Pot Black

The BBC began broadcasting in colour in 1967 and was looking for programmes that could exploit the new technology.[1][2] The idea of broadcasting snooker, then still a minor sport, was the brainchild of David Attenborough who was the controller of BBC2 at the time.[3] The first Pot Black event was held in 1969 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham, and the programme was aired on BBC2 on 23 July 1969.[2] This first contest featured eight players: Gary Owen, Jackie Rea, John Pulman, Ray Reardon, Fred Davis, Rex Williams, Kingsley Kennerley and John Spencer, with Reardon the eventual winner.[4] The event continued until 1986, by which time an increasing number of snooker events were being televised and the Pot Black format was becoming outdated. The programme returned in 1990, but was discontinued after the 1993 event.[1]

A one-day Pot Black tournament, held on 29 October 2005, was broadcast on the BBC's Grandstand. The event featured eight players: Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Stephen Maguire, Matthew Stevens, Paul Hunter, John Higgins, Jimmy White and Shaun Murphy, with Stevens beating Murphy in the final.[2][5] The 2006 edition of Pot Black took place at the Royal Automobile Club in Central London on 2 September 2006. Mark Williams defeated John Higgins in the final, achieving the highest break in the history of the tournament with a 119 clearance.[6] The 2007 edition, the final Pot Black to date, was aired on Saturday 6 October 2007 on BBC One.[2][7] Ken Doherty became the first Irishman to win the competition, beating Shaun Murphy 71–36 in the final.[8]

There have only been six century breaks in the history of Pot Black.[6] Eddie Charlton compiled the first-ever century in 1973, a break of 110, which stood as the event record for many years until overtaken by Shaun Murphy's 111 against Jimmy White in 2005. Mark Williams holds the record for the highest break on Pot Black, for his 119 clearance in 2006.[6][9]

The Pot Black tournament used many different formats over its history. Eight players participated in the first event, but the number of players varied between six and sixteen over the years. It was originally played as a knockout tournament, but later employed a round-robin format.[1] The total number of points scored by the players could often become crucial, so matches always ended with the potting of the black ball.[2]

All matches were played over a single frame. Several different formats were used for the final, which was initially also played over just one frame; an aggregate score over two frames was tried in 1974, but this format was abandoned and the single-frame final returned in 1975; from 1978 to 1986, and in 1991, the final was decided over three frames.[1] A "time-frame" format was added in 1991, to limit the time each player could spend at the table.[1]

A junior version, called Junior Pot Black, ran from 1981 to 1983. This was also revived in 1991 for a single year. The winners were Dean Reynolds, John Parrott (twice) and Ronnie O'Sullivan. The event was revived as a side event to the World Snooker Championship, with the final played on the main match table.[1] The event remained there until 2009. A senior version, called Seniors Pot Black was held in 1997, featuring players who were over 40 at the time. Joe Johnson won the series.[2]

A Celebrity Pot Black was held on 15 July 2006 in aid of Sport Relief. It was contested between the team of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Bradley Walsh and the team of Steve Davis and Vernon Kay. Davis and Kay won the contest.[2] It was presented by Dermot O'Leary, commentated by John Parrott, and refereed by Michaela Tabb.[10]

In 1980 the games company Waddingtons published Pot Black Snooker Dice, a dice game designed by David Parlett based on the show; custom dice were used to represent the reds, colours and miscued shots. The game was a fair representation of snooker, but as with many dice games, it was mostly a game of chance. There were some elements of skill, for example the use of snookers. Welsh snooker player Ray Reardon endorsed the game.

