I was 15 when I got my first job as a proofreader for an advertising agency in the City, earning £12 a week. But by then, I was already playing darts tournaments every weekend, regularly winning the £50 first prize. By the time I was 16 and winning two or three contests a weekend, I ditched the agency job and concentrated on darts.
I play a lot of charity golf mainly. I'm a bandit 18 if I play two or three times a week.
I've got a nice little crafty deal with the people in Barbados; 10 days out there teaching the locals how to play darts for an hour a day. Get paid for that as well.
The Crafty Cockney had a picture of the owner dressed up as a copper, so I brought it home, wore it on TV and the name just stuck.
All this cuddling and kissing on stage these days, well it's all right in football when someone scores a goal, but not when you're playing darts.
It took me about 10 years to get rid of. I'm all right now, though, lovely, I'm throwing some nice darts at the moment, but every now and then I get a bit of a jump. I wish I could find a cure, I'd make a bloody fortune.
Ever since I've been 16, 15, that's all I've been doing: playing darts.
Hopefully I've given something back to darts, which has been brilliant to me. Hopefully I made it a bit popular when I first started; I was part of the breakaway, and I also created a monster, so I think I've done a little bit.
Mark my words, Michael Van Gerwen will knock Phil Taylor off his perch one day and be the best darts player on the planet.
I was born at the right time. I was a freak - the only young player when darts took off in the 1970s.
In 1987 I got dartitis, a psychological condition which means you can't let your darts go properly. For a time, I wondered what the hell I was going to do if I didn't recover. But I remained positive and, thankfully, got over it. It occurred during the Swedish Open when I found I couldn't let the darts go.
Any sport where people earn a lot of money you are going to get groupies.
I like a drink, mate. I'll have maybe 10 or 12 pints on a good night out.
