It simply reads: Hedley Royle Fielden — the name of his grandfather. “He was a man of very few words but he spoke with his actions. He influenced a lot of people’s lives. He was a man of very special qualities with great morals and standards,” Foran said.

Among his chief admirers was his grandson, now 19, who this season has taken over the leading playmaker role for the Sea Eagles by wearing the No 6 jersey.

It was a fairly daunting prospect. “One of the best things for my footy was having those nine games with Matt last year. I had a good understanding with him and learned fast.

“Then when he left it was mixed feelings. No one wanted him to go and then I thought: `Wait a minute, all the pressure comes on me now. They’ll want me to do what he did.’

“Matt’s had years of first grade and I’ve had a handful of games.”

Then Foran placed his fingers on his grandfather’s name.

“One of the great things about granddad was that he hated to see people get stressed or fussing over things,” he said.

“He never did it, so he would sit down with me and talk it through. He was able to remove the frustration and stress of everything — whether it was football or life in general.”

Foran, who hails from Auckland where his grandparents also lived, cannot speak to Hedley Fielden in person any more.

Foran was playing in a junior league tournament in Townsville in July 2008 and his grandparents were on holiday in north Queensland at the time.

“It just happened to coincide and they came to all my games.”

Hedley Fielden died two days after the competition ended of a massive heart attack. He was 79.

“So he got to see me play. And I look back and think of how I spent the last five days of his life with him,” he said .

“I can see him walking over to me to talk with me after I played.

“Those memories are with me always and they are some of the best days of my life.”

So why place the tattoo over his heart? Why not across his shoulders or down his arm as other NRL players have done with family names?

“Well if he means that much to me I’m going to put it somewhere where it means a lot,” Foran said.

“Several times a week I hear his voice in my head — that calmness and strength of his words — and it helps me. I feel sometimes he’s quite often `there’ with me.”

However, getting the tattoo had its embarrassing moments.

“I skipped school one day to go and get the tattoo, but I wasn’t 18 and they wouldn’t do it. I had to take my mum back with me the next day.”

All his Manly teammates have now heard of Hedley Royle Fielden and keep hearing about him. “It’s a daily reminder for me of him and how I want to live my life and how I want to deal and handle the tough moments,” he said.

“He was easygoing and everyone’s friend.”

Manly is also feeling fine with its Kiwi-born half.

After five rounds he is second in the NRL on try and linebreak assists behind Benji Marshall.

Since they both play No 6, Foran’s path to New Zealand colours seems thwarted. But he made his Test debut in last year’s Four Nations playing in the centres in the 20-12 loss to England.

He won’t get stressed about whether he makes the May 7, Anzac Test or not.

“I haven’t set any long-term goals. For the moment I just want to keep improving and keep consistent each week. I want to be a good player.”

He credits Manly’s international centre and five-eighth Jamie Lyon and coach Des Hasler for improving his play this year.

“I go home from training every day a better footballer.”

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A massive boom in body art has been led by celebrities, footballers and other high-profile figures over the past couple of decades.

A fifth of all adults have a permanent tattoo, but this rises to a 29 per cent of men and women aged 16-44, the study revealed.

But 23 per cent admit it is something they now regret, said the survey based on questions to the website Ask Jeeves.

Many users have asked about laser and other removal techniques making it one of the most popular subjects for questions in recent years, said the company.

Tattoos are becoming increasingly trendy and 86 per cent in the survey of 1,000 adults believe they are now more commonplace.

But one in three said tattoos look ‘awful’ while 21 per cent think it is fine to have a tattoo just as long as it is not on display.

Attitudes vary among age groups, though not by as much as some may think.

Asked about David Beckham’s so-called tattoo ’sleeves’ covering his arms, 93 per cent of the over-60s think he’s gone too far, and so too do 74 per cent of the under-30s.

Almost half of all men – 47 per cent – think tattoos on a woman are a turn off but only 38 per cent of women think the same about the markings on a male body.

While inked-up celebrities from Cheryl Tweedy to Amy Winehouse have helped increase the popularity of tattoos, there seem to be good and bad role models.

According to the study, 55 per cent of all adults think Amy Winehouse looks worse for her collection of tattoos but only 17 per cent thought the same of actress Megan Fox.

Nadia Kelly of Ask Jeeves said: ‘We have noticed an increasing number of our users asking Jeeves about tattoo removal services and about the various ways to get rid of them.

‘Tattoos are obviously more popular than ever and we get enquiries about the latest designs or to look at those sported by celebrities.

‘But it does suggest that this is one of the things that seems like a great idea at first but which many come to regret when they grow older.’

