WOODHOUSE REVEALS LOVE FOR FREDDIE MERCURY

LUKE WOODHOUSE is ready to ink his love for Freddie Mercury after opening up on a lifelong admiration for Queen.

World No21 Woodhouse described the legendary frontman as a major inspiration both musically and personally.

‘Woody’ reckons his passion for Queen began at a young age, with the band forming a constant backdrop to his childhood through his family’s love of their music.

He told the Tops and Tales podcast: “I did want to get a Freddie Mercury tattoo at some point, so whether I actually do or not, I don’t know, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while.

“My dad was a big Queen fan, so it was always in the car on cassettes and CDs. That’s how I got into it. So, I’ve always just been a huge fan, yeah.

“For me, like I said, my dad always listened to him. So, we used to go to the car. My first thing was just his vocals and his voice and stuff like that.

“When you see his on-stage presence and stuff, I’ve watched a few interviews.

“People didn’t realise he didn’t do that many interviews, he didn’t speak that much.

“So, he was very quiet, very shy bloke. To see that charisma and that stage presence he had, I was sort of fixated.

“Like you say, the music’s brilliant, Queen’s music’s brilliant.

“I listened to a lot of his solo stuff as well. So yeah, he’s just always been a big hero of mine. Someone I looked up to, but someone I could resonate with.

“Just because if you’re quiet or shy, you haven’t got to always be like that.

“He showed he could really show the world what he was capable of doing.”

Woodhouse produced one of the strongest campaigns of his career last season, making the final of the Swiss Darts Trophy and finishing runner-up at Players Championship 34.

The Worcestershire ace is pushing for a breakthrough into the top 16 on the Order of Merit and hoping to shed the unwanted tag of the highest-ranked player without a PDC title.

He added: “I haven’t won a ProTour title yet. I haven’t won any sort of title on the PDC, so that’s my main one, I suppose.

“If I can get somewhere in and around the top 16 in the world — if somebody had asked me that six years ago, I’d have probably laughed them off and said that would never happen.

“But now I’m sort of in touching distance of it.

“I believe I’m a top 16 player, and I’ve said before I believe I can get into the top 16.

“Whether I’m not sure how reasonable it is that I can get a lot higher than that, I’m not really sure.

“But 100 per cent, I want to be a top 16 player.

“And yeah, I just want to hopefully win and get my first title on the board this year.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.