I bought myself Card Play Technique, by Victor Mollo and Nico Gardener, probably the best book ever written on basic bridge play.  Over the next few months I taught myself how playing the cards at bridge was so different - and so much more interesting - than it was in forms of whist.

I also bought All About Acol by Ben Cohen and Rhoda Lederer, which at the time was the bible as far as bridge bidding in the UK was concerned.  Bidding at bridge has moved on a long way since those days, and books on bidding have not stood the test of time. Most material written on the play of the cards, however, is as relevant today as it was back when it was written.

I formed a partnership with my uncle.  We played socially, then at a local club, and eventually at the London School of Bridge where I remember we played some rubber bridge against none other than Nico Gardener and (as she was known then) Nicola Gardener, before she became famous.