Alex Higgins: The People's Champion

This show was a tribute to the wayward Alex Higgins the self styled 'People's Champion.'

Higgins died relatively young with his final years being ill ridden with cancer which made him gaunt. His star had ascended fast as he became the youngest snooker world champion in 1972 when snooker was still a sport associated with smoked filled rooms. He won his second championship at the Crucible when snooker was hitting the heights of its popularity with regular television coverage.

Higgins certainly did his bit to popularize the sport in between those years. He was brash, quick and controversial. This attributes would also finally let him down and ultimately destroy him.

Yet there are so many players who came up through the ranks of professional snooker inspired by Higgins. Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan. Even Steve Davis was a fan although Higgins never had much time for the Romford Robot.

However Higgins decline was swift, he felt out the top rankings which meant no automatic invites to the top tournaments, he lost sponsors, gained more controversy, lost friends and he was always in financial trouble. Higgins lived it up with fellow hell raisers such as Oliver Reed. You always felt if he was more disciplined he would had lasted loner but Higgins lived for today.

Of course nowadays no one under the 40 years of age would even have heard of Higgins. This was one last celebration of a maverick.