Despite this fairy-tale start to my career in the Open game, I still felt that I really shouldn’t be there, right at the top. I made mistakes, surely at a more basic level than other world experts.

The 1990 Par Contest, the first such event for many decades and perhaps the purest test of ability, somewhat changed my perception. There are few more daunting prospects for a Bridge player, than sitting behind a computer terminal (remember this was before the computer/internet era), whilst playing some of the trickiest declarer-play problems imaginable. Make a wrong move, and you will hear a frightening, point deducting, and morale-shattering bleep. Three bleeps per problem and you score no points.

I finished fifth (out of 20 or so invited world experts), a place above partner Tony Forrester, and was only beaten by “singledummy” specialists. Here is Problem 5 out of 12, one of the four or five I solved completely correctly (i.e. bleep-free). East wins the trump lead with the ace, and returns a second trump, inconveniently preventing you from ruffing three spades in dummy.