The 1979

Pot Black ''Pot Black'' was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single , where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points, but played a large part in th ...

was a professional invitational snooker tournament, which was held in the

Pebble Mill Studios Pebble Mill Studios was the BBC's television studio complex located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, which served as the headquarters for BBC Birmingham from 1971 until 2004. The nine-acre site was opened by Princess Anne ...

in Birmingham. 8 players were competing in 2 four player groups. All matches were one-frame shoot-outs except the final which was played in the best of 3 frames on a one-hour programme. Broadcasts were on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

and started at 21:00 on Friday 29 December 1978

Alan Weeks Alan Frederick Weeks (8 September 1923 – 11 June 1996) was an English television sports reporter and commentator for the BBC from 1951 to 1996. He was assigned to work as the publicity manager of the Brighton Sports Stadium after he was d ...

presented the programme with

Ted Lowe Edwin Charles Ernest Lowe (1 November 19201 May 2011) was an English snooker commentator for the BBC and ITV. His husky, hushed tones earned him the nickname "Whispering Ted". Life and career Born in Lambourn, Berkshire, Lowe was general manage ...

as commentator and Sydney Lee as referee. This tournament had the TV debut of

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...

who played veteran namesake Fred Davis on the programme transmitted 19 January and won the frame 83-23 but failed to reach the semi-finals. The first Pot Black champion

Ray Reardon Raymond Reardon (8 October 1932 – 19 July 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player who dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and claiming more than a dozen other professional titles. Due to h ...

regained the title 10 years after his

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

beating reigning champion

Doug Mountjoy Douglas James Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within t ...

Main draw

Group 1

Group 2

Knockout stage

References