Eric Bristow

Eric Bristow MBE
Bristow in 1985
Personal information
Full name	Eric John Bristow
Nickname	"The Crafty Cockney"
Born	(1957-04-25)25 April 1957 Hackney, London, England
Died	5 April 2018(2018-04-05) (aged 60) Liverpool, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1968
Darts	22g Harrows Eric Bristow
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Rabbit" by Chas & Dave
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1976–1993
PDC	1993–2007 (Founding Member)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner (5): 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986
World Masters	Winner (5): 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Semi-final: 1997
World Matchplay	Last 32: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
Other tournament wins
Belgium Open 1978, 1980, 1981 British Gold Cup 1980 British Open 1978, 1981, 1983, 1986 British Pentathlon 1981, 1989 Denmark Open 1980, 1984, 1989 Dry Blackthorn Cider Masters 1984, 1985, 1987 Flowers Dartsathlon 1984 French Open 1985 Golden Darts Championship 1979, 1980 Golden Gate Classic 1980 Isle Of Man Challenge 1983 Japan Open 1991 Las Vegas Open 1990 Los Angeles Open 1985 MFI World Pairs 1987 North American Open 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986 Pacific Masters 1981, 1986 PDC World Pairs 1995 Santa Monica Open 1979 Swedish Open 1979, 1981, 1982 Tokyo World Darts Grand Prix 1988 WDF World Cup Singles 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989 WDF World Cup Pairs – (Team event) 1977, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989 WDF World Cup Team – (Team event) 1979, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1991 WDF Europe Cup Pairs 1978, 1986 World Champion Super Challenge 1984 Best Old Major Results News of the World 1983, 1984 Butlins Grand Masters 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 MFI World Matchplay 1985, 1988 British Professional 1982, 1985 British Matchplay 1982, 1983, 1986
Other achievements
1989 Appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire MBE[1]
Updated on 14 May 2024.

Eric John Bristow MBE (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player and one of the most recognisable and successful players of the 1980s. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981, 1983–1985 and 1989-1990. Between 1980 and 1991, Bristow featured in ten BDO World Darts Championship finals, winning the title five times, in 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 and 1986. He was also a five-time World Masters Champion, a four-time World Cup singles champion and twice winner of the News of the World Darts Championship. He won 22 WDF and BDO Major titles, 65 individual career titles and 15 titles in team events, a total of 80 overall. He hosted the first two episodes of the darts-themed ITV game show Bullseye and regularly featured on the show.

In late 1986, Bristow began experiencing symptoms of dartitis, which affected his career thereafter. In 1987, he began sponsoring and mentoring Phil Taylor, who went on to become the most successful darts player of all time. In 1993, Bristow and Taylor both became involved in the split in darts as two of the 16 players who left the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form the World Darts Council, which later became the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Bristow's last major achievement as a player was reaching the semi-finals of the 1997 WDC World Darts Championship, where he narrowly lost to Taylor.

After retiring from competitive darts in 2007, Bristow worked as a commentator and pundit on Sky Sports darts coverage until the network sacked him in 2016 following a controversial series of tweets. In April 2018, Bristow suffered a heart attack while attending a Premier League Darts event in Liverpool and died at the age of 60.