Great upload.. when Canadian snooker had an army of talent..Bill, Kirk Stevens, Bob Chaperon, Cliff Thorburn, Alain Roboduix , Jim Wych and Brady Gollan...
Dickie Davies was famous for presenting not only the Snooker but World Of Sport. Benny Hill sketch here as Dickie Davies, totally un politically correct, Wonderful times! ua-cam.com/video/x9k_eq2I0Ng/v-deo.html
Is this the winner drinks the other under the table? I think Bill had a prescription for alcohol, and Higgin's large water was a message he wanted a double vodka...
lol. I don't get why people equate genius with winning 5-6-7 world titles and plenty more to boot. It's simply not about that. Alex had more natural talent than any snooker player in history but his passion was too much for anyone even himself, it's all well and good when we're marvelling at vintage videos of him doing extraordinary miracle things when every shot is a masterpiece considering he cues like a snake trying to wriggle out of someone's fist, but the man had a sad sad life. I don't think he was a bad man at heart, he was just uncontrollable, I don't know what you could call it but maybe you could say he had too much zest for life, he was too excited and had an extreme drive for self-destruction, death or glory, the most spectacular show of fireworks you've ever seen or a squib. But even watching him move around the table is amazing, seeing him consider it, you can almost see him instinctively form breaks in his mind like a wild horse. Higgins was an animal among men in the best possible sense, he played with his heart hanging off his sleeve, I guess he just had this uncontainable fiery genius that no one around him could understand or reckon with. At the end of the day a mad artist who was brilliant beyond belief and who brought snooker to where it is today
@@stanleyharrison7031 yes there are many great players who never won the world championship.jimmy white the most notable.and Eddie Charlton was very hard to beat .Higgins was the best single Ball potter of them all.some of his pots did not look possible.like accute cuts into middle pocket and balls on side cussions.nobody better at these shots .
Bill played pretty well in this tournament although didn't produce it v Higgins. I saw both previous rounds matches live in Derby. In the last 32 he beat Joe Johnson 5-3 (Johnson went on to win the Worlds 3 months after). In the last 16 he also played pretty well v Rex Williams(Match is on my channel). The arm shake was evident at close range but you can't really see it on the TV. He actually considered switching to play left handed as he could make 100 breaks left handed but decided otherwise. The tremor was a heridatary illness which he had throughout his career
@@digeme69 yeah Higgins is on very good form here though.bill was a very good player if it wasn't for his problems he would have won more often I'm sure.
@@ianwilliamson2980 Bills best season was 82/83 when he helped Canada win the World Cup. He won both matches v Wales and England, then reached the Lada Classic Final beating Higgins on the way to the final. 2 weeks later he beat Higgins again in the Masters and then lost a very close QF in the Worlds to Higgins. After that in the summer he won a Pot Black type Tournament in New Zealand and got to the Final of The Australian Winfield Masters where once again he beat Higgins on the way. In fact he beat Higgins 4-0 and beat Tony Knowles 5-0 before losing in the final to Thorburn 7-3. He was at the peak of his form and was World No 8. He returned to the UK and wasn't the same player. He lost to Colin Roscoe and George Scott in the first 2 ranking events. I'm quite sure if it wasn't for the tremor he would have won more!
@@ianwilliamson2980 Yes he used inderal and was fined and then banned which effectively ended his career. Short interview here ua-cam.com/video/5S2jDzs6_5k/v-deo.html
He certainly would have known Higgins though. The reason why Alex was so poor in his final years is because he blew the vast majority of his money on the horses.
Thank the lord that we have these special videos, to remember the great snooker, from the past.
These 2 were legends..i cannot watch the game nowadays...the 70s and 80s were the golden era of snooker.
Both Bill and Alex are no longer with us sadly .... thanks for the entertainment guys.
Two of my favourite players from my boyhood. R.I.P., both.
@@BadgerBotherer1 Big Bill grew up in my Canadian city...a local legend
@@paleshelter4002 Was that Winnipeg?
@@BadgerBotherer1 yes.. exactly..was very competitive in the 70's and 80's
Nor is John Mccirick (Horse racing commentator) who voiced the opening.
Thanks Alex, Bill and Len Genley, may you all rest in peace ❤😢
The heyday of snooker and the heyday of dire straits. Love it.
Love these Gems 🌟
Always enjoy John Pullmans commentary he always sounded a bit upper class :)
great upload🥰
I’ve had the phrase “incongruously milk” going round my head for years.
Great upload.. when Canadian snooker had an army of talent..Bill, Kirk Stevens, Bob Chaperon, Cliff Thorburn, Alain Roboduix , Jim Wych and Brady Gollan...
Kirk was on the slide already by 86 after the drugs bust up the year before in this tournament his career fell off a cliff .
haha like the mention of brady gollan few know the chap
Another Dickie Davies classic.
The first two shots are spectacular.bills deep screw and then Alex's rocket pot
That first pot from Alex was a rocket .don't see the ball hit that fast today
R.I.P Bill, Alex and Dickie.
