I used to see him in pubs around Fallowfield a lot in the early 90s. People would buy him endless pints. It was depressing as hell.
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Id see him alot in Belfast towards the end of his life. My small claim is that one day I was walking past him in town and he asked me would I hold his coat for a second, I obliged. Next thing he started lifting anything he could, bottles, stones etc. and chucking them down the street towards the Rangers supporters club where a load of heavies were standing outside. Think he’d had an argument over a bet or something. I quickly handed the coat back and said “I’ve got to go Alex” at which point he offered to play me a game of pool for 50 quid across the road in Lavery’s pool hall, was sad how he ended up.
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I had his autograph when I was kid in the mid 80s, my dad brought it home one time, they frequented the same pubs in Manchester city centre with other nefarious types, one of the nicer things my dad did, there weren’t many.
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Ended up with throat cancer didn’t he, or summat? Looked awful
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Scary funny and sad all at the same time. He really was The Hurricane.
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I think so. Not a happy life
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In his prime though what a player
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Part of my childhood, the open necked shirt and attitude. One of a kind.
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Taking a drag nonchalantly in between shots using his thumb and index finger! Consummate professional!
Raw talent.
Loved watching him.
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Love this paragraph on his playing style from Wiki :
In describing the unconventional playing technique used by Higgins, his fellow professional Willie Thorne said that “He does everything wrong: his stance is square, he lifts his head, his arm’s bent, he snatches at some of his shots.” Thorne concluded that Higgins would be the worst example for an aspiring player to imitate.[131] His grip on the cue was less firm than typically employed by professional players.[132] Author Brendan Cooper wrote that “Beset with twitches, sniffs, and odd jerks of the limbs, Higgins would approach the table like a battered boxer trying to stay upright.”[133]
Originally an out-and-out attacking player, Higgins developed his tactical game throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Cliff Thorburn praised his innovative positional play, citing him as one of the first players to “break out reds from potting the red, which is a very difficult thing to do.”[131] Williams and Gadsby wrote that as Higgins grew older, his “technical shortcomings became burdensome”, and that he began to fail on more shots as his hand-eye co-ordination declined, but note that he maintained a world championship career lasting over two decades.[132] Writing for the Dictionary of Irish Biography, James Quinn said that “His daredevil style thrilled audiences and inspired the kind of adulation and raucous cheering normally heard in football stadiums rather than snooker halls”, but a lack of consistency and discipline meant that Higgins failed to achieve as much as his potential should have allowed.[134]
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When he used to go off between frames, and come back sniffing and twitching 
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My grandma definitely had the hots for him!
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As an aside I do remember an anecdote about Bill Werbeniuk letting out an enormous fart at the world championships prob 2 or 3 pints into his ‘warm up’ and blaming it on the audience “Which of you fuckers did that?” or something to that effect.
Just checked online it was Dennis Taylor’s anecdote during a game they played
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Sure you’ve all seen it, but if you’ve not then this is worth a watch:
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Yeah great documentary that
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Would not wish to be downwind of Big Bill
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Grateful that I had a sports-mad mother who took us to all kinds of events (when she could afford to), including some amazing snooker matches. Pretty much saw all the great players of this era, but our favourite was Jimmy White.
The atmosphere at snooker matches is strangely intense. A room full of excited spectators, who all have to be quiet, creates a feeling unlike other sport.
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My younger cousin in Surrey used to wash Jimmy White’s car.
I’m sure the interior needed a good dusting
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Loved his powdered donuts apparently 
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Saturdays with my Gran, who had a big colour TV, snooker, wrestling with Big Daddy and co (anyone with a Big Daddy small claims should win and close the thread) and then the football scores. Happy days.
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