'Darlington Smith" was known all over the world. London, Manchester, Hong Kong, Sydney and Shanghai were all under his spell.

He was once British champion, twice world champion and he held the world record on numerous occasions.

There were queues of fans in Leicester Square whenever he played. He was the 1920s' equivalent of the British women's Olympic gold medal curling team.

Willie Smith was born in 1886 in Taylor Street, Darlington. His father was sports editor of the North Star newspaper - the Conservative rival of The Northern Echo, which was printed opposite Wilkinson's, in Crown Street.

When he was about eight, his father became landlord of the Golden Cock pub, in Tubwell Row, and there he became infatuated with the love of his life: billiards.

He quickly became so proficient that a member of Darlington's famous family of butchers, the Zisslers, bet £25 that he would beat a pub regular.

He did. "At the age of ten, I was blooded," recalled Willie, shortly before he died in 1982.

Aged 14, he started work at the North Star, earning four shillings a week as a printer's devil - an apprentice - later becoming a Linotype operator. But at night, he worked on the green baize tables.

He established his reputation in September 1911 when, after a day's Linotyping, he took on the renowned Australian cueist George Gray in a match in Stockton.

The first player to reach 4,000 points was the winner, and Gray gave Smith a 1,500 head start. But when Smith reached 4,000 first it caused a furore.

"This was Gray's first defeat in England, and Darlington people were proud of Smith," said The Northern Echo.

Taking Gray's advice, he turned professional in 1913 and was soon matched against Tom Newman, one of the biggest names in billiards, in London.

In those days, big games of billiards lasted days - if not weeks - because the winner was the first person to reach 16,000 points.

"Smith entered the final day some 400 points behind and, feeling he was out of sorts, his backer persuaded him to try a glass of port wine before commencing the afternoon session," reported The Northern Echo.

"This worked miracles, and he won a great game which staggered Newman and his supporters and the London people."

During the First World War, Smith worked in a munitions factory - probably at Aycliffe - before his health gave out and he had spells in hospitals in Stanhope and Wolsingham ("he was ever a frail lad", said the Echo of a man who lived to be 96).

The world of billiards recovered after the war, and full houses greeted Willie wherever he played.

In 1920, he entered the English championship for the first time.

He saw off Newman in an early round and played Claude Falkiner in the 16,000-up final. Smith scored a record break of 785, but for the first nine days of the game Falkiner matched him point for point.

"But as the fortnight drew to an end, Smith pulled away and reached 16,000 with Falkiner behind on 14,500.

"On Saturday, the players appeared to be thoroughly worn out after the strenuous time they had had," said the Echo.

The paper hailed the Darlington cueist as one of the greatest players the game had seen, reporting: "His losing hazards, his cannons direct, and cannons off the cushions are made without hesitation and with such remarkable accuracy that it is obvious he has completely mastered this part of the game."

He was given a hero's welcome when he returned home to Darlington.

"The arrival of the train and the smiling face of Willie thrust through a carriage window was the signal for a cheer," reported the Echo from Bank Top station.

"He alighted from the carriage carrying the handsome silver cup which he won by his brilliant victory over Falkiner. He also had with him his championship cue encased in leather."

A public meeting was called at the Mechanics Institute, in Skinnergate, where the town's great and good set up a collection fund, and in July 1920, at a banquet at the King's Head, they presented Willie with a commemorative silver tea service.

Darlington Smith was now in the big league. He won £700 in his game against Australian champion Melbourne Inman.

"People were outside in Leicester Square shouting 'Good old Willie'," he recalled.

"Inman wasn't a popular player. They only went to see him beat."

In 1921 and 1923 Willie won the world championship, and in 1928 he set another world record with a break of 2,743 in Australia (the current world record of 4,137 was set by Walter Lindrun in 1932).

He did not like snooker very much, but twice reached the world final, being beaten both times by the legendary Joe Davis. There, too, he set a world record with a break of 122.

By 1930, after a decade at the top, Willie was fed up.

"I have had all the backwash that's going and I'm sick of it," he told the Darlington and Stockton Times.

"The younger men can now take their share. I am sure that I would be quite comfortable if I returned to my old job in a newspaper Linotype room. In fact, I would prefer scavenging rather than go on with things as they are."

He staggered on until 1934 and ended his professional career in Australia.

"There was an awful lot of money on the games and I'd been warned to guard my cue," he said in 1976. But someone got to it during the interval and broke it in half. Losing that cue reduced my skill nearly by half."

He retired to Leeds and concentrated on his billiard halls business, but regularly returned to Darlington to give exhibitions at the Golden Cock.

He also played in front of King George VI.

"He was a most charming man," said Willie. "I asked him if he played billiards, and he said: 'Very badly'."

Willie continued to draw crowds well into the 1960s, but one day in 1966 he gave his cue away to a doctor in the Lake District.

"I haven't hit a ball since," he said in 1976.

"I just stopped dead. That's the way you have to do it. I don't miss it at all."

He died in 1982. Leading snooker commentator Clive Everton said: "There is no doubt that he was one of the all-time greats.

"He played the billiards of the common man, and he was always identified with the common man. He was a terrific character and had a tremendous sense of humour."

He was one of Darlington's most famous sons, and its only world champion

Published: 27/02/02