Reading the book you realise how different everything about the sport was back then. One of the things that seems strange to today’s fans is the fact that snooker players back in Davis’s glory days didn’t even think about the possibility of making a maximum break. When Davis participated in the 1947 championship at the Leicester Square Hall, his brother Fred Davis played against a player named Scot Walter Donaldson who was famous for having made a 142 break on one occasion. This was something quite remarkable that people and players talked a lot about.

More than a decade earlier, Davis had made a break of 138 and was genuinely happy to break that record by two points in 1948 at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow against Donaldson.  A few months later he beat the new record by another point. He was getting closer to the maximum but at this point he didn’t even think it was possible for anyone to do it.

Then a player named George Chenier came along and made a 144 break. Davis was amazed and thought that this record was unbeatable. He had made over 350 centuries without ever getting more than that. It may be a human factor but as soon as someone else has shown that a certain feat is possible, it suddenly gets easier to get there yourself. This is exactly what happened to Davis only one month after Chenier’s 144 break. He made a break of 146, in a match against Chenier of all people and pushed the record further by two points. If he hadn’t been forced to play a pink instead of a black somewhere in the middle of the frame, he would have compiled the first maximum. But players back then didn’t seem to go out there with the intention to do it, much because they didn’t think it was possible.

After having scored 600 centuries and won 15 world championships, the only ambition left for Davis was to score the 147. He had done virtually everything a player could dream of doing in snooker except for that so this clearly must have been a big goal for him.

On January 22^nd 1955 he finally did it during one of the last matches played at the Leicester Square Hall before it was closed. He describes it as one of the greatest moments of his life. This time he had the maximum in mind early on in the frame and took quite a few crazy chances. The audience saw it coming and encouraged him to try which helped him pot a few seemingly impossible balls. A few moments later, the world’s first officially recognised maximum break was completed. His mentor and opponent, Willie Smith, gave him a hug and the spectators were cheering and came down to the table to shake his hand. The first thing Davis did afterwards was to call his wife. He almost couldn’t speak but she understood he had done it. They both started crying from happiness.

That’s how elusive the first 147 seemed to these players of the past. Since then countless maximum breaks have been made by innumerable players and nobody thinks of it as impossible anymore. It is, however, still a quite unusual thing that far from all players can brag about having done.

There will always be an aura of magic around the maximum even though it won’t ever be quite as extraordinary as it was back in the days of Joe Davis.

Keeping track of all the records and statistics isn’t easy when it comes to a sport that has been played professionally for decades.

There have been quite a few stunning records throughout the years, yet still new players keep breaking them. One kind of record that seems to be beaten constantly are in the “youngest player ever to…” category. For example we had grown used to the fact that Ronnie O’Sullivan was the youngest player to score a maximum break but then Judd Trump beat that record in 2004 and in 2007 Ding Junhui became the youngest player to score a televised maximum break.

So, what is the most impressive snooker record ever, all categories? Well, Joe Davis’s 15 World Championship titles is a fair candidate, you can’t argue with that. But then again, Stephen Hendry’s seven titles in modern times might be even more amazing considering the big increase in competition since 1946 when Davis won his last World Championship. Hendry’s 36 ranking titles is also a jaw-dropping achievement. Despite Steve Davis’s legendary status he’s quite far behind with his 28.

Even though maximum breaks don’t automatically mean you will win the match (we have seen enough matches ending in favour of the player who didn’t make the maximum to establish that) they still cause the most awe among spectators. The two players who have provided us with the most maximum breaks are O’Sullivan and Hendry who have both scored nine each. However, they have yet to score a 155 break, the absolute highest break possible in snooker. The only player who has reportedly made one is Jamie Cope. Except for the obvious skills needed to make a maximum break, luck is also required to compile a “super maximum break” of155. A free ball has to be involved which is something you can’t exactly control by yourself.

The fastest maximum break was made by Ronnie O’Sullivan in 1997 and was over in five minutes and 20 seconds. Will it ever be beaten? However, quite surprisingly O’Sullivan doesn’t hold the record for the fastest frame, no, it was made by Tony Drago in 1996 who won a frame in three minutes and thirty-one seconds.

The most annoying attempt at a maximum was probably that of Ken Doherty in 2000 when he missed the final black off its spot at the Masters.

A record that might not be very flattering is the one for the longest frame. It was played in the 2008 China Open between Shaun Murphy and Dave Harold and lasted 93 minutes and 12 seconds. The longest match was one of the most classic and famous matches ever played, namely the 1985 World Championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis. It lasted 890 minutes and went to the final black ball. But the match will most likely be remembered as the most exciting rather than the longest.

No matter how many complicated records you break (such as “the second-youngest player to win five consecutive frames in a professional tournament”), entertainment value might still rate higher. After all, people will remember exciting matches first and foremost and tend to forget exact figures.

This most important tool can’t be compared to a golf putter, a cricket bat or a tennis racquet. There seems to be an extreme precision required when it comes to cueing and every millimetre of the wood and the leather counts.

Davis gives several examples of players in his time who changed their cues and whose careers went downhill soon afterwards. Of course, things were very different back then when the sport hadn’t yet matured and hadn’t become a multimillion pound industry. There are stories about players who gave away their cues to girls, thereby sacrificing their entire career. Sometimes, sports bettors would steal or break the cue of the winning player, thus sealing their fate.

Davis goes on to discuss if the importance is psychological or some kind of physical phenomenon and reaches the conclusion that it’s possibly both. Then again, why would snooker players of all sportsmen be more superstitious than others? Regardless, the cue is a highly personal thing. It’s not so much about the quality as the habit of playing with that special piece of wood.

Davis tells the story of his own cues. His first was a gift from his mother. It served him well for many years until one day he put a damp cloth in its case which caused it to bend. He was forced to find a replacement, eventually running into a member of the Parish Church Institute – he ended up buying his cue. Davis and his cue then lived happily after until the 1927 Open Billiards Championship when it suddenly vanished.

After an entire session of miserable play on Davis’s part the cue was finally found. The police thought it might’ve been hidden by people in the betting world. On another occasion his cue was stolen but retrieved after a reward had been announced.

The cue problem is still a problem in modern times. Since the nine-eleven attacks new restrictions regarding storing of bulky items such as snooker cues on aeroplanes have been implemented. This has caused quite a few cues belonging to top professional players to be damaged during flights.

A player to suffer this fate was Mark Williams, whose cue was once bent so badly that it resembled an S. The most well-known accident involved Stephen Hendry’s cue, a £40 stick he had owned since he was 14 that was broken during a flight. Imagine the distress he must have felt seeing the cue he won seven world titles with get smashed.

One player that has been engaged in this problem is Peter Ebdon who, when being the director of the World Snooker Association, worked hard to get the Government to give dispensation to professional snooker players allowing them to bring their cues on the plane as a carry-on. It takes a pro to understand the true importance of an old, well-used snooker tool. It’s a good thing that snooker cues have their own spokesperson nowadays since they’re obviously undervalued by the rest of the world.