Reminds me of the old days playing in the pub .
The twirl of the rest was magic....
Great character bill was I'm glad he avoided the whitewash.both these men are dead now sadly and the referee too .
hahah the coughing from 1:24 for about 10 seconds
6:40 Only true snooker fans understand how clever the positioning of the cue ball from the previous shot was here. Total genius
All the coughing between shots???? Alex was the Maverick of the Green Baize back then!!!!
Who read O'Sullivan's comments about Len Ganley in his Unbreakable book?
‘King of the heavyweights’, says Dickie about Big Bill W. How times have changed? Today you would incur the wrath of every pork chop in the country.
😂😂😂😂😂
Stephen, do you have any footage of Alex from the 1987 World Championship at all?
Currently No, but one never knows what will turn up in the future. Having said that It's not something I've seen with other collectors!
Not the first 80's video I have watched, where a lot of coughing goes on in the audience.
This was in Britain?
Some of the audience sound very flemish.
Smoking was still popular in the 80s.
The announcer guy looks like Benny Hill 😂.
Dickie Davies was famous for presenting not only the Snooker but World Of Sport. Benny Hill sketch here as Dickie Davies, totally un politically correct, Wonderful times! ua-cam.com/video/x9k_eq2I0Ng/v-deo.html
Is this the winner drinks the other under the table?
I think Bill had a prescription for alcohol, and Higgin's large water was a message he wanted a double vodka...
imagine the amount of booze consumed by these 2
The beginning, lol
Alex higgins is fairly slow compared to the rocket
They call Ronnie the rocket but Alex first pot is harder than Ronnie can hit the ball.
lol. I don't get why people equate genius with winning 5-6-7 world titles and plenty more to boot. It's simply not about that. Alex had more natural talent than any snooker player in history but his passion was too much for anyone even himself, it's all well and good when we're marvelling at vintage videos of him doing extraordinary miracle things when every shot is a masterpiece considering he cues like a snake trying to wriggle out of someone's fist, but the man had a sad sad life. I don't think he was a bad man at heart, he was just uncontrollable, I don't know what you could call it but maybe you could say he had too much zest for life, he was too excited and had an extreme drive for self-destruction, death or glory, the most spectacular show of fireworks you've ever seen or a squib. But even watching him move around the table is amazing, seeing him consider it, you can almost see him instinctively form breaks in his mind like a wild horse. Higgins was an animal among men in the best possible sense, he played with his heart hanging off his sleeve, I guess he just had this uncontainable fiery genius that no one around him could understand or reckon with. At the end of the day a mad artist who was brilliant beyond belief and who brought snooker to where it is today
@@stanleyharrison7031 yes there are many great players who never won the world championship.jimmy white the most notable.and Eddie Charlton was very hard to beat .Higgins was the best single Ball potter of them all.some of his pots did not look possible.like accute cuts into middle pocket and balls on side cussions.nobody better at these shots .
Think bill was starting to have problems with his hand shake by this year .he drank lagar to reduce it .up to thirty pints a day in fact .
Bill played pretty well in this tournament although didn't produce it v Higgins. I saw both previous rounds matches live in Derby. In the last 32 he beat Joe Johnson 5-3 (Johnson went on to win the Worlds 3 months after). In the last 16 he also played pretty well v Rex Williams(Match is on my channel). The arm shake was evident at close range but you can't really see it on the TV. He actually considered switching to play left handed as he could make 100 breaks left handed but decided otherwise. The tremor was a heridatary illness which he had throughout his career
@@digeme69 yeah Higgins is on very good form here though.bill was a very good player if it wasn't for his problems he would have won more often I'm sure.
@@digeme69 if I mind right he tried beta blockers then got finned or banned for it.
@@ianwilliamson2980 Bills best season was 82/83 when he helped Canada win the World Cup. He won both matches v Wales and England, then reached the Lada Classic Final beating Higgins on the way to the final. 2 weeks later he beat Higgins again in the Masters and then lost a very close QF in the Worlds to Higgins. After that in the summer he won a Pot Black type Tournament in New Zealand and got to the Final of The Australian Winfield Masters where once again he beat Higgins on the way. In fact he beat Higgins 4-0 and beat Tony Knowles 5-0 before losing in the final to Thorburn 7-3. He was at the peak of his form and was World No 8. He returned to the UK and wasn't the same player. He lost to Colin Roscoe and George Scott in the first 2 ranking events. I'm quite sure if it wasn't for the tremor he would have won more!
@@ianwilliamson2980 Yes he used inderal and was fined and then banned which effectively ended his career. Short interview here ua-cam.com/video/5S2jDzs6_5k/v-deo.html
John mcredith knew nothing about snooker . don't know why they had him on with is loud mouth nonsense
He certainly would have known Higgins though. The reason why Alex was so poor in his final years is because he blew the vast majority of his money on the horses.