Snooker History
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 amongst British army officers stationed in India.
Then in 1875, the term snooker was adopted for the new variation of the recognized game and it has been in use ever since. British billiards champion John Roberts introduced the game to England. Nowadays the term "snookered", meaning "thwarted", is a common expression in English.
In 1927, Joe Davis helped establish the first professional world championship at which he won a prize of £6.10s (about £200 or $348 today). He went on to win every following world championship until 1946, when he retired from tournament play.
In the 1950s and 1960s the game Snooker suffered a decline that no tournament was held from 1958 to 1963. 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 and world rankings were introduced a year later.
The peak of the game’s golden age was the World Championship of 1985, when it reached a TV audience of 18.5 million.
Snooker remains immensely popular in the United Kingdom, second only to football amongst television viewers. For highly ranked players professional snooker is a very lucrative occupation. The majority of top snooker players have always originated from the United Kingdom and Ireland.