1.
Stoke-on-Trent
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Stoke-on-Trent is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of 36 square miles. Together with the boroughs of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands, it is part of North Staffordshire. Stoke is polycentric, having formed by a federation of six towns in the early 20th century. It took its name from Stoke-upon-Trent, where the town hall, Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The four other towns are Burslem, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent is the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as the Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries, the name Stoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, the original ancient parish, with other settlements being chapelries. Stoke derives from the Old English stoc, a word that at first meant little more than place and these variant meanings included dairy farm, secondary or dependent place or farm, summer pasture, crossing place, meeting place and place of worship. It is not known which of these was intended here, because Stoke was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing affix was usually added later, in this case the name of the river. The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as, United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful and it was not until 1 April 1910 that the Six Towns were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the boroughs of Burslem, Longton. The combined borough took the town of Stoke. In 1919, the borough proposed to further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. This never took place, due to objections from Newcastle Corporation. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill, ultimately, Wolstanton was instead added to Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1932. The borough was granted city status in 1925, with a Lord Mayor from 1928. The decision was overturned, however, when an approach was made to King George V. The public announcement of the elevation to city status was made by the King during a visit to Stoke on 4 June 1925, the county borough was abolished in 1974, and Stoke became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire. Its status as a unitary authority was restored on 1 April 1997, for Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS3 region
2.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
3.
Glossary of cue sports terms
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There are also hybrid pocket/carom games such as English billiards. The terms American or US as applied here refer generally to North American usage, similarly, British terms predominate in the world of snooker, English billiards and blackball, regardless of the players nationalities. The term blackball is used in this glossary to refer to both blackball and eight-ball pool as played in the Commonwealth, as a shorthand, 1-cushion See the Straight rail billiards main article for the game sometimes called one-cushion. 1-pocket See the One-pocket main article for the game, 3-ball See the Three-ball main article for the game. 3-cushion See the Three-cushion billiards main article for the game, 4-ball See the Yotsudama main article for the modern Asian game often called four-ball. See the American four-ball billiards main article for the nineteenth-century game, 5-pins See the Five-pin billiards main article for the formerly Italian, now internationally standardized game, or Danish pin billiards for the five-pin traditional game of Denmark. 6-ball See the Nine-ball#Six-ball sub-article for the game, 8-ball See the Eight-ball main article for the game. See the 8 ball entry, under the E section below, See 8 ball for derivative uses. 9-ball See the Nine-ball main article for the game, See the 9 ball entry, under the N section below, for the ball. 9-pins See the Goriziana main article for the game sometimes called nine-pins, 10-ball See the Ten-ball main article for the game. Above Used in snooker in reference to the position of the cue ball and it is above the object ball if it is off-straight on the baulk cushion side of the imaginary line for a straight pot. It is also common to use the term high instead, gambling or the potential for gambling. Lively results on a ball, usually the cue ball, from the application of spin, added Used with an amount to signify money added to a tournament prize fund in addition to the amount accumulated from entry fees. A match format in which a player has to establish a lead of a number of frames in order to win. Aiming line An imaginary line drawn from the path an object ball is to be sent. Anchor To freeze a ball to a cushion, such a ball may be said to be anchored and this term is largely obsolete balkline billiards jargon. Anchor nurse A type of shot used in carom billiards games. It developed to curtail the effectiveness of the nurse, which in turn had been invented to thwart the effectiveness of Parkers box in stopping long
4.
Snooker
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Snooker is a cue sport which originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century. It is played on a covered with a green cloth, or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners. Using a cue and 22 coloured balls, players must strike the ball to pot the remaining balls in the correct sequence. An individual game, or frame, is won by the player who scores the most points, a match is won when a player wins a predetermined number of frames. In the 1870s, billiards was a sport played by members of the British Army stationed in India. Snooker gained its own identity in 1884 when officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, while stationed in Ooty, devised a set of rules that combined pyramid, the word snooker was a long used military term used to describe inexperienced or first year personnel. The game grew in popularity in England, cemented by the formation of the Billiards Association and it is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The World Snooker Championship has taken place since 1927, with Joe Davis becoming a key figure in the growth of the sport with 15 championship wins from 1927 to 1946. Top professional players now compete regularly around the world and attain multi-million-pound career earnings, the sport has become increasingly popular in China. The origin of snooker dates back to the half of the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India, one such variation originated at the officers mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Jabalpur in 1875, which combined the rules of two pocket billiards games, pyramid and life pool. The former was played with fifteen red balls and one positioned in a triangle, while the latter involved the potting of designated coloured balls. The name instantly stuck with the players, in 1887, snooker was given its first definite reference in England in a copy of Sporting Life which caused a growth in popularity. Chamberlain came out as the inventor in a letter to The Field published on 19 March 1938,63 years after the fact. To accommodate the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed, in 1919, the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club and a new, standard set of rules for snooker first became official. Davis won every championship until 1946 when he retired. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played, in 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game, known as snooker plus to try to improve the games popularity by adding two extra colours. The TV series became a success and was for a time the second most popular show on BBC Two
5.
