Oh my baize! New cue sport LOOP turns pool on its head

Why I built Britain's first elliptical pool table, for the game of LOOP, which will have its inaugural championship at the Port Eliot Festival later this month.

When I began writing about maths I had no idea that it would lead me to the glamorous world of indoor sports.

But while I was researching my most recent book I became entranced by the ellipse, the curve that you see whenever you look at a circle side-on.