Jeremy M. Flint (30 August 1928 – 15 November 1989) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

writer and one of the world's leading professional players. He was also a horse racing enthusiast. Flint was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

but lived in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Life and bridge career

Flint was the son of a

surgeon, and was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

. He studied to be a lawyer, but soon gave up his legal career. Flint represented

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in seven European championships, five World team championships and two World pairs. As a member of those British teams he won the

European Bridge League The European Bridge League is a confederation of National Bridge Federations (NBFs) that organize the card game of contract bridge in European nations. In turn the EBL organizes bridge competition at the European level. It is a member of the Europ ...

championship in 1963, and came second in the world championships of 1960 (

World Team Olympiad The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women ("O ...

) and 1987 (

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 W ...

). He played

rubber bridge Rubber bridge is a form of contract bridge played by two competing pairs using a particular method of scoring. A rubber is completed when one pair becomes first to win two ''games'', each ''game'' presenting a score of 100 or more contract points; ...

and

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

on a regular basis; this and his work as a bridge correspondent were his main sources of income. In an extended visit to the US in 1966, partnering Peter Pender, he became a Life Master in ten weeks: this was the record until it was broken by Sabine Zenkel (now Auken) in 1989 at eight weeks. They devised the ''Flint–Pender'' bidding system. He was also a collaborator of

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 Bradf ...

on the

Little Major The Little Major is a bridge bidding system devised primarily by Terence Reese. Origins The concept for "the Little Major" was born late in 1962 while Reese was en route to a tournament in the Canary Islands with Boris Schapiro. First with Schapi ...

bidding system, and the author of several popular bidding conventions. Later in the 1960s to early 70s he partnered Jonathan Cansino in the latter's short international career. Flint was bridge editor of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', author of some significant books, and participant in successful television programs about bridge. His first marriage, to Susanna, produced two sons: Dominic and Noel. His second wife, Honor, was also an international bridge player. His early death was caused by cancer.

Boris Schapiro's opinion

In 1962,

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) ...

gave this view of Flint: :"Jeremy Flint is very talented, and a beautiful dummy player and defender. If I had to find a fault in his game it would be slowness and the fact that he is easy to play against. Otherwise he approaches world class."

Buenos Aires affair

Flint was a member of the British team at the

in Buenos Aires, early 1965. Later he gave an account of the accusation of cheating made against

Reese Reese may refer to: Places Germany * Reese, Germany, a hamlet in Lower Saxony on the River Aue United States * Reese, Michigan, United States, a community east of Saginaw * Reese, Pennsylvania, United States, a community in Blair County * Reese, T ...

and Schapiro. The results of the BBL trials was: 1 Reese—Flint; 2 Konstam—Schapiro; 3 Albert Rose— Ralph Swimer. The BBL then announced the team, omitting Swimer and substituting Maurice Harrison-Gray. Controversy ensued, and eventually Swimer had to be content with being non-playing captain. Reese and Schapiro were hardly on speaking terms at the time; Reese played mainly with Flint, the pair using the ''Little Major'' bidding system. Flint made two main points, over and above those made by Reese in his book: 1. The bitter quarrel between Reese and Schapiro "was surely not the perfect background for alleged dishonest complicity". 2. When Flint was playing with Reese in the closed room, Geoffrey Butler (BBL official) and Waldemar von Zedwitz (senior American master) came to watch. After the session Flint said to Reese: :"Terence, you realise we were being watched." :"Good gracious", he replied "Do you think so?" :"I suppose they must be considering banning the ''Little Major''", I ventured. "Reese is considered a fool by no-one etaccording to his accusers he continued to exchange signals for the next seven days".Flint, 1970, p. 125.

Publications

*Flint, Jeremy, and Freddie North. 1970. ''Tiger Bridge: the game at the top''. Hale, London. *Flint, Jeremy, and Freddie North. 1971. ''Bridge in the Looking Glass''. Cassell, London. *Reese, Terence, and Jeremy Flint. 1979. ''Trick 13''. Bibliagora. – a novel *Flint, Jeremy, and Freddie North. 1980. ''How to Win More at Racing''. Sphere, London. *Flint, Jeremy, and Richard Sharp. 1980. ''Competitive Bidding''. Cassell, London. *Flint, Jeremy, and David Greenwood. 1980. ''Instructions for the Defence''. The Bodley Head, London. *Flint, Jeremy. 1983. ''Bridge with The Times''. Country Life, London. *Flint, Jeremy. 1983. ''Grand Slam''. Country Life & Newnes, London. *Flint, Jeremy. 1986. ''The Winning Edge''. Faber & Faber, London. *Flint, Jeremy and Terence Reese. 1991. ''Bridge with the Professional Touch''. Gollancz, London. – 50 deals from Flint's column in ''The Times'', selected and edited by Reese.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flint, Jeremy 1928 births 1989 deaths British and Irish contract bridge players Contract bridge writers Bermuda Bowl players English backgammon players People educated at Radley College The Times people Place of death missing People from Leeds Game players from Yorkshire