The 1965 Television Tournament was an invitational amateur snooker tournament.[1] Apart from one of the semi-finals, it was held at the National Liberal Club in London, UK, as a series of matches starting on 5 December 1963 and with the final held on 3 April 1965. The competition was organised by the Billiards Association & Control Council and shown on ITV in the United Kingdom.[2]
Jonathan Barron had won the invitational pro-am 1962–63 Television Tournament by defeating 4–3 Ron Gross 4–3 in the final,[3] and also its successor, the 1964 Television Tournament, that time with a 4–3 defeat of Mario Berni in the final.[4] Barron was not among the eight participants in 1965.
The 1965 final was played on 3 April at the National Liberal Club, between Pat Houlihan and Eric Stickler. Houlihan won 4–1 to take the title.
The first round and semi-finals were played as best-of-five frames matches. The first match, on 5 December 1964, saw Houlihan eliminate John Spencer 4–2; it was the first time that either player had been in a televised match. The highest break of the encounter was Spencer's 60 in the fifth frame.[5][6] Berni defeated Dennis Robertson 4–1, and made the match's highest break on 66 in frame three; television commentary was provided by Ted Lowe.[7] In the first frame of his contest against Mark Wildman, Marcus Chapman made the match's highest break, 35, but he lost 4–1 overall.[8] Eric Stickler eliminated Ron Gross.[9]
Rusholme Conservative Club, Manchester was the venue for the semi-final between Houlihan and Berni on 13 February; it was the only match in the tournament not played at the National Liberal Club. Houlihan won 4–0.[7][10] The match referee, Fred Mayall, commented that he thought Berni was "under his usual form".[10] Billiards Association & Control Council Chairman Harold Philips agreed, but felt that Houlihan was "playing better than ever before".[10] In the other semi-final, Stickler defeated Wildman 4–1.[9]
Just over two weeks before the Television Tournament final, Houlihan had won the English Amateur Championship, after an 11–3 victory against Spencer in the final.[11] In many British newspapers, this received more coverage than the professional World Snooker Championship title match between John Pulman and Fred Davis held at the same time.[12] Houlihan won the Television title by defeating Stickler 4–1 in the final.[13][2] It was his 17th consecutive competitive match win, in a sequence dating back to 1964.[13]
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