Stephen Hendry has come out of retirement by taking up the offer of an invitational card to compete on the World Snooker Tour for the next two seasons.
The seven-time world champion, dubbed the King of the Crucible, quit as a professional in 2012 but will now have an opportunity to add to his 36 ranking titles – a tally bettered only by Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look back at the 51-year-old's remarkable career.
1969: Born January 13 in Edinburgh.
1983: Wins the Scottish Under-16 Championship.
1984: Wins the Scottish Amateur Championship, aged 15.
1985: Joins the professional tour aged 16 years and three months, becoming the youngest player ever to do so.
1986: Becomes the youngest ever winner of the Scottish Professional Championship and the youngest World Championship qualifier – a record later broken by Belgium's Luca Brecel in 2012.
1987: Wins his first ranking event, beating Dennis Taylor 10-7 in the Grand Prix final, and adds the British Open title.
1989: Wins the UK Championship against Steve Davis as part of a haul of three ranking titles, and also wins the first of five consecutive Masters crowns.
1990: Retains the UK Championship and wins his first World Championship by overcoming Jimmy White 18-12 in the final.
1992: Claims his second Crucible title, winning 10 successive frames to beat White 18-14 in the final. Also makes his first professional 147 break.
1993: Beats White 18-5 in the World Championship final. The showpiece has not been won by as big a margin since.
1994: Awarded the MBE by the Queen. Wins the world title for the third year in succession and the fourth time in his career after an 18-17 final win over White. Makes seven centuries in beating Ken Doherty 10-5 in the UK Championship final.
1995: Gets the better of Nigel Bond 18-9 in the World Championship final and claims his fourth UK crown against Peter Ebdon.
1996: Wins his fifth successive World Championship, matching Steve Davis and Ray Reardon's total of six, and completes the World/UK Championship double for the third season in a row. Also wins sixth Masters title with a 10-5 win over O'Sullivan.
1998: Beaten 10-9 after a final-frame re-spotted black by Mark Williams in a memorable Masters final at Wembley.
1999: Wins the last of his seven Crucible crowns, beating Williams 18-11. Makes the first ever 147 in a ranking final at the following season's British Open.
2001: Beaten 18-17 by Ebdon in the World Championship final.
2005: Wins his last ranking title at the Malta Cup.
2009: Wins his 1,000th frame at the Crucible.
2011: Records the 10th maximum of his career, against Stephen Maguire at the Welsh Open.
2012: Reaches the World Championship having been forced to go through qualifying for the first time since 1988. Marks the opening day of the tournament with a 147 against Stuart Bingham, his third at the Crucible and the 11th of his career, but retires having been beaten 13-2 by fellow Scot Maguire in the quarter-final.
2020: Reaches the semi-finals of the World Seniors Championship, losing 4-2 to eventual champion White, before it is announced on September 1 that he will take up a tour card for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.
