How did you get started in bridge? At what age? Who from?
I was born in Ilford, Essex, UK, in 1951 and taught myself bridge (Josephine Culbertson’s Teach yourself bridge) in 1968, playing at high school. I emigrated to Australia in November 1969 and attended Flinders Uni in 1970 where I made the mistake of taking up bridge again.
What do (did) you do professionally?
I taught secondary (and some primary) school until the early 80’s. I started teaching bridge in 1983, starting the Gawler bridge club in 1984, and then taught bridge for the South Australian Bridge Association until mid 1987, when I started my own club, the Adelaide Bridge Centre, continuing with that until 2019, when my son David took over the club.
Who is your partner and for how long? Longest partnership?
I’ve had some excellent partners, both locally (Peter Chan), and on the International scene (Nigel Rosendorf, Hugh Grosvenor, Terry Brown, George Bilski, Stephen Burgess) as well as George Kozakos and Ron Cooper in recent times.
If you had a choice who would you like to play with? Australia and Internationally- living or dead?
Without a doubt, Tim Seres.
In your playing career, what is the bridge success that has the most meaning for you?
Making my first Australian team, Jakarta 1989
And your worst moment in bridge?
Yet to happen. The game is all about mistakes, and I’ve made some crackers.
What do you do between sessions to put you in the best frame of mind for the following session?
Forget about the previous session
Do you have a favourite and least favourite convention?
My least favourite is Gerber over anything! It used to be 2C 19+hcp, but very few play that now, thankfully. My favourite, if allowed to play it – forcing pass.
Would you prefer to have more system or less?
Age is certainly catching up with me, less system.
What do you do to improve your game?
Stay alive
Favourite bridge book?
Mollo’s “Card play technique”
What interests or hobbies do you have besides bridge?
A bit of golf with my geriatric friends and shush (model trains).
What is the number one thing that bridge has done for you as a person and for your life?
Met some wonderful people (and seen the world!)
Bridge Results, National Titles, Awards and International Representation
Quite a few