Pottery
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Pottery is the craft of making ceramic material into pots or potterywares using mud. Major types of potterywares include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain, the place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. Early Neolithic pottery have found in places such as Jomon Japan. A clay body can be decorated before or after firing, however, prior to shaping processes. Kneading helps to ensure an even moisture content throughout the body, air trapped within the clay body needs to be removed. This is called de-airing and can be accomplished either by a called a vacuum pug or manually by wedging. Wedging can also produce an even moisture content. Once a clay body has been kneaded and de-aired or wedged, after shaping, it is dried and then fired. Clay ware takes on varying physical characteristics during the making of pottery, at sufficient moisture content, bodies at this stage are in their most plastic form. Leather-hard refers to a body that has been dried partially. At this stage the clay object has approximately 15% moisture content, clay bodies at this stage are very firm and only slightly pliable. Trimming and handle attachment often occurs at the leather-hard state, bone-dry refers to clay bodies when they reach a moisture content at or near 0%. It is now ready to be bisque fired, bisque refers to the clay after the object is shaped to the desired form and fired in the kiln for the first time, known as bisque fired or biscuit fired. This firing changes the body in several ways. Mineral components of the body will undergo chemical changes that will change the colour of the clay. Glaze fired is the stage of some pottery making. A glaze may be applied to the form and the object can be decorated in several ways. After this the object is glazed fired, which causes the material to melt
6.
Dominic Dale
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Dominic Dale is a Welsh professional snooker player and occasional snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC. He is often referred to by commentators as the greatest player never to have been in the top 16, Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, which allowed him to compete at the World Amateur Championship in Bangkok, Dale reached the final, but lost 9–11 against Noppadon Noppachorn. Dale turned professional for the 1992/1993 season and he has won two ranking tournaments in his career, the first of which – the Grand Prix in 1997 – he won while ranked number 54 in the world, beating then world number 2 John Higgins 9–6 in the final. It took him a decade to repeat the achievement at the 2007 Shanghai Masters, on his way to the Shanghai final he beat Rory McLeod, Ken Doherty, Adrian Gunnell, Dave Harold and Mark Selby. Both of his victories were in the season-opening tournaments, he also reached the semi-finals of the season-opening events in 2002 and 2006. He also beat Peter Ebdon at the 2008 Malta Cup, despite a bout of stomach cramps, Dale is the only player to have won multiple ranking tournaments without ever reaching the top 16, but he was 14th on the one-year list for both 1997/1998 and 1999/2000. His best World Championship performance was in 2000, when he reached the quarter-finals with a 10–6 victory over Peter Ebdon, Dale won the third professional tournament of his career when he won Event 6 of the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011, beating Martin Gould 4–3 in the final. This win, along with consistent performances, were enough to see him back into the top 32 players. He also qualified for the World Championship for the first time since 2004, Dale had a good start to his 2011/2012 season as he reached the quarter-finals of the first event, the Australian Goldfields Open. Dale was originally due to meet Ronnie OSullivan in the first round and he then reached the final stages of the UK Championship for the first time since 2005 by beating Nigel Bond in the final qualifying round and was drawn against Judd Trump in the last 32. Dale led 4–2 before Trump had a slice of fortune in the seventh frame by fluking a pink. Dale would eventually lose the match 4–6 and he also reached the 2012 PTC Finals courtesy of finishing twentieth in the Order of Merit. His qualification was largely due to making the final of Event 10, in the Finals he lost 2–4 to Xiao Guodong in the first round. Dale qualified for the World Championship with a 10–3 victory over Ben Woollaston to set up another first round meeting with Judd Trump and he led the match 7–6 against an opponent who later revealed to be suffering from food poisoning, before conceding four successive frames to lose 7–10. Dale finished the season ranked world number 23, meaning he had climbed 8 places during the year, Dale qualified for nine of the eleven ranking events during the 2012/2013 season, but lost in the first round in eight of them. The exception was at the International Championship where he beat Graeme Dott 6–3, dales best run in the PTCs came at Event Three by reaching the semi-finals in a run that included a 4–2 over Mark Selby, but he lost to world number 65 Rod Lawler 0–4. Dale finished 28th on the Order of Merit, just outside the top 26 who qualified for the Finals, Dale reached the opening round of the World Championship by dispatching Alfie Burden 10–5 and played Judd Trump at this stage for the second successive year where he was defeated 10–5
7.
