BBC 2 9pm. Could be interesting. I dont watch the game now. But in the 80s....it was fantastic tv.

Remember watching Alex Higgins at a packed Keighley Green club in the 80s with my dad. The club was jam packed we had to sit on the window sill. Higgins turned out in an ankle length Afghan coat, and a big floppy hat.
He played against a number of Club members and one of Burnleys best at the time, Duncan McNally. Higgins constantly chatted with the crowd, drank pints of lager with vodka& orange chasers. He was Such a character, a flawed genius who could have won more championships but for other distractions in his life.

Alex Higgins took part in exhibition games on 3 different occasions at Crawshawbooth Conservative Club.

At one of these he was being filmed by ITV for a documentary, he duly obliged by making a century break in record time.

He liked to drink in the smoke filled Dives...came into the ribble club early Seventies...that was a den of iniquity...a Local bully of the times offered to play him on the Big table for a large sum of money duly accepted by Higgins and declined quickly....as Hospital food was also on the menu should Alex Win. Felt for alex Higgins and his Decline as the demon drink always had a hold of him. Very sad Ending.

Enjoyed the programme as used to play a lot of snooker during the 80's and used to watch the UK Championships at Preston every year when all the players featured were playing.

Thought Ray Reardon came across as a lot more ruthless than the genial gent we all knew and loved!

Started work in mid-70s for a firm in Manchester. Once a month the firm would pay for drinks in a city centre pub near the office. Several times we'd see Alex Higgins and George Best start the evening together at the bar. Both talented sportsmen. Both gone too soon.

Vintage Claret wrote: ↑

Mon May 10, 2021 6:04 pm

Enjoyed the programme as used to play a lot of snooker during the 80's and used to watch the UK Championships at Preston every year when all the players featured were playing.

Thought Ray Reardon came across as a lot more ruthless than the genial gent we all knew and loved!

You saw the Copper in him for sure...

Used to love old “ whispering Ted Lowe” and used to play with my old man ( very badly ) at John Spencer’s old club in Bolton , it was a proper bar and food etc too not a dive hall at all , in an old ballroom .John was always around practicing totally mild mannered and he was mates surprisingly with Higgins .

I’m Pretty sure John had mainly retired as he sold it maybe late 80’s but Higgins was having a new lease of life .Alex used to drink huge glasses of Baileys .Used to have another player with him but name escapes me . Higgins used to hate Ted for some reason though and reckoned Ted knocked his mrs about .
Great days for snooker ,so many household names and characters from coke snorting Kirk Stevens to 30 pint guzzling Big Bill Werbenick.

Maybe you want to rephrase "used to play with my old man"

I used to play at the Elite club in Accy in the early 70s when it was Alex's base, I remember a film crew at the club just after he won the World Championship in 1972. At the same time Dennis Taylor used it, he was an amateur when he first came over.

Higgins lived in Ramsbottom for quite a while.

Bill Werbeniuk.....after being introduced by the MC he would walk out to the table carrying a pint. He would then have further pints brought out to him after every frame!

Can't really see that happening now at the Crucible.

Hazzyclaret1955 wrote: ↑

Tue May 11, 2021 4:00 pm

I used to play at the Elite club in Accy in the early 70s when it was Alex's base, I remember a film crew at the club just after he won the World Championship in 1972. At the same time Dennis Taylor used it, he was an amateur when he first came over.

The documentary implied that he lived in Accy. Is this true? Whereabouts?

He lived in Blackburn in the early days. Wikipedia has him of no fixed abode and living in various buildings awaiting to be demolished in 1972 when he won the World Championship.

Truth or myth?
Crawshawbooth Con Club had Higgins coming so took off the cloth and had it sent for dry cleaning. Smooth as glass when it came back.
Just the thought tickles me.

Absolute myth!
As was the story about putting the balls in the pie warmer.

