Inside the frame : my autobiography

They call him "The Rocket". He can clear a table faster than anyone else in the world.

He can play equally well with his left or his right hands - to the fury of his components, "insulted" by his apparently casual approach to the game.Now 25, he started playing snooker at seven and was playing pros by 11.

He turned pro at 15 and that same year became the youngest player to make the maximum 147 break.

He then won the UK Championship when he was 17.Just as Ronnie was turning professional, his father was sent to prison for life, convicted of murder.

His main supporter and mentor was now absent. When his mother was also jailed, for a year, for VAT fraud, Ronnie was on his own, with a young sister to look after.

The pressure took its toll. In 1996 Ronnie assaulted an official at the World Championships.

He has had problems with drink and, famously, women.

But now he's back - he's cleaned himself up, and is playing better than ever.

He's won four major tournaments already this year, and is topping the prize money table.

He has even exorcized the ghost of his 1998 failed drug test by winning the 2001 Irish Masters in Dublin.This is his story in his own words.