Darts legend Bobby George who broke his back celebrating on live TV reveals he keeps amputated toe in a bottle of vodka
BOBBY GEORGE has revealed he keeps one of his four amputated TOES in a bottle of vodka behind the bar of his 18-bedroom Essex mansion.
Eccentric ex-darts star
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Bobby George was one of sport's most flamboyant stars
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
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The King of Bling faced extraordinary pain from his toes
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Three of them had to be discarded but he was allowed to keep the first one chopped off 26 years ago — and stores it at his self-built home George Hall.
Writing in a new book — Still Here! The King of Bling — George, 79, declared: 'Nobody believes me, or at least they don't, until they see me without my socks on.
'Or if they come to my bar in George Hall and see the evidence for themselves.
'There's some sort of gene in my body that has caused the toes to pop out of their socket and cross over.
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'It got so bad that I couldn't get my shoes on.
'I couldn't walk without checking my balance each step.
'It was so painful on some days that if I'd had a sharp enough knife I would have chopped them off myself.
'There was nothing that the medical profession could do, so it became 'Operation Toot-Toot-Tootsie Bye-Bye'.
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Geroge's new book details an amazing journey in life and darts
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'The first one was cut off in 1999 and it was actually a great relief when it was all over.
'I knew the surgeon, a bloke called Phil, and he talked me through the procedure — something called a tulip operation.
Luke Littler narrowly avoids being hit by object thrown onto O2 stage during Premier League Darts finals
'It's done under local anaesthetic, so I was able to watch him cut it off.
'It didn't hurt and once the deed was done, Phil showed it to me and I asked him if I could keep it.
'Phil presented it to me in a little jar but said that he couldn't give me the proper stuff — formaldehyde, maybe? — as it was poisonous.
'But if I used vodka instead, that would preserve it beautifully. So I took it home and popped it in some vodka and now it has a permanent home behind the bar in George Hall.
'Whenever anyone comes to the house for a drink, I whip it out and ask them if they want a cocktail or a cocktoe?
'It's also meant that, over the years, if I've been away from home for any length of time and my wife, Marie, is missing me, she can always suck my toe!
'Removing one tootsie wasn't enough, though, and eventually the procedure had to be repeated another three times, so I'm missing two toes on each foot.
"Unfortunately, none of the other surgeons have been as obliging as Phil and they wouldn't let me take the sawn-off digits away with me.
'Losing four toes hasn't been as bad as it may sound, although when I go barefoot I do look like an alien.'
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He spent much of a £16k runners-up cheque on surgery
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Darts has few more colourful characters than George
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George — who lost in two BDO World Darts Championship finals, in 1980 and 1994 — says he pops '16 tablets a day for pain relief'.
That is because he has 'shocking arthritis in my hips' and BROKE his back on the famous Lakeside stage 31 years ago.
During a 4-2 win over Kevin Kenny in the quarters at Frimley Green, George leapt in the air in celebration and 'felt a sharp pain in my back'.
He was in 'constant excruciating pain for the remainder of the match', which was broadcast on TV.
Following X-rays the next day, a doctor told him: 'You can't play darts.
'You shouldn't even be able to walk. You've broken your back, Mr George.'
The King of Bling — who used to come on to stage holding a candelabra to the Queen song 'We Are the Champions' — reached the final where he was thumped 6-0 by Canadian John Part.
George said: 'I was fortunate not to have been paralysed but I still required immediate surgery, which my £16,000 runners-up cheque helped to finance.
'Eight titanium screws, each around two inches long, were inserted into the base of my spine to help me on the long road to recovery.'
STILL HERE! The King of Bling, published by Pitch Publishing, is out today.
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George was part of a golden era for darts, alongside Eric Bristow and Co
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'I'd say, 'You smoke and you drink too much'. He said, 'I know all about that, Bob. But put it this way, no one is going to be pushing me around in a wheelchair. When I go, I'll go like that. Bang'. And he f***ing did as well, bang.' George first encountered the 'mouthy so-and-so' while playing in a BDO event at Margate in Kent . Advertisement 4 Bobby George knew the late Eric Bristow when he was a teenager Credit: GETTY He said: 'After that we became good mates and he would do anything for me, anything.' As they toured the country, they 'would share prize money', but there were times when George thought 'we're going to get our heads kicked in' due to Bristow's OTT antics. On a US tour in 1978, the first time George went on a plane, Bristow enraged locals by pretending 'to wipe his a***' with the American Stars and Stripes flag 'before chucking it on the floor'. 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