In , in India, by members of the British Army, in 1875. The sport’s own governing body puts it that plainly at the head of its history timeline. What follows on that timeline is a slower story than the invention date suggests, because the game took decades to acquire settled rules and another half century to acquire an audience.
The rules had featured inconsistencies until they were consolidated in 1919, which is when the arrived to make sure every frame produced a winner. The first World Professional Championship followed in 1927, at Camkin’s Hall in Birmingham, where Joe Davis beat Tom Dennis twenty frames to eleven for a first prize of six pounds ten shillings.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association begins its own timeline in 1875, with snooker invented by members of the British Army in the Indian town of Jubbulpore. It is stated in one line, without supporting detail, which is how most sporting origin stories survive. What the rest of the timeline shows is how much still had to happen afterward.
The early decades are about settling the game. The first century breaks were attributed around 1910 to Tom Aiken, Cecil Harverson, Phil Morris and George Hargest. The first English Amateur Championship was won in 1916 by Charles Jaques, entering under the name E. A. Jay. Then in 1919 the rules, which had featured inconsistencies, were consolidated, and the re-spotted black was introduced so that each frame had a winner.
Professional competition arrived next. The World Professional Snooker Championship was held for the first time in 1927, at Camkin’s Hall in Birmingham. Joe Davis beat Tom Dennis there, twenty frames to eleven, for a first prize of six pounds ten shillings. Davis retired undefeated in 1946 with a record fifteen world titles, and in 1955 made the first officially recognized .
The audience came last, and it came with the technology. The BBC televised snooker for the first time in 1950 from Leicester Square Hall, but the game is played with colored balls on green cloth, and black and white does it no favors. In 1969 was commissioned by David Attenborough, then controller of BBC2, and snooker was broadcast in color. One caution: this is a governing body’s timeline, a list of dates rather than an argued history.
wat. Invented by soldiers in 1875, and not really watchable until color television in 1969.
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A game invented by soldiers abroad in 1875 did not become a spectator sport until color television existed. The timeline makes the dependency visible.
How do we know?
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association’s history timeline lists the game’s development by year, from its invention through the consolidation of its rules to its championships and its arrival on television.
What is still unknown
A governing body’s timeline, written as a list of dates rather than as history. It states the invention in a sentence and offers no evidence for it, and the association also links to a longer account written by journalists.
Learn something?
Where to next
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