Alex Higgins has shocked the snooker world yet again by entering the Benson and Hedges Championships later this month.

Five years after his last tournament appearance, the 53-year-old will line up along 199 other hopefuls in Mansfield chasing the �6,000 first prize.

After countless run-ins with the snooker authorities, and a battle with throat cancer in recent years, Higgins' return would be a sensation.

But in one of the most colourful careers in the history of sport, nothing the "people's champion" does should come as a surprise.

BBC Sport Online takes a look at some of the highs and lows of a turbulent career:

---

HIGHS

1972 - Higgins wins the world title at the first attempt, beating John Spencer 37-32 to become the youngest-ever champion at 23.

1978 - A 7-5 win over Cliff Thorburn in the Benson & Hedges Masters final gives Higgins a second major title after the disappointment of losing the 1976 world final to Ray Reardon.

1981 - Repeats his Benson & Hedges Masters success, this time overcoming Terry Griffiths 9-6 in the final.

1982 - After a 10-year wait, Higgins beats Reardon to finally collect another world title, and famously brings his wife and child into the arena in a tearful celebration.

1983 - To many people the Hurricane's finest moment, fighting back from 7-0 down to beat arch-rival Steve Davis 16-15 in the UK Championships final.

1989 - Proves he can still turn it on when he beats rising star Stephen Hendry 9-8 in the final of the Irish Masters.

LOWS

1984 - Higgins is the only man - apart from The Who drummer Keith Moon - who can keep up with legendary hellraiser Oliver Reed, and the pair release Wild Thing as a single.

Tales of the pair's excess are legendary, most famously when Reed spikes Higgins whisky with Chanel perfume, only to find his own drink has a Fairy Liquid top.

1987 - Head-butting the tournament director at the UK Championships leads to a ban from six tournaments and a �12,000 fine.

1990 - Does little for team harmony at the World Cup when he threatens to have Dennis Taylor shot, and goes on to abuse world snooker chief John Spencer.

1990 - Higgins punches the tournament press officer at the world championships and then delivers a rambling speech to the press after defeat to Steve James, and he is banned for a season.

1990 - In one of snooker's biggest ever-grudge matches Higgins loses to Dennis Taylor at the Irish Masters.

1997 - Plays his last major tournament at the Pavilions in Plymouth and reacts badly.

He is ejected from the arena to be found next morning in the street claiming he had been stabbed.

1998 - Diagnosed with throat cancer and later under goes a successful operation to have a diseased lymph node removed from his neck.

1999 - Chooses to sue the tobacco industry, claiming he had no idea of the dangers of smoking.

2000 - Appears in a BBC documentary, describing himself as "a living example of the damages of smoking".