John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners. He has won four World Championships, three UK Championships and two Masters titles, for a total of nine Triple Crown titles, behind only four players. He first entered the top 16 in the 1995–96 world rankings and remained there continuously for over 29 years until September 2024, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted tenure as a top-16 player. He reached the world number one position four times.
In 1994 Higgins won his first ranking event at the 1994 Grand Prix. He also won two more ranking events that season, the first teenager to win three ranking events in a single season. Higgins won his first World Championship in 1998, defeating Ken Doherty in the final. He won the UK Championship twice, in 1998 and 2000, and the 1999 Masters, before reaching the world championship final again at the 2001 World Snooker Championship, losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Higgins won the World Championship again in 2007 and 2009, the UK Championship in 2009 and 2010 and the Masters in 2006.
In 2010, a tabloid newspaper carried out a sting operation in Ukraine, in which it claimed to show Higgins and his then-manager arranging to lose specific frames in future matches for money. An investigation cleared Higgins of match-fixing allegations but the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association found that he had brought the sport into disrepute by failing to disclose an invitation to breach the sport's betting rules and giving the impression of agreeing to it. Higgins was banned from professional competition for six months and fined £75,000. After winning his fourth world title in 2011, he reached three consecutive World Championship finals between 2017 and 2019, but lost each time, to Selby in 2017, to Mark Williams in 2018, and to Judd Trump in 2019. In the 2021–22 season, he lost five ranking finals. In the 2024–25 snooker season, Higgins won two ranking events in the same season for the first time since 2015.
Higgins made his 1,000th professional century break at the 2024 English Open, becoming the second player, after O'Sullivan, to reach that milestone. He has made 13 officially recognised maximum breaks in professional competition, second only to O'Sullivan's 17. He also holds the record for the biggest time span between a player's first and most recent ranking tournament win, having won his first ranking event at the 1994 Grand Prix and his latest at the 2025 Tour Championship, 30 years and 165 days later. Alongside O'Sullivan and Mark Williams, he is one of the three players known as the "Class of '92", who all turned professional during the 1992–93 snooker season.
llegir més...El 18 de maig de 1975 era un diumenge sota el signe estrella de ♉. Era el 137 dia de l'any. El president dels Estats Units era Gerald R. Ford.
Si vas néixer aquest dia, tens 51 anys. El teu darrer aniversari va ser el dilluns, 18 de maig de 2026, fa 7 dies. El teu proper aniversari és el dimarts, 18 de maig de 2027, d'aquí a 357 dies. Heu viscut durant 18.635 dies, o unes 447.252 hores, o uns 26.835.174 minuts, o uns 1.610.110.440 segons.
Date: 19 May 1975
By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
John O'CONNOR
J J O'Connor revs Abbie Hoffman int on Channel 13 and transcript of int in New Times (pub); Hoffman red $800 video cassette player plus $3,000; notes Hoffman's discussion on living in 'organized fugitive underground' since his disappearance in Mar '74 after being arrested on charges of dealing in cocaine
Date: 19 May 1975
By THOMAS A. JOHNSON Special to The New York Times
Thomas JOHNSON
About 100 delegates from Africa, Eur and Amer at Internatl Press Inst's conf, Lagos, Nigeria, conclude that govt ownership of press is potentially dangerous to survival of its freedom; agree that freedom could be attained in govt-owned newspapers if they were commercially-run and professionally controlled; recommend formation of African news agency and suggest that newspaper workers in more developed countries come to aid of struggling papers by way of manpower training, equipment and raw materials
Date: 19 May 1975
White House press sec Ron Nessen scores reporters who are always looking for scandals, mistakes and wrongdoing in every news event and Govt official, commencement address at Heidelberg Coll, Ohio (S)
Date: 18 May 1975
By LAWRENCE FELLOWS Special to The New York Times
Lawrence Special
Fed Judge M Joseph Blumenfeld, reversing decision he made 2 yrs ago, rules that former publisher of Wallingford Post, Gilbert N Kelman, must disclose 2 sources for article linking Joseph M Linsey, Boston philanthropist and dog track promoter, to elements of underworld; Gilbert says he does not intend to reveal sources and will appeal decision; Blumenfeld says reversal was made necessary by US Sup Ct ruling in '74 that eliminated some of protection from libel suits press has enjoyed in reptg matters of public interest; Ct ruled in June that ordinary citizen elevated to sudden prominence by news events could sue over false and defamatory account of his role in those events (M)
Date: 18 May 1975
Roy H Park purchases Nebraska City News-Press (S)
Date: 18 May 1975
By HELEN P. SILVER Special to The New York Times
Helen SILVER
article on Toufayan Bakery, North Bergen, NJ, largest establishment of its kind in NYC met region that bakes Armenian pita bread; illus (M)
Date: 18 May 1975
Follow-up article on Agr Dept finding in Sept '73 that high-intensity sodium st lights might be killing trees in cities; NYC Parks Comr Edwin L Weisl Jr says dept's 'present plan is to do nothing' about installing brighter lights in pks to combat crime at night (S)
Date: 18 May 1975
Special to The New York Times
'76 Olympic Games organizing com official Kenneth Farmer says ticket sales totaled 160,418 during 1st wk of sales in Canada; com recd rept from Eaton's, natl sales agency (S)
Date: 18 May 1975
Jules Trevers named NYC HDA Deputy Comr for Office of Rent Control (S)