Just watched the 3 episodes and bloody brilliant viewing

Balls in the pie warmer is entirely plausible. They play much better when they're not cold. Leaving a set of balls in some warm water for a few minutes before a match then giving them a good clean wasn't uncommon in the club I played in.

what_no_pies wrote: ↑

Mon May 17, 2021 12:19 am

Balls in the pie warmer is entirely plausible. They play much better when they're not cold. Leaving a set of balls in some warm water for a few minutes before a match then giving them a good clean wasn't uncommon in the club I played in.

I understand what you are saying, however as regards the pie warmer I was just replying to a previous post asking about an Alex Higgins exhibition at Crawshawbooth.

Great programme, really enjoyed it even though I’m not really in to snooker. Quick question for those that are, why can’t the likes of Davis or White continue at the top beyond a certain age? Snooker isn’t a physical game so surely age wouldn’t make too much difference. Is it simply that the desire for practice diminishes or is there another reason why they drop off at a certain age?

Yes I don't watch or really even like snooker much but that program was very good, took me back to a bygone era, they really were marketed so well that they became big names.

Foulthrow wrote: ↑

Mon May 17, 2021 1:30 pm

Great programme, really enjoyed it even though I’m not really in to snooker. Quick question for those that are, why can’t the likes of Davis or White continue at the top beyond a certain age? Snooker isn’t a physical game so surely age wouldn’t make too much difference. Is it simply that the desire for practice diminishes or is there another reason why they drop off at a certain age?

Maybe their eyes deteriate as they get older.

conyoviejo wrote: ↑

Mon May 17, 2021 3:09 pm

Maybe their eyes deteriate as they get older.

That is exactly the reason John Parrott gave when he retired. It is the time it takes the eyes to focus between the cue ball and the object ball and back again that he struggled with.

didn't higgins live in clayton for a bit?

i remember hearing about the top club on whalley road (a chinese restaurant the last time i drove past) being frequented by some top players including alex higgins and dennis taylor.

Only one - Joe Davis

basil6345789 wrote: ↑

Mon May 17, 2021 5:37 pm

Only one - Joe Davis

as if you ever saw him play.

and when he was playing snooker was a little more than a novelty game.

Foulthrow wrote: ↑

Mon May 17, 2021 1:30 pm

Great programme, really enjoyed it even though I’m not really in to snooker. Quick question for those that are, why can’t the likes of Davis or White continue at the top beyond a certain age? Snooker isn’t a physical game so surely age wouldn’t make too much difference. Is it simply that the desire for practice diminishes or is there another reason why they drop off at a certain age?

A number of physical factors.

Eyesight as already mentioned is an obvious one but don't underestimate the physical output.

Matches tend to be broken down into sessions of 8 frames but even a single session can be expected to be a few hours long. Concentrating that long is tough, then add the fact its often torturous psychologically for a player when they're struggling or under pressure from a tough opponent.

Being on your feet for those few hours and doing countless laps of a table which is 36ft around isn't so easy.

Then there's having to bend over and get your chin on the cue as low to the table as possible time after time. Not possible with a bad back or a crocked neck. Players are also often required to stretch awkwardly over balls and into positions not far removed from yoga to reach certain shots.

Doing that in rooms with no natural light or fresh air and being under the hot TV lights wearing shirts and waistcoats with TV cameras around and being the centre of attention magnifies it all.

Doing it almost daily for upto 2 weeks (and the travel either side of each tournament and living out of a suitcase).

I played a lot of Snooker but have competed at a very high level at Pool and even in that game the drop off in standard when you get into the senior ranks is significant.

I'm not as certain why the ladies aren't competitive though. Can only think that's down to the fact they haven't integrated with the mens game and therefore don't get the same level of competition which has slowed their progress. I would love to see the mens and ladies games integrated properly though. There's absolutely no reason not to with cue sports.

i honestly believe the defining factor as to why snooker players deteriorate is purely down to having to concentrate for long periods.

as to women; i've heard anecdotal evidence that females are not as good at spacial awareness but i've certainly never read anything scientific on the subject.

yTib wrote: ↑

Mon May 17, 2021 7:05 pm

as if you ever saw him play.

and when he was playing snooker was a little more than a novelty game.

Saw Joe and brother Fred on telly - also played billiards.
Virtually all snooker equipment had Joe's name on it. I was born in 1952.