STUART Bingham says he wants to inspire the next generation of players after he shot to stardom having won the crown jewel of snooker in a final that will live long in the memory.

Bingham triumphed in an epic 10-hour World Snooker Championship final against Shaun Murphy on Monday night, taking the last three frames to win 18-15 at a packed Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

A 50-1 outsider before the tournament, born-and-bred Vange potter Bingham beat three former world champions to take his first ever ranking tournament win in this country and lift him to the second-best ranked player in the world.

And the 38-year-old, who became the oldest first-time winner in World Championship history and third-oldest in tournament history, says the euphoria of winning the title won’t go to his head.

“I’m world champion but I’m going to be the same person,” he said. “I’ll be playing in all the tournaments and hopefully I’ll be a good role model as world champion.

“Any kids out there growing up wanting to play should stick at it. That’s what I’ve done.”

Bingham and Murphy, two of the most popular players on the circuit, had played their part in one of the finest finals in recent history, with Bingham coming back from 8-4 down to surge 15-12 ahead, before Murphy took the next three frames.

But a 64-minute frame, which saw Bingham win 38 points after snookering Murphy, proved decisive as the former-world number 10 edged out Murphy, who had taken this crown a decade ago – although the captivated audience had to wait for its conclusion after both players went for a toilet break as the frame time ticked over an hour.

Renowned as one of the most dedicated players, having previously delayed his wedding and cancelling his stag-do in 2013, Bingham said he thought this could be his year after he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter finals, having also beaten Graeme Dott and Judd Trump on his way to the crown.

“After beating Ronnie I woke up at 6am and the winner’s speech was going through my head but I thought, ‘Don’t get carried away’,” he said.

“I had a great following in the final. In most of my matches I was the underdog. Against Ronnie and Judd I might have had five per cent of the crowd but when I came out for the final I had about 80 per cent. Then when the crowd went quiet my son Shae shouted, ‘Good luck, Dad’, and I got very emotional.”

But he kept his composure against Murphy, taking his season earnings to just shy of £400,000 having won the Shangai Masters and the Championship League already this campaign.

He has also booked a place at next month’s Snooker World Cup in China, where he will play alongside world number one Mark Selby.