Hubert Phillips (13 December 1891 – 9 January 1964) was a British economist, journalist, broadcaster, bridge player and organiser, composer of puzzles and quizzes, and the author of some 70 books.

Life

Education and early career

Phillips was educated at Sexey's School,

Bruton Bruton ( ) is a small market town, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, north-west of Gillingham ...

, and

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, where he read History and Economics, taking a first class degree. He served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

with the

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

throughout

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the war, he became Head of the Department of Economics at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

and Head of Extra-Mural Studies 1919–24; he was Director, Liberal Research Dept 1924; Economic Adviser and Secretary, Liberal Industrial Inquiry 1924–28; and adviser to the Parliamentary

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

1926-8. He stood as a Liberal Party candidate in 1929 at

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county bou ...

. He joined the '' News Chronicle'' in 1930.

Later career

Phillips' later career was as a journalist, broadcaster, freelance author, and organiser. Phillips was the founder (1932) and editor (1936–39) of the ''British Bridge World'', and a pioneer of bridge organisation in England. He was the first chairman of 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 ...

in 1936. He was a key person in setting up the first Anglo-American match ( Buller v Culbertson). He was the devisor and co-presenter of the first ever bridge programs on television,

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

1936. These were programs which involved discussion of pre-selected hands, displayed on boards, followed by their bidding and play by expert pairs. Some of the hands were taken from famous matches, others were devised by Phillips. After play, comparison might be made, for example, with the play on the same hand in the Beasley–Culbertson match. The series was thought to be a great success, though of course viewership was limited in those days. As an author (the greater part of his income) he wrote on bridge, and on general knowledge, intellectual, mathematical and bridge puzzles and quizzes. Chess, he said, was his favourite game, but he wrote little on that subject. He wrote over 100 crime stories. He composed thousands of puzzles, both mathematical and inferential, and about 6000 crosswords. He wrote on bridge for the ''News Chronicle'' as 'Nine-spot', as well as being (by his own testimony) the chief

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

writer for the paper for several years during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He also contributed to ''The Nation'' and ''The New Statesman'' as 'Caliban'. He was the editor of the London early editions of Ely Culbertson's ''Contract Bridge Blue Book''. He broadcast regularly on

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

– on Transatlantic Quiz and its offshoot Round Britain Quiz and later, on occasion, The Brains Trust. In his heyday he earned a five-figure income; but in later years a fondness for drink and gaming led to a decline in his fortunes. Phillips as a bridge writer and as an organiser was always in competition with A.E. Manning Foster, who had been a professional player since the days of auction bridge, and was the bridge correspondent of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. Each of them founded a magazine (Foster's was the ''Bridge Magazine'') and a duplicate bridge organisation (Phillips' was the National Bridge Association, founded 1933). It was not until after WWII that the two organisations were unified. He helped

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 ...

on his first steps to becoming a professional contract bridge player, and co-authored several books with him. Phillips donated the Hubert Phillips Bowl for the English Mixed Teams Championship. This competition has been played annually since 1937, with the exception of 1939–46, and is the only major event in the country played with aggregate scoring.

Opinions of colleagues

:"For many years Phillips was internationally the most eminent author of intellectual and mathematical puzzles under the name "Caliban" and "Dogberry", and of cryptic crosswords." :"He never lost his courtesy and good humour... he had a largeness of spirit that one seldom sees in this game or indeed in these times." :"Oh, yes, bridge players owe a lot to Hubert Phillips, particularly in the South f Englandwhere he organised and founded the English Bridge Union and the Duplicate Bridge Control Board." H. St John IngramIngram, H. St John 1952. Personality of the month: Hubert Phillips. ''Contract Bridge Journal'', February 1952. p8

Personal life

Phillips was married twice: in 1919, to Margery Davies, who died in 1959, with whom he had a son, John, who died in 1961; and in 1961 to Madeleine Bartlett.

