Jocky Wilson

As a child, Wilson's parents were deemed unfit to raise him and Wilson spent much of his childhood in an orphanage.[3] He began playing in a local pub in Kirkcaldy where the landlady supported his interest in darts by giving him a used board to practise on.

Wilson served in the British Army from 1966 to 1968. He also worked as a coal delivery man, fish processor, and also a miner at Kirkcaldy's Seafield Colliery. However, it was a spell of unemployment which was to prove the catalyst to Wilson achieving darting greatness.

In 1979, during this period of unemployment, he entered a darts competition at Butlins, Ayrshire, which he went on to win, claiming the top prize of £500.[4] His success in this tournament convinced him that he should turn professional.

Wilson never formally announced his retirement from darts; he simply departed from the sport suddenly on 23 December 1995. It is believed that he left after being diagnosed with diabetes, which stopped him drinking during games.

For 10 years during his darts career, Wilson had a house in Wallsend to cut down on travel expenses, but he left that to return to his home town of Kirkcaldy. In 1996, he said, "I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. There's only one person to blame for the situation I'm in, and that's me." He was declared bankrupt in 1998, and then survived on a disability allowance, living as a recluse in a one-bedroom flat back on the council estate where he grew up.[4] He also suffered from arthritis in his hands.

Wilson ceased giving interviews to the press and television. An Observer reporter tried to interview him in January 2007 on the 25th anniversary of his first title win, only to be told by his wife, "He never has (given an interview) since stopping and never will. He thinks it's all in the past, it's over with."[4] However, Wilson talked briefly to The Scotsman in 2001. Despite his withdrawal from the game, in August 2009 the PDC announced a new tournament called "The Jocky Wilson Cup" in which Scotland's best players played England's best. England beat Scotland 6–0 in the inaugural tournament in December 2009.

A heavy smoker for 40 years, in November 2009 it was announced that Wilson had been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Reports stated that he had smoked up to 50 cigarettes a day for most of his life. He died just after 9 p.m. on 24 March 2012 at his home in Kirkcaldy, at the age of 62.[7] His funeral was held on 2 April at the crematorium in Fife;[8] his rival Eric Bristow and sports presenter Helen Chamberlain were among the estimated 400 mourners.

In 1982, Wilson was temporarily banned from competing in darts tournaments after he allegedly threw a punch at an official during a championship. This was taken as a reaction to Jocky's being under intense pressure at the time of the Falklands War, as he was married to an Argentine woman named Malvina (the Argentine name for the Falkland Islands is "Islas Malvinas"). He was soon allowed back into professional competitions again.

Wilson was a constant sweet-eater and generally refused to brush his teeth ("My Gran told me the English poison the water"); he had lost his last tooth by the age of 28. Following his 1982 World title win, he paid £1,200 for dentures, but never took to them. They made him belch when drinking, he complained.[4]

• In 1982, Wilson's picture was displayed on Top of the Pops during a performance of "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)" by Dexys Midnight Runners, apparently as an in-joke on the part of the production staff.[4][9]
• He was amongst the first sports people to have a computer game created after him. Published by Zeppelin Games, Jocky Wilson's Darts Challenge (1988) and later Jocky Wilson's Darts Compendium (1991) were created for several different home computer systems.
• One of the suites in the fictional Phoenix Club (as seen in Phoenix Nights) was named after Wilson.
• In 2019, BBC Scotland broadcast an hour-long documentary about his life called Jocky Wilson Said. The programme featured contributions from Bobby George, Phil Taylor, John Lowe and Bob Anderson, as well as close friends of Jocky. The voiceover consisted of Jocky's own words and was performed by actor Clive Russell.[10] The programme won Best Sports Documentary at the Celtic Media Awards 2020.[11]

• "A Sporting Nation" – article from bbc.co.uk
• Jocky's dart out of the shadows The Scotsman, 17 March 2001
• DartsDatabase profile and stats