1974 Pot Black

1974 Pot Black

Tournament information
Dates	29 December 1973 – 1 January 1974 (1973-12-29 – 1974-01-01) (broadcast 5 February – 21 May 1974 (1974-02-05 – 1974-05-21))
Venue	Pebble Mill Studios
City	Birmingham
Country	England
Format	Non-ranking event
Winner's share	£1,000
Highest break	Graham Miles (68)
Final
Champion	Graham Miles
Runner-up	John Spencer
Score	Aggregate score (147–86)
← 1973 1975 →

The 1974 Pot Black was a professional invitational snooker tournament, which took place between 29 December 1973 and 1 January 1974 in the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, and featured eight professional players. ^[1] All matches were one-frame shoot-outs.

Broadcasts were on BBC2 and started at 21:00 on Tuesday 5 February 1974 ^[2] Alan Weeks presented the programme with Ted Lowe as commentator and Sydney Lee as referee.

The tournament was contested by 8 players in two round-robin groups of 4 with the top two players from each group qualifying for the semi-finals. This year's tournament featured the debuts of Cliff Thorburn and Graham Miles who went on to win the Pot Black title at the first attempt beating John Spencer in the final. For the first time the final was decided on aggregate score over two frames, shown on 14 and 21 May, Miles won both frames, 77–37 and 70–49, winning by a score of 147–86. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Main draw

League 1

Player 1	Score	Player 2	Broadcast Date
Eddie Charlton	1–0	Ray Reardon	5 February 1974
John Spencer	0–1	Rex Williams	19 February 1974
Ray Reardon	0–1	John Spencer	5 March 1974
Eddie Charlton	1–0	Rex Williams	19 March 1974
Ray Reardon	1–0	Rex Williams	2 April 1974
Eddie Charlton	0–1	John Spencer	16 April 1974

League 2

Player 1	Score	Player 2	Broadcast Date
Cliff Thorburn	0–1	John Pulman	12 February 1974
Jackie Rea	1–0	Graham Miles	26 February 1974
Cliff Thorburn	0–1	Graham Miles	12 March 1974
John Pulman	1–0	Jackie Rea	26 March 1974
Cliff Thorburn	1–0	Jackie Rea	9 April 1974
John Pulman	0–1	Graham Miles	23 April 1974

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals (30 April and 7 May 1974)					Final (14 and 21 May 1974)
	Eddie Charlton		0
	Graham Miles		1			Graham Miles		2
	John Pulman		0			John Spencer		0
	John Spencer		1

References

1. "World champ cues off snooker series". Worcester News. Worcester. 5 February 1974. p. 3.
2. "BBC Television – 5 February 1974 – Pot Black". BBC Genome Project . BBC. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
3. "BBC Television – 14 May 1974 – Pot Black: BBC2 Knockout Snooker Competition". BBC Genome Project . BBC. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
4. "BBC Television – 21 May 1974 – Pot Black: BBC2 Knockout Snooker Competition". BBC Genome Project . BBC. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
5. "CueTracker - 1974 Pot Black - Snooker Results & Statistics Database".