NationMaster - Encyclopedia: History of snooker

The game of billiards dates back to the 15th century but snooker is a more recent invention. In the late 19th century billiards games were popular among British army officers stationed in India, and players used to experiment with variations on the game. Due to the fact that billiards was a two-player game, multi-player variations such as life pool (where different coloured balls were used as cue and/or object balls, depending on the situation or number of players) and pyramid pool (fifteen red balls racked in a triangle where each player received a point per ball potted) became popular. Black pool was a form of pyramid pool that took the black ball from a life pool set so a player could pot a red then the black for more points. The most commonly accepted story is that, at the officers' mess in Jabalpur some time in 1875, a Colonel Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain suggested adding coloured balls to black pool so that the variation featured fifteen reds, a yellow, green, pink and black (blue and brown were added some years later). The word 'snooker' (of unknown origin) was army slang for a first-year cadet. During a game a cadet missed a shot and Chamberlain said to him: "Why you're a regular snooker!" After explaining the meaning to his fellow peers, Chamberlain added that they were perhaps all snookers at this game. The term was adopted for the new variation and has been in use ever since.^[1] British billiards champion John Roberts travelled to India in 1885, where he met Chamberlain. Chamberlain explained the new game to him, and Roberts subsequently introduced it to England. Nowadays the term "snookered", meaning "thwarted", is a common expression in English. This article is about the various cue sports. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jabalpur is a city in the Madhya Pradesh state of India. ... 1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain KCB KCVO (1856-1944) was a British soldier who is credited with the invention of the game of snooker. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Snooker championships date back to 1916. In 1927, Joe Davis helped establish the first professional world championship, and won its prize of £6.10s (£6.50, equivalent to about £200 in 2006 funds). He went on to win every subsequent world championship until 1946, when he retired from tournament play. The trophy he donated all those years ago is still awarded to the world champion. Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Joe Davis (15 April 1901 - 10 July 1978), was an English professional snooker and billiards player, generally regarded as the father of modern snooker, and one of the greatest players of all time. ... Joe Davis and Tom Dennis competing in the final of the 1927 World Snooker Championship. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

A dispute between the professionals and the Billiards Association & Control Council (BA&CC, the game's then-governing body) meant that there were only two entrants for the 'official' world championship – Horace Lindrum (Australia) beat Clark McConachy (New Zealand). However, the professionals organised their own 'world championship' (termed the Professional Match-Play Championship) between 1952 and 1957, and the winners of this version are generally accepted as the World Champion. Nevertheless, it is Lindrum's name that is engraved on the familiar trophy. 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Snooker suffered a decline in the 1950s and 1960s, so much so that no tournament was held from 1958 to 1963. In 1969, the BBC, in order to demonstrate their new colour broadcasts, launched a new snooker tournament, called Pot Black. The multi-coloured game, many of whose players were just as colourful, caught the public interest, and the programme's success wildly exceeded expectations. Ted Lowe, the commentator famous for his whispering delivery, was the driving-force behind Pot Black, which survived until well into the 1980s. // Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Year 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ... Pot Black was a UK television snooker tournament that played a large part in the popularisation of the modern game. ... Ted Lowe was a BBC snooker commentator. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ...

In the early 1970s, the World Championship received little TV coverage. However, in 1976 it was featured for the first time and very quickly became a mainstream professional sport. World rankings were introduced in 1977. Money poured into the game, and a new breed of player, typified by Steve Davis, young, serious and dedicated, started to emerge. The first maximum break of 147 in a televised tournament was made by Steve against John Spencer in the Lada Classic, Oldham, in 1982. The first 147 at the World Championships (Crucible, Sheffield) was made the following year by a Canadian, Cliff Thorburn. The top players became millionaires. There was even a comic snooker song in the pop charts: Snooker Loopy by Chas & Dave, featuring contributions from a host of players including Steve Davis and Willie Thorne. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Steve Davis OBE (born August 22, 1957) is an English professional snooker player who was born in London and lives in Brentwood, Essex with his wife and two sons. ... John Spencer (18 June 1935 - 11 July 2006) was an English snooker player who dominated the game in the 1970s along with Ray Reardon. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Clifford Charles Devlin (Cliff) Thorburn (born January 16, 1948 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) is a retired professional snooker player. ... Snooker Loopy is a humorous song which was released as a single in 1986 and entered the UK Music charts. ... Chas and Dave are cockney pop rock music artists, often billed as Chas n Dave. ... William Joseph Willie Thorne (born 4 March 1954 in Leicester) is a former English professional snooker player and now a commentator. ...

