>{{cite news |last=Brick |first=F.D. |title=Davis wasn't so far out! |newspaper=[Daily Mirror](/source/Daily_Mirror) |date=17 March 1937 |page=30}}</ref> An annual benefit match was played at Thurston's for Chambers, with professionals playing amateurs in a gala that attracted celebrities from the sporting and showbusiness spheres.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morrison |first=Ian |date=1987 |title=The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker – revised edition |location=Twickenham |publisher=Hamlyn Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-600-55604-6 |page=141}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Billiards |newspaper=[The Times](/source/The_Times) |date=December 24, 1927 |page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Billiards |newspaper=[The Times](/source/The_Times) |date=December 22, 1936 |page=5}}</ref> He was the referee during [Walter Lindrum](/source/Walter_Lindrum)'s world record billiards {{cuegloss|break}} of 4,137 points in 1932.<ref name="TIMESOBIT"/> 
thumb|alt=A billiards match room, with several rows of tiered seating|The match room at Thurston's Hall, pictured in 1903
In [J. B. Priestley](/source/J._B._Priestley)'s account of the 1929 Professional Billiards Championship, Chambers was described as "[his] profile was rather like that of the [Mad Hatter](/source/Hatter_(Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland)); his face was all nose, teeth, and glittering eye; and he had an ecclesiastical dignity and gravity of manner. He handed over the rest of the half-butt like one serving at an altar...The voice in which he called out the scores was the most impersonal I have ever heard. It was a voice that belonged to solemn ritual, and it did as much as the four walls and the thickly drawn curtained windows to withdraw us from ordinary life and Leicester Square."<ref>{{cite news |last=Priestley |first=J.B. |author-link=J. B. Priestley |title=At Thurston's |newspaper=[The Saturday Review](/source/Saturday_Review_(London_newspaper)) |volume=147 |issue=3834 |date=20 April 1929 |pages=527–529}}</ref>{{efn|The referee is not named in the original article. [Robert Byrne](/source/Robert_Byrne_(author)) wrote that as the article was reprinted in 1932, the match Priestley described "must be the one staged in 1929 or 1930"; as the original publication was 1929, it must be the 1929 final, which was refereed by Chambers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Byrne |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Byrne (author) |title=Byrne's Wonderful World of Pool and Billiards: A Cornucopia of Instruction, Strategy, Anecdote, and Colorful Characters |year=1996 | publisher=Harcourt Brace |location=New York |isbn=9780151001668 |pages=212-213}}</ref><ref name="T29"/>}}

He was the subject of the 1934 [BBC National Programme](/source/BBC_National_Programme) show ''Sports Talk''.<ref name="RT37">{{cite magazine |title=Sports Talk |magazine=[Radio Times](/source/Radio_Times) |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ef9a87d0ba5743079f04e4f3aed4f820 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021100621/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ef9a87d0ba5743079f04e4f3aed4f820 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 21, 2014 |date=28 December 1934 |issue=587 |page=1114 |via=BBC Programme Index}}</ref> The preview in ''[The Radio Times](/source/The_Radio_Times)'' mentioned that he had marked for [H. W. Stevenson](/source/H._W._Stevenson) and [Tom Carpenter](/source/Tom_Carpenter) during a [Zeppelin](/source/Zeppelin) raid and had the text "It's an amazing thing to go into Thurston's and watch big players making their hundreds with infinitely more facility than we make our ' ten ' breaks, and perhaps it is even more fascinating to watch the marker who, unlike even the best players, never seems to make a mistake."<ref name="RT37"/> When the [Billiards Association & Control Council](/source/Billiards_Association_%26_Control_Council) introduced a certification scheme for referees in 1936, Chambers was the first to be awarded a grade "A" certificate, the highest level.<ref>{{cite news |title=A scheme for referees |newspaper=[Daily News](/source/The_Daily_News_(UK)) |location= London |date=12 February 1936 |page=16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Referee no.1 |newspaper=[Daily Mirror](/source/Daily_Mirror) |date=16 April 1936 |page=30}}</ref>

