That period in the late Eighties and early Nineties was when I was playing my best snooker. My trouble was that I had so many bad habits that my preparation was terrible: people like Steve Davis or Dennis Taylor were model pros.
I'm a pretty laid-back person but when I first played on TV against Jimmy White at the Masters it was daunting. The more times you play you get used to it and you eventually come to love it.
Not only did I have to face the great Steve Davis for 10 years, Stephen Hendry came along, who attacked the balls. He was such an incredible potter with self-belief.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, the greatest snooker player ever, will tell you that he doesn't practise. I'm not having that. I call him Roger, after Federer, because he's a genius. He doesn't like that nickname.
Steve Davis has found a way of competing to a level that is not as high as it once was, enjoying his wins, and not getting too angry about the defeats.
I met my wife in Latvia 17 or 18 years ago, moved over to Norway in 2003 or 2004 and after a couple of years living there, I was able to represent Norway as a snooker player.
I visited a couple of schools where snooker is on the curriculum. They go in everyday and play snooker. In the future, all the top players will be coming from Asia and the Far East.
The worst loss in my career - the 2002 World Championship final against Peter Ebdon.
Snooker has taken such a step down I am not sure it will recover unless five Ronnie O'Sullivans come along at the same time.
I was a big fan of Naseem Hamed, and followed him. Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and I know him well.
I mean what's the point of them becoming professional snooker players? If there's not much money in the game, if there's no guarantee of future tournaments, if no one knows what's going on.
You are never going to get snooker on to the front pages because there is not enough money in the game here.
I grew up in south London and spent most of my adolescence in the snooker halls of the area, turning professional at 17.
I want to be able to play fast and exciting snooker like my hero Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Judd Trump loves playing against the top players.
Hopefully I get to the point where I get paid to party and can give up snooker.
Snooker's only popular in China now. Well China's OK to go to once or twice a year but to go and play six or seven tournaments there is too much.
Snooker players go into steady decline and lose their intensity after a while. But I will have real purpose the next five years. I want to prove people wrong and win a lot more tournaments.
I tried hard to create my own records when a lot of them belonged to Steve Davis, so to see someone else beat yours, you'd be lying if you said there wasn't a twinge of regret there.
Snooker's got bigger over the last ten years, but obviously it's still on a really small scale.
If the World Seniors led to a place directly into the Crucible, then I would take it very seriously because to play there again would be incredible.
I've been semi-successful. I've done all right but I'm not the player I was. Who do I think will win the world championship? John Higgins. Have I been good for snooker? I don't know.
No Alex Higgins, no snooker.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the only player in history to be dominant and popular at the same time.
If you are a single guy and work in a normal job you can get around it. But you can't win professional snooker matches when you are tired.
