It was ridiculous – opponent Mick Price recalls Ronnie O’Sullivan’s rapid 147

Mick Price achieved snooker immortality by spending precisely five minutes and eight seconds sitting in his chair.

This month marks 25 years since Price gazed out from behind a pair of Dennis Taylor-style upside-down glasses as Ronnie O’Sullivan fired the fastest maximum break in history in the 14th frame of their World Championship first round clash.

With no likelihood of O’Sullivan’s record being beaten, Price’s place in history, as well as his brief starring role in the break’s inevitable annual TV re-runs, appear secure.

“I made a decent break and he played safe, and with my next safety shot I cut it a bit thin,” Price told the PA news agency. “Five minutes and eight seconds later, I’m in the Guinness Book of Records.”

Price retired from professional snooker in 2004 and after a period playing in local leagues in Nuneaton, packed his cue away for good seven years ago. Now 55, he is a maths teacher at Castlewood School for children with special educational needs in Solihull.

“I do sometimes show the kids the video, as an ice-breaker,” says Price. “But because they don’t see me having a go, they all just think I must have been rubbish.”

I made a decent break and he played safe, and with my next safety shot I cut it a bit thin. Five minutes and eight seconds later, I'm in the Guinness Book of Records- Mick Price

Price’s passive role in snooker history hardly does justice to a player who reached the Crucible three times, including the second round after victory over Taylor in 1992. In 1990 he became only the third player to make three consecutive century breaks in professional tournament play.

He confesses to having been quizzed so often about O’Sullivan’s break that he has had time to chisel out all the one-liners – “it