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Dedicated Luke Kaye – Britain’s number one amateur Jedi Knight – has covered his back, arms and legs with iconic figures from all six films.

Since getting his first tattoo of Jedi Master Yoda five years ago, Luke has added another 13 images of iconic characters to his collection.

Lucas art: Luke Kaye, who owns a huge collection of Star Wars memorabilia, has been inking iconic characters from the six George Lucas films on his body

Luke, 42, has endured more than 100 painful hours in tattoo artists’ chairs in hometown Swindon, Wilts.

On his back alone, Luke has: Darth Maul, Luke Skywalker (whose home world is Tattoine), Darth Vader, Yoda, a Storm Trooper, a Tusken Raider, C3PO, R2-D2, a Gamorrean Guard, and Admiral Ackbar.

Ironically, the one character he does not have on his back is Chewbacca.

Budding Jedi Luke said: ‘I got my first tattoo because, as a collector, I just wanted to add to my memorabilia with something very unique.

Use the fourth: Luke and other Star Wars fans are celebrating Star Wars Day today

‘It just sort of spiralled onwards from there – I kept seeing characters in the films and thinking, “That would make a great tattoo”.

‘They take a very long time but I think it shows my love for Star Wars that I have sat through so many painful hours.

‘I have to pluck up the courage to keep going back but I will not stop until I am happy – I am nowhere near finished yet.

‘I want to add more characters to form a sleeve on my arm and move on to getting full-size spaceships down my sides.

‘I keep saying I will not end up with my whole body tattooed but you never know with me – I could come home one day with my whole face tattooed.’

Luke, who counts real-life Luke Skywalker Mark Hammill and Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew as friends, admits one person is not a fan of his body art – girlfriend Debbie Mawer, 27.

Luke added: ‘She does not like them. I try to sneak off and get them done on the sly.

‘Once I have had one done it is too late for her to tell me I cannot get any more.

‘I get good deals from the tattoo parlours because they know me and I have even had a few done for free, so at least she cannot say I am wasting money.

‘To be fair, she is fantastic. When we met she had seen only seen one of the films, but I changed that very quickly.

‘Debbie quickly realised how big a part of my life Star Wars is. She loves me for me and she is hooked herself now.’

The pair’s home even has a purpose-built shed containing thousands of Star Wars figurines, life-size models and costumes from Luke’s £1million collection.

Luke, who also owns a fancy dress shop called Skywalkers, said: ‘My collection is so important to me but it is so enormous now. I cannot contain it all.

‘But I could never just sell a few bits and bobs – I want to preserve the collection as a whole so people can enjoy it.

‘I have everything from beer mats to sick bags from Concorde with the logo on it. I cannot go anywhere – clothes shops, books shops, wherever – without hunting for something Star Wars-related.

‘The collection and my tattoos are my labour of love. They are my life’s work.’

Luke and Debbie will be joining fellow intergalactic nuts by celebrating Star Wars day today.

Luke added: ‘Every day is Star Wars day for me, but everyone has a laugh saying, “May the Fourth be with you”, don’t they?

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Victoria Beckham’s husband, 35, has been named the site’s Global Football Ambassador.

PHOTOS: Stars’ bikini body secrets

He’ll be cheering on England in the World Cup from the sidelines this year, as he tore his Achilles’ tendon during a match in March. He has played in three other World Cups throughout his career.

“He is understandably upset but wants to thank everyone for their messages of support. He hopes to make a swift and full recovery,” read a statement on Beckham’s Web site in March.

VIDEO: Get a sexy six-pack in no time

This isn’t the first ad campaign in which Beckham has participated. Last July, he posed nearly-nude with his wife in a series of Emporio Armani underwear ads. Afterward, Beckham admitted to 10 magazine, “I still feel quite shy when I see a poster or campaign like that.”

Beckham’s Yahoo! ads begin appearing nationwide July 5

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An anonymous reader writes “I’ve been thinking of getting a sleeve of math and science tattoos for quite a while now. With the money saved up, the only question remaining is, what equations/ideas should I get? I know for certain that I’m going to include some of Maxwell’s equations, and definitely Ohm’s Law. So, if you were going to put a tribute to the great math and science minds on your body forever, which ones would you choose?”

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They posted a property bond of $US10,000 ($11,864) each.

They came to the attention of authorities after the biological mother of two of the children noticed marks on their hands that wouldn’t wash off.

The children are aged 10 to 17. Five of them received small cross tattoos on their hands, while another child had “mom and dad” inked on a hand.

The tattoo gun used was a plastic pen with a needle made from a guitar string. It was connected to an electric motor, police said.

Marsh told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the children wanted the tattoos.

“I’m their mother,” she said. “Shouldn’t I be able to decide if they get one?”

