TV Snooker's Early Days
When TV's snooker balls were grey
Ted Lowe would help us follow play
with,“First he'll take that easy green
(mid-grey, near pocket, centre screen). 0
But that could leave him very tight
behind the red (third ball from right).
Though after that he should be able
to screw the cue ball round the table
and line it up to pot the black
(the dark grey ball beside the pack).
Then final red (though grey for you),
And tempting blue (though that's grey too).
Next, chalk the cue and find a way
to pot the colours grey by grey
till colour TV brings the day
when coloured balls replace the grey.”
(first published in The Spectator, May 2025)