''Grand Slam'' was the title of three series of duplicate bridge tournaments broadcast on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television between 1981 and 1983. The first two series were international matches between teams from the United States and the UK, while the third was a British regional

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

competition. The programmes were presented by Jeremy James and commentary was provided by other bridge experts. For the international series, books were published prior to the broadcasts documenting the

boards Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, ...

and recording the players' thoughts as they bid and played the

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...

International tournament 1

Broadcast in 13 programmes between 11 October 1981 and 3 January 1982, the first tournament featured 65 boards of duplicate bridge. Each US pair played each UK pair in approximately half of the boards. The teams were: * UK: Jeremy Flint and

Claude Rodrigue Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...

;

Pat Davies Pat Davies is a world-champion English bridge player. Her partners have included Nicola Smith (from 1980 to 1999) with whom she played in two BBC-televised bridge series '' Grand Slam'', broadcast in 1981–2 and 1983. Pat was awarded the prestigio ...

and

Nicola Gardener Nicola Patricia Smith MBE, née Gardener (born 28 April 1949), is a world champion English bridge player. She has many successes to her credit in more than 30 years of international competition, initially as Nicola Gardener. As of October 2017 s ...

* US: Matthew Granovetter and

Neil Silverman Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

; Jacqui Mitchell (as Jackie Mitchell) and Gail Moss The commentator was

John Beard John Beard may refer to: * John Beard (artist) (born 1943), Welsh artist and painter * John Beard (colonial administrator) (died 1685), Chief Agent and Governor of Bengal * John Beard (embryologist) (1858–1924), Scottish embryologist and anatomis ...

. After opening up a wide lead and losing it again, the British team eventually won the tournament by 7 IMPs.

International tournament 2

The second international tournament was played at Painswick House, Gloucestershire, and broadcast between 20 February and 14 May 1983. There were 78 deals in seven sessions, and a prize of £8,000. With one exception, the teams were as in the first series: * UK:

Tony Priday Richard Anthony (Tony) Priday (13 August 1922 – 9 October 2014) was an English bridge player and journalist, who had a longstanding and successful partnership with Claude Rodrigue. He was a member of Great Britain teams that finished third in th ...

and Rodrigue; Gardener and Davies * US: Silverman and Granovetter; Moss and Mitchell Commentary was by Jeremy Flint. The British team won again, this time by 32 IMPs.

Regional tournament

Later in 1983, from 10 September to 10 December, BBC2 broadcast a knockout tournament among teams from British bridge clubs. The club pairs were advised by four experts: Jane and Tony Priday,

Irving Rose Irving may refer to: People *Irving (name), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters * Irving, the main character's love interest in Cathy (comic strip) * Lloyd Irving, the main protagonist in the ''Tales of Symphonia'' vide ...

, and

Victor Mollo Victor Mollo (17 September 1909 – 24 September 1987) was a British contract bridge player, journalist and author. He is most famous for his "Menagerie" series of bridge books, depicting vivid caricatures of players with animal names and man ...

. The teams were: Birmingham, Southampton,

Buchanan Buchanan may refer to: People * Buchanan (surname) Places Africa * Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal town Antarctica * Buchanan Point, Laurie Island Australia * Buchanan, New South Wales * Buchanan, Northern Territory, a locality * Buchanan ...

( Scotland), Croesyceiliog ( Wales), Bristol, St John's Wood "A" and "B", and Manchester. Two programmes were devoted to each match. Broadcast commentary was provided by Jeremy Flint, Victor Mollo, and Tony Priday.

References

{{WPCBIndex Contract bridge competitions Contract bridge books