Eddie 'Mr Snooker' Charlton dies, 75

November 9, 2004
Eddie Charlton in action.

Eddie Charlton in action.
Photo: Supplied

'Steady Eddie' became the face of Australian snooker on the world map through the popular BBC television program Pot Black, which he won three times, writes Martin Blake.

Eddie Charlton was Australian snooker champion for 20 years; he won a world matchplay championship and tournaments all over the globe from the time he turned professional in 1963. But television was the god of sport even in the 1970s, and it was Charlton's appearance on Pot Black, the BBC snooker championship that was picked up by the ABC, that sent him to fame in this country.

Pot Black was phenomenally successful both here and in the United Kingdom with its famous commentator, "Whispering" Ted Lowe, its distinctive introduction - Black and White Rag by Winifred Atwell - and its cast of the world's best players, such as the Welshman Ray Reardon, with his exaggerated widow's peak.

Conceived in England as a means of utilising the new technology of colour television, it became BBC Two's second-most popular program. In Australia, its success was made all the more surprising by the fact that we were still broadcasting in black and white.

Charlton, imperturbable by nature and nicknamed "Steady Eddie", won Pot Black three times - in 1972, 1973 and 1980 - in front of an audience that, by the standards of the ABC, was enormous. Elevated to the status of household name, he was capitalising on his fame and still playing right up to the time of his untimely death in Palmerston North, New Zealand, yesterday.

Australian snooker and associated games such as pool and billiards boomed in the 1970s and 1980s behind the success of Pot Black, and Charlton was inextricably linked to that boom. As Ian Anderson, a long-time friend of Charlton's said yesterday: "The ABC mightn't have picked it up had Eddie not won it."

National president of the Australian Pool-Snooker Association Mike Peachey said Charlton was almost as well known in the UK as in Australia. "It amazes me how if you go around the country, people still talk about Pot Black, and they know that Eddie won it. It's because of that that Eddie's so well known."

Eddie Charlton was 75 and lived a full life. Born near Newcastle in NSW, he was an outstanding all-round sportsman, excelling in boxing, cricket, rugby league and surfing as well as snooker, billiards and pool.

Having initially made his living as a coalminer, he turned professional in 1963, and was the dominant Australian player for several decades, as well as being a world-class player. Three times, he was runner-up in the world professional snooker championship, as well as twice in the billiards world championship. Twice, he lost to Reardon in the world snooker championship; but he defeated Reardon to win the world matchplay title in Melbourne in 1976, perhaps his greatest triumph.

Eddie Charlton with rivals from the 1979 World Masters, from left, Rex Williams, Dennis Taylor, Pierre Mans, Graham Miles, Cliff Thorburn and Ian Anderson.


In Australia, Charlton was a regular on television. "There's no doubt that in his heyday, he was Mr Australian Snooker," said Peachey.

"We haven't had a player like him since the days of Walter Lindrum and Horace Lindrum, and he deserves to be remembered in the same category."

Ian Anderson, a national champion himself, played against Charlton many times. "He wasn't just good," Anderson said. "He was always in the top three in the world. He was a tough player and a competitor and he'd grind you down. It didn't worry him how long it took for him to get the job done."

Charlton's prowess as a player had waned in recent years after he moved to live in Cronulla, on Sydney's southern beaches. But he did regular exhibition tours of NZ and was on another of those this week. Anderson, president of the World Pool-Snooker Association, said Charlton had been unwell with a liver complaint for some months, and had endured a string of medical tests recently without a definitive diagnosis.

Several of his five children, including son Edward, who works in the industry as well, had counselled that he decline the latest trip.

Edward Charlton and one of his sisters were to head to NZ today to bring their father home. He had rung them on Sunday night to say he was in hospital.