Thorburn, who lives a quiet, relatively anonymous life outside of Toronto in Markham, Ontario, is an ordinary-looking grandfather to those unfamiliar with the billiards subculture. The Canadians were canonized as larger-than-life folk heroes of the game, but memories of their heyday exploits have faded in their home country. Not too shabby for a high school dropout who once hopped trains to hustle pool. Leading a Canadian contingent of snooker players, Thorburn earned nearly £1 million in prize money alone, a sum that excludes exhibition earnings and sponsorships over a 23-year career. Snooker had once reigned supreme in the UK, with a peak of 18.5 million people watching the 1985 World Championship finals. Assaults on officials, beer drinking competitions, and cocaine between matches were all part of the excitement surrounding the game at a time when there were only four channels on TV. But its peak in the 1980s has been described as a soap opera with billiard balls, chock-full of partiers, gamblers and characters who brought life to the arcane cue sport. Many consider snooker a slow, plodding game. Every time I beat him, there was always an argument." "Alex was one of a kind," Thorburn, now 70 and reticent of his feelings toward Higgins, told VICE Sports. Seemingly cooled off, Thorburn and Higgins were about to shake hands when Thorburn pulled Higgins in and kicked him in the groin. Immediately, the two were restrained as people begged for them to settle down. Thorburn, sick of his guff, punched Higgins square in the jaw and knocked him off his feet.