The incredible John “The Wizard of Wishaw” Higgins is a professional snooker player, who, as of 2023, has won 31 career ranking titles. He is a 4x World Champion, a 3x UK Champion, and a 2x Masters Champion for a total of nine Triple Crown titles. He has achieved the World No.1 ranking position four times, and in 2008 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to snooker.

Born and raised in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, Higgins started playing snooker during his schooldays, and eventually turned professional in 1992 when he was 17-years-old. He reached the quarter-finals of the British Open during his first season on the professional tour, and quickly rose to prominence. Two years later, during the 1994-95 season, he won his first ranking tournament at the Grand Prix.

Higgins has gone on to be ranked No.1 in the world on four separate occasions, the first being in 1998 after he became World Champion with victory over Ken Doherty. Since then he has claimed a further three World Championships titles, winning in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He also claimed his first UK Championship title in the 1998-99 season, as well as his first Masters that same year, becoming only the third player to hold World, UK and Masters titles simultaneously, as well as being one of just six players to have claimed both the World and UK Championship in the same calendar year (1998).