Early professional career Donaldson moved to
Rotherham in South Yorkshire, where he managed a billiard hall, and travelled to Glasgow to win the Scottish professional billiards and
snooker championships in the 1928/1929 season. He later became the owner of a billiard hall in
New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire. In 1939, he defeated
Herbert Holt and Dickie Laws in the qualifying competition, both 18–13, then Claude Falkiner 21–10 in the first round, before losing 15–16 to
Sidney Smith in the quarter-finals. The
BBC World Service radio station broadcast part of his match against
Fred Davis. Donaldson spoke about his playing philosophy in 1939, saying he avoided playing risky shots because he believed matches were typically lost by one player making errors: "It isn't so much that one man wins the game but that the other man loses it." Asked by the interviewer for hints for
The Billiard Players readers to help them improve their standard of play, Donaldson advised against the use of as "it spoils the shot in at least 90 per cent of cases when it's applied by any but a first class player. And generally it really isn't necessary." Donaldson was
called up in 1940, and served in Canada, North Africa, Greece and Italy as a
sergeant in the
Royal Corps of Signals attached to the
Fourth Indian Division, which was an original component of the
Eighth Army when it was formed in September 1941. The championship resumed in
1946, with Joe Davis winning again, including a 21–10 victory over Donaldson in the quarter-finals. Donaldson won, some six months after being
demobilised, by defeating
Alec Brown 20–11 in the final. Following his 1946 World Championship win, Davis retired from the event. In November 1946, Donaldson compiled what would have been a new world record for the highest break, 142, against
John Pulman, but as the billiard table being used was not of the standard type required for a record, it was not recognised as such.
World championship finals and later professional career Donaldson practised intensively in preparation for the
1947 World Snooker Championship, using a billiard table in a neighbour's attic. later extending his lead to sixteen frames at 35–19. After this, Davis won six successive frames to reduce the lead to 35–25. Donaldson secured victory at 73–49 and finished the match at 82–63. His tactics during the championship involved compiling breaks of around 30 to 50 points, and playing rather than attempting difficult . This was the first of eight consecutive finals, from 1947 to 1954, featuring the two players. In the
1949 World Snooker Championship final, Fred Davis won 80–65 against Donaldson, Donaldson made the highest break of the tournament with 115 on the last day of his semi-final match against Pulman. In the handicapped
1949/1950 News of the World Snooker Tournament, Donaldson won only two of his seven round-robin matches and placed seventh out of the eight participants. Donaldson defeated Kennerley and Albert Brown to reach the
1950 world final against Fred Davis. but after two more days Donaldson levelled the match at 18–18, including winning five of the last six that day. He took a four-frame lead the following day, and maintained it for several days, eventually extending it to six frames at 45–39 on the penultimate day. Donaldson's victory was confirmed on the last day when the score was 49–32, with the match ending at 51–46. Almost 3,000 spectators watched one session of the match in Blackpool.
The Billiard Player magazine attributed Donaldson's success to his strong safety play and a below-par performance from Davis. With only one win from seven matches in the
1950/1951 News of the World Snooker Tournament, Donaldson finished joint-last. Donaldson and Fred Davis played the
1951 world final in Blackpool, again over 97 frames, in front of a record crowd for a World Snooker Championship match. From 6–6, Davis moved into a 12–6 lead, reaching a winning margin at 49–36 before the match concluded 58–39. Donaldson won half of his matches at the
1951/1952 News of the World Snooker Tournament, leading to a sixth-place ranking out of the nine players. Following a dispute between the
Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the
Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC), which derived partly from the PBPA members feeling that the BA&CC was taking too large a share of the income from tournaments, most professional players boycotted the
1952 World Snooker Championship and competed instead in their own
1952 World Professional Match-play Championship. As this event included most of the leading players, the public perceived it as the real world championship. The World Professional Match-play Championships are now accepted by snooker historians as part of the World Snooker Championship series. Donaldson recorded another century break of 106 in the twentieth frame, but Davis increased his lead over him to 14–10 by the end of the second day. On the third day, Davis achieved a break of 140, a new World Championship record, and Donaldson made a 111. Davis finished the day 21–15 ahead. After another day's play, Davis was 29–19 ahead, after which Donaldson won eight of the next twelve frames. Davis won the title, finishing the last day at 38–35. The
1952/1953 News of the World Snooker Tournament finished in January 1953, with Donaldson's three wins in eight matches enough to see him finish third. The
1953 World Professional Match-play Championship final in March saw Donaldson and Davis even at 6–6 after the first day of the 71-frame match. Donaldson took a 13–11 lead after day two, despite a break of 107 by Davis. Donaldson was ahead 20–16 after day three, but Davis tied the match at 24–24 after the fourth day which included a century of 102. Davis led 28–26, but Donaldson took a 31–29 lead at the end of the fifth day. The match was again level at 33–33 after the final afternoon session, before Davis won 37–34. Donaldson placed seventh in the
1953/1954 News of the World Snooker Tournament, having lost five of his eight matches. In the
1954 World Professional Match-play Championship, Fred Davis and Donaldson met in their eighth successive final. It was the most one-sided of the finals, with Davis leading 33–15 after four days in the 71-frame contest. Even before losing the match, Donaldson said he would not enter the World Championship again because he could not give enough time to the practice he felt was necessary. Davis secured victory by winning the first three frames on the fifth day to lead 36–15. The final score was 45–26 with Donaldson making a break of 121 on the final day. After the 1954 World Match-play final, Donaldson announced that he would not be playing in any future World Snooker Championships, as he wanted to focus more on the management of his
smallholding, although he stated his intention to continue to play in other tournaments and in
exhibition matches. With three wins at the
1954/1955 News of the World Snooker Tournament, he failed to gain a high placing. He finished third in
1955/1956, and last in
1956/1957. Donaldson inflicted Fred Davis's only defeat in the
1957/1958 News of the World Snooker Tournament (21–16), before finishing third of five players in the final table. Earlier in the same tournament he defeated Joe Davis, also by 21–16, but had received a 14-point start. He did, however, make the highest break of the season, 141. He finished bottom of four players in the
1958 News of the World Snooker Tournament table, with one win in nine matches. In 1960, he retired completely from competitive play. ==Retirement and legacy==