Pot Black

Pot Black was a British series of (non-ranking) snooker tournaments televised by BBC, that played a large part in the popularisation of the modern game, from 1969 to 1986. 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 events' highest break record of 119. The first Pot Black was held in 1969 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham. BBC began broadcasting in colour, and were looking for programmes that could exploit this new technology. The programme first aired on 23 July 1969, on BBC2. The event continued until 1986, at which time more and more televised snooker events were held and the Pot Black format was out dated. It returned in 1990, but it was discontinued after the 1993 event. A one-day Pot Black tournament was held on 29 October 2005, and broadcast on the...