The Hurricane: The Turbulent Life and Times of Alex Higgins: The Turbulent Life & Times of Alex Higgins

by Bill Borrows (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.26

  Born on a council estate in Belfast, Alex Higgins left school at 15 At 17 he won the Northern Ireland and All Ireland snooker championships, and turned professional when he was 20. In 1972, aged just 23, he became the youngest person ever to win the World Championship. He repeated this achievement in an emotional final 10 years later, in the process becoming the biggest box-office draw the game has ever known. Alex Higgins was a showman, gambler, comedian, bully, charmer and alcoholic. His antics - and ferocious temper - were legendary yet he was loved by millions. Now, dying of cancer, he has spent everything he has and divided his time between Manchester and Belfast, where he survives by playing #10 snooker matches in pubs. Bill Burrows has had unprecedented access to Higgins and reconstructs vividly the terrifying roller-coaster ride that is his life. Outrageous, gripping and ultimately, emotionally wrenching, this is the definitive account of one of the most charasmatic and self-destructive figures ever to appear in British sport.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.26

  'In The Hurricane Bill Borrows tells the story of snooker star Alex Higgins. More entertainingly, through, he tells stories about Alex Higgins...The book is unauthorised, but Burrows treats this as its own guarantee: Higgins is so self-destructive his involvement with a biography would not enlighten, but corrupt the text. What saves him in this book is his ability at the table. It is unquestionable, elevating Higgins to the status of a flawed genius, and out of the gutter where he has literally ended up.' Alan Rafferty, Great Books for Christmas, Observer 'Harrowing, incredulous and hilarious' Brian Reade, Mirror 'Reads like a script for a horror film' Leo McKinstry, Sports Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph 'Compared to the smoke-free gentility of the literary biography, The Hurricane is a breath of bracingly fetid air.' Graham Robb, Sports Books of the Year, Telegraph 'This maximum break of a book is proof that shits might not prosper, but they can change the world.' Maxim Book of the Month,