Clive Everton reported on Alex Higgins's 1972 world title triumph and all the highs and lows that followed.
Here is his obituary of Higgins, as printed in The Observer.
12 comments:
Daniel
said...
A marvelous article from Clive which had the hair on the back of my neck standing as I read it. I look forward to next months Snooker Scene which will no doubt be equally as fitting a tribute to Alex.
Heartfelt thanks to you Dave for all the great stuff you have written since Alex passed and to Clive for his piece. I have read nor seen anything by Jimmy White which is surprising as they were brothers in arms. Perhaps you could do an interview with him soon and put it on your blog. Thanks again.
MY favourite memory of alex was in dubai 1992 i think .He upset a certain player and the manager of that player decided to make alex apologise by holding his head under water in the hotel pool for about 30 seconds . Every time he let alex up for air alex just told him to f*** O** . He tried this about 4 times before realising there was not going to be any apology. Typical Alex wasnt going to apologise for being himself .I as a player will miss him he definitely helped snooker .He was actually an intelligent man compared to a lot of players at that time .He used to read the gaurdian and the times .Cant imagine a player now even knows those papers exist.The racing post always came 1st though.
@ 10:57 - hey, that's not very nice to assume that players now don't know that The Guardian & The Times exist. Even if they don't, it doesn't mean they're not intelligent.
ALEX HIGGINS: A MAN WHO, AS IRISH JOURNALIST, EAMONN McCANN, SAID IN THE " LIKE A HURRICANE: THE ALEX HIGGINS STORY DOCUMENTARY," HIGGINS " ELEVATED SNOOKER FROM A BACK-STREET SPORT, INTO A TELEVISION ENTERTAINMENT." IN SPITE OF ALL HIS ON AND OFF-TABLE TROUBLES, SNOOKER HAS, FROM THE FIRST TIME HE PICKED UP A SNOOKER CUE, AND INDEED, ALWAYS WILL, OWE HIM A GREAT DEBT OF GRATITUDE.
To make an understatement very hard to do an obituary of Higgins- Everton has made an effort though in parts it is a bit of a cuttings job (even for an obituary) and badly edited. One part reads something like Judge Lightman now Justice Lightman which makes no sense- as far as I can recall-Gavin Lightman was just a Q.C for the Higgins disciplinary hearings way back and then became a judge. Anyway the Telegraph obituary has gone too far the other way? The maxim that you shouldn't speak ill of the death at the time of their passing or in Higgins case (as done by Everton and others) shouldn't speak as ill of the dead as you might is ignored. Everything Higgins ever did, in a bad sense, is set out in the Telegraph- beating 1st wife Cara Hasler, fracturing Siobhan Kidd's cheekbone, taking drugs, taking drink, being banned from seeing his two children by his second wife and on and on. The repetiveness detracts from the article. Sure all of this happened but an obituary is meant to draw a general picture of someones life and in Higgins case this was a tricky test for the likes of Everton et al.
I thought Clive Everton done a good job on the article.
Everton writes it as he sees it, no hype, no rosy pictures and more importantly, no unwarranted criticism.
This article was written for the general public, that is, people who might not be aware of Higgins's misgivings.
The snooker world, who are aware of Higgins's misgivings, are more emotionally affected by his death as a result of the many enthralling matches he was involved in, and will tend to view him through rosier tinted spectacles than usual.
Nothing wrong with that. Respect for the dead is admirable but it can't change the fact that Higgins wasn't a very nice person.
His death should not be a precursor for rewriting history. He was a great player, but with many flaws, and in my opinion Evertons obituary is accurate and relevant.
When Higgins wowed and also embarrassed Mumbai fans
Pradeep Vijayakar
The death of snooker great Alex Higgins from throat cancer earlier in the week evoked mixed memories in Mumbai. In the early 80s the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India had invited Higgins to play exhibition matches in Bombay,Calcutta, Delhi and Madras.
In Bombay Higgins played at the Bombay Gymkhana. He showed his wizardry and was up by about three-four frames against Indian great, Shyam Shroff. The crowd got rapturous. Billiards great Mike Ferreira remembers.``Higgins had been drinking vodka all afternoon. The hall was crowded and the air-conditioners could not cope. In the first frame he had a century break. And another big break. The crowd went haywire. So did Higgins. He took off his shirt and threw it and it landed on a lady club member. He then lifted the dhoti of RK Vissanji, who was heading the national federation,saying `It's a wonderful air-conditioned garment'. The federation would have none of it. They packed him off the next day. The matches in the other centres were cancelled.'' Bharat Vissanji, who also remembered the incident said,``Higgins lifted Wilson Jones off his feet.'' So, that was the end of the tryst of Higgins with India. Ferreira said Higgins had remarkable memory and remembered him by name when they met years later. ``It's sad the way his life ended, he went the way of George Best, the footballer. Paul Gasciogne looks headed the same way.''
12 comments:
A marvelous article from Clive which had the hair on the back of my neck standing as I read it. I look forward to next months Snooker Scene which will no doubt be equally as fitting a tribute to Alex.