Selected works

Bridge

* Ely Culbertson, edited by Hubert Phillips 1932. ''Contract Bridge Blue Book''. Faber and Faber. London. *Ely Culbertson, Foreword by Hubert Phillips 1933. ''Britain v. America: Contract Bridge Championship of 1933''. News Chronicle Publications Department. London. *Ely Culbertson, edited by Hubert Phillips 1933. ''Contract Bridge For Auction Players''. Faber and Faber. London. *Harold Thorne, Fourth edition revised and enlarged by "Petronius" (Hubert Phillips), 1939. ''Thorne's Complete Contract Bridge''. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London. *Aileen McCabe, Foreword by Hubert Phillips, 1933. ''Contract Without Tears''. Faber and Faber. London. *Jordanis Pavlides, Foreword by M. Kissa and Hubert Phillips, ''One-Page Guide to Bidding''. Games Publishers Ltd. London. *Phillips, Hubert 1951. ''Bridge at Ruff's Club''. edited by Terence Reese. Batchworth. London *Phillips, Hubert 1959. ''Bridge is Only a Game''. Parrish, London. Illustrated by Pearl Falconer *Phillips, Hubert 1960. ''Bridge with Goren''. Citadel Press. New York. Contributions by

Charles Goren Charles Henry Goren (March 4, 1901 – April 3, 1991) was an American bridge player and writer who significantly developed and popularized the game. He was the leading American bridge personality in the 1950s and 1960s and widely known as "Mr. Bri ...

. *Phillips, Hubert 1939. ''Brush up Your Bridge''. Dent, London. Illustrated by Ward. *Phillips, Hubert 1962. ''Making Bridge Pay: how to win at rubber bridge''. Parrish, London. *Phillips, Hubert 1932. ''One Hundred Contract Bridge Hands''. Faber and Faber. London. *Phillips, Hubert 1934. ''You Can Play and Laugh''. Faber, London. *Phillips, Hubert and Terence Reese 1952. ''Bridge with Mr Playbetter''. Batchworth. London *Phillips, Hubert and Terence Reese 1937. ''The Elements of Contract''. British Bridge World. London. Edition 1. *Phillips, Hubert and Terence Reese 1948. ''The Elements of Contract''. Eyre and Spottiswoodie. London. Edition 2. *Phillips, Hubert and Terence Reese 1945. ''How to Play Bridge''. Penguin. London. *Phillips, Hubert and Bernard Westall 1934. ''Two Hundred Hands from Match Play: an annotated case-book for contract bridge''. De La Rue; Faber and Faber. London.

Other subjects

*Phillips, Hubert 1921. ''The development of a residential qualification for representatives in colonial legislatures''. Abingdon, Cincinnati, OH. eveloped as a Columbia University doctoral dissertation*Phillips, Hubert, Shovelton S.T. & Marshall G.S. 1933. ''Caliban's problem book: mathematical, inferential and cryptographic puzzles''. De La Rue, London. *Phillips, Hubert 1936. ''Brush Up Your Wits''. J M Dent, London. *Phillips, Hubert 1941. ''Charteris Royal''. Gollancz, London. thriller*Phillips, Hubert and Westall B.C. 1945. ''The complete book of card games''. Witherby, London. *Phillips, Hubert 1945. ''Ask Me Another''. Penguin (Ptarmigan Books No. 1). Illustrated by Pearl Falconer. A general knowledge quiz book. *Phillips, Hubert 1945. ''Something to think about''. Penguin (Ptarmigan Books No. 2), Harmondsworth. Illustrated by Pearl Falconer. A book of logical and mathematical puzzles that sold over 100,000 copies. *Phillips, Hubert 1945. ''Word play''. Penguin, Harmondsworth. *Phillips, Hubert 1948. ''Who wrote that?'' Penguin, Harmondsworth. *Phillips, Hubert 1947. ''Chipwinkle: 100 Crosswords with solutions''. Penguin, Harmondsworth. -words are by Phillips; book includes a spoof biography of 'Eugene Chipwinkle' *Phillips, Hubert and Falconer, Pearl (1949). ''Meet William Shakespeare''. Cornleaf, London. *Phillips, Hubert 1950. ''Round Britain Quiz''. Hamilton, London. *Phillips, Hubert 1951. ''The Hubert Phillips Annual 1951''. compendium of puzzles and quizzes*Phillips, Hubert 1958. ''The Penguin Hoyle: a book of indoor games''. