Eric Clapton was forced to rush his wedding to Pattie Boyd after his manager leaked the story to win a bet with the drunken rocker.

Boyd feared her romance with Clapton was over following a fling with another woman in Los Angeles, and was shocked when the guitar great hit her with a surprise proposal.

The model agreed, not realizing that news of the ceremony had already hit the headlines back in the U.K. - thanks to Clapton's sidekick Roger Forrester.

Writing in her memoirs Wonderful Today, Boyd recalls, "Roger had claimed he could get Eric's photograph in the newspapers the following morning. Eric drunkenly bet him $20,000 he couldn't. So Roger telephoned Nigel Dempster, the Daily Mail gossip columnist, and told him Eric Clapton would be marrying Pattie Boyd on March 27 in Tucson, Arizona.

"Next morning the story was emblazoned across the Mail. Millions of people knew about the wedding - the only person who didn't was the bride. Hence the hasty phone call... The service was lovely and Eric looked wonderful."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)