Right under my skin

What do Winston Churchill, Tsar Nicholas II and Naomi Campbell have in common? Or Field Marshall Lord Montgomery and David Beckham? Tattoos.

Like Popeye, Churchill had an anchor tattooed on his forearm, while his mother, Lady Randolph, had a snake wound round her wrist. Peel back the layers and everyone in the media glare seems to have one, from Sean Connery ("Mum and Dad" and "Scotland Forever" on his forearms) to David Bowie (lizard on his ankle) via Geri Halliwell (black panther on her lower back) through to Melanie Griffith (yellow pear on her bum and a loveheart with the name Antonio on her arm). So what is their enduring appeal? After all, once it's done, unless you fancy being zapped by lasers, you're stuck with a tattoo for life. Also, they hurt a lot - and always have done.

"Pain is partly why the Polynesians did it," says Karen Buck Nielson, the curator of Skin Deep, a new exhibition on tattoos at the National Maritime Museum. When Captain Cook discovered the islands in 1772 he reported that it was a "mark of courage for the Polynesians, as well as a way of telling a story about themselves and their ancestors". Pacific Islanders did their tattoos with a shark's tooth and a stone hammer, and the geometric patterns were prized by 18th century sailors. As Herman Melville, the American novelist, observed when he toured the islands a century later: "I beheld a man extended flat on his back, suffering agony as a tattoo artist with a heart as callous as that of an army surgeon tapped away the while [on the man's eyelids] as merrily as a woodpecker."

"The pain has not changed," agrees Alex Binney, owner of Into-You, a fashionable tattoo parlour in St John Street, ECI. "People come in thinking if they're tattooed on the buttocks, or somewhere fleshy, there's less pain, but it's painful everywhere." So why do so many want to suffer? "For a few, it's a sexual fetish, for others it's an inner drive, not unlike plastic-surgery addicts. But for most it's fun and fashionable." Also, Binney adds: "It's a snowball effect. The more you see it, the more it becomes acceptable and the more people feel they can have one."

Another reason for the current tattoo mania may have to do with the fact that they can serve two social functions simultaneously. "It shows that you're part of a group but at the same time you are separate and distinct," points out Buck Nielson, who says that this mixed message played a crucial part in the mutiny on the Bounty.

The Bounty crew members who wanted to stay in Tahiti were accepted by the islanders by taking part in tattoo ceremonies. "In that way Fletcher Christian - who had a Tahitian tribal design on his backside - and his mutineers distinguished themselves from the followers of Captain Bligh," says Buck Nielson. But back in Blighty the mutineers' Tahitian souvenirs proved to be their undoing, for at the naval court martial at Greenwich in 1781, "they were identified in the dock by their tattoos".

The current craze started in California during the 1980s when the sparse, "fine-line" design blossomed into what's called the "New School" of multi-coloured graffiti tattoos that look like pop cartoons. This has been eclipsed by the now ubiquitous "tribal" abstract designs, taken from original Celtic or Polynesian patterns, often done in India black ink and usually rendered as a simple bracelet or arm band. Tribal has also become the signature for rebellious young Hollywood stars such as Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt, and can be seen on exposed flesh all across Europe and America. But in true cyclical form, right now the "old school" is making a comeback - whether as a panther head like Geri Halliwell's or Angelina Jolie's dragon - on her left arm. "Old school is the traditional roses and panthers," says Binney, "but done bigger, so it's a slightly campy reworking of tradition."

However, it's not just a matter of what you have tattooed, it's also where that needle goes. Below the bikini line is the favoured location for movie stars such as Cate Blanchett and Minnie Driver. Binney says he has relatively few requests for " serious genital stuff", but he does lots of bees and butterflies emerging out of pubic hair. But some go further south. Seventies supermodel Marie Helvin has a Hawaiian luck symbol " somewhere very, very private". But for those with no fear of stepping over the (bikini) line, Binney saw something which paused even his practised hand: a human head tattooed between a woman's legs, complete with mouth and bared teeth. I did say it hurts.

? Skin Deep - A History of Tattooing opens 22 March at the National Maritime Museum, 020 8858 4422. Into-You, 144 St John Street, EC1. Mon-Sat, 12-7pm, 020 7253 5085.

Pamela Anderson - the word "Mommy" on her finger, replacing her ex-husband's name "Tommy".

Jennifer Aniston - small heart on her stomach.

Drew Barrymore - cross on her ankle and butterfly under her belly button.

David Beckham - "Brooklyn" across his lower back and Crucifixion scene on his upper back.

Mel B - Chinese sign on her lower belly and dragon on her back.

Melanie Griffith - yellow pear on her bum and a loveheart with the name Antonio, as in husband Antonio Banderas, on her arm.