"The only thing I could do was drain the radiator from my room": Burnett Pot Noodle story reemerges after UK Open run

Richie Burnett caused a sensation at the UK Open last weekend. To everyone's surprise, the 56-year-old reached the quarter-finals.

Burnett became world champion in the BDO in 1995, then did well with the PDC, including a final at the World Matchplay in 2001, but his career subsequently faded.

So much so that he had to resort to interesting means to eat a Pot Noodle in a story well known in the darting community but reemerged with his run.

"When times were hard and I had no money, I was in Wigan for a tournament and bought myself a Pot Noodle for my tea," he said to Daily Mirror.

"But I didn't have kettle to boil water for it. The only thing I could do was drain the radiator from my room and use the hot water from that.

"It was all soily and brown but it worked and the Pot Noodle went down OK. But I'd used a pair of nail scissors to open up the valve and it wouldn't shut again, so hot, brown water was leaking out.

"All I could was put a tray underneath it to catch it all. I didn't get much sleep because I had to get up every hour to tip the water down the sink."