‘SLOWHAND’ ERIC CLAPTON HITS 75 The Cream of the crop

ERIC was born to Patricia Clapton,

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16, and Edward Fryer, a 25-year-old Canadian soldier who went home after the war. Eric grew up believing his grandparents, Rose and Jack, were his parents and that Patricia was his older sister.

HE was given his first guitar, a Hoyer

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acoustic, for his 13th birthday but it was difficult to play and he soon lost interest. He picked it back up two years later.

IF he had not been a guitarist, Eric

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would have been a stained-glass window designer. He studied the craft at Kingston College of Art in 1961 but dropped out after a year to pursue music.

ERIC has been a member of or played

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with nine different bands, including The Yardbirds, Derek and the Dominos and Cream.

HE has had problems with

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drugs and booze — and was so drunk at one of his concerts that he played and sang while lying on the floor with the microphone next to him. After getting clean, he founded a rehab facility in Antigua called the Crossroads Centre.

ERIC hit actress Shirley

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Maclaine in the face with a pie on the set of the

1976 short film Circasia.

HE has a net worth of

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around £250million, which makes him the 18th richest musician in the world.

ERIC was romantically linked to musician

8 Sheryl Crow and was reportedly the subject of her hit single My Favourite Mistake. He has also dated Naomi Campbell, Davina Mccall and Patsy Kensit. HE has been married twice. His first

9 wife was Pattie Boyd but their marriage was marred by his alcohol use and domestic abuse. He is now married to Melia Mcenery, who is 31 years his junior. ERIC is a petrolhead and an avid

10 collector of Ferraris. One of his cars reportedly cost him £3million.

HE is also a footie fan and follows West

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Bromwich Albion. One of the team’s scarves was seen draped over the back cover of his 1978 album Backless. ERIC suffers from deafness, tinnitus

12 and a condition called peripheral neuropathy, which causes burning pain and tingling in the arms and legs.

13 HE got his nickname, Slowhand, because he plays the guitar so hard that he breaks the strings and the audience have to wait, and usually slow-clap, while he changes them.

IN 2015, he had an

14 asteroid, 4305 Clapton, named after him.

15 A DOCUMENTARY on his life called A Life in 12 Bars was released three years ago. It was directed by his friend Lili Fini Zanuck, after Eric only agreed to it being made if she was involved.

★ HAPPY Birthday to guitarist Eric Clapton, who turns 75 today! The Surrey-born legend, who played in Cream, has sold more than 100million records and is one of the most successful musicians of all time.

★ But what else do you know about him? NATASHA WYNARCZYK presents 15 fascinating facts...