Hurricane Higgins dies at 61 from throat cancer

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Not surprising really but I remember him well from watching the snooker when I was young (who knows why, probably watched it with my Grandad or something - I knew the names of most of his contemporaries!)

He was a great snooker player, even if the rest of him left a great deal to be desired.

I object HUGELY to this being the headline on BBC breakfast news yesterday while the death of 19 young people in Germany was sidelined to 2nd place.

Dh had a long discussion about it/him (Higgins) yesterday. If Higgins had been an ambassador for his sport, a great role model, etc. then I would understand it more. His greatest asset was that he, completely by chance/fate, happened to be talented at snooker. He smoked himself to death, was alienated from his children (did I read he was actually not allowed access), was a drunk and a wifebeater. All very tragic, and given that I was raised in a snooker-loving home that featured him a lot, and I know what a big star he was years ago, I could understand a news feature about him.

But headline news?

Didn't know about that as am in Australia and it hasn't been on the news at all here, only saw it on MSN.

Agree with you.

Higgins may have had a flawed personal life but was something of a folk hero as a snooker player. His death is more newsworthy in Britain than the (admittedly unfortunate) fate of party-goers somewhere in Germany. It's a recognised protocol that when no Britons are killed in an event overseas it immediately relegates the story to a less prominent position.

There was a statement today on the Irish RTE station which said he was not estranged from his family/children, it asked the media to print facts and to stop making up stories.
Which ever what ever it is a sad story esp if he was actually estranged from his children, he was an ill man but from the stories on the radio today he was very kind to his fans

really thought he was older! still tragic

i find it very sad, particularly the latter pictures of him.
i knew of him as a teenager, when he was a big snooker player, hurricane higgins.
his personal life i know nothing of but am sad at his loss and that of snooker.

Not sure what priorities come into news editors' heads, but given the positive comments about Higgins from O'Sullivan, I think it's hardly surprising that he got mentioned.

I was never a massive fan of Higgins, but he certainly had flair and perhaps a style which O'Sullivan has followed (usually 'speedy' in taking shots).

Certainly saw him go far in many tournaments though never clocked up the wins like Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and so on.

As for Duisburg vs Higgins, you can use Newsnow.co.uk and search (free for one keyword) and yes, there are more individual articles about Duisburg, Germany, but primarily from only European news websites.

Searching for Higgins gets fewer results - in Europe there are articles from Malta, Turkey and Netherlands, plus UK and Eire) but outside Europe, articles appear in Australia, NZ, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and the Middle East, but even Pravda has a piece (didn't even know the Russians were interested in Snooker!), which shows some significant recognition even though Higgins has probably not played outside Europe in past 10 to 20 years.

Very sad, have fond memories of being entertained and shocked by his shouty behaviour during the school holidays, aged about 7!

I heard that he was rather aggressive round Sheffield when playing at the Crucible. Lots of tales of him getting into rows or worse with strangers. Dunno how true they were.

I mean it was local gossip, back when I was going into Sheffield every day for school. So dating back a loooooong time...

my problem is less with the headlines and their priorities than with the completely ridiculous adulation of this pathetic man - no-one seems to even acknowledge that he had a consistent track record of abusing women (physically as well as emotionally) - and when it is mentioned, as in this piece, it's hugely underplayed:

"The headlines he made had nothing to do with what happened on the baize. Instead, there is a sordid catalogue of petty misdemeanour. Alex headbutts an official. Alex punches a press officer. Alex fractures his girlfriend's cheekbone. Alex wallops his girlfriend with a hairdryer. Alex falls 25 feet out of a window. Alex is stabbed by another girlfriend. Alex, covered in blood, is led away by police from a girlfriend's caravan. Alex, on a book tour to promote his autobiography, manhandles a PR woman and calls her a "stupid fucking c**t," in front of a journalist. Alex assaults a 14-year-old boy. Alex insults the late mother of Dennis Taylor and threatens to have his Catholic rival shot by Loyalist paramilitaries."

From the Sunday Independent (Irish paper) - a 'petty misdemeanour' to break a woman's cheekbone

petty misdemeanour!?