His father worked at Platt's tile factory in Tunstall and the family lived in a dilapidated terraced house nearby, sleeping downstairs because the upstairs was condemned and boarded up.

[16] After leaving school at age 16, he worked in a variety of manual jobs, including as a sheet metal worker,[16] but his main occupation became manufacturing ceramic toilet roll holders, for which he earned £52 a week.

[15] In 1985, Taylor and Yvonne attended an exhibition match at a pub in Smallthorne by then-reigning world champion Eric Bristow, who had recently moved to North Staffordshire.

[21] Impressed by Taylor's potential, Bristow lent him £10,000 to take care of his family as he established himself as a professional darts player, on condition that he give up his job in the ceramics industry.

Taylor stretched his PDC World Championship unbeaten run to a record eight consecutive years beating Peter Manley in the 1999 and 2002 finals, Priestley for a fourth time in 2000, and John Part in 2001.

[39] Sid Waddell attributed this defeat to a weight-loss of three stone which he claimed affected Taylor's balance and resulted in him throwing "a quarter to half an inch below the 60 bed".

After losing the 1999 semi-final of the World Matchplay to Manley, he would go on to win the title for the next five years (2000–2004) beating five different opponents in the final: Alan Warriner-Little (2000), Richie Burnett (2001), John Part (2002), Wayne Mardle (2003) and Mark Dudbridge (2004).

[46] He lost to Jelle Klaasen and Simon Whitlock in the International Darts League tournament,[47] and twice in a row to Raymond van Barneveld in the UK Open[48] and the Las Vegas Desert Classic.

He was aiming to win his fourth consecutive European title and did just that by beating John Michael 6–3, Mervyn King 10–3, Paul Nicholson 10–7, Simon Whitlock 11–4 and Adrian Lewis 11–8.

On 27 September, Taylor competed in Group One of the Championship League and won all seven of his qualifying games: 6–3 against Adrian Lewis, 6–2 against Terry Jenkins, 6–3 against Wes Newton, 6–2 against James Wade, 6–3 against Simon Whitlock, 6–2 against Gary Anderson and 6–1 against Mark Webster.

He lost his fourth match 6–4 to Simon Whitlock, but defeated James Wade 6–1, Mervyn King 6–4, Paul Nicholson 6–0, Mark Webster 6–3, Wes Newton 6–4 and Andy Hamilton 6–1.

He beat Gary Anderson 6–5, Steve Beaton 6–3, Mervyn King 6–3 (hitting his 10th nine-dart finish in competition in the process), Mark Walsh 6–3, Simon Whitlock 6–5, Paul Nicholson 6–1 and Dennis Priestley 6–2 to qualify top of the group.

[107] Taylor then lost to Thornton in a major event for the second time this year as he missed six match darts on the way to a three sets to two defeat in the second round of the World Grand Prix.

[116] He outplayed Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals in an 11–2 victory and, with the scores at 5–5 in the final against Kim Huybrechts, Taylor produced a devastating run of form to win eight of the following nine legs to secure the title.

[143][144] At the inaugural staging of the Masters, a tournament which only features the top 16 on the Order of Merit, Taylor cruised to the title dropping just seven legs during the event which included 10–1 thrashings of James Wade and Lewis in the semi-finals and final respectively.

[147] The final proved to be a more low-key affair as Taylor gained revenge over Robert Thornton for his loss in the 2012 UK Open to win 16–6 and seal his fifth Grand Slam title.

[154] At the UK Open, he was the victim of the biggest shock in the tournament's history as factory worker Aden Kirk, ranked world number 137 and making his television debut, beat Taylor 9–7.

[167] However, Taylor saved his best performance for the final as he raced into 7–1 and 13–2 leads over Van Gerwen and went on to seal his seventh consecutive Matchplay title and 15th in total with an 18–9 victory whilst averaging 107.27.

Following an initial 5–0 lead, the final was by far his closest match of the event as Chisnall fought back to 10–10, before Taylor rediscovered his best form to win another five unanswered legs and seal his sixth Grand Slam title 16–13.

[173] Taylor maintained his unbeaten semi-final record in World Championships as he won his 20th by beating Raymond van Barneveld 6–2 and faced Gary Anderson in the final.

[179] He went into the penultimate round of fixtures needing a victory over Anderson to stand a chance of progressing but, when he lost 7–5, it marked the first time in the 11-year history of the event that Taylor did not qualify for the play-offs.

[198] During the final of the World Matchplay, Taylor encouraged the crowd to do a clapping chant made famous by the Icelandic football team in Euro 2016 when Van Gerwen was throwing.

It was the first time since 1993 that Taylor had played in an event shown by the station and he dominated it by winning 52 legs over the weekend whilst losing 19, culminating with an 11–5 victory over Van Gerwen in the final.

[238] In major PDC tournaments in 2008, Taylor defeated van Barneveld twice in the Premier League,[239] lost by 10 legs to nine in the quarter-finals of the UK Open,[240] but won the World Grand Prix against his rival by six sets to two.

[247] During the early part of Adrian Lewis' career until 2007, he was Taylor's protégé having practised together in their home city Stoke-on-Trent and made his television debut in 2004, aged 19, at the UK Open.

[252] It was this match which truly started the rivalry as both players averaged more than 110 for long parts of it, with Taylor at one point gesturing for van Gerwen to get out of his way when he paused in retrieving his darts.

[267] On 10 October 1999, after an exhibition match at a hotel in Leslie, Fife, Taylor offered two intoxicated 23-year-old women a lift home in his campervan, driven by a hired driver.

[272] He also appeared in Justin Hawkins' solo project British Whale's music video for a cover of the Sparks song, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us".

[citation needed] He made several appearances on the ITV game show Bullseye, hosted by comedian Jim Bowen and professional darts commentator Tony Green.

[273][274][275] On 2 February 2009, he made a guest cameo appearance in ITV's long-running popular soap opera Coronation Street, playing the part of 'Disco Dave', the captain of a rival darts team to the Rovers Return.