Adam Meredith
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Adam Theodore "Plum" Meredith (16 June 1913 – 30 January 1976) was a British professional
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
player and world tournament champion.Truscott (1976)


Early life

Meredith was born in
Bangor, County Down Bangor ( ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough. It is within the Belfast metropolitan area and is 13 miles (22 km) east of Belfast city centre, to whic ...
, Ireland, to Hugh Meredith and Olive Christabel Margaret Meredith (''née'' Iles).''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''.
Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...
.
Hasenson (2004) pp. 208–209. Reprint of an obituary written by
Terence Reese John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a Great Britain, British Contract bridge, bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class pare ...
in 1976 titled ''Adam Meredith 1913–1976''.
Ramsey (1955) pp. 122–132 Little is published about his early life, excepting that he was well educated.Manley (2010) p. 229 Fearlessly honest, he refused to claim his ill-health from severe asthma and acute diabetes as a basis to avoid military service for World War II and instead registered as a
conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
. Initially allocated to work as an ambulance driver and ARP warden, he was petitioned against by those who objected to working with "conchies" (conscientious objectors) and was reassigned to farm work, highly problematic for an asthmatic. It was "no secret, however, that for a great deal of the war he was in London; and when he was in London, he was playing cards." After the war, he spent months each year in the south of France where the dry climate helped his asthmatic lungs. Meredith was passionately artistic with interests in ballet and theatre. When the Ballet Nègre (a creation of Katherine Dunham) came to London "and teetered between success and failure ... he backed it with hard-earned savings he had amassed at bridge".
Terence Reese John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a Great Britain, British Contract bridge, bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class pare ...
referred to Meredith as "even-tempered, a staunch friend in an undemonstrative way, and quite immovable when he took up a position about anything." Meredith was semi-retired from tournament play in 1957 when he moved from London to New York. There, he formed a friendship with Ruth Sherman, a leading American player, who supported his bridge activities and who upon her death in 1965 bequeathed to him the income on the bulk of her $450,000 estate. According to an obituary bridge column by the English expatriate and expert,
Alan Truscott Alan Fraser Truscott (16 April 1925 – 4 September 2005) was a British-American bridge player, writer, and editor. He wrote the daily bridge column for ''The New York Times'' for 41 years, from 1964 to 2005, and served as Executive Editor for th ...
, Meredith played rubber bridge but little tournament bridge in the US and "the last ten years of his life were sad ones, marred by progressive ill health". He died in New York City in January 1976. "in obscurity" when alcoholism further reduced his vitality and shortened his life.


Bridge career

Meredith was a bridge professional who played rubber bridge for a living and high-level competitive tournament duplicate. Meredith was a key member of the British team "doing as much as anyone to win the world championship match in 1955" – the Bermuda Bowl. He won the European Championship in 1949 and 1954, the Gold Cup five times (1948, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1956) and the Master Pairs in 1949 and 1951. Even though he co-wrote one book with Leo Baron, ''The Baron System of Contract Bridge'' in 1948, he was not a writer, journalist or teacher of bridge. Plum did not play the Baron system in the Bermuda Bowl victory. He was one of the four players who played CAB, the system favoured by Konstam, Dodds and Pavlides. Meredith was also quite ''au fait'' with Acol. His personal honesty extended to his bridge career. He created a precedent when he withdrew from a British team on the grounds that a pair from a continental team were cheats. Others also thought so but had nevertheless played.Mollo (1968) pp. 133–138 At bridge he liked to seize the initiative early in a match; some of his bidding manoeuvres (which often centred round the spade suit) became legendary. He was also a remarkable dummy player. Regarding his fondness for the spade suit, Victor Mollo wrote: "No man, no three men, for that matter, have bid spades so often or so devotedly as Plum." Mollo also wrote that he "has been known to play brilliantly after despatching eleven glasses of green Chartreuse".Shireen Mohandes, ''Bridge'', December 2015, "Adam 'Plum' Meredith, Madman or Genius", pages 26–27. He was once heard to say of an opponent: "She had an enormous bag full of knitting. How could I think she was going to psyche?"


Opinions by other players

In his 1945 book '' Why You Lose at Bridge'', S. J. Simon rated Meredith as "one of the best money bridge players in the country .e. England. In 1951,
Boris Schapiro Boris Schapiro (22 August 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a British international bridge player. He was a Grandmaster of the World Bridge Federation, and the only player to have won both the Bermuda Bowl (the world championship for national teams ...
gave his opinion of Plum in a bridge magazine article:
At times rightly described as a genius, definitely the best player of difficult hands in the country, very good bidder (when not indulging in some particular idiocy), superb dummy player and defender. Concentration medium, easy to play against, mainly owing to slowness.Hasenson (2004) pp. 63. Reprint of "Knights of the Square Table" by Boris Schapiro published in the ''Contract Bridge Journal'', 1951.
In his 1976 obituary of Plum,
Terence Reese John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a Great Britain, British Contract bridge, bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class pare ...
wrote:
When I first played at Lederer's in the mid-1930s, Meredith was a handsome youth of 22, though he looked about 17 . ...He was a marvellous player and ... had a reputation for eccentric bidding ... only because he sometimes wearied of the orthodox. ...He spent his last fifteen years or so in America.... It was not, perhaps, a satisfactory life for so brilliant and charming a person; but certainly it possessed colour, warmth and humour.


Notes


References

;Bibliography * * * * * *


External links

*
Adam Meredith
at the
English Bridge Union The English Bridge Union or EBU is a player-funded organisation that promotes and organises the card game of duplicate bridge in England. It is based at offices in Aylesbury. The EBU is a member of the European Bridge League and thus affiliat ...
website (no date) {{DEFAULTSORT:Meredith, Adam 1913 births 1976 deaths British contract bridge players English contract bridge players Bridge players from London Bermuda Bowl players British conscientious objectors Game players from New York City Sportspeople from Bangor, County Down Emigrants from Northern Ireland to the United States