Alex Higgins Funeral

Snooker legend Alex Higgins born Alexander Gordon Higgins but best known as Hurricane Higgins today, the 2nd August 2010 began his final journey. Belfast Boy, Alex who battled cancer and alcohol, was found dead in his flat last month and it is feared that he lay undiscovered for up to 11 days.

Many people across Northern Ireland became concerned for the star after press photos showed him as a shadow of his former self and suffering the effects of his fight with illness and a life destroyed by alcohol.

Whilst some of the star's children felt unable to attend his funeral, Belfast stopped along with snooker stars to remember the man, the legend, frailties and all. The horse drawn funeral cortège wound its way through central Belfast on route to St. Anne's Cathedral, following a service at the family home in Roden Street. Mourners in Sandy Row and along the route applauded as the coffin passed by.

Born on the 18th March 1949 Alex lived for 61 years before his death on the 24th July 2010, often struggling with fame and a public lifestyle, but he was a champ and not just a champ but a world champ in 1972 and in 1982. He was nicknamed the 'Hurricane' for his talent and the 'People's Champion' due to his popularity and despite life's frailties which brought him low, Belfast loved and felt for him right up to the end.

Mourners gathered inside and outside of St Anne's Cathedral and watched his friends and family pay tribute to a personal loss, friends such as Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty. Unfortunately the service was not broadcast outside so those unable to get in, did not hear his daughter Lauren pay tribute to her father in a poem but they did share the sense of loss as they waited, watched the procession come and go and as they read messages on the wreaths.