Anthony R. (Tony) Forrester (born 1953) is an English bridge player and writer. He is a British and English international and a

World Bridge Federation The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigiou ...

World International Master. Forrester was a bridge columnist for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' from 1993 until 2019 and for ''The Sunday Telegraph'' from 1996 until 2019.

Personal life

Forrester was brought up in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. He is married to Diana, and they live in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

International honours

Forrester won the European Youth Team Championship in 1978 and the European Team Championship in 1991. The European Team Championship win was in partnership with

Andrew Robson Andrew Michael Robson Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 1964) is an English professional Contract bridge, bridge player, writer and teacher. He is a British and English international. Robson is the bridge columnist for ''The Times'' and ...

, with whom he played for seven years. The pair also won the Cap Gemini and the Sunday Times-Macallan. Since that time he was regarded, by the

English Bridge Union The English Bridge Union or EBU is a player-funded organisation that promotes and organises the card game of duplicate bridge in England. It is based at offices in Aylesbury. The EBU is a member of the European Bridge League and thus affiliat ...

, as England's number one player. Playing for

Rita Shugart Rita Shugart (née Kennedy) is an American Contract bridge, bridge player. Shugart won her first national title in 1998. She won the Reisinger, arguably the most difficult of all the North American Bridge Championships to win, in consecutive year ...

's team, in 1998 he was the first Briton, with teammate Robson, to win a prestigious US Major, the

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

, and the same squad won the event a second time the following year. Forrester has won the US Board-a-Match Teams on two occasions, 1999 and 2013. In 2014 he and Robson revived their partnership, and played together as part of the England team in that year's European Open Championship. The team finished second, thereby winning the silver medal and qualifying for the finals of the 2015 World Championships. With 43

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for England in the

Camrose Trophy The Camrose Trophy or "The Camrose" is an annual bridge competition among open teams representing the home nations of Great Britain and Ireland: England (EBU), Northern Ireland (NIBU), Republic of Ireland (CBAI), Scotland (SBU) and Wales (WBU). ...

, Forrester is Britain's most capped player.

Domestic honours

Forrester has won the Gold Cup, the premier British teams competition, 14 times: in 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2019, putting him first in the all-time list. He won the Spring Foursomes in 1983, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. His eight victories represent an all-time record. He has won the Crockfords Cup (English Teams of Four Championship) a record ten times: 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2008, 2012 and 2019 He has won the Premier League on seven occasions. In 2010, he won the Brighton Four Stars A Final, with teammates Alexander Allfrey,

and

Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and ...

. In 2015 he was one of the first two winners of the

's Diamond Award, introduced to recognise players who have "represented England (and earlier Great Britain) with distinction over a long period".''English Bridge'', April 2015, p5.

Publications

*Forrester, Tony (1993). ''Secrets of Success (Faber Bridge Books)''. London: Faber and Faber. *Forrester, Tony; Senior, Brian (1994). ''Over Your Shoulder: Learn from the Experts''. Batsford Ltd. . *Forrester, Tony (1994). ''Play Bridge at Home (Daily Telegraph)''. Batsford Ltd. . *Forrester, Tony (1995). ''"Daily Telegraph" Improve Your Bridge at Home (Batsford Bridge)''. Batsford Ltd. . *Forrester, Tony (1996). ''"Daily Telegraph" Winning Bridge at Home (Batsford Bridge)''. Batsford Ltd. . *Forrester, Tony (1997). ''The Bridge Player's Bedside Book''. R&L Yeatman. . *Forrester, Tony; Bird, David (1997). ''Secrets of Expert Cardplay''. Batsford Ltd. . *Forrester, Tony (1998). ''Vintage Forrester: Selected Writings from the "Daily Telegraph" (A Batsford bridge book)''. Batsford Ltd. *Forrester, Tony; Bird, David (1999). ''Secrets of Expert Defence''. Batsford Ltd. .

References

External links

* * (?) {{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Tony English contract bridge players Contract bridge writers The Daily Telegraph people Sportspeople from West Yorkshire Living people 1953 births Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Game players from Yorkshire