Hugh Kelsey Bridge Books

Hugh Walter Kelsey (1926 – 1995) was a bridge player and writer. He won the Gold Cup, the most prestigious British competition, twice, in 1969 and 1980. He represented Scotland twelve times in the Camrose Trophy, played between the constituent countries of the British Isles. He was the non-playing captain of the Great Britain Women's Team in the 7th World Team Olympiad held at Seattle in 1984. It is, however, as a writer that he will be best remembered. He was an extremely prolific author, writing some fifty books on the game, mostly aimed at intermediate to advanced players. It is a measure of their quality that, over a decade after his death, many of them are still in print. Two of his books, Killing Defence at Bridge and Advanced Play at Bridge, were listed by the Official Encyclopedia of Bridge as "mandatory requirements for a modern technical bridge library". Adventures in Card Play, written with Geza Ottlik, is still regarded by many as the most advanced book on the play of the cards. He was the bridge columnist for The Scotsman, wrote many articles for bridge magazines and he was the International Bridge Press Association's Personality of the Year in 1993.