Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards: The Inside Story of the Snooker World

Throughout its colorful history, the billiard sport of snooker has had more than its fair share of heroes and villains, champions and chumps, rascals and rip-off artists. In the last 20 years, every sleazy scandal imaginable has attached itself to this raffish sport: corruption, match fixing, bribery, sex, recreational drugs, performance-enhancing drugs, ballot rigging, fraud, theft, and domestic violence—all against a background of inept petty czars fixated on the pursuit, retention, and abuse of power. Clive Everton recounts the glory and despair that have characterized the game since it was invented as an innocent diversion by British Army officers in India in the 19th century. He tells the true and unexpurgated story of snooker's transformation into a television success story, second only to soccer, and exposes how the sports potential has been shamefully squandered.