7 facts you must know about billiards:
All the forms of Billiards are believed to originate from a game similar to the French game, Croquet played in the 14th century. Billiards was born as an indoor game owing to its popularity among the masses, royals and commons alike and to the unpredictable nature of the European weather. Since the ancestral form of the game was played on green lawns, the tables were covered with green felt to give the same feel as that of a lawn.
Since the onset of this game, it was branded as immoral by various segments of the society. This forced devoted billiards players to play the game discreetly. This “immoral" game and its followers were frequently chased by religious groups in spite of the utmost secrecy maintained by the game’s devoted followers. The game was branded illegal in most states of America as its name was synonymous with the term “pool room" used for horse betting parlors. Even Thomas Jefferson wasn’t spared from the law, as he had to hide a pool table at his residence.
Regardless of all the restrictions, the first billiards championship was held in 1873. William Cook was crowned the winner and John Roberts was the runner up.
Even the historic celebrities were bitten by the billiards bug as both King Louis XI and Queen of Scots (whose own pool table cloth was used as her burial garment by her assassins) owned billiards table. Captain Mingaud, better known as the inventor of the leather cue tip, had a billiards table in his prison cell.
At the end of 18th century, the world got its first pool hall which was built in England. It had one table and one pocket only. The biggest pool hall was built in Detroit, which housed more than 100 pool tables. It also enclosed an exhibition room which was attached to a 250 seat theater.
Billiards was derived from a French word for mace-“billiart" owing to the fact that before the widespread usage of the cue sticks (The word comes from “Queue" which means tail, in French) a wooden mace with a handle similar to a tail was used to shoot balls. A cue was considered as some weapon of mass destruction when given to women, as they were often accused of mishandling the cue and ripping the table cloth. Hence, only men were allowed to handle a cue.
This is may sound very strange, but the first woman to win a billiards championship was a man! The woman’s name was Frances Anderson and “she" was famous for outsmarting almost every pool player in both American and European pool circles during the first years of the 20th century. She later revealed that she is actually a man born with the name of “Orie". This startling revelation created quite a furor in the billiards circle of 1920s.