The events were recorded in a single day at the BBC's Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, but the matches were shown in half-hour programmes over the winter. The press co-operated by revealing the scores only after a match had been transmitted. In 2005 and 2006, the whole tournament was broadcast over one day.[1] Pot Black's theme tune was the ragtime classic "Black and White Rag", composed by George Botsford and performed by Winifred Atwell. Atwell had made the recording in 1952, on a specially de-tuned grand piano, not the upright piano she acquired later and made famous.[2]

The first series of Pot Black in 1969 was hosted by Keith Macklin. It was then hosted by Alan Weeks until 1984, and David Icke took over in 1985 and 1986. Eamonn Holmes hosted the event in 1991 and 1992, but was replaced by David Vine in 1993. Vine also hosted Senior Pot Black in 1997. The latest revival of the event was hosted by Hazel Irvine.[2] Pot Black is credited with producing one of the most memorable British sports quotes: commentator Ted Lowe, aware that not all viewers had colour televisions, said "and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green."[11]

[1][12]

Pot Black

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score (frames)	Final score (points)	Highest break[13]
1969	Ray Reardon	John Spencer	1–0	88–29	Ray Reardon (99)
1970	John Spencer	Ray Reardon	1–0	88–27	Fred Davis (54)
1971	John Spencer	Fred Davis	1–0	61–40	Fred Davis (73)
1972	Eddie Charlton	Ray Reardon	1–0	75–43	John Spencer (66)
1973	Eddie Charlton	Rex Williams	1–0	93–33	Eddie Charlton (110)
1974	Graham Miles	John Spencer	Aggregate score[n 1]	147–86[n 1]	Graham Miles (68)
1975	Graham Miles	Dennis Taylor	1–0	81–27	Fred Davis (87)
1976	John Spencer	Dennis Taylor	1–0	69–42	Eddie Charlton (64)
1977	Perrie Mans	Doug Mountjoy	1–0	90–21	Perrie Mans (59)
1978	Doug Mountjoy	Graham Miles	2–1	43–55, 97–23, 111–16	Doug Mountjoy (101)
1979	Ray Reardon	Doug Mountjoy	2–1	79–51, 25–82, 84–41	Doug Mountjoy (82)
1980	Eddie Charlton	Ray Reardon	2–1	16–74, 85–30, 68–54	Dennis Taylor (87)
1981	Cliff Thorburn	Jim Wych	2–0	68–39, 85–50	Kirk Stevens (79)
1982[13]	Steve Davis	Eddie Charlton	2–0	82–40, 85–38	Eddie Charlton (98)
1983[13]	Steve Davis	Ray Reardon	2–0	61–60, 82–47	Ray Reardon (91)
1984[13]	Terry Griffiths	John Spencer	2–1	57–65, 77–8, 70–35	Dennis Taylor (81)
1985	Doug Mountjoy	Jimmy White	2–0	64–5, 66-30	Jimmy White (80)
1986	Jimmy White	Kirk Stevens	2–0	60–46, 106-21	Jimmy White (106)[6]
1991	Steve Davis	Stephen Hendry	2–1	62–40, 4-101, 80–18
1992	Neal Foulds	James Wattana	1–0
1993	Steve Davis	Mike Hallett	2–0		David Roe (104)
2005	Matthew Stevens	Shaun Murphy	1–0	53–27	Shaun Murphy (111)[5]
2006	Mark Williams	John Higgins	1–0	119–13	Mark Williams (119)[6]
2007	Ken Doherty	Shaun Murphy	1–0	71–36	Graeme Dott (67)[7]

Junior Pot Black

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score (frames)	Final score (points)
1981	Dean Reynolds	Dene O'Kane		151–79[n 2]
1982	John Parrott	John Keers		169–70[n 2]
1983	John Parrott	Steve Ventham	1–1	Pink ball game
1991	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Declan Murphy	2–0	126–0, 98-30
2006	Stuart Carrington	Anthony McGill	1–0	58–46
2007	Mitchell Mann	Jack Lisowski	1–0	76–23
2008	Jason Devaney	Duane Jones	1–0	61–28
2009 [14]	Ross Muir	Jak Jones	1–0	24–13[n 3]
2010	Jamie Clarke	Tom Rees	1–0	?

Seniors Pot Black

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score (frames)	Final score (points)
1997	Joe Johnson	Terry Griffiths	2–0	85–32, 70–17