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• <br />Chronology of Billiards <br />400 B.C. The Sage Ancharsis N rites about the predecessor of billiards. <br />1085 A.D. Sir Reginald Mortimer of England returns from the Crusades with the game. <br />1500s English lawn bowlers move the game out of the rain and set up wickets indoors. Later <br />they raise it onto a table with pockets. The name billiards is coined from the French word <br />for bent stick. <br />1565 Explorer Hernando De Soto brings billiards to America. The French take it to Africa and <br />the South Seas, the British to India and the Far East. <br />1600 Louis XIV of France challenges any man to beat him. A commoner named Camillart is <br />the only one who does and he becomes minister of the crown. <br />is 1770s George Washington creates a billiards room in the White House. <br />1792 Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI are playing billiards when French revolutionaries come <br />to arrest them. <br />1825 <br />In Upper Bath, England, Jack Car, an employee of Bartley's Billiard room, uses the first <br />leather- tipped cue and chalk, allowing him to put "english" (see Pool Talk) on a ball, <br />getting it to curve, reverse or stop. <br />1829 Marble tables begin to replace wooden ones. <br />1865 General Ulysses S. Grant says, "I believe I am even a poorer billiard player than I am a <br />soldier." Rubber cushions are introduced, the rail is lowered and diamonds are added to <br />the sides of the table. <br />1870s The game splits into pocket billiards, where the object is to knock the balls into the holes, <br />and carom billiards, where the object is to strike cushions and balls to score points. <br />1910s Mark Twain attends major tournament and incorporates colorful billiard players into his <br />stories. <br />1930s The billiards craze sweeps college campuses. <br />1961 "The Hustler," a movie based on famed pool hustler Minnesota Fats, is released. The <br />dingy, pool -hall atmosphere of the film helps it vin an Oscar for cinematography. <br />1986 "The Color of Money" featuring Tom Cruise and Paul Newman premieres and gives a big <br />boost to the game. <br />1993 The popularity of pool soars among those with family incomes of more than 350.000. <br />** <br />Source - Chicago Tribune <br />Page 70 <br />