“He died from lack of nourishment,” White said. “We’ve lost a genius and one of the greatest champions of the game. I was crying all yesterday. I’m absolutely devastated. I was in awe of him. I didn’t always agree with what he did but I loved him. I have lost a friend and I will remember him forever. Alex took snooker in the 1970s to the heights which it reached in the 80s – that was all down to him.

“In the end it wasn’t cancer that killed him, the cancer had gone, he died from lack of nourishment, how sickening is that? Unfortunately Alex was his own man and he just wouldn’t listen to anyone. He was a very picky eater, one sandwich a day, he never ate much.

“His sister Jean would bring food round, make a roast dinner and put it in a blender, but it was hard work to get him to eat anything. Higgins was in a catch 22, he didn’t like food very much and couldn’t eat because he had no teeth.”