63 Facts About Alex Higgins

Alexander Gordon Higgins was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history.

Alex Higgins was world championship runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1976 and Cliff Thorburn in 1980.

Images of a tearful Alex Higgins holding his baby daughter after his 1982 victory are regarded as some of the most iconic in the history of British televised sport.

Alex Higgins won the World Doubles Championship with White in 1984 and played with Dennis Taylor and Eugene Hughes on the all-Ireland team that won the World Cup three consecutive times from 1985 to 1987.

The family lived near the Jam Pot, a snooker and billiards hall in the Sandy Row estate, which Alex Higgins frequented from age 10, running bets for his father and doing odd jobs.

Alex Higgins took up snooker the following year, initially at the Jam Pot before he began practising with more challenging opponents at the Shaftesbury and YMCA clubs in the city centre.

Alex Higgins disliked the required menial work and despite being fired six times, he was taken back on board.

Alex Higgins stayed for almost two years, during which time he gained weight and became too heavy to ride competitively.

Alex Higgins left the stables for London, where he settled in a Leytonstone flat and started playing snooker again.

Alex Higgins won several money matches and earned extra income at a paper mill near London Bridge, but he grew homesick and returned to Belfast after a year.

Alex Higgins practised as much as six hours a day, studied weaknesses in the other players, and devised new shots in his game.

Alex Higgins was appointed captain of the Mountpottinger YMCA team.

Around this time, Alex Higgins defeated world champion John Spencer in several exhibition matches where he received a start of 14 per frame.

Alex Higgins relocated to England as it presented more favourable opportunities for snooker.

Alex Higgins turned professional full-time at age 22, and worked out his strategy against the top professionals around this time; he noted they were percentage players and to beat them, chose to "attack with brute force and scare them to death".

Alex Higgins defeated Jackie Rea in the final of the Irish Professional Championship in January 1972, a title Rea had held since 1952.

Alex Higgins compiled a break of 32, and then, following some safety play, potted the green ball to clinch victory.

Alex Higgins was the youngest-ever winner of the title, a record he held until Stephen Hendry's victory at the age of 21 in 1990.

In 1973 Alex Higgins made his debut appearance on Pot Black, but he lost his first game and stormed off the set.

Alex Higgins blamed his loss to Charlton on having to use a new after his usual one had been broken a few months before the tournament.

At the time, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association had scheduled a meeting to hear a complaint that Alex Higgins had refused to continue in a tournament after complaining about the lighting.

The 1977 World Championship was the first to he held at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, and Alex Higgins lost the of his first-round match against Doug Mountjoy.

Alex Higgins retained the Irish Professional title against Dennis Taylor in 1978.

Alex Higgins saw off challenges from Fagan for the Irish Professional title in 1978 and 1979.

Alex Higgins lost the Irish Professional title to Dennis Taylor the week before the 1980 World Championship.

Alex Higgins noted that each player had accused the other of distracting them during the match.

Alex Higgins lost to Davis in the second round of the 1981 World Championship.

Alex Higgins won the world title for a second time in 1982.

Alex Higgins released a country and western styled single, "One-Four-Seven", that year.

At the 1986 UK Championship, Alex Higgins head-butted tournament director Paul Hatherell after an argument.

In 1988, Alex Higgins was dropped by Kruger and acquired a new manager, Robin Driscoll.

In January 1989, Alex Higgins fell out the window from his partner's first floor flat and broke multiple bones in his ankle.

Alex Higgins arrived at several subsequent matches on crutches and played while hopping on one leg.

Alex Higgins competed in pre-season qualifying matches against amateurs, including former women's champion Stacey Hillyard.

Alex Higgins was a member of the Europe Team for the 1995 Mosconi Cup, a pool competition.

Alex Higgins made appearances in the 2005 and 2006 Irish Professional Championship, these comebacks ending in first-round defeats by Garry Hardiman and Joe Delaney, respectively.

On 12 June 2007, it was reported that Alex Higgins had assaulted a referee at a charity match in the north-east of England.

Alex Higgins returned to competitive action in September 2007 at the Irish Professional Championship in Dublin but was whitewashed 05 by former British Open champion Fergal O'Brien in the first round at the Spawell Club, Templeogue.

Alex Higgins continued to play fairly regularly, and enjoyed "hustling" all comers for small-time stakes in clubs in Northern Ireland and beyond; in May 2009 he entered the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship, "to give it a crack", but failed to appear for his match.

On 8 April 2010, Alex Higgins was part of the debut Snooker Legends Tour event in Sheffield, at the Crucible.

Originally an out-and-out attacking player, Alex Higgins developed his tactical game throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Alex Higgins partnered Kenny Lynch in Pro-Celebrity Snooker on ITV in 1978.

Alex Higgins was a guest on A Question of Sport in 1980, and on Give Us a Clue the following year.

Alex Higgins appeared in the Sporting Stars edition of the British television quiz The Weakest Link on 25 July 2009.

At the time of his 1972 triumph at the World Championship, Alex Higgins related that he did not have a permanent address, and had recently lived in a row of abandoned houses in Blackburn which were awaiting demolition.

Alex Higgins married twice and had four children from three different relationships.

In January 1980 Alex Higgins married Lynn Avison in Wilmslow, Cheshire.

Alex Higgins had a long and enduring friendship with Oliver Reed, who appeared on This Is Your Life when Alex Higgins was the subject in 1981.

In 1983 Alex Higgins helped a young boy from Manchester, a fan of his who had been in a coma for two months, after his parents wrote to him.

Alex Higgins recorded messages on tape and sent them to the boy with his best wishes.

Alex Higgins later visited the boy in hospital and played a snooker match that he promised to have with him when he recovered.

In 1996, Alex Higgins was convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old boy, while in 1997 then-girlfriend Holly Haise stabbed him three times during a domestic argument.

For many years, Alex Higgins smoked heavily; he reportedly smoked 80 cigarettes a day.

Alex Higgins had an operation on cancerous growths on his palate in 1996.

In early 2010, Alex Higgins suffered from pneumonia and breathing problems, and on 31March he was admitted to hospital.

Alex Higgins had lost his teeth after intensive radiotherapy used to treat his throat cancer.

Alex Higgins was too ill and frail to have the implants fitted.

Alex Higgins was found dead in bed in his flat on 24July 2010.

Alex Higgins was buried in Carnmoney Cemetery in Newtownabbey, County Antrim.

Alex Higgins was an inspiration to many subsequent professional snooker players, including Ken Doherty, Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Alex Higgins arguably fulfilled his potential only intermittently during his career peak in the 1970s and 1980s; Everton puts this down to Davis and Ray Reardon generally being too consistent for him.

Alex Higgins made a 16-red clearance in a challenge match in 1976; it was a break of 146, with the brown potted as the first "red", and 16 colours: one green, five pinks and ten blacks.

Richard Dormer wrote and directed a one-person play based on Alex Higgins's career, titled Hurricane.