IN THE late Nineties, as snooker’s tobacco-dominated sponsorship finances were becoming less than healthy, vibrant characters were desperately needed to help to stave off a crisis.

Ronnie O’Sullivan fitted the bill. So, too, did John Higgins, the likeable Scot, but in terms of visual impact the emergence of Paul Hunter, with his easy smile, boy-band good looks and striking blond hair, was of equal importance.

Described by more than one master of ceremonies as “the Beckham of the baize”, Hunter did for snooker what the former England captain has done for football; he opened up the sport to a whole new audience.

Hunter was hugely popular with snooker’s sizeable female following, even 6,000 miles away. “I love Paul Hunter” T-shirts were on sale outside the Beijing Students University Gymnasium during the China Open in March.

Yet good looks would have been meaningless had Hunter not been blessed with an uncommon ability to excel consistently in high-profile matches on the sport’s big occasions. He was widely considered a world champion in waiting.

Hunter was born in Leeds in 1978, the first year of BBC’s blanket coverage of the Embassy World Championship. As snooker boomed, cues and miniature tables became increasingly popular Christmas gifts and thousands of youngsters, like Hunter, became enraptured by the sport. Few, though, possessed his prodigious talent.

In his early teens, travelling the junior circuit with his father, Alan, it quickly became obvious that Hunter was something special. He won countless amateur events and, aged 14, partnered fellow Yorkshireman Richard Brooke to victory in the English Doubles Championship.

Hunter turned professional at 16, the earliest age possible, and only six months into his rookie season reached the semi-finals of the 1996 Regal Welsh Open in Newport, Gwent. At 17 years 3 months, he remains the youngest semi-finalist in a world-ranking tournament.

Having realised he could cope with the pressures of the televised game, Hunter wanted more and the 1998 Regal Welsh Open brought the breakthrough that he craved.

After negotiating two qualifying rounds Hunter, still only 19, beat Steve Davis, the six-times world champion, Nigel Bond, Alan McManus and Peter Ebdon, all of whom were members of the elite top 16 in the world rankings at the time, before securing the title with a 9-5 victory over John Higgins.

However, like many other young and successful sportsmen, Hunter, in his own words, “spent far too much time partying and far too little time practising”. Nightclubs were frequented more than the local snooker club and his form dipped.

While never remotely a troublemaker, Hunter was no angel either. In his first season as a professional he was disciplined by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for unseemly late-night high jinks at a Blackpool hotel.

Even more embarrassing was a positive drugs test at the 1999 Grand Prix in Bournemouth after Hunter, celebrating his 21st birthday, “stupidly tried a joint”.