It is a Sunday evening in early December 2014 in the northern English city of York. In front of a rapt audience and several million TV viewers, two men are playing the deciding frame of the final of the annual UK Snooker Championship (the second of three snooker 'majors'). The winner will receive £150,000 in addition to the title of UK Champion.

It has already been an incredible match. The favourite is snooker's number one draw, 39-year-old Ronnie The Rocket O'Sullivan, a prodigious and mercurial talent who, amazingly, first won the UK Championship aged 17 way back in 1993. O'Sullivan, from Essex, got his nickname due to his rapid and flamboyant playing style, which offered a stark contrast to the more deliberate approach employed by most of his contemporaries. Considered by many to be the most talented player in history, he holds endless snooker records and has career earnings approaching 8 figures.