PRIDE OF MANCHESTER -  Celebrating life in the ShamRock'n'Goal capital of the world!
..About Us..
..Contact Us..
..Advertise..
Manc Irish Home
   
 
Search Pride Of Manchester
     
 
Buy tickets
     
..Home.. ..Music.. ..Sport.. ..Hotels.. ..Pubs & Bars.. ..Restaurants.. ..Movies & TV.. ..Foods.. ..Beers.. ..Fashion.. ..Art.. ..Literature..
..Comedy..
..Guides..
..Architecture..
..History..
..Manc Irish..
..Interviews..
..Competitions..
..Surveys..
..Community..
..Offers..
 
Alex Higgins - a hurricane in manchester
 
 
 
"Maybe I should put myself forward for I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here. Then again, all the other guests would leave!"
- Former snooker star Alex Higgins thinks of ways to make a comeback..
 
     

Alex Higgins was to become the biggest box-office draw the game has ever known. Completely off the wall, always controversial he was never out of the news, on or off the table. No one had seen anyone like him when he played in the 1972 world championship. His skill in the game was almost like a stage magician and every game people flocked to see him in their thousands.

Born in Belfast, 18th March 1949, Alexander Gordon Higgins started playing snooker at the age of eleven at a local club, The Jampot, but at 14 and only seven and a half stones, he left for England and a career as a jockey. However he put on a lot of weight and was released from his apprenticeship without ever having ridden in public. He returned to Belfast and the Jampot and by 1965, age 16 he had compiled his first maximum. In 1968 he won both the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland amateur championships. He wanted to make some real money out of the game and moved to Manchester in 1971 and turned professional.

He entered the 1972 world championships and set the snooker world alight by beating John Spencer 37-32 to become champion at his first attempt. He was the one character that was to bring a whole new audience to the game of snooker and make the sport almost as fashionable as football is. The people loved him and the sponsors rushed to put more money into the game. He only managed to reach the semi-finals the following year and the quarters in 1974. Another semi-final in 1975 was followed by reaching the 1976 final where he lost to Ray Reardon. The following two years saw him go out in the first round but in 1979 he only lost his quarter-final in the deciding frame to the eventual champion, Terry Griffiths, and the next year he made it to his third final, a narrow 16-18 defeat by Cliff Thorburn. An early exit in 1981 was followed by unforgettable scenes in 1982 as he beat Ray Reardon to become champion again. this was after a wonderful semi-final encounter with Jimmy White, arguably the best match ever seen at the Crucible.

In the meantime Alex had reached four successive Benson & Hedges Masters finals from 1978 to 1981, winning the first and last of them as well as the 1980 British Gold Cup and three Irish Professional titles. He added a fourth in 1983 and ended that year with a dramatic win in the Coral UK Championship. he was 0-7 down to Steve Davis but won the match 16-15.

He had a drinking problem and was consistently in trouble with the authorities receiving numerous bans and he was finding it harder to compete on the table. He was, however, a member of Ireland’s winning World Cup team for three consecutive years, 1985-87 and in 1989 won the Irish Masters as well as a fifth Irish Professional title.

Further lengthy bans caused him to slip down the rankings and he now had to play through several qualifying rounds to reach the money earning stages of the big tournaments. This he consistently failed to do and to add to his problems, he developed cancer. He has still not officially retired but was playing for £10 or £20 a time at a small club in Manchester.

No one can doubt that he has been the bad boy of snooker for most of his career and has brought most of his problems on himself but equally it can be said that, without him, the big snooker revival of the seventies would never have happened.

But now The Hurricane is back with his old friend Jimmy White for a few shows from Saturday 28 Feb - Wed 10 Mar 2004 called Snooker Excellence At Barbican Centre, York, where t hey will be playing an exhibition match.

Also the colourful antics of the Belfast-born legend are being depicted in a one-man show at London's West End and also on a tour. Aptly titled Hurricane, it charts the highs and lows of the twice World Snooker champion.

Originally produced in Belfast, the play whipped up a storm at last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival with rave reviews from the critics. The show comes to the Lowry in Manchester on Monday 23rd - Thursday 4th March.

 

 

 
Buy the book
Buy the video

Check out E-bay for Snooker items

 
       

DISCLAIMER: These pages are in no way official or connected to Alex Higgins

All pages within PrideOfManchester.com, PrideOfManchester.co.uk and unitedMANCHESTER.com are Copyright © 2004 united MANCHESTER. All rights reserved. If you wish to reproduce any content please contact us first for permission - We don't bite!

 

Disclaimer: PrideOfManchester.com can not be held responsible for any differences experienced at the premises listed.

All images and information © 1999-2018 Pride Of Manchester

Privacy & Cookies Policy

 

Pride Of Manchester
Manchester Restaurants
Manchester Bars
Manchester Hotels
Manchester Theatres
What's On in Manchester
~ Subscribe for free ~

Liverpool Restaurants
Liverpool Hotels

Liverpool Theatres
What's On in Liverpool

Best Bars in Europe
Best Restaurants in Europe
Best Hotels in Europe
     
Compare The Ticket Price
UK Theatre Guides
London Theatres
Manchester Theatres
Edinburgh Theatres
Liverpool Theatres
Birmingham Theatres

Stadium Hotels
Hotels near Wembley
Hotels near O2 Arena
Old Trafford hotels
Twickenham hotels
Hampden Park hotels
Faroe Islands Hotels

Amsterdam Bars & Restaurants
Barcelona Bars & Restaurants
Berlin Bars & Restaurants
Bratislava Bars & Restaurants
Copenhagen Bars & Restaurants
Gothenburg Bars & Restaurants
Helsinki Bars & Restaurants
Krakow Bars & Restaurants
Lisbon Bars & Restaurants
London Bars & Restaurants
Madrid Bars & Restaurants
Milan Bars & Restaurants
Rome Bars & Restaurants
Vienna Bars & Restaurants
Zurich Bars & Restaurants
~ other cities in Europe ~