Alex Higgins, who hit the snooker world like the hurricane which became his nickname, was to become the biggest box-office draw the game has ever known.

Snooker great Alex Higgins died on this date at age 59. Hurricane Higgins was one of the first ‘rock stars’ of snooker, winning world championships in 1972 and 1982. He was flamboyant in everything he did, both on and off the table and a lifestyle of women, alcohol and smoking was grist to the mill for the tabloid press. The undisciplined lifestyle ensured he never won as much as his talent might have suggested and unfortunately accelerated his death, effectively penniless, from cancer in 2010.