Heartfelt thanks to you Dave for all the great stuff you have written since Alex passed and to Clive for his piece. I have read nor seen anything by Jimmy White which is surprising as they were brothers in arms. Perhaps you could do an interview with him soon and put it on your blog. Thanks again.
Jimmy has written of his sorrow on his Facebook page
Where can we read Jimmys facebook?
original song-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8
NEWPORT Version to cheer up Janie-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNfbX6uvA6s
MY favourite memory of alex was in dubai 1992 i think .He upset a certain player and the manager of that player decided to make alex apologise by holding his head under water in the hotel pool for about 30 seconds . Every time he let alex up for air alex just told him to f*** O** . He tried this about 4 times before realising there was not going to be any apology. Typical Alex wasnt going to apologise for being himself .I as a player will miss him he definitely helped snooker .He was actually an intelligent man compared to a lot of players at that time .He used to read the gaurdian and the times .Cant imagine a player now even knows those papers exist.The racing post always came 1st though.
@ 10:57 - hey, that's not very nice to assume that players now don't know that The Guardian & The Times exist. Even if they don't, it doesn't mean they're not intelligent.
your right . i didnt even spell gaurdian correct. Cant spell ,too much time in the billiard hall.
ALEX HIGGINS: A MAN WHO, AS IRISH JOURNALIST, EAMONN McCANN, SAID IN THE " LIKE A HURRICANE: THE ALEX HIGGINS STORY DOCUMENTARY," HIGGINS " ELEVATED SNOOKER FROM A BACK-STREET SPORT, INTO A TELEVISION ENTERTAINMENT." IN SPITE OF ALL HIS ON AND OFF-TABLE TROUBLES, SNOOKER HAS, FROM THE FIRST TIME HE PICKED UP A SNOOKER CUE, AND INDEED, ALWAYS WILL, OWE HIM A GREAT DEBT OF GRATITUDE.
To make an understatement very hard to do an obituary of Higgins- Everton has made an effort though in parts it is a bit of a cuttings job (even for an obituary) and badly edited. One part reads something like Judge Lightman now Justice Lightman which makes no sense- as far as I can recall-Gavin Lightman was just a Q.C for the Higgins disciplinary hearings way back and then became a judge. Anyway the Telegraph obituary has gone too far the other way? The maxim that you shouldn't speak ill of the death at the time of their passing or in Higgins case (as done by Everton and others) shouldn't speak as ill of the dead as you might is ignored. Everything Higgins ever did, in a bad sense, is set out in the Telegraph- beating 1st wife Cara Hasler, fracturing Siobhan Kidd's cheekbone, taking drugs, taking drink, being banned from seeing his two children by his second wife and on and on. The repetiveness detracts from the article. Sure all of this happened but an obituary is meant to draw a general picture of someones life and in Higgins case this was a tricky test for the likes of Everton et al.
I thought Clive Everton done a good job on the article.
Everton writes it as he sees it, no hype, no rosy pictures and more importantly, no unwarranted criticism.
This article was written for the general public, that is, people who might not be aware of Higgins's misgivings.
The snooker world, who are aware of Higgins's misgivings, are more emotionally affected by his death as a result of the many enthralling matches he was involved in, and will tend to view him through rosier tinted spectacles than usual.
Nothing wrong with that. Respect for the dead is admirable but it can't change the fact that Higgins wasn't a very nice person.
His death should not be a precursor for rewriting history. He was a great player, but with many flaws, and in my opinion Evertons obituary is accurate and relevant.
CAN YOU PLEASE STOP POSTING IN ALL CAPITALS AS IT HURSTS MY eYeS
?
When Higgins wowed and also embarrassed Mumbai fans
Pradeep Vijayakar
The death of snooker great Alex Higgins from throat cancer earlier in the week evoked mixed memories in Mumbai. In the early 80s the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India had invited Higgins to play exhibition matches in Bombay,Calcutta, Delhi and Madras.
In Bombay Higgins played at the Bombay Gymkhana. He showed his wizardry and was up by about three-four frames against Indian great, Shyam Shroff. The crowd got rapturous.
Billiards great Mike Ferreira remembers.``Higgins had been drinking vodka all afternoon. The hall was crowded and the air-conditioners could not cope. In the first frame he had a century break. And another big break. The crowd went haywire. So did Higgins. He took off his shirt and threw it and it landed on a lady club member. He then lifted the dhoti of RK Vissanji, who was heading the national federation,saying `It's a wonderful air-conditioned garment'. The federation would have none of it. They packed him off the next day. The matches in the other centres were cancelled.''
Bharat Vissanji, who also remembered the incident said,``Higgins lifted Wilson Jones off his feet.''
So, that was the end of the tryst of Higgins with India.
Ferreira said Higgins had remarkable memory and remembered him by name when they met years later. ``It's sad the way his life ended, he went the way of George Best, the footballer. Paul Gasciogne looks headed the same way.''
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