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Maurice Harrison-Gray
Maurice Harrison-Gray (13 November 1899 – 24 November 1968), known always as 'Gray', was an English professional contract bridge player. For about thirty years from the mid-thirties to the mid-sixties he was one of the top players. As a member of the Great Britain national team he won the European Bridge League championships in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1963. He was from London. Early life Gray, born Maurice Charles Harrison Gray on 13 November 1899 at Ingatestone, Essex, was the child of an English father and an American mother. Much of his childhood was spent in Paris, and he became bilingual. He was educated at Haileybury School and served in the British Army at the end of World War I. In his younger days he boxed, played rugby and tennis, rode motorcycles, but leg injuries stopped his sporting activities. During World War II he was a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force. Later, he became an ardent lepidopterist, breeding tropical moths at his Hampstead home. Gray later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contract Bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games, particularly among seniors. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the governing body for international competitive bridge, with numerous other bodies governing it at the regional level. The game consists of a number of , each progressing through four phases. The cards are dealt to the players; then the players ''call'' (or ''bid'') in an auction seeking to take the , specifying how many tricks the partnership receiving the contract (the declaring side) needs to take to receive points for the deal. During the auction, partners use their bids to also exchange information about their hands, including o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lepidopterist
Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, the rise of the "lepidopterist" can be attributed to the expanding interest in science, nature and the surroundings. When Linnaeus wrote the tenth edition of the '' Systema Naturae'' in 1758, there was already "a substantial body of published work on Lepidopteran natural history" (Kristensen, 1999). These included: * ''Insectorum sive Minimorum Animalium Theatrum'' – Thomas Mouffet (1634) * ''Metamorphosis Naturalis'' – Jan Goedart (1662–67 ) * ''Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium'' – Maria S. Merian (1705), whose work included illustrated accounts of European Lepidoptera * ''Historia Insectorum'' – John Ray (1710) * ''Papilionum Brittaniae icones'' – James Petiver (1717) History Scholars 1758–1900 was the era of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Cup (bridge)
The Gold Cup is the premier open British contract bridge competition for teams of four. (Teams may comprise up to six players but only four take part at any one time.) It was first contested in the 1931/32 season, making it one of the oldest contract bridge tournaments anywhere. The event was run by the British Bridge League through 1999 and subsequently by Bridge Great Britain, a newly formed not-for-profit organisation. Except for 1933/34 the format has always been single-elimination A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ... (knock-out). The 2019 Gold Cup was the 82nd. There were eight annual competitions before 1940 and 74 more have been completed since its resumption in 1946. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bermuda Bowl
The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the Wuhan Cup (mixed). Entries formally represent WBF zones as well as nations, so it is also known as the World Zonal Open Team Championship. 40th World Teams; "Information". It is the oldest event that confers the title of world champion in bridge, and was first contested in 1950. The Bermuda Bowl trophy is awarded to the winning team, and is named for the site of the inaugural tournament, the Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda. The term ''Bermuda Bowl'' is sometimes used for the entire two-week event, comprising the three zonal teams and one or more concurrent lesser tournaments. The latest contest was held in Salsomaggiore, Italy, in March–April 2022, having been postponed from 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was won by Switzerland. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Stayman
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venerated as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In addition to his role in the Hebrew scriptures, Samuel is mentioned in Jewish rabbinical literature, in the Christian New Testament, and in the second chapter of the Quran (although Islamic texts do not mention him by name). He is also treated in the fifth through seventh books of '' Antiquities of the Jews'', written by the Jewish scholar Josephus in the first century. He is first called "the Seer" in 1 Samuel 9:9. Biblical account Family Samuel's mother was Hannah and his father was Elkanah. Elkanah lived at Ramathaim in the district of Zuph. His gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John R
John R. (born John Richbourg, August 20, 1910 - February 15, 1986) was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame in the 1950s and 1960s for playing rhythm and blues music on Nashville radio station WLAC. He was also a notable record producer and artist manager. Richbourg was arguably the most popular and charismatic of the four announcers at WLAC who showcased popular African-American music in nightly programs from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. (The other three were Gene Nobles, Herman Grizzard, and Bill "Hoss" Allen.) Later rock music disc jockeys, such as Alan Freed and Wolfman Jack, mimicked Richbourg's practice of using speech that simulated African-American street language of the mid-twentieth century. Richbourg's highly stylized approach to on-air presentation of both music and advertising earned him popularity, but it also created identity confusion. Because Richbourg and fellow disc jockey Allen used African-American speech patterns, many listeners thought that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Dodds
