Ian Williamson was born on 1 December 1958. His father was Jim Williamson, founding proprietor of the Northern Snooker Centre in
Leeds. Williamson was runner up in the English Under 19
English billiards Championships in 1975 and 1976. He lost the 1975 final to
Eugene Hughes and the 1976 final to
Steve Davis. In 1976, he beat Davis in the semi-final of the Under-19 Snooker championship before losing to him later the same day in the billiards final. Williamson won the Under-19 billiards title in 1977 and 1978, beating John Barnes in the final both years. His application to become a professional snooker player in 1980 was refused, along with that of Eugene Hughes, whilst
Tony Knowles was the only one of three applicants at the time to be accepted. The following year, Williamson lost 7–5 to
Bill Oliver in the final of the 1981
Pontins Autumn Open. Williamson became a professional player in 1982 The final was played as best-of-13 150-up, and it took Williamson nine hours to beat
Robby Foldvari 7–3 in a match where both players were warned by the referee for slow play. and was runner up 7–5 to
Norman Dagley at the
1991 British Open. Williamson and
Robby Foldvari set a record for the longest best-of-nine frame snooker match when they took seven hours and fourteen minutes to finish their match in the seventh qualifying round of the
1994 British Open in August 1993. The match included two consecutive 80-minute-long frames. Williamson's first inclusion on the professional snooker ranking list saw him listed at 47th, in the
Snooker world rankings 1985/1986. He then dropped in the rankings each year and last competed on the professional snooker circuit in the
1995-96 season, when he was ranked 283rd, In the
Billiards world rankings, Williamson was ranked third in both 1989/90 and 1990/91. ==References==