The Power: My Autobiography. This item is unavailable.The Power: My Autobiography

The ten-times world darts champion, the king of the oche, and a legend in the game. Largely responsible for taking darts into the 21st century, eschewing drink and advocating fitness to improve performance, Taylor covers around 500,000 miles a year competing across Britain, and in countries as far apart as the USA and China.

Brought up in the back streets of the Potteries, where his Dad tried to turn him into a boxer, Taylor's first job saw him earning £75 a week in a factory making ceramic toilet handles – and by the age of 25 he had hardly thrown a dart in anger.

Then he attended an Eric Bristow darts exhibition, and the 'Crafty Cockney' became his mentor and friend and loaned him £10,000 to play the pro circuit. Within two years Taylor had won the first of his ten world titles…

In his book, Taylor describes how Bristow coaxed, bullied, humiliated and often literally punched him into making it as a pro. He is candid about the booze culture of the game, while revisiting the memorable matches and recalling vivid stories featuring the likes of Bristow, Cliff Lazarenko (who once had 20 cans of lager before a match), John Lowe and the legendary Jocky Wilson.

A dispute between the professional players and the British Darts Organisation in 1992 almost led to a dispirited Taylor giving up the game for good. And he goes into detail about the worst six months of his life, when he was accused and convicted of sexually assaulting two female fans.

The pain for his family was hard to bear. Taylor's own career faltered as he sought to rid the demons from his mind. This is a human story of a man having to come to terms with unparalleled success in his professional career and determined to win his eleventh world title in 2003, yet taunted by shame and tragedy in his private life.

Phil Taylor was born in Stoke-on-Trent in August 1960. He won his first world darts title in 1990, and has since amassed a further nine world championships and many other major titles around the globe. He is married with four children.

Sid Waddell is the voice of darts. Born in Northumberland in 1940, he was educated at Cambridge University. Since then he has worked as a TV producer and director for Granada, and as a darts commentator for the BBC, and more recently, Sky Sports. Voted Sports Commentator of the Year in 2002, he lives with his wife and family in Pudsey, W Yorks. He has co-authored books with Jocky Wilson and John Lowe.