From a cue collecting point of view Walter Donaldson is something of a disappointment, you see there is, to my knowledge, only one type of cue that bears his name. This cue looks like a Tom Newman Champion cue but comes in ash, maple and hornbeam. They are always hand-spliced and often make excellent cues for playing the game. They were made by Peradon Limited around the time that Walter was winning the World Snooker Championships.

Walter won his first World Snooker title in 1947 and was the first person other than Joe Davis to have his name inscribed as a winner of that tournament.

He had some tremendous battles with Fred Davis, who took over as the Davis standard bearer in the World Championship following his brothers decision to withdraw from the championships after his last victory in 1946.

I have read many reports of Walter Donaldson's matches and have come to the conclusion that he was a gritty and steadfast opponent of his contemporaries. He took part in five World Championship finals, winning two of them. He always seems to have played these finals against Fred Davis, who was no doubt his chief rival throughout the peak of his career.

Walter Donaldson was known for his potting skills and according to Fred Davis's book Talking Snooker was the best potter that the author had seen up to this point.

I had a Walter Donaldson cue some months ago but sold it for £120 to a friend; I slightly regret this action, so am on the lookout for another. Another friend of mine claims to have seen a machine-spliced Walter Donaldson Snooker cue, I wondered whether the cue that he actually saw was a Sidney Lee as the badge is almost identical and these cues come in both machine and hand-spliced versions, If you can clear up this matter, don't hesitate to get in touch.

David Smith