The interview is over. James Wade rises from his seat, thanks me for my time and pops out for a cigarette. But first, he just wants to check something.

“Was that all right?” he asks the man from the Professional Darts Corporation, who has been listening in.

“Yeah, absolutely fine.”

“Even the stuff about Eric?”

“Yeah.”

“And the Premier League?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

But of course, Wade does worry, and telling him not to is like telling an asthmatic not to wheeze so much. When you suffer from what he suffers, you are constantly fretful about the impact you have on the people around you. You worry about being misunderstood. You worry about being stigmatised. You worry about living life without the feeling of control that most people take for granted. You worry about worrying. And no amount of fame, fortune or professional success can protect you from any of that.