John Cosnett
| John Cosnett | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | England |
| Home town |
Wolverhampton, West Midlands England |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 1983-1986 |
| BDO majors - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Last 16: 1985 |
| World Masters | Last 16: 1985 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| British Open | 1985 |
John Cosnett is a retired English professional darts player who competed in the 1980s. He has one daughter (Jane) from his first marriage, and a son (Greg) and daughter (Kirsty) from his second to Cherry to whom he is still married.
Cosnett won the 1985 British Open, beating Welshman Peter Locke in the final. Despite winning one of the biggest prizes in the history of professional darts, Cosnett never managed to meet his new-found expectations which took him to #16 in the World Rankings. He competed in the 1985 BDO World Darts Championship, and won the opening round against Rab Scott, but was defeated in the second round by his fellow Englishman John Lowe. He also competed in the 1985 Winmau World Masters, defeating Keith Deller in the first round, before losing to Steve Gittins in the last 16 stage. John appeared on ITV's Bullseye in 1985 as the celebrity darts player, and made the highest score of the series - 361. After that, Cosnett never played in any more major tournaments and faded out of mainstream darts.
In 2006, Cosnett suffered a serious stroke which almost killed him, followed several months later by another which again he was lucky to survive. He blames the smoking and drinking culture of the 1980s and '90s Darts scene for this. As of 2011, John is still with his second wife Cherry, and still lives in the Wolverhampton area. Cosnett is a big fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and still gets recognised by fans whenever he attends home matches.