TOUGH BREAK

Should you possess Van Gogh's ear for music, it could, I stress could, be possible to confuse Pot, Kettle, Black as sung by Wilco, with the theme from TV's Pot Black as performed by Winifred Atwell on her OTHER piano. Not likely though.

The theme for Pot Black was actually called Black And White Rag and was written by American ragtime composer George Botsford. Not sure if George had ever been north to Alaska, or read Jack London, but his other works included Chatterbox Rag, Eskimo Rag and Klondike Rag. Looking at those titles I've just a slight suspicion Ragtime was appropriately titled, just a tinkling inkling, you understand, as to why it wasn't called Pianopoundingtime.

Now, while the Huttontots are busily ... this pun's for you Emily ... ragging on Australians, it may interest you to know that Winifred Atwell, while she was born in Trinidad and lived in England, actually migrated to Australia in about 1970. She lived here until 1983 when suddenly, she didn't live here anymore.

Which, with one of my smoother segues, subtly brings me to famed Australian snooker player and three time Pot Black champion, Eddie Charlton who, just as suddenly, doesn't live here anymore either.

Vale Eddie Charlton

Snooker great Eddie Charlton dies in NZ

Australia's greatest snooker player Eddie Charlton died in New Zealand on Monday, eight days after his 75th birthday.

Charlton became ill shortly after arriving across the Tasman on a promotional and exhibition visit last Friday. He was admitted to Palmerston North Hospital on Sunday and died in intensive care on Monday, a hospital spokesman said.

Suddenly I'm thinking Phar Lap and Les Darcy. And Millers Crossing. Have you seen Millers Crossing? You have? Well, do you remember Rug Daniels? The dead guy in the alley? There's a reason he was called Rug.

Leo: "You hear about Rug?"

Tommy: "Yeah, RIP."

Leo: "They took his hair, Tommy. Jesus, that's strange, why would they do that?"

Tommy: "Maybe it was injuns."

Maybe it was May-Ories. Yeah, yeah, I know. That's black. Pot Black.

Year	Winner	Opponent	Final score
1969	Ray Reardon	John Spencer	88 - 29
1970	John Spencer	Ray Reardon	88 - 27
1971	John Spencer	Fred Davis	61 - 40
1972	Eddie Charlton	Ray Reardon	75 - 43
1973	Eddie Charlton	Rex Williams	93 - 33
1974	Graham Miles	John Spencer	147 - 86
1975	Graham Miles	Dennis Taylor	81 - 27
1976	John Spencer	Dennis Taylor	69 - 42
1977	Perrie Mans	Doug Mountjoy	90 - 21
1978	Doug Mountjoy	Graham Miles	2 - 1
1979	Ray Reardon	Doug Mountjoy	2 - 1
1980	Eddie Charlton	Ray Reardon	2 - 1
1981	Cliff Thorburn	Jim Wych	2 - 0
1982	Steve Davis	Eddie Charlton	2 - 0
1983	Steve Davis	Ray Reardon	2 - 0
1984	Terry Griffiths	John Spencer	2 - 1
1985	Doug Mountjoy	Jimmy White	2 - 0
1986	Jimmy White	Kirk Stevens	2 - 0
1991	Steve Davis	Steven Hendry	2 - 1

Comments

[Adam 1.0]

What happened to the scoring system in 1978? And I'll take it the 1991 comeback wasn't a huge success.

[Tony.T]

1978 was the first year they went to best of three frames. Before that it was one frame only. Except for, I think, 1974, which was the best total score from two frames.

1991 tanked and the World Champs were a big deal by then.

[Dirk Thruster]

I'm kind of surprised you didn't find a way to work in 'Whispering' Ted Lowe's commentary, "For those of you with black and white television, the pink is behind the blue."

[Tony.T]

Actually, you're right, Dirk. I thought of Ted initially but he slipped my mind in the final draft. Should have included something on ref Sydney Lee too.

[Tony.T]

Or at the very least, his white gloves.