Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals he was earning more than his teachers aged 12, as proud son of the ‘Del Boy of Porn’
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has revealed that aged 12 he was earning more cash than his SCHOOLTEACHERS.
And the Rocket says he loved every minute of his unconventional family background – as the proud son of the ‘Del Boy of Porn’.
Growing up, O’Sullivan was known within smoky Essex billiards halls and beyond for his prodigious talent with a snooker cue.
Education and schoolwork was quickly discarded as he continued playing the game as his mum Maria and dad Ronnie Snr grafted in the seedy underworld of central London.
Yet despite his unusual grounding, he ended up winning seven world snooker titles – nobody has won more in the modern-day era – and banking more than £10million in prize money.
O’Sullivan, 47, said: “My dad was an East End guy. He knew he had the gift of the gab.
“He’d drop me off at a snooker hall and say: ‘Okay, here’s the money for him to play all day. Let him do what he wants. Make sure he behaves. Keep an eye on him.’
“My dad used to call it a crèche. He said: ‘It’s the best place for you to be. You weren’t out on the streets, being naughty, getting up to no good.’
“He was the one telling people, my boy is 10 years of age, he’ll be world champion. And he was right.
“I was useless at school, I used to like PE. I didn’t mind a bit of history. Cooking was alright.
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“I wasn’t really interested in school. I didn’t really want to learn. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I thought to myself: ‘Why am I here? I want to be playing snooker.’
“I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring, get my rucksack on, get out of that school as quickly as I could.
“Run across Redbridge roundabout to catch the bus home and then go to the snooker hall.
“I think on average from the age of like 12 onwards, I was probably making like between £20-25,000 a year.
“In some weekends, I could come home with £3,000 and I was 14 years old.”
Before he won the first of a record-equalling seven Crucible crowns in 2001, O’Sullivan spiralled into depression and went on a “wild bender” for six years after his dad went to prison for murder.
Ronnie Snr was jailed for life in 1992 for killing Bruce Bryan, a driver for East End gangster Charlie Kray, and served 18 years inside before being released in November 2010.
In a chat with the BBC’s Desert Island Discs, the world No.1 says he would not change his upbringing because it was an interesting “life experience”.
O’Sullivan said: “Our garage was full of dirty videos and dirty magazines. I wasn’t sheltered to it.
“‘Shakin’ Ted’ would come round, selling the magazines, my dad was buying them off him.
“I would get in the car, my dad would go up to the West End, a boot-full of magazines and videos.
“I would get dropped off at the snooker clubs. Sometimes I would go to Soho with him.
“Listen, I enjoyed it, it was a life experience. My dad knew everyone. My dad was a resident of Soho. He was the Del Boy in the Porn game.
“He said: ‘I don’t care what you say, it was the best business in the world.’
“Every midnight, he said they had to drop the wages off.
“He said I could tell by the thud on the floor if they had had a good day or bad day.
“If it was a good day, it would have been a very heavy bang on the floor.”