Maureen Flowers

Maureen Flowers (nee Hancock, born 5 December 1946 in London) is a retired English professional darts player and was in the 1980s the world number-one female darts player.

Early life
Flowers grew up in Norton Green, Stoke-on-Trent. She learnt to play darts in her father's pub.

Darts career
Flowers won the Ladies National Pairs with her friend Yvonne Allen. She began competing in the Indoor League, a first for televised darts, from 1976 and later became the inaugural professional female darts player.

She won the North American Open Dart Tournament (NAODT) three years in the Ladies' Singles category: 1977, 1979 and 1981.

Twice a World Masters finalist, Flowers lost on both occasions to Ann Marie Davies in 1982 and Mandy Solomons in 1988. At the WDF World Cup in 1983, she won the Women's Pairs (with Audrey Derham) and Women's Overall events.

Sponsored by Unicorn, Flowers designed her own signature darts.

Flowers appeared on the UK television show Bullseye in 1987 to score 310 for charity which was doubled to £620. She also scored over 301 on the 1989 series of Bullseye scoring 330 which was double to 660

In 1988, Flowers quit professional darts. In 1996, she was entered into the National Darts Hall of Fame.

Personal life
From 1978 to 1987, Flowers was in a relationship with Eric Bristow. She was also the first manager of Bristow's protégé, Phil Taylor, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She was married to footballer John Flowers, and by extension sister-in-law to World Cup winner Ron Flowers.