John Higgins at 50

Celebrating the career of one of snooker's greats

John Higgins celebrates his 50^th birthday on Sunday. He and his family are off to the US to visit Southfork, home of the Ewing family in the American soap Dallas, a programme so beloved by the Scot that he chose it as his specialist subject on Celebrity Mastermind.

In an infamous episode in 1986, one of the characters, Bobby Ewing, came back from the dead as the previous year’s season was revealed to have been a dream. Higgins was not quite down and out in terms of his career last season but slipped out of the top 16 in September after 29 years following a series of frustrating results.

He starts the new season as world no.4 after his capture of two ranking titles in the latter half of the campaign. In the great soap opera that is professional snooker, Higgins promises to be a recurring character for some time yet.