They were the untamed bad boys of snooker. They would blow away the image of a game with “gentlemen” players like Ray Reardon and John Spencer.
The pair were a handful both on and off the green baize. But they were box office gold.
Alex “Hurricane” Higgins and Jimmy “Whirlwind” White were a shot of rock n roll to a world where the stars wore conservative tuxedos and were treated with hushed reverence.
Manchester-based agent Harvey Lisberg sensed their worth and made a double swoop to manage them both. He had already enjoyed a taste of showbiz by discovering Manchester band Hermans Hermits in 1963, and managing them when they, along with The Beatles, were at the forefront of the “British Invasion” of the US.
He also managed Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of The Mindbenders and Godley and Creme who in 1973 pooled their talent to form 10cc with smash hits like “I’m Not In Love”, “The Things We Do For Love”, and “Dreadlock Holiday”.
But by 1980 the likes of The Clash, Sex Pistols, and Ramones had driven the arrival of punk. Commercial bands like his were seen as “capitalist pigs”. Meanwhile, all TV screens had changed from black and white to colour, opening the door to televised snooker with the players treated like rock stars.
Snooker player Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins relaxing with a drink and a cigarette in his hotel room after playing in a tournament, 25th February 1981. (Photo by Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
(Image: Getty Images)
For the Jewish lad from Salford with a BA in Commerce from Manchester University, Harvey’s ambition of being a stockbroker had already been extinguished for a life of rock n roll excess and all the financial clout it can bring.
He decided to dip his toes into the world of snooker in the 1980s.
Harvey recalls: “It was on TV a fair bit and there was something about the colour of the balls and the rhythm of the game that I found compelling. It was relaxing yet gripping at the same time. It was addictive.”
A member of staff in Harvey’s office was a keen player and knew Geoff Lomas, the owner of Potters snooker club in Salford, and a close friend of Alex Higgins. Lomas tipped Harvey off about the highly talented White.
For three chaotic months Harvey was manager of Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, during which time he got him into a Rochdale care home to dry out. He also signed up Jimmy White for a much longer duration, also punctuated by scandals and scrapes, as he made him a superstar.
1983: Alex ”Hurricane” Higgins of Northern Ireland relaxes between shots during the Embassy World Snooker Championships at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. \\ Mandatory Credit: Adrian Murrell/Allsport
(Image: Getty Images)
Harvey, who is now based in California , also has a home in Altrincham, and previously lived for several years in Singleton Road, Broughton.
He signed White, who he described as looking like a “scruffy street urchin” at the age of 20. The first thing he did was fix his crooked teeth. He took him to his own dentist, Geoffrey Noah who practised at 6 Knowsley Road in Whitefield. He then got his hair permed by Manchester hairdresser, Bernard Cohen, and bought him a beautiful off-the-peg suit in the South of France.
Finally he organised a photoshoot with the Queen’s photographer Patrick Lichfield to take the sport out of its traditional Victorian roots and Brylcreem and Pot Black image into the modern era. Other players like Alex Higgins came knocking at his door as did Willie Thorne and Bolton’s Tony Knowles.
Harvey Lisberg has written a new audio book about his time managing two of snooker’s biggest stars
Between 1980 and 1984, he got more publicity in snooker than in almost 20 years of music.
Harvey, 84, told the Manchester Evening News: “The first job was to conceive a new image for Jimmy to make him more accessible to the fans. We got his teeth fixed and his hairstyle changed. I was outvoted by the other directors in my ambition to have Jimmy sport a punk hairstyle.
Jimmy White
(Image: Mirrorpix)
“I was overruled, so instead Jimmy had a permed haircut and a new tuxedo which I purchased in the south of France and brought back to England. He was now looking the part so we got Lord Lichfield to do his photograph which became an iconic image of the 21-year-old.
“The snooker establishment was not ready for my attempt at changing the image of the game from Victorian penguin suits to smart modern clothing.
“An example of this resistance happened at Sheffield when, after Jimmy White had been slaughtered nine nil, I stood in for Jimmy on TV interview rather than have him face the music.
“David Vine, the BBC Interviewer, started to get sarcastic with me, asking me whether the new image I provided Jimmy with really helped. I replied simply “considering I saw you getting your face plastered with make-up before going on air, isn’t your question rather hypocritical?”. Silence reigned.
