Ronnie O’Sullivan was in no mood for an extravagant birthday celebration on Friday, despite beating Anthony McGill to reach Saturday’s Coral UK Championship semi-finals. In ‘Bah, humbug’ style he insisted he didn’t like birthdays, or the giving and receiving of cards or cakes, and in all likelihood would spend the evening having a quick Thai meal and watching ‘I’m A Celebrity..Get Me Out Of Here’ on the television.
The cake that the BBC handed him in the studio was proving hard to shift. Not only did O’Sullivan immediately pass it on to the written press, but 19 hours later on Saturday lunchtime it was still standing untouched in the media centre.