1975: Born Wordsley, West Midlands, December 5.
1987: Wins his first pro-am tournament at the age of 12.
1991: Scores his first 147 break in English Amateur Championship, aged 15.
1992: Turns professional.
1993: Becomes youngest winner of ranking tournament, beating Stephen Hendry 10-6 to win UK Championship aged 17.
1994: Wins British Open.
1995: Wins Benson & Hedges Masters.
1996: Wins Asian Classic and German Open. Found guilty by snooker's governing body of assaulting an official at the World Championship and handed a two-year suspended sentence, a £20,000 fine and advised to donate £10,000 to charity.
1997: Wins UK Championship for second time. Compiles the fastest 147 on record in just five minutes 20 seconds during World Championship first-round win over Mick Price.
1998: Wins Scottish Masters. Beaten in World Championship semi-finals by John Higgins. Tests positive for marijuana after winning the Irish Masters and is later stripped of the title.
1999: Wins China Open. Fails to reach World Championship final again after losing semi-final to Hendry.
2000: Knocked out of World Championship in first round 10-9 by David Gray. Makes maximum breaks in Grand Prix and Regal Scottish Masters, winning the latter.
2001: Wins Champions Cup, Regal Masters, China Open, Irish Masters and his first World Championship - beating John Higgins 18-14 - before crushing Ken Doherty 10-1 in UK Championship final in York.
2002: Retains UK Championship title but fails in his bid to hold on to the world title, losing 17-13 to Stephen Hendry in the semi-finals.
2003: Wins Regal Scottish Masters, European Open and Citywest Irish Masters but suffers a 10-6 first-round defeat at the World Championship to Marco Fu of Hong Kong, despite recording his second maximum break at the Crucible in the seventh frame.
November - Loses 9-6 to Stephen Hendry in the British Open final in Brighton, and loses again to the Scot in the semi-finals of the UK Championship later the same month.
2004: February - Loses 10-9 to Paul Hunter in the final of the Masters at Wembley.
May - Beats 200-1 outsider Graeme Dott 18-8 at the Crucible to take second World Championship.
October - Wins Grand Prix.
2005: After winning the Masters, Welsh Open and Irish Masters, fails to defend his World Championship title when losing to Peter Ebdon in quarter-finals after being 8-2 ahead. Claims in his post-match press conference that he will take a year off from the sport. But he plays in every tournament of the 2005-06 campaign except the Malta Cup.
December - Loses 9-8 to Mark King in first round of the UK Championship, sitting with a towel on his head while his opponent is at the table.
2006: April - Loses 17-11 to eventual champion Graeme Dott in World Championship semi-finals after suffering problems with his cue tip throughout the tournament.
August - Beats Dominic Dale 6-0 in 53 minutes in the Northern Ireland Trophy semi-finals, setting a record for the fastest ever win in a best-of-11-frame match.
December 14 - Concedes best-of-17-frame UK Championship quarter-final against Stephen Hendry in York while trailing only 4-1. Leaves the building immediately. The following May, he is fined £20,000 and docked 900 ranking points over the incident.
2007: January - Snubs the media after first-round Masters win over Ali Carter. Thrashes Ding Junhui 10-3 in the final to win his third Wembley crown.
April - Beaten 13-9 by eventual champion John Higgins in the quarter-finals of the World Championship.
October - Suffers shock 9-6 defeat to Marco Fu in the final of the Grand Prix. O'Sullivan gives only one-word answers to the media following the match.
December - Becomes the first player to score 147s in successive tournaments after compiling a maximum in the deciding frame of his UK Championship semi-final against Mark Selby. O'Sullivan had also scored one at the previous month's Northern Ireland trophy.Goes on to crush Stephen Maguire 10-2 in the final to claim his fourth UK Championship, his first ranking title in nearly three years.
2008: January - Loses 6-5 to Stephen Maguire in Masters first round.
March - Beaten by Marco Fu in the first round of the China Open. In his post-match press conference, O'Sullivan makes lewd comments and brandishes a microphone suggestively. He later apologises for his behaviour.
April - Hits his third Crucible 147 in World Championship second-round win over Mark Williams, becoming the first player to compile nine maximums in tournament play.
May 5 - Beats Ali Carter 18-8 to win his third World Championship.
More news from SportingLife.com
