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Captain Francis Minguad-A little
cue history
Billiards was already a popular activity when
Captain Francois Mingaud,
one of Napoleon's officers, was sent to the Bastille as a political
prisoner.
He must have had a spacious cell, because he somehow managed to have a
billiard table installed. Daily experimentation to improve his game
led him to ask for permission to stay on in prison to continue his
work on a better style. Billiards owes him a tremendous debt. Cues had
developed over time to a tapering shape, which explains it's name,
cue, derived from the French word for "tail" spelled 'queue'.
About 1790, Captain Mingaud created a new cue that became exceedingly
popular.
Using a file, an unusual tool for a prisoner, he rounded the square
end of the stick and was then able to make shots that were much more
difficult than any ever seen before.
In 1807 he made a further improvement by adding a leather tip to the
cue. After leaving prison Mingaud made a career of displaying his
billiard skill and new cue in Paris and was a driving force in
popularizing the game across Europe.
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Thursday, July 10, 2008 01:23:38 PM
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