William Cook was a professional player of

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the United Kingdom and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team us ...

in the 19th century. He won the World Championship on several occasions. Cook beat John Roberts Jr., son of the dominant player of the time, John Roberts Sr., in a in 1869, and then challenged Roberts Sr. for the title. As this was the first actual match for the World Championship, the players themselves drew up a special set of rules for the game. Cook was an expert at the , whereas Roberts was superior in the all-around game. Roberts managed to get the pocket width reduced to 3–inches (from the original 3–in), and and were adjusted so that Cook's spot stroke strength, derived from his proficiency at consecutively the from its was weakened. Cook was nonetheless considered the favourite, and the 20-year-old had improved much from his win over Roberts Jr. the previous year. At 1:38 a.m. on the morning of 12 February 1870, Cook defeated Roberts 1,200-1,083 to win the title, and won a newly created trophy, £100 and a

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. The

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

attended the match at St. James's Hall. This match ended the dominance of Roberts Sr., as the wave of new players took over the game. Roberts Sr. then retired, but Cook was to meet his match in the son, John Roberts Jr., who beat him 1,200-552 in a challenge match for the Championship in April 1870. Cook struggled to match Roberts in the matches, but after improving he was able to hold the championship until 1875. He was then beaten again by Roberts, who would go on to dominate billiards for the next thirty years. Cook popularised the "spot-barred" version of English billiards, whereby the red could not be potted more than twice in succession from its spot. This helped to relieve monotonous play in billiards, and encourage spectators to watch the sport.

References

External links

William Cook
biography at Billiards and Snooker Heritage. English players of English billiards 1849 births 1893 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing World champions in English billiards People from Sandy, Bedfordshire {{billiards-bio-stub