Mark Selby
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Mark Anthony Selby is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He is the reigning World Snooker and UK champion, having won titles for a second time in 2016, and is the current world number one. Selby joined the professional snooker tour in 1999 at the age of 16. In 2007, he was runner-up to John Higgins at the World Snooker Championship and his other ranking titles include the Welsh Open in 2008, the Shanghai Masters in 2011, the German Masters in 2015, the China Open in 2015 and the International Championship in 2016. Known as a patient, tough competitor with strong safety play and his nickname, The Jester from Leicester, was given to him by snooker compere Richard Beare after Willie Thorne came up with it during commentary. Selby is also a pool player and he is the 2006 WEPF eight-ball pool world champion and the 2015 Chinese Pool World Championship finalist. Selby was born in Leicester, England, malcolm Thorne, the brother of Leicester-born snooker player Willie Thorne, spotted Selbys snooker ability and provided Selby practice so he could practise every day after school. Selbys father died of cancer when Mark was 16, two months before he joined the professional tour. Mark showed potential as a teenager, but did not consistently shine until his twenties and he began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached his first ranking final aged 19, the Regal Scottish in 2003, where he finished runner-up to David Gray, losing 9–7 in the final. Before that, he had already reached the semi-finals of the 2002 China Open. Selby reached the qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship in 2002 and 2003 losing both times. In the 2007 World Championships, Selby beat Stephen Lee 10–7 in the first round and he then defeated former World Champion Peter Ebdon 13–8, with five centuries to reach the quarter-finals. In the quarter-final, he beat Ali Carter 13–12, from 11–8 up and 11–12 down and he went on to reach the final by beating Shaun Murphy 17–16 from 14–16 down, in another deciding frame which he won thanks to a 64 break. Thus he entered the session only 10–12 down and closed to within one frame at 13–14. It was noted by eventual world champion John Higgins, amongst others, in his victory speech and these performances in the 2006/07 season earned Selby a place in the top 16 for the very first time for the 2007/08 season, where he was ranked 11th. After a moderate start to the season, Selby had a run in the second highest ranking tournament. He led eventual winner Ronnie OSullivan 7–5, fell 7–8 behind, in the deciding frame, however, OSullivan made a 147 break to win 9–8
8.
Shaun Murphy (snooker player)
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Shaun Murphy is an English professional snooker player, who won the 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed The Magician, Murphy is noted for his cue action. Born in Harlow and raised in Irthlingborough, Murphy turned professional in 1998 and his victory at the World Championship was considered a major surprise as he was only the third qualifier to lift the title. He has also won seven non-ranking tournaments, including the 2015 Masters, Murphy has won over £3 million in prize money and has compiled more than 400 century breaks in his professional career. His highest world ranking was number three, which he maintained for three seasons following 2007/2008, and he is ranked number four. Born in Harlow, England, Murphy began playing snooker at the age of eight after his parents bought him a table for Christmas. He made his first century break at the age of 10 and practised at the Rushden Snooker Centre, where such as Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams. At the age of 13, he secured a five-year £5, 000-a-year sponsorship deal with the Doc Martens shoe company and stated his ambitions of winning the World Championship and he turned professional in 1998 at the age of 15. Murphy was coached by Steve Prest until the 2006/2007 season, willie Thorne and Ray Reardon also gave him guidance, and when he was 15, he was given the latters old cue by his father. Murphy began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the professional tour. He was runner-up in the event on the UK tour for the 1997/1998 season and, for the 2000/2001 season, won the third and fourth events on the Challenge Tour. In 2000, he received the World Snooker Newcomer of the Year award and one of six Young Player of Distinction of the Year awards from the World Professional Billiards, in 2000, he won the English Open Championship. Murphy won his first professional tournament at the 2000 Benson & Hedges Championship, defeating Mark Davis 6–1 in the semi-final, and Stuart Bingham 9–7 in the final, recovering from 2–5 down. In the 2001 tournament, he showed promise in his first televised match, defeating world number 15, Marco Fu and he made his first maximum break in the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship. Murphy first reached the stages of a ranking event at the 2002 World Championship, hosted at the Crucible Theatre. For the 2003/2004 season, Murphy was ranked number 64 and qualified for the stages of three ranking tournaments. In the LG Cup, Murphy defeated Steve Davis 5–4 in the second round, after the victory over Davis, Murphy said This is one of the greatest days in my snooker career. In the British Open, he defeated Dave Harold 5–1 in the first round, in the Players Championship—the new name of the Scottish Open—he lost 3–5 to eventual champion Jimmy White in the second round
9.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
10.
