"I opened it up and it said I'd been nominated for an MBE. I honestly couldn't believe it.

"For three weeks I haven't been able to sleep, I've been so excited. To meet the Queen is unbelievable."

Pedestal

Taylor went on: "Darts has been my livelihood. I've got four lovely children and it's looked after us for the past 10 years.

"I'm a rich man - although not like Roy Keane and David Beckham, but I don't begrudge them, they've had to earn it."

The 40-year-old added: "I'd love to be remembered as the best player there's ever been. Someone will come and knock me off my pedestal soon - until then I'll keep trying."

Taylor's first triumph came against 'Crafty Cockney' Eric Bristow in the final of the Embassy World Championships in 1990.

The Frimley Green success catapulted him to overnight stardom and he repeated the feat two years later in a classic encounter with Mike Gregory.

That match, which Taylor won in the sudden death leg of the final set, is widely thought to be the greatest game ever, with both players in spectacular form.

When the sport of darts split in two, Taylor joined the newly-formed Professional Darts Corporation and promptly tasted defeat for the first time in a world final.

Unprecedented

His conqueror in the inaugural PDC World Championship at Purfleet was great friend and rival Dennis Priestley, but rather than triggering a freefall, it spurred Taylor onto even greater things.

Six successive titles later and the working class boy from The Potteries is back at the Circus Tavern seeking an unprecedented ninth world crown.