Why I've spent £10,000 getting my entire body covered in tattoos - with just one area un-inked
Ray Houghton says he gets 20 messages a day asking to see a particularly private bit of ink.
A bodybuilder has spent £10,000 covering his entire body in tattoos - and now has just one cheek un-inked.
Ray Houghton, 67, has spent almost 300 hours getting inked over 34 sessions and says he is inundated with people requesting to see the one on his penis. He claims he gets 20 messages a day from people wanting to see for themselves his pièce de résistance.
In order to get his member tattooed, Ray had to wrap his penis around a rolling pin for five hours - which also included getting his testicles inked. He only the left side of his cheek on his face un-inked now.
Ray, from Manchester, said: "I'm now about 95% covered, I absolutely love all my tattoos, it's the best decision I ever made."
Ray, who has lived in Alicante, Spain for the past 30 years, says he is a local celebrity in his neck of the woods. A fitness fanatic, he was crowned North West coast Bodybuilding Champion in 1989.
The gym owner said: "Everyone knows me, I went into the chemist the other day, to buy numbing cream for more tattoos and the cashier immediately said 'oh you're having more tattoos, I thought you were fully covered? I thought 'how does she know me?'"
Describing his penis tattoo, Ray said: "That one was definitely the most painful, I just had to bite my lip the whole time. My testicles swelled up to four times their normal, it was bad."
The father-of-one says he feels more confident than ever – but still wants more and got more of his thighs covered in his trademark Maori pattern on Friday.
"Next week I'm getting two more tattoos, I just need to figure out where!"
While in the Royal Artillery as a teen, Ray had eight “embarrassing” tattoos which he decided to get covered up including a boat, the words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’, a naked woman and a Geisha which he said “weren’t spectacular”.
It was this that led to his lifelong obsession with getting more and more ink. He claims he is often mistaken for someone under 50 thanks to the tattoos covering up "varicose veins" and "wrinkles."
"I feel like a celebrity and I love people staring at me'' he said. ''I probably get 30 messages a day on Facebook from people asking to see my penis tattoo, though it's mainly men!"