Snooker player Jimmy White poses beside a new model Austin Montego. 11th May 1984. (Photo by Micheal Daines/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was astonished at how easy it was to get coverage after 20 years in the music business where the aim of management was to try and get a couple of lines in the Manchester news for example, here the newspapers were clamouring for information on all snooker players, but in particular the wild ones.
“Alex Higgins was really impressed with the job that we did on Jimmy White and asked us to sign him, which we did with Geoff having to look after his personal logistics and me the publicity.
“I was totally shocked at being challenged by Alex at my proposal of a nice article in the newspaper. Instead he demanded a £600 fee which was totally alien to me, but believe it or not the paper paid in cash so here was the manager learning from the sportsman.
“Alex Higgins was a loose cannon. You never knew where you were and I remember visiting his house in School Hill in Cheadle when a plate came flying across the room – either from Alex or his wife. It was like a Greek wedding – never a dull moment.”
Harvey Lisberg with Jimmy White and Tony Knowles
As Alex’s demons began to get out of control, Harvey decided to take action. “My company agreed to put Alex into a nursing home for a full MOT with the idea of getting him into some kind of fitness from the excessive drinking, drugging and womanising, but I’m not sure how much was accomplished during that short stay.
“I have a feeling that some of his vices followed him into the nursing home in Rochdale. He smuggled in vodka.
“He was still nowhere near as fit as someone like Steve Davis, but he was slightly better. He was impossible to manage but an absolute genius.”
“The woman who ran the nursing home was a fine person who was very kind and understanding of the situation. After all, they had the biggest sports star in the country at the time in their ward. Alex however, did come out better than when he went in, although still not anywhere like the same league of fitness as many of his competitors.”
By the mid-eighties, Barry Hearn had become the top manager in snooker. His stable included Steve Davis, and soon everyone followed.
Harvey’s company, The Professional Snooker League Limited, went into liquidation and players were owed money. Higgins was one who phoned Harvey – believing he was owed £4,000.
David Bowie performs at Maine Road, Manchester City Football Club Stadium, Manchester, as part of his Sound and Vision Tour, 7th August 1990. (Photo by Mike Grimes/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
(Image: Getty Images)
“Alex reckoned he was owed £4,000 personally from me which became a bone of contention. Every time I met him it was ‘Have you got the £4,000 for me?’ A month later I got a call from Alex asking if I was promoting David Bowie at Maine Road and when I said yes he asked for tickets.
“So I called my partner Danny Betesh from Kennedy Street Enterprises to make sure we got him in the directors box and looked after him. Anyway, the next morning after the concert I got a call at 9am from Alex Higgins saying ‘Harvey it was fantastic. Thank you very much for getting the tickets. Forget the £4,000!’ That summed up our friendship. He was definitely a totally unpredictable genius.
“Higgins was totally two-sided. He had a lovely side, but also that rebellious streak.”
Last year, the Manchester Evening News reported how Harvey’s book ‘I’m Into Something Good: My Life Managing 10CC Herman’s Hermits’ chronicled his time as a key figure in Manchester’s pop history. Now he has focused on White and Higgins in an audiobook ‘Managing the Bad Boys of Snooker: Jimmy and Alex Higgins’, which is available on Amazon.
Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits with Harvey Lisberg on the beach in the Bahamas in 1967.
Harvey said: “Jimmy was not as wild as Alex but had his moments mostly arising from excessive drinking and going on benders and then disappearing.
“Obviously my attempt to clean up Jimmy’s image didn’t last long, but whatever he got up to you had to love him. He had the knack of melting everybody like a naughty school child. He is a massive talent and incidentally the most sporting sportsman I have ever known who would never ever use gamesmanship and would often call penalties that the referee had never even seen.”
The pair fell out of touch but have recently reconnected.
“(He) now doesn’t smoke, take drugs, drink or even gamble except for just one bet a week”, Harvey said.
“The only anecdote on Jimmy’s abstinence from vice was a FaceTime call I made to him recently when he was in a club in Thailand and found myself looking at Thai dancers in a club rather than at Jimmy’s cheerful countenance.”
Booze played a big part in the lives of many snooker stars. Harvey divulged: “It was part of the way of life. I wouldn’t know where Jimmy was, whether he was at some girls’ home or on the floor somewhere passed out.
“But what I found incredible was how these guys played, what I consider a game that requires lots of thought, so brilliantly with all that debauchery going on.
“When Higgins beat White in the semi-final at the 1982 World Championships, he had vodka in his drink. He was completely drunk and still managed the greatest break of all-time.”