Former Rangers legend Paul Gascoigne fed his best pal - Jimmy ‘Five Bellies’ Gardner - a ‘penis’ hot dog, it can be revealed.
Respected author and ghostwriter Hunter Davies, now 87 - best known for writing The Beatles: The Authorised Biography - said he refused to put the prank in his book on Gazza, now 55.
Speaking on Thursday, the author - who ghostwrote Gazza’s 2007 autobiography, called Being Gazza: Tackling My Demons - said ghostwriters kept ‘many secrets’.
Mr Davies said he was at first ‘reluctant’ to meet Gazza to ghostwrite his autobiography as he had heard it was difficult pinning the former Newcastle United, Rangers and Lazio player down.
He said he eventually agreed to meet the midfield maestro, who scored 30 goals for Gers between 1995-1998, after a friend took over the nonfiction section of Headline books and asked him to help him write his book.
He said: “She talked me into going to Heathrow where Gazza was waiting for a plane to China with his dear friend Jimmy Five Bellies.
“I went through my questions, (but) he (Gazza) then started on the most intimate things about his life and mental problems. And also daft tricks.”
He added: “When he was living in Rome, playing for Lazio, Five Bellies came out to visit.
“Gazza knew he would arrive hungry, so had prepared a special hot dog - containing not a sausage but, er, something that looked like a sausage, which Five Bellies started to scoff.”
It is believed the hot dog contained a ‘dried bull’s penis’ - also called ‘pizzle’, a favourite of some Italians.
The author said he turned to the footballer, and said: “Oh Gazza, you didn't, how revolting. I can't use that in the book. It will revolt all the readers.”
Speaking about the success of Gazza’s book, Mr Davies added in a chat in the T2 supplement of The Times on January 12: “The Gazza book was the most successful, selling 400,000 copies in the first six months.
“He had been so honest, and was greatly loved. I like to think the royalties from it are still helping to keep a roof over his head.”
Gazza was notorious for pranking other players and pals and once hid two fish in Ally McCoist's car when they played together at Rangers - stinking it out for weeks.
Crafty Gazza, who played for Rangers FC in Glasgow between 1995-1998, hid one of the trout under the liftable armrest - an easy one for Coisty to find - but stashed the other under the spare wheel in the boot.
Speaking about the incident, Gary Lineker said in a podcast in 2020: “Gazza was a fisherman, he loved his fishing.
“When they were at Rangers together, Gazza went fishing and caught a couple of fish and decided to hide them in Ally McCoist’s car.
“He put one in the middle segment, under the armrest...he was quite clever Gazza because he knew he (McCoist) would find that quickly.
“He was clever enough to put two (fish) in the car, so hid the other one, but he hid it much cleverer."
He added: "McCoist then comes and goes ‘Oh God it stinks of fish’...he finds the obvious fish and he gets rid of it, but obviously the smell lingers.
“So, I think it was a week or two later...and the smell got worse and worse - classic Gazza that, he’s smart Gazza.”
Gazza played a similar prank on former Rangers striker Gordon Durie - again hiding one fish in an 'obvious place' and the other in the boot under the spare wheel.
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