Winning Bridge
About the Author
Winning Bridge has been produced and is published by Gerald Wilson (that's me).
I was born in 1951 in London, England and lived in Wandsworth until the age of 4. The family then moved to Boreham Wood (or is it Borehamwood) in Hertfordshire, England, the family being my Mother and Father (now deceased), and the big sister (also sadly departed) and brother. I started playing Bridge at Hillside School using a bidding system developed with my then playing partner, Steven Marquez, which I am still trying to unlearn. I went to the University of Surrey in Guildford where I studied Technological Mathematics, played a lot of Bridge, performed in a few plays and Rag Reviews. The degree course included a year in industry which I spent working on wind gusts and aircraft blind landing systems at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford. Having returned from the year in industry I realised that mathematics was not for me but managed to struggle through the final year and was given a III class Honours degree.
After leaving University I started work as a computer programmer for Plessey Radar Systems being involved in projects like Linesman, UKADGE Studies, and the AR3D radar. The bridge play rather dropped off during this time, as it did when I worked for Marconi Space and Defence Systems. The third job was for a company called Systems Designers Ltd (SDL), by which time I was not producing software any more, just piles of paper containing deep thoughts. Fortunately I guy called Terry Cleaton decided that the company needed a Bridge Club and so started one, refreshing my interest in the game.
Having started playing bridge again I tried some of the bridge software that was available and found myself very disappointed. "Well, I am a programmer and I play bridge. I can do better than that." thought I. Having thought it I eventually tried it and after several evolutions, starting to work for myself so that I could dedicate more time to the project, and after much useful comment from my remote beta test team, Winning Bridge emerged. I know it is not perfect, but it is mine.
Apart from my bridge game I also run a small (well its only me) computer consultancy, specialising in computer security; I produce fast loading Web pages (like those on this site and Your Local Experts); I was the Quizmaster at my local pub, The Prince of Wales in Fleet and am umpire at the Fleet Carnival Tug-of-War competition.
- The author