THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

Kirk Stevens’ mother died in a fire at their home in Canada caused by arson when he was a teenager. A sister almost died from drug-abuse.  At the age of fifteen he went on the road, fending for himself and hustling in pool halls all over North America.  In 1980, aged 21, he became the then youngest-ever world professional championship semi-finalist.  In the 1984-5 season he earned £68,356 in prize money and, in a long article in the Daily Star, ‘confessed’ to his ‘hopeless mental and physical addiction’ to cocaine. Six years later he walked out on the British snooker scene for good. “I was just exhausted from fighting all the shit,” he said.

Burn/Pocket Money