Let Me Tell You About Alex

'We went into the foyer to sign autographs. Well, I signed - Alex produced an ink pad and stamp marked "A Higgins". "Sorry, bade," he said between the thump of prints for 150 crestfallen fans, "I'm only stamping tonight." JOHN VIRGO There is a tribute book to be written about the nicest man in snooker - but this isn't it. Whatever else he was, Alexander Gordon Higgins wasn't nice. Unpredictable, wild, demonic and obsessive for certain. An unstoppable force who single-handedly transformed snooker from a niche sport into a gripping phenomenon.