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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 the popularisation of the modern game of snooker. The event was first held in 1969 with a field of eight players and ran annually until 1986. The event resurfaced for three years in both 1991 and 2005. The series was followed by events for other categories of players, with juniors and seniors events, and a celebrity version held in 2006. The series was created by the BBC2 controller David Attenborough, shortly after BBC2 began broadcasting in colour. Snooker, a game using coloured balls, was suggested as a suitable way to sell the new technology. The series helped transform snooker from a minority sport played by just a handful of professionals into one of the most popular sports in the UK. Mark Williams made the highest in the competit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a modern-era record he holds jointly with Stephen Hendry. He has also won a record eight Masters (snooker), Masters titles and a record eight UK Championship titles for a total of 23 Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown titles, the most achieved by any player. He holds the record for the most List of snooker players by number of ranking titles, ranking titles, with 41, and has held the top ranking position multiple times. After winning amateur titles including the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship, O'Sullivan turned professional in 1992, aged 16. He won his first ranking event at the 1993 UK Championship aged ; he remains the youngest player to win a ranking title. He is also the youngest player to win the Masters, having claimed his f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheffield City Hall
Sheffield City Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Sheffield, England in Barker's Pool, one of the city's central squares. It was built and is owned by Sheffield City Council. History The building was designed in 1920 by E. Vincent Harris but construction was delayed for 8 years because of the economic climate in the early 1920s.Neil Anderson (2012) ''Sheffield City Hall – celebrating 80 years'' (ACM Retro, Sheffield) Eventually construction began with the laying of the foundation stone on 27 June 1929 and, after the works has been undertaken by the local contractor, George Longden & Son, the City Hall was officially opened on 22 September 1932. It was originally proposed in 1916 as a Memorial Hall to commemorate the dead of the Great War, but by the time of completion the name had changed to Sheffield City Hall, after some years of controversy. During the Second World War, a bomb exploded in Barkers Pool, damaging the building's pillars. The scars of the explosion ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Pulman
Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He first won the title at the 1957 Championship and retained it across seven challenges from 1964 to 1968, three of them against Fred Davis and two against Rex Williams. When the tournament reverted to a knockout event in 1969, he lost 18–25 in the first round to the eventual champion John Spencer. After finishing as runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1970, Pulman never again reached the final, although he was a losing semi-finalist in 1977. He turned professional in 1946, shortly after winning the English Amateur Championship, and achieved three News of the World Snooker Tournament titles, in 1954, 1957 and 1958. An emotional player, he was prone to venting his frustration and missing important shots. He generally played attacking snooker in his early career, but he made more use of tactics in the 1970s. Pulman be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Higgins
John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by number of ranking titles, all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (41) and Stephen Hendry (36). He has won four World Snooker Championship, World Championships, three UK Championships and two Masters (snooker), Masters titles, for a total of nine Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown titles, putting him level with Mark Selby and behind only O'Sullivan (23), Hendry (18) and Steve Davis (15). He first entered the top 16 in the 1995–96 snooker world rankings, 1995–96 world rankings and remained there continuously for over 29 years until September 2024, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted tenure as a top-16 player. He reached the List of world number one snooker players, world number one position four times. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters (snooker), Masters champion, winning the event in 2001 Masters (snooker), 2001, 2002 Masters (snooker), 2002, and 2004 Masters (snooker), 2004; on all three occasions, he recovered from a deficit in the final to claim the title on a . He also won three List of snooker players by number of ranking titles, ranking events: the Welsh Open (snooker), Welsh Open in 1998 Welsh Open (snooker), 1998 and 2002 Welsh Open (snooker), 2002, and the 2002 British Open. Hunter was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumours in March 2005, but he continued to play for several months after receiving the diagnosis. He died shortly before his 28th birthday in October 2006. A tournament in Fürth, Germany, was renamed the Paul Hunter Classic in his memory, and he was posthumously awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award. In April 2016, the Masters t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Stevens
Matthew John Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple crown event, the World Snooker Championship, in 2000 and 2005. Stevens reached a career high ranking of No. 4 for the 2005/2006 season. Stevens has compiled more than 350 century breaks during his career. Career Early career Stevens became a professional snooker player in 1994; in his second season, he won the Benson & Hedges Championship to qualify for the Masters, where he beat Terry Griffiths 5–3 but lost 5–6 to Alan McManus. He also showed potential the following season by beating Stephen Hendry 5–1 in the Grand Prix. In the 1997–98 season, he reached the semi-finals of both the Grand Prix and the UK Championship, achieving the highest break of the tournament at the latter. He also reached the quarter-finals on hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Maguire
Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional in 1998 after winning the IBSF World Snooker Championship. He was in the top 16 of the snooker world rankings for 11 consecutive years, from 2005 to 2016, twice reaching world no. 2. He is a prolific break-builder, having compiled over 500 century breaks, including three maximums. Career Early career Maguire turned professional as a snooker player in 1998. He qualified for the 1999 UK Championship, where he was defeated 2–9 by Mark King in the first round. He played in qualifying for the 2000 World Championship, defeating Wayne Brown, Nick Walker and Bradley Jones to reach the final qualifying round, where he lost 9–10 to Joe Swail. Maguire qualified again for the 2002 UK Championship, going on to defeat Fergal O'Brien 9–4 in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Hendry
Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and a current Sports commentator, commentator and pundit. One of the most successful players in snooker history, he turned professional in 1985, aged 16, and rose rapidly through the snooker world rankings, reaching number four in the world by the end of his third professional season. He won his first World Snooker Championship in 1990 World Snooker Championship, 1990, aged 21 years and 106 days, making him the sport's youngest world champion, a record he still holds. He won seven world titles between 1990 and 1999, setting a new modern-era record that stood outright until Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled it in 2022 World Snooker Championship, 2022. He also won the Masters (snooker), Masters six times and the UK Championship five times for a career total of 18 Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown tournament wins, a total exceeded only by O'Sullivan's 23. His total of 36 List of snooker play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2005 Pot Black
The 2005 Pot Black was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place on 29 October 2005 at the Royal Automobile Club in London, England. All matches were played over one . Pot Black returned after a 12-year absence (or 8 including Senior Pot Black) and unlike the original TV series of matches being recorded in 2 days and transmitted months later, this new format was shown on BBC1's ''Grandstand'' showing highlights of the matches during the programme before showing the final live. Presented by the usual BBC snooker team of Hazel Irvine, Steve Davis and John Parrott and commentary by Clive Everton. Referees include Jan Verhass and Michaela Tabb who refereed the final. Out of this year's players, only Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan had previously played in Pot Black in its old form while the latter two and Matthew Stevens played in Junior Pot Black and White being the only former champion competing. Although there was no prize money for the win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grandstand (TV Programme)
''Grandstand'' was the flagship sports programme of the BBC which was broadcast on Saturday afternoons on BBC1 between 1958 and 2007, and from 1981 on Sunday afternoons as ''Sunday Grandstand'' on BBC2, although until 1998 the Sunday edition aired only during the summer. The last editions of ''Grandstand'' and ''Sunday Grandstand'' were broadcast over the weekend of 27–28 January 2007. History During the 1950s, sports coverage on television in the United Kingdom gradually expanded. The BBC regularly broadcast sports programmes with an outside studio team, occasionally from two or three separate locations. Production assistant Bryan Cowgill put forward a proposal for a programme lasting three hours; one hour dedicated to major events and two hours showing minor events. Outside Broadcast members held a meeting in April 1958, and Cowgill further detailed his plans taking timing and newer technical facilities into consideration. During the development of the programme, problem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Spencer (snooker Player)
John Spencer (18 September 1935 – 11 July 2006) was an English professional snooker player. One of the most dominant players of the 1970s, he won the World Snooker Championship three times, in 1969, 1971 and 1977. He worked as a snooker commentator for the BBC from 1978 to 1998 and served for 25 years on the board of the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), including a stint as chairman from 1990 until his retirement from the board in 1996. Born in Radcliffe, Lancashire, Spencer started playing snooker on a full-sized table at age 14 and compiled his first century break aged 15. He was conscripted for National Service at age 18 and lost interest in playing snooker for over ten years before taking it up again in 1964. He reached the final of the English Amateur Championship for three years in a row, claiming the title at his third attempt in 1966. He turned professional in 1967—the same year as his amateur rivals Gar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingsley Kennerley
Kingsley Kennerley (27 December 1913 – 26 June 1982) was an English billiards and snooker player. From 1937 to 1940, he appeared in each English Amateur Snooker Championship and English Amateur Billiards Championship final. He won the Billiards Championship for those four consecutive years, and the Snooker title in 1937 and 1940. His billiards break of 549 in the 1937 event remained the championship record until 1978. In 1938, he was runner-up in the Empire Amateur Billiards Championship, losing to Bob Marshall in the final, but making the championship record break of 472. He turned professional in 1945, at a time when there was little public interest in professional billiards. He was runner-up in the UK Professional English Billiards Championship in 1950 and 1951. He entered the World Snooker Championship regularly in the 1940s and 1950s, and played twice in the tournament in the 1970s. After several years of not competing professionally, he played in both snooker and b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
