Snooker was invented in the 1800's, most probably in India, being played by british soldiers stationed there. The version similar to modern snooker was introduced in 1875 in Jabalpur when colonel Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain proposed that more coloured balls should be added, although the blue and brown balls appeared later. The name of the game was also given by Sir Neville Francis when he named a player "a real snooker", refering to the players lack of experience. Snooker was a term used for the first year cadets. Since then the word snooker is associated with the game.The first official rules appeared in 1882. In 1885 the brittish billiards champion travelled to India, where he met Sir Neville Francis and decided to introduce the snooker in Great Britain. The first official snooker competition, The English Amateur Championship, was held in 1916. In 1927, Joe Davis was one of the founders of the Professional Snooker Championship wich he won. Even though the quality of the game wasn't high, snooker became the most popular cue game in the 1930's. Joe Davis continued to win all the World Championships until he retired in 1946. It seems that he managed to realize the first 147 break recorded in history. In the next period there were disputes between the organiztions that governed snooker, Control Council and Billiards Association. Because of this only two players competed in the official World Championship, although there was an unofficial World Championship held, the champion being the best player in the world, the official one was won by Horace Lindrum. This situation continued during 1952 and 1957, and the popularity of snooker decreased in the 1950's and 1960's, no World Championship being held between 1958 and 1963. In 1969, with the introduction of the colour TV, BBC organized the Pot Black snooker tournament. The popularity of snooker raised, and in 1973 the World Championship was televised. In 1976 the points rankings were introduced an in 1977 the World Championship was held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, and it remained the tournament venue since present days. The top of snooker popularity was reached in 1985 when the World Championship final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor when the deciding frame was needed to decide the winner. Snooker continued to be popular in the 1990's and 2000's when young players appeared and had excellent performances, and new markets with a high interest for snooker emerged, like China.