===Alec Brown fountain-pen cue incident===
On 14 November 1938 [Alec Brown](/source/Alec_Brown_(snooker_player)) was playing [Tom Newman](/source/Tom_Newman_(billiards_player)) at [Thurston's Hall](/source/Thurston's_Hall) in the [1938/1939 Daily Mail Gold Cup](/source/1938%2F1939_Daily_Mail_Gold_Cup). In the third frame, Brown potted a red, after which the cue ball was left amidst several reds, with only a narrow way through to the black, the only colour not snookered, and which was near its spot. Playing this with conventional equipment would have been awkward. To the surprise of spectators, Brown produced a small [fountain pen](/source/fountain_pen)-sized cue from his vest pocket, chalked it, and played the stroke. Newman protested at this. Chambers, the referee, then inspected the implement, a strip of ebony about five inches long, with one end having a cue tip. Chambers decided to award a foul, and awarded Newman seven points. In response to questions, the referee quoted the rule that said all strokes must be made with the tip of the cue, so he did not regard the "fountain-pen cue" as a valid cue. Eight days later, the Billiards Association and Control Council, which owned the rules, met and decided to introduce a new rule, which has been developed into today's version: "A billiards cue, as recognised by the Billiards and Control Council, shall not be less than three feet in length, and shall show no substantial departure from the traditional and generally accepted shape and form."<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=News of the month |work=The Billiard Player |issue=December 1938 |page=7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Clare |first=Norman |title=Billiards and Snooker Bygones |publisher=Shire Publications |isbn=9780852637302  }}</ref> The official rules of both snooker and billiards now state that "A cue shall be not less than 3 ft (914 mm) in length and shall show no change from the traditional tapered shape and form, with a tip, used to strike the cue-ball, secured to the thinner end."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wpbsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/WPBSA-Rules-of-Snooker-and-Billiards-2019.pdf |title=Official Rules of the Games of Snooker and English Billiards |website=World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association |access-date=15 September 2019 |archive-date=7 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007164853/https://www.wpbsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/WPBSA-Rules-of-Snooker-and-Billiards-2019.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Later career and death==
By 1940, Chambers had worked at Thurston's for three decades, and was as well known in billiards circles as the leading players.<ref name="TIMESOBIT"/> After the venue was bombed during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), which made staging matches there impossible, Chambers moved to Taunton, where he took part in local [British Legion](/source/British_Legion) activities, and won the club's [handicap](/source/Handicapping) snooker tournament.<ref name="TIMESOBIT"/><ref>{{cite news |title=A popular club: Taunton British Legion progresses |newspaper=Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser |date=30 August 1941 |page=3}}</ref>

He died at Cheltenham on 21 July 1941 from heart failure,<ref name="TIMESOBIT">{{cite news |title=Death of Charles Chambers |newspaper=[The Times](/source/The_Times) |date=28 July 1941 |page=2}}</ref><ref name="LEM">{{cite news |title=Famous Marker |newspaper=Leicester Evening Mail |date=26 July 1941 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Charles Chambers |magazine=The Billiard Player |date=August 1941 |page=5}}</ref> aged 44.<ref name="BPA"/><!--Tom Newman wrote that Chambers was 18 when he first refereed for Newman, 29 years previously--><ref>{{cite news |title=Great billiards personality |newspaper=[The Scotsman](/source/The_Scotsman) |date=28 July 1941 |page=4 }}</ref><ref name="LEM"/> The BA&CC's magazine, ''The Billiard Player'' featured a number of posthumous tributes to Chambers.<ref name="BPA"/> [Joe Davis](/source/Joe_Davis), the first player to hold the professional titles in both billiards and snooker,<ref name="BOTH">{{cite magazine |last=Everton |first=Clive |title=Fred v Joe: the continuing battle |magazine=[Snooker Scene](/source/Snooker_Scene) |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Halesowen |date=July 1980 |page=2}}</ref>{{efn|This achievement not matched until Joes' brother [Fred Davis](/source/Fred_Davis_(snooker_player)) won the billiards championship in 1980<ref name="BOTH">{{cite magazine |last=Everton |first=Clive |title=Fred v Joe: the continuing battle |magazine=[Snooker Scene](/source/Snooker_Scene) |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Halesowen |date=July 1980 |page=2}}</ref>}} called Chambers "the most efficient referee in the game", and praised his fairness and integrity.<ref name="BPA"/> The referee's competence and ability to be unobtrusive were remarked upon by [Tom Newman](/source/Tom_Newman_(billiards_player)), who felt that these attributes of Chambers were why so many record-making breaks had happened when he was officiating.<ref name="BPA"/> Other leading players also wrote testimonies, including Smith and [Claude Falkiner](/source/Claude_Falkiner); six-time World Champion [Melbourne Inman](/source/Melbourne_Inman) called Chambers "the best referee the game ever possessed".<ref name="BPA"/> [Joyce Gardner](/source/Joyce_Gardner) praised Chambers, who refereed many of the women's championships, as "undoubtedly the world's greatest referee of billiards and snooker". Another women's champion, [Ruth Harrison](/source/Ruth_Harrison), wrote that he inspired confidence in players.<ref name="BPA"/> Snooker historian [Clive Everton](/source/Clive_Everton) later wrote that Chambers was "recognised as supreme in his profession".<ref>{{cite book |last=Everton |first=Clive |date=1981 |title=The Guinness Book of Snooker |publisher=Guinness Superlatives|location=Enfield |isbn=978-0-85112-230-4 |page=13}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

Category:1941 deaths
Category:Snooker referees and officials

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Charles Chambers (referee)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Chambers_(referee)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Chambers_(referee)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.