Perhaps the peak of this golden age was the World Championship of 1985, when 18.5 million people (around one third of the population of the UK) watching BBC2 saw Dennis Taylor emerge victorious against Davis after a mammoth struggle. Play had started with the first session on Saturday afternoon, finishing with the potting of the last possible ball (with the exception of a re-spotted black) at 00:20 on Monday morning at the end of a gruelling final Sunday night session. To this day, polls rank the 1985 World Snooker Championship final amongst British television's most memorable all-time moments.^[2] With seven World Championship wins in the modern era, along with many other ranking tournament victories, Stephen Hendry is often considered the most successful player ever. Dennis Taylor just after winning the 1985 championship The 1985 World Snooker Championship final is often cited as the most exciting game of snooker ever seen. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... For the soul singer, see Dennis Taylor (singer). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

As a TV sport, snooker remains very popular in the United Kingdom, although the number of professional tournaments has declined over the last few years. For highly ranked players professional snooker is a very lucrative occupation. Stephen Hendry leads the career prize money chart, with winnings of over £7.8 million as of 2005. [1] The majority of top snooker players have always originated from the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the 1970s and 1980s some top players came from Australia, Canada and South Africa, but few successful players now come from those countries. However, there have been examples of prominent players from Malta, Hong Kong and Thailand, and since 2000 snooker has gained popularity in mainland China. In 2005 Ding Junhui became the first Chinese player to win a ranking event. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions... Ding Junhui (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; born April 1, 1987) is a Chinese snooker player, born in Yixing, Jiangsu (near Shanghai), and is now a resident of England during the snooker season. ...

Category: Snooker This article is about the various cue sports. ... Image File history File links Chalk_stub. ... Pocket billiards is a sub-classification of the broader category of games known as cue sports. ... A correct nine ball rack Nine ball is a contemporary variation of pocket billiards, with historical beginnings rooted in the United States and traceable to the 1920s. ... Eight ball players Eight ball is a billiards game played with a cue ball and 15 billiard balls on a pool table with 6 pockets. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Straight Pool, also called 14. ... Bank pool has been gaining popularity in recent years. ... Three Ball is a gambling game of pocket billiards, playable by any number of persons in rotation. ... Rotation (or rotation pool) is a pocket billiards (pool) game played using a standard pool table and standard triangular rack of fifteen (solid/stripe) billiard balls. ... A pocket billiards game, circa 1800s Germany Cowboy pool, sometimes just called cowboy, is a hybrid pool game combining elements of English billiards through an intermediary game, with more standard pocket billiards characteristics. ... Billiards is a family of games played on a table with a stick, known as a cue stick, which is used to strike balls, moving them around the table. ... Carambole billiards (or carom) is a billiards game possibly developed in the 18th century in France, though the exact date of invention is not clear. ... Carambole billiards (or carom) is a billiards game possibly developed in the 18th century in France, though the exact date of invention is not clear. ... Five-pins (Italian cinque birilli), also known as five-pin billiards or Italian billiards (It. ... Inset from School of Recreation, 1710. ... Inset from School of Recreation, 1710. ... Jacob Schaefer, Sr. ... There are two similar yet distinct carom billiard games known as 4-ball. ... Paul Gauguins Night CafÃ© at Arles (1888) Artistic billiards, sometimes called fantasy billiards or fantaisie classique, is a carom billiards discipline in which players compete at performing 76 preset shots of varying difficulty. ... This article is about the various cue sports. ... Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a large (12 feet Ã— 6 feet, 3. ... A snooker table English Billiards is a form of billiards played on a 6 Ã— 12 rectangular table with pockets in the four corners and in the middle of the long sides (see Snooker for markings and a diagram). ... Russian Billiards pyramid. ... Bumper pool is a casual billiards game played on an octagonal or rectangular table with two holes on opposite ends and 12 bumpers. ... Bagatelle (from French by way of the Italian bagattella, a trifle) is a game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past pins (which act as obstacles) into holes. ... The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ... This article is about the various cue sports. ... The following is a list of traditional terms used in the three main cue sport disciplines: pool, which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets such as straight pool, eight-ball, nine-ball, one-pocket and bank pool; carom billiards referring to the various carom... Illustration from Michael Phelans 1859 book, The Game of Billiards Cue sports techniques (usually more specific, e. ... A pocket billiards (pool) table A billiards table or billiard table is a table on which billiards games are played. ... A close-up picture of American-style pool balls Billiard balls are used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. ... A cue stick or simply cue, is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of billiards, pool and snooker. ... A rack is the name given to a frame (usually wood or plastic) used to organize billiard balls at the beginning of a game. ...