“They weren’t hurt by them. We would never do anything to hurt them.”

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We have no idea why they did this. They don’t really have that kind of money to throw away, and they know how we feel about tattoos. It’s not as if they made this choice while in drunken stupors; they planned it!

We just find this hard to believe. We feel we’ve done the right things to help them make good decisions.

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Pupils are increasingly demanding to study the subject, according to an exam board, as tattooed celebrities such as David Beckham and Angelina Jolie enhance Latin’s profile.

The OCR exam board today launched a new Latin qualification aimed at teenagers as secondary schools increasingly offer the subject, either during the curriculum or after-hours.

Enlarge Tattoo fan: David Beckham waves his right arm which contains inscriptions in Latin. Celebrities such as Beckham are said to be behind a surge in enthusiasm in the ancient subject

But examiners urged pupils not to emulate model Danielle Lloyd, whose Latin tattoo is riddled with errors.

While Beckham and Jolie’s Latin inscriptions are grammatically correct, Lloyd’s is meaningless, they said.

Her tattoo, ‘Quis attero mihi tantum planto mihi validus’, which is etched on to her shoulder, is intended to translate as ‘To diminish me will only make me stronger’.

But experts say the words in fact translate into something more akin to ‘Who I wear away for me only for me strong’.

Simple: Actor Colin Farrell opted for Carpe Diem meaning seize the day, but model Danielle Lloyd went for a longer and grammatically incorrect phrase

Beckham, on the other hand, gets full marks for his two Latin tattoos.

The footballer has ‘Ut Amem Et Foveam’ (meaning ‘So that I love and cherish’) inscribed on his left forearm and ‘Perfectio In Spiritu’ (meaning ‘Perfection in spirit’) on his right.

Meanwhile Jolie chose ‘Quod me nutrit me destruit’, which means ‘What nourishes me also destroys me’.

Other celebrities embracing the trend include actor Colin Farrell, who has ‘Carpe Diem’ or ‘Seize the day’ inscribed on his left forearm.

The OCR exam board said schools and youngsters were aware of the continuing influence of Latin and had expressed an interest in a qualification to recognise basic achievement in the subject.

The new ‘Entry Level Certificate in Latin’ is a qualification in its own right or could be taken as a precursor to a GCSE or A-level in Latin. It is likely to be taken by 13 to 17-year-olds.

It follows a surge in the number of secondary schools offering Latin over the past decade.

Surveys suggest that one in five secondaries now teaches the subject, including several hundred comprehensives.

A computer-based Latin course backed by Cambridge University is said to have made it easier for schools to offer Latin.

The team behind the project say schools are held back by a lack of access to Latin, rather than a lack of interest in it.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and a long-standing advocate of Latin, said: ‘I’m delighted that OCR are introducing the first ever Entry Level Qualification in Latin.

‘It proves how much demand there is for this great subject and will provide the perfect platform for the next generation of classicists.’

Students will be introduced to the Latin language, including a list of 100 Latin words. They will also study aspects of Roman culture.

OCR said the continuing influence of Latin in day-to-day life could be seen in baby naming.

It said three of the four top girls’ names have Latin origins – Olivia (from Latin ‘Oliva’ meaning Olive), Emily (from the Latin ‘Aemilianus’, a Latin family name) and the Grace (from Latin ‘Gratia’, meaning goodwill or kindness).

Two of a kind: Cricketer Andrew Flintoff shows off his Latin ‘XI’ tattoo with fellow player Kevin Pietersen, left and right, who has similar body art

Paul Dodd, qualifications manager for languages and literature at OCR, said: ‘Latin vocabulary has had a rich and lasting influence on English, as well as being the foundation for modern day Spanish, French and Italian.

‘Latin language and culture have played a major part in shaping our own intellectual, literary, artistic and political traditions.

‘Many schools already teach Latin alongside other subjects but have no way of formally recognising their learners’ achievements below GCSE.

‘Our new Entry Level qualification provides a good bridge to further attainment as well as providing a way of recognising the skills learned.’

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When my wife got her wrist tattoo it took her about 6 months to find a good design. She would look on the internet and visit tattoo shops regularly but could not find anything she liked. One day I was doing some research online for a tattoo for myself and I stumbled upon something really cool. It was what is called a tattoo membership. I signed up and the tattoos they had on file were amazing. They also grouped tattoos by style body part and more so it made looking for a tattoo so simple.

My wife logged on and did her search and to her amazement she found all kinds of wrist tattoos in minutes. The cool thing about these sites is that the designs are 100% original and they print out so clear you can bring them right to the artist. No need for re-design which I am sure will save money.

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