Tattoos hit target with Eric Bristow darts fans
He's the inimitable self-styled crafty cockney. A man who earned fame and fortune chucking arrows, went on I'm a Celebrity... to buy his kids a car each and has fans so obsessed they want his name tattooed on their arms.
In the 1980s Eric Bristow helped lay the foundations for what is now one of the country's biggest sports, winning the world darts title on five occasions.
He was arguably the last of the great pub heroes, before Phil Taylor's supreme professionalism underpinned his incredible 16 world title wins – and counting – from 1990 onwards.
The riches now afforded to darts players, who enter huge arenas to pumping walk-on music, accompanied by scantily-clad women, is a world away from Bristow's era. But regrets? He has none.
"I don't wish I had all that back in my day – I had a great time and made the most of it," Bristow, aged 55 and now living in Leek, Staffordshire, said. "I had a brilliant career. It gave me everything I've got and I gave something back as well.
"It's a money-making machine now and I love watching the newcomers.
"It's nice to meet them too during the current events when we're the old fogeys. I've got a good rapport with them and the other guys from my day like Keith Deller and John Lowe, we do loads together."
Bristow's appearance on I'm a Celebrity... last year propelled him even more into the mainstream. He finished fourth in the show, having appeared alongside stars more accustomed to the glitzy lifestyle such as boxing champ David Haye and Coronation Street's Helen Flanagan.
But in true Bristow style he reveals why he joined the show: "My motivation was to buy my kids a car each. And I did, so it was worth it. A lot of people went on the show to enhance their careers but I've already got a lovely job working for Sky."
He also plays in darts exhibitions such as one in a Betfred shop in Wolverhampton yesterday, where punters get to play against him, while fans swarm for autographs – or tattoos, as Indy Shone and Adam Plant did. The pair work at Indy Ink in the city.
Cue an unusual signing session with biro-on-arm signature and then the pair spent five minutes inking each other up. "He thought it was a strange request," said Miss Shone, 41. "I used to watch him on Bullseye and I loved him on I'm a Celebrity..."
But it's all in a day's work for Bristow, who said he loved meeting his fans. "I've had a few tattoo requests but not two in one day."
