Do you still have any contact with Stoke-on-Trent?
Phil “The Power” Taylor, darts champion and native of Stoke
My dad’s family are still there, although I didn’t see them for a long time. I was reunited with them in the early 1990s when my uncle David saw something in the British press about “Slash – real name Saul Hudson” and contacted my office and I was like “wow, David Hudson! That’s my fucking uncle!” So I invited my uncle and my grandfather and a few others when GNR played Wembley, and they hung out in the dressing room, and they cleaned me out of drink! And that takes some doing. I was pretty annoyed but, in a weird way, I felt very proud that I was part of this grand lineage of English piss-heads.

Did you have posters on your wall as a kid?
Rizwan, Harrow
I had a King Kong poster. And anything with dinosaurs on it. And as I got older I had the same Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones and Hendrix posters that all kids had at the time.

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Stoke City or Port Vale?
Jamie Bowman, Merseyside
I think my father’s family in Stoke were all Stoke City. The only time I keep up with my football is when I’m in England. In fact, the only game I’m physically been to was a really good game between Arsenal and Manchester [United]. When I’m in LA, you don’t really get much football, which is why David Beckham was such a big deal. That was hilarious. I think he just came here to take the piss, you know? The idea that America is going to convert to football by paying a king’s ransom for this English guy with a fucked ankle. Everyone on the other side of the pond must be laughing their asses off.

The February 2016 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring the 200 Greatest Albums Of All Time, 2016 Preview, New Order, Suede, John Cale, Michael Rother, Sun Ra, Barry Adamson, Savages, Ryley Walker, Tindersticks, Lucinda Williams, Peaches, The Long Ryders, Lera Lynn, Ronnie Lane and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

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