Factfile on Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins, the two-time former world snooker champion, who died at the age of 61 on Saturday:
1949 - March 19 - Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1960 - Starts playing snooker at the age of 11.
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1963 - Leaves Northern Ireland to begin a career as a jockey in England, but is released having never ridden in public and returns to Belfast.
1968 - Wins the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland amateur snooker championships.
1972 - After turning professional he wins the World Championship at the first attempt, he beats John Spencer 37-32 in the final. It makes him the youngest winner of the title, a record only beaten by a 21-year-old Stephen Hendry in 1990.
1976 - Reaches a second World Championship final but loses to Ray Reardon 27-16.
1980 - Loses to Thorburn 18-16 in his third World Championship final.
1982 - Wins his second world title by beating Reardon 18-15.
1983 - Wins the UK Championship by beating Steve Davis 16-15 in the Preston final.
1986 - Head-butts UK Championship tournament director Paul Hatherell, he is fined 12,000 pounds and banned from five tournaments.
1990 - Threatens to have rival snooker player Dennis Taylor shot and then punches a tournament director at the World Championship, he is banned for the rest of the season.
1998 - October - Undergoes surgery to remove cancer from his throat.
2005-06 - Appears at the Irish Professional Championship but fails to get past the first round.
2010 - July 24 - Dies at the age of 61 after a long battle with cancer.
