Pot Black

Pot Black was a BBC television series of annual snooker tournaments held in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1986, which carried no ranking points, but played a large part in the popularisation of the modern game. The event was revived in the form of several one-off tournaments throughout the 1990s and up to 2007. Pot Black helped transform snooker from a minority sport with just a handful of professionals into one of the most popular sports in the United Kingdom.Mark Williams holds the event's highest break record of 119.

History

The BBC began broadcasting in colour in 1967 and was looking for programmes that could exploit this new technology. Broadcasting snooker, then still a minor sport, was the brainchild of the then controller of BBC Two, David Attenborough. The first Pot Black was held in 1969 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham. The programme first aired on 23 July 1969, on BBC2. The event featured eight players, namely Gary Owen, Jackie Rea, John Pulman, Ray Reardon, Fred Davis, Rex Williams, Kingsley Kennerley and John Spencer. The event continued until 1986, by which time more and more snooker events were being televised and the Pot Black format was becoming outdated. It returned in 1990, but was discontinued after the 1993 event.