A world record is a world record

W. Somerset Maugham said, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are .” A good friend of mine, Dennis Spoon er, was a script writer for television shows like Jason King and The Avengers( when Diana Rig ga nd Joanna Lu mley were Emma Peel ). He told me that there are only five story lines and that everything is a version of one of them. Spoon er( who died of heart trouble in 1986 at the age of 53) always added a bridge element to his scripts. For example, in one episode the bad guy was known to own

two night clubs. What was his name? Spoon er also wrote amusing bridge stories under the headline Diary of a Pa look a. This deal appeared in the original edition of Popular Bridge Monthly in 1974( now defunct ).

It is described as it happened, with Spoon er and his anonymouspartner setting a world record that has probably not been matched. Spoon er wrote: “Asap a look a( a weak player ), I know how disconcerting it can be when you take away another pa look a’ s conventional bid, so Is ailed in with two diamonds. I felt I had a good out anyway.

“My-left-hand-opponent doubled for penalty, and this bid was passed around tome. My moment of glory had come. So this is how Bella donna( a 16- time world champion) feels. With superior confidence and a smug look on my face, I re doubled. There follow three passes. “In a stunned stupor I watched my partner table his hand .” In his 0-0 fit, Spoon er took four tricks for down four, minus 1,400 in those days. And East-West had no game available. The bad guy’ s name was Stay man--two clubs Stayman!