Gwapo of the Day: David Beckham

FAST FACTS: Robert Joseph Beckham 

Name: David Robert Joseph Beckham

Date of Birth: May 2, 1975

Pleace of Birth: Leytonstone, London

Height: 5'11"

Club: Real Madrid (LA Galaxy as of Aug 2007)

Position: Midfielder

Previous Club: Manchester United (No. 7)

Salary: €25 million (US$37.4 million)

Marital Status: Married to Victoria Adams

Signed for Manchester United as a trainee in July 1991

Transferred to Real Madrid in the summer of 2003

Although the US market contributes very little, David Beckham's salary is an estimated $37.4 million a year. Only about $10 million of that is related to playing football at Real Madrid.

Most of his salary comes from endorsements with Vodaphone ($1.8 million), Rage Software ($2.7 million), Japanese TV ($500,000), Police Sunglasses ($1.8 million), Pepsi ($3.6 million), Adidas ($5.4 million), Gillette ($7.5 million) and others. An auto dealer paid him $18 million last year to go on a 10-day tour of Asia promoting its cars.

Did you know? 

Beckham has at least 20 tattoos adorning his body, including recent black-and-white image of Christ drawn on his right side, based on a painting called "The Man Of Sorrows" by Catholic artist Matthew R. Brooks done after the death of his grandfather in 2009. There are also names of his sons Romeo, Cruz and Brooklyn, name of his wife Victoria, written in Hindi, because Beckham thought it would be "tacky" to have it in English. On his right shoulder, there's an angel with the text 'In the face of adversity'. Another tattoo is a Bible verse written in Hebrew, reads אני לדודי ודודי לי הרעה בשושנים, translated into: "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine, that shepherds among the lilies." 

In 2004 Beckham added the four-by-six-inch "winged cross" neck tattoo prior to England's three-nation tournament soccer match against Japan in the City of Manchester Stadium. In his autobiography "David Beckham: My Side", Becks reveals some of his thoughts on tattoos: "The idea came to me much later, a little while after Brooklyn was born. I was talking to Mel B and her then-husband, Jimmy Gulzar, and the subject of tattoos came up. I ended up going to this Dutch guy who'd done all of Jimmy's. I'd finally realised what I wanted a tattoo to represent. Mine are all about the people in my life, my wife and sons, who I want with me always. When you see me, you see the tattoos. You see an expression of how I feel about Victoria and the boys. They're part of me."

Photos from Cover & Editorial Elle UK July 2012 "Made In England" feat . David Beckhma by Doug Inglish