Alan Truscott

Alan Fraser Truscott (April 16 1925 – September 4 2005) was a bridge player, author and columnist. He wrote the daily bridge column for "The New York Times" for 41 years, from 1964 to 2005.

Truscott was born in Brixton, London, and showed early prowess at chess as well as bridge. He attended Whitgift School, and served in the Royal Navy towards the end of World War II. He studied at the University of Oxford from 1947, playing for the university at both chess and bridge. He was a member of the British team (along with Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro) that won a bronze medal at the European bridge championships in 1951, aged only 26. In 1958 he was a member of the British team that finished second, and in 1961 his team won the gold medal in the same event at Torquay. Truscott's team also finished third in the 1962 Bermuda Bowl held in New York City.

He was also involved in the investigation of a cheating scandal at the Bermuda Bowl in Buenos Aires in 1965. A pair of British players (Reese and Schapiro) were accused of using their fingers to pass information about their cards by an American pair (B. Jay Becker and Dorothy Hayden). Truscott believed the British pair were guilty. They were subsequently adjudicated guilty by the World Bridge Federation authorities at the tournament in Buenos Aires. The British Bridge League (BBL) then convened its own inquiry, and several months later the BBL acquitted them. Truscott later published a book on the affair, entitled "The Great Bridge Scandal". Reese published his own version of events in "The Story of an Accusation".

Truscott wrote 13 books on bridge, and was executive editor of the first three editions of "The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge".

He had three children with his first wife, but they divorced in 1970. He married his second wife, Dorothy Hayden, an American mathematician and international bridge player who was one of the original accusers in the Buenos Aires affair, in 1972. He died in Russia, New York.

Tournament record

Winner

* North American Bridge Championships (3)
** Mixed Pairs (1) 1989
** Master Mixed Teams (1) 1985
** North American Swiss Teams (1) 1987
* European Championships (1)
** Open Teams (1) 1961
* British Championships (2)
** Masters Individual (2) 1953, 1958

Runners-up

* North American Bridge Championships (2)
** Master Mixed Teams (1) 1972
** North American Swiss Teams (1) 1994
* European Championships (1)
** Open Teams (1) 1958

Bibliography

The New York Times Bridge Book (2002) with Dorothy Truscott, ISBN 031229090X (paperback) ISBN 031233107X (hardback)

References

* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/06/db0602.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/09/06/ixportal.html Obituary] ("The Telegraph", 6 September 2005)
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1771048,00.html Obituary] ("The Times", 9 September 2005)
* [http://www.ebu.co.uk/general/biographies/obituaries/alantruscott.htm Obituary] (English Bridge Union)
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article311505.ece Obituary] ("The Independent", 10 September 2005) "(payment required)"
* [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/b/bridge_card_game/index.html?s=oldest&offset=40& The New York Times Bridge Column archive (1981-)]