Steve Davis
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Steve Davis, OBE is an English former professional snooker player from Plumstead, London.5 million British viewers. He is a known public figure and is generally viewed by his peers as one of the greatest players of all time. In addition to his six titles, Daviss career achievements include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. He won a total of 28 ranking events and made over £5.6 million in prize money, Davis compiled more than 300 competitive century breaks, including the first officially recognised maximum break in professional competition, in 1982. During the 1987/1988 season, he became the first player to complete snookers Triple Crown by winning the UK Championship, Masters and his other accomplishments include winning the World Doubles Championship four times with Tony Meo and winning the World Team Classic/World Cup four times with England. Davis won his last world title in 1989, and captured his last major title when he won the 1997 Masters at the age of 39, but he continued to play snooker at a high level into his 50s. He reached the final of the 2005 UK Championship at the age of 48 and was ranked inside the top 16 when he turned 50 during the 2007/2008 season. He reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Championship at the age of 52 and he won the World Seniors Championship in 2013. On 17 April 2016, after failing to qualify for the 2016 World Snooker Championship, outside snooker, Davis has competed in pool tournaments, notably playing on Team Europe at the Mosconi Cup between 1994 and 2004, helping the team win the event in 1995 and 2002. He is also noted for his participation in events, having reached the final stages of several televised tournaments. Since 1996 he has been a broadcaster with Phoenix FM and an expert in the progressive rock genres of Zeuhl, RIO. A keen amateur chess player, he co-authored a chess book with grandmaster David Norwood and is a president of the British Chess Federation. He has also published books on snooker, including three autobiographies, one technical book and one comedy book called How To Be Really Interesting. He has appeared on a number of popular British TV shows and he was made an MBE in the 1988 Birthday Honours and an OBE in the 2000 New Year Honours. Davis was introduced to snooker by his father Bill, a player, who took him to play at his local working mens club at the age of 12. They studied the book and built Steve Daviss own technique on it in the 1970s, Hearn became Davis friend and manager. Paid £25 a match by Hearn, Davis toured the country, taking part in matches against established professionals such as Ray Reardon, John Spencer. Around this time he was given the nickname Nugget because, according to Hearn, you could put your case of money on him, Davis won the English Under-19 Billiards Championship in 1976
11.
Mark Williams (snooker player)
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Mark James Williams, MBE is a Welsh professional snooker player who has been World Champion twice, in 2000 and 2003. Often noted for his single-ball potting, he has earned the nickname The Welsh Potting Machine and he has been ranked the world number 1 for a total of three seasons in his career. The first left-handed player to win the World Championship, Williams has won 18 ranking tournaments, including the UK Championship twice and he has also won the Masters on two occasions, in 1998 and 2003. Williams most successful season in his career to date was the 2002/2003 season, when he won the treble of tournaments, the UK Championship, the Masters. He is the player after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry to win all three Triple Crown events in one season. Following his second World Championship his form declined, and he dropped out of the top 16 following the 2007/2008 season, as a prolific break-builder, Williams has compiled more than 350 century breaks during his career. Williams was born in Cwm, Ebbw Vale, and started playing snooker at an early age and he scored his first century when he was 13. He won his first junior event when he was 11 and it was then that he realised that he wanted to pursue a career as a snooker player and he was encouraged to play by his father Dilwyn, who was a miner. When he was 15 he did a 12-hour shift down the mines, Williams was also a promising Amateur boxer, being undefeated in 12 fights as a schoolboy, but he decided to pursue his snooker career instead. He turned professional in 1992 and finished his first season ranked 119th, Williams first ranking tournament win came in January 1996, when he claimed the Welsh Open title, beating John Parrott 9–3 in the final. In April 1997, he won the British Open, beating Stephen Hendry 9–2 in the final. He also beat Hendry in the final to win his first Masters title in February 1998, winning on the final black 10–9 after recovering from 6–9 down, in the 1998 World Championship, he reached the semi-finals, losing 14–17 to Ken Doherty. He was runner-up next year to Hendry, the 1999/2000 season was a very successful one for Williams, winning both the UK Championship and the World Championship. These results, along with another ranking title and three positions, allowed him to capture the world number 1 position for the first time. In the World Championship final he came from 7–13 behind his fellow countryman and he also produced a notable comeback in his semi-final match against John Higgins, coming from 10–14 down to win 17–15. This was enough to retain his number 1 ranking, although his title defence at the World Championship fell in the round with a 12–13 defeat to Joe Swail. However, he lost to the same player 9–13 in the round of the World Championship. Another strong performance came in 2002/2003 season when he won the UK Championship, Masters and World Championship titles
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Darren Morgan
John Higgins
