The game of snooker is a cue sport which emerged in its modern form in the late 19th century, with roots going back to the 16th century form of English billiards. Billiards was popular among the British Armed Forces stationed in India. As billiards was only a two player game, new games such as life pool and pyramid pool were developed in order to accommodate more players. Eventually, these two games were combined to form snooker.

Billiards was first played in the 16th century. It was known as a "gentleman's game" because of its popularity among royalty. The tables had no side rails, pockets, or cushions, but only contained holes for the balls to be potted. Every time that a pot was achieved, the ball would fall to the ground. The balls, which were made of ivory, were another difference from modern billiards.

In the 19th century, the sport became quite popular among the British Armed Forces stationed in India. Billiards was a two-man game in its original form, which was played with 3 balls, of which two were cue balls, one for each player. This led to the formation of multi-player versions. New versions included life pool and pyramid pool. Life pool involved several colored balls used as both cue balls and object balls. In pyramid pool, there were 15 red balls and a white cue ball, and each player received one point per red ball potted. Along with the new games being developed, the table was taking steps toward its current state.

Clive Everton (born 7 September 1937), is a Welsh veteran BBC snooker commentator, journalist and author. He began his BBC career on the radio, but has been commentating on the television from the 1978 World Championship through to the present. He also commentates for Sky Sports on the Premier League Snooker tournament.

Everton was a talented amateur player of English billiards, reaching both the 1975 and 1977 world semi-finals. In the latter he exacerbated a back injury, forcing a temporary retirement from the highest level of the game; he became a professional snooker and billiards player in 1981.

Unlike snooker, billiards has never generated sustainable professional incomes for players, and Everton has enjoyed a varied career as a result. He has covered football, rugby and tennis for various British newspapers, and is one of the most prolific authors of historical and instructions books on snooker, as well as being the founding editor of the long-running Snooker Scene magazine. He also played county-level tennis for Worcestershire for 13 years, and has managed Jonah Barrington, the former world number 1 squash player.

Steve Davis, OBE (born 22 August 1957 in Plumstead, London) is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire. He has won 28 ranking events in total, second only to Stephen Hendry.

Davis' achievements also include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. In 1988 he became the first player to complete snooker's Triple Crown in a single season. He is also a former four-time World Doubles champion with Tony Meo and won the World Team Classic/World Cup four times with England. In 1982, he became the first player to compile a televised maximum break and is one of four players to have compiled over 300 competitive century breaks. Though he has not won a major tournament since 1997, he continues to play snooker at a high level and reached the quarter-finals at the 2010 World Championship. He was still ranked in the world's top 16 at the age of 50, and is ranked number 51 after the 2012 World Championship.

Stephen Lee (born 12 October 1974) is a professional snooker-player from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, whose smooth cue action is regarded by some pundits as the most natural in the game.. He entered the Top 16 during the 1997/1998 snooker season. He won four ranking titles between 1998 and 2006. His form declined dramatically in 2006 and dropped out the 16 after the 2007/2008 snooker season a run of 11 consecutive seasons (including 5 consecutive seasons in the top 8. He returned to the Top 16 during the 2011/2012 season. Lee has compiled 160 competitive century breaks during his career.

Lee turned professional after winning the English Amateur Championship in 1992. During his first season as a professional he had a run of 33 successive frames won during qualifying matches, an all-time professional record. He reached the Top 16 of the rankings five years later, despite never having reached the semi-finals of a ranking event at this point. He entered the Top 8 after winning his first ranking title during the 1998/1999 season.

Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. His media profile developed swiftly and he became known as the "Beckham of the Baize" because of his good looks and flamboyant style.

Hunter was a three-time Masters Champion, winning the title on the deciding frame on all three occasions. Hunter compiled 114 competitive century breaks in the course of his professional career, including a personal record break of 146 compiled at the 2004 Premier League. Hunter also won three ranking titles, the British Open and the Welsh Open (twice).

In March 2005 Hunter was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors, and died from the disease in 2006 just before his 28th birthday. He was survived by his wife, Lindsey, and their daughter.

Hunter was born in Leeds in 1978 and was educated at St Andrews Primary School and Cardinal Heenan High School. With some encouragement from friends and family, he spent many hours practising snooker. He often travelled to Bradford to practise alongside Joe Johnson. At the age of 12 Hunter was considered an "outstanding junior talent". He won many junior tournaments and at the age of 14 won the English Doubles Championship with Richard Brooke. With the help of former professional snooker players Jimmy Michie and Joe Johnson, Hunter made his debut among the professionals in July 1995 at the age of 16.