John Higgins, was born on 18 May 1975 and is a Scottish professional snooker player.
37 Facts About John Higgins
2.
John Higgins has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry.
3.
John Higgins has achieved the world number 1 ranking position on four occasions.
4.
John Higgins has gone for extended periods without ranking wins.
5.
John Higgins reached three consecutive World Championship finals between 2017 and 2019, but was runner-up each time, losing to Mark Selby in 2017, Mark Williams in 2018 and Judd Trump in 2019.
6.
John Higgins turned professional in 1992 and reached the quarter-finals of the British Open during his first season on the professional tour.
7.
John Higgins went on to win two more ranking titles at the British Open and International Open, making him the first teenager to win three ranking events in one season, and he reached the finals of the Welsh Open and the Masters.
8.
John Higgins made a then-record 14 centuries in the tournament.
9.
John Higgins then failed to win a major title until his fourth British Open triumph in 2004.
10.
John Higgins scored 494 points without reply, which was then a record.
11.
At the 2007 World Snooker Championship, John Higgins beat Michael Holt, Fergal O'Brien, Ronnie O'Sullivan, and Stephen Maguire en route to the final.
12.
John Higgins devised a new players' union with his manager Pat Mooney, called The Snooker Players Association.
13.
John Higgins joined Steve Davis, Hendry and O'Sullivan as the only players to have lifted the trophy three or more times at The Crucible.
14.
At two weeks before his 34th birthday, John Higgins became the oldest player to triumph since Dennis Taylor in 1985, who was 36 years of age.
15.
John Higgins was immediately suspended from the game and Mooney resigned from his position on the WPBSA board.
16.
John Higgins issued a statement on the day of the allegations denying that he had ever been involved in match-fixing, and explained that he had decided to "play along" out of fears for his safety, suspecting the involvement of the Russian Mafia.
17.
The independent tribunal that followed in September 2010, hosted by Sports Resolutions and chaired by Ian Mill QC, concurred that the WPBSA was right to conclude that John Higgins had truthfully accounted for his words and actions and to withdraw the more serious charges of match-fixing, but found him guilty of "giving the impression" that he would breach betting rules, and of failing to report the approach made to him by the News of the World.
18.
In securing his third UK title, John Higgins became only the fourth player after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan, to win the second biggest ranking tournament in snooker three or more times.
19.
John Higgins won the Hainan Classic, defeating Jamie Cope in the final.
20.
John Higgins made a maximum break during the final, and compiled another maximum in his second-round match against Mark Davis at the 2012 UK Championship.
21.
John Higgins finished the season ranked 11th, slipping out of the top 10 for the first time in 17 seasons.
22.
John Higgins then lost in the early rounds at a number of minor-ranking events.
23.
John Higgins ended the campaign as the world number 11, the lowest he has been at the end of the season in 19 years.
24.
John Higgins arrived at the 2014 UK Championship stating that he was struggling for confidence and concerned that a poor result in the championship could cost him his top-16 ranking and his place at the Masters.
25.
John Higgins said later that he had cracked under pressure.
26.
John Higgins lost a deciding frame to Selby in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship.
27.
At the World Championship, John Higgins reached his first world final in six years and became, at age 41, the oldest finalist in 35 years.
28.
John Higgins reached the final of the 2018 World Snooker Championship, but lost again to Mark Williams.
29.
John Higgins surpassed Stephen Hendry's career total of 775 centuries during the 2019 Scottish Open.
30.
John Higgins made his 800th career century on the first day of the 2020 Champion of Champions, although he lost the match to Ding Junhui.
31.
On 28 February 2021, John Higgins defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the Players Championship to claim his 31st ranking title and his first ranking title in three years.
32.
John Higgins froze me out from start to finish, he played an incredible match.
33.
John Higgins weighed 15 and a half stones during the 2021 World Championship, but began the new season at 12 stones.
34.
John Higgins is a supporter of Celtic FC and follows English club Everton.
35.
In 2006, John Higgins was escorted off a plane for being drunk after losing the Malta Cup final to Ken Doherty, but he became teetotal in preparation for the 2007 World Championship which he went on to win.
36.
John Higgins was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 New Year Honours.
37.
In January 2010, John Higgins appeared on the BBC's Celebrity Mastermind, answering questions on his specialist subject Dallas.