“If my daughter hadn’t lived at that address still, I’d be dead” – Bobby George escapes death after potentially costly NHS mix-up

Bobby George is eighty years old, but the legendary Englishman is still very much alive and kicking. At least, that’s the joke the colourful darts icon has reliably cracked for years whenever someone asks how he is. “I’m still here,” is his answer. A classic Bobby George line, but after a recent heart procedure that remark suddenly carries far more weight. George knows full well how lucky he’s been and now wants to make it to at least 90.

The former World Championship finalist was told a few weeks ago that his heart was in far worse shape than he could ever have imagined. George says he had never previously suffered heart problems. Yet tests revealed that a heart valve had been malfunctioning for years. According to one doctor, his heart should really have been checked ten years ago.

That only happened almost by chance. An appointment with a specialist in Colchester was sent to an address where George had lived more than forty years earlier. The letter therefore didn’t reach him. Luck had it that his daughter still lived at that old address.

The situation also turned out to be extremely serious. A doctor told the darts legend that without treatment he might have had only eighteen months to live. George, who as ever kept his sense of humour, responded in his own way. “I was chatting to my doctors and said I want to live to f***king 90," George told SunSport. “And when I’m 90, I want to live to 100. Maybe 180 is too much. I already look like a f***ing dried-up donut now – one with no jam in it."

"I was told my heart should have been looked at for the past 10 years but they’d never bothered," George explained. “The doctor said I’d get a letter from specialists in Colchester. Well I never got it. Then my daughter – who lives with my ex-wife in Redbridge – rang to say she’s got a letter from the National Health Service for dad. It was an appointment, a time and date, with this specialist. They sent that f***ing thing to my address from 40-odd years ago."

"If I’d got a letter from the NHS not for me, I’d just f-ing bin it. And 99 per cent of people would, too. It’s like a Del Boy story really. Because if my daughter hadn’t lived at that address still, I’d be on my way to being dead. Talk about being lucky. Without that, I’d be down the f***ing swanee."

At the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon it was decided George would undergo a TAVI procedure. In a transcatheter aortic valve implantation, a new heart valve is inserted via an artery, often through the groin. That meant major open-heart surgery could be avoided. “One doctor said if I didn’t have this valve fixed, I’ll be dead in 18 months."

The procedure took about an hour. George was warned beforehand about the risks, including a small chance of severe bleeding. The MRI scan also made an impression on the eighty-year-old Englishman. “It was like I was in a bloody tumble dryer,” is how he described the experience.

The operation ultimately went well and George is now steadily working on his recovery. He is at home in his famous George Hall mansion in Essex, which he built himself, and tries to walk a little further each day.

The doctors have made it clear he must take it easy for now. He’s not allowed to vacuum and must leave the lawn alone. He was also given some restrictions in the bedroom. That, of course, prompted a burst of laughter from George. “I told them, ‘What are you f***ing telling me that?’ I don’t have no f***ing sex now," he jokes. “Anyways, it was supposed to be open heart surgery, not open legs surgery…”

Despite all the jokes, George is above all immensely grateful to the doctors and nurses who helped him. The former darts star, known for his forthright language, has nothing but praise for the staff of the UK health service. “In my language they’re bloody brilliant people,” he says. “They were all over it.”

George has lived a lot of life. He started playing darts about fifty years ago and became one of the sport’s biggest personalities. He reached the BDO World Championship final in 1980 and 1994 and was famous for his extravagant image. Gold jewellery, a crown, a cape, a candelabrum, and his walk-on to Queen’s ‘We Are the Champions’ made George much more than just a darts player.

Although his active career is long behind him, he still follows the sport closely. During his recovery he watched a lot of darts on television. And one player has changed his mind considerably in recent months: Luke Littler.

At first, George wondered whether Littler was really as good as everyone claimed. Now he’s fully convinced. “I said he could be a fluke. ‘Luke could be a fluke.’ But he keeps winning, and he ain’t no fluke.”

George is impressed by the way Littler is currently dominating darts. “He’s unbelievable, isn’t he? He just wins everything. Just amazing. People have had chances to beat him, actually beat him. But when he’s on top, they ain’t got a chance, have they?”

It’s a striking conclusion from a man who himself ranked among the biggest names in darts for years. George has seen the sport evolve from a relatively small British pastime into a global spectacle. And despite his age and recent heart problems, the ‘King of Bling’ clearly wants to keep enjoying it for as long as possible.