A dart player, Jocky Wilson–dead in sobriety, and an artist, Thomas Kinkade–dead from alcoholism
Jocky Wilson, darts player, dead at 62 from complications of COPD. Jocky, a chain-smoker for 40 years, became the first Scot to win the World Darts Championship in 1982, repeating the feat in 1989 during what The Economist called the golden age of darts, when the sport became a “gladiatorial televised spectacle second only to soccer.” He started playing as a way to get shillings to buy pints; as good as he was, a cigarette in one hand and dart in the other, he often threw games, once so drunk he could barely walk and another time falling from the stage. The Economist reported he often fueled “himself with seven pints of lager…topped with vodka.” He invested some of his ...