Leslie William Dodds (2 February 1903 – 1975) was an English international bridge player and, by profession, an import-export merchant, from London. He was a member of the British team which won the Bermuda Bowl in 1955. In his youth he was a chess player, and famous for feats of memory and mental calculations. Bridge career Dodds' first partner in post-World War II top events was Eddie Raynes, who became, by royal warrant, shoe-maker to the Queen. Then he partnered Kenneth Konstam: together they formed one of the finest partnerships in British bridge. They played in the British Bermuda Bowl victory of 1955, and in the European Championship victories of 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1954. Dodds also represented Britain in the first Bermuda Bowl (1950), and the European Championships of 1952, 1953 and 1955; won the Gold Cup in 1938, 1949, 1956, 1960 and 1961 and the Master Pairs in 1955. His bidding system was CAB, one of half-a-dozen natural systems developed in Britain during the 1930 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Konstam
Kenneth Walter "Konnie" Konstam (born Adolf Walter Konstam; 25 February 1906 – 21 May 1968) was an English international bridge player who won seven international titles. In 1955 he played on the only Great Britain team to win the Bermuda Bowl (the world championship) and he won more European Bridge League open championships than any other British player. Konstam, educated at Oundle School, was employed for a time as a stockbroker in the London Stock Exchange. He was for many years an executive of the De La Rue company, which made playing cards, postage stamps and banknotes (the playing card business was eventually sold to Waddingtons). He served in the British Army during World War II, reaching the rank of Major. His fluent French qualified him to act as Liaison Officer to the French Army after D-Day.Ramsey, Guy. 1955. ''Aces All''. Museum Press, London. p. 65 ''et seq.'' Bridge career Konstam was a key member of the London-based Great Britain bridge team which won th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Reese
John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class parents, and was educated at Bradfield College and New College, Oxford, where he studied classics and attained a double first, graduating in 1935. Life Reese's father, the son of a Welsh clergyman, worked in a bank until he transferred to his wife's family catering business. Reese said "I played card games before I could read".Reese (1977), p. 1. As a small boy, when his mother "issued the standard warning about not talking to strange men, my father remarked that it was the strange men who should be warned against trying to talk to me". Reese's mother Anne ran a hotel near Guildford, and with it a bridge club, so Reese played in the earliest duplicate matches, ''circa'' 1930. Whilst at Oxford he met some serious bridge players, amongst whom were Lt.-Col. Walter Buller, Iai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris Schapiro
Boris Schapiro (22 August 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a British international bridge player. He was a Grandmaster of the World Bridge Federation, and the only player to have won both the Bermuda Bowl (the world championship for national teams) and the World Senior Pairs championship. He won the European teams championship on four occasions as part of the British team. Life Schapiro was born in Riga, Latvia (then part of the Russian Empire) into a prosperous family of Jewish traders. They emigrated at the time of the Russian Revolution, when he was eight years old, and soon settled in England. He was educated at Clifton College and Bradford Technical College in England and at various universities, including the Sorbonne in Paris. After graduating, Schapiro joined the family horse trading and meat business and worked there until his forties, when he retired to capitalise on his love of gambling by becoming the banker of a baccarat syndicate at Crockford's gaming club in Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Bridge League
The British Bridge League (BBL) was founded in 1931 by A. E. Manning Foster. It formerly selected bridge teams to represent Great Britain in European and World competitions and organised the Camrose Trophy, the Gold Cup, the Portland Cup and the Lady Milne Trophy. In June 1999, the European Bridge League agreed that England, Scotland and Wales could compete as individual nations from 1 January 2000, rather than (as formerly) under the banner of Great Britain.''English Bridge'', August 1999, p. 3. (Other than in the Camrose Trophy, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland compete as one nation, Ireland, under the auspices of the Irish Bridge Union.) With its responsibility for selecting a national team obsolete, the BBL was dissolved at the end of 1999 and was superseded in its organisational functions by Bridge Great Britain. See also * English Bridge Union The English Bridge Union or EBU is a player-funded organisation that promotes and organises the card game of dupl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iain Macleod
Iain Norman Macleod (11 November 1913 – 20 July 1970) was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister. A playboy and professional bridge player in his twenties, after war service Macleod worked for the Conservative Research Department before entering Parliament in 1950. He was noted as a formidable Parliamentary debater and - later - as a platform orator. He was quickly appointed Minister of Health, later serving as Minister of Labour. He served an important term as Secretary of State for the Colonies under Harold Macmillan in the early 1960s, overseeing the independence of many African countries from British rule but earning the enmity of Conservative right-wingers, and the soubriquet that he was "too clever by half". Macleod was unhappy with the "emergence" of Sir Alec Douglas-Home as party leader and Prime Minister in succession to Macmillan in 1963 (he claimed to have supported Macmillan's deputy Rab Butler, although it is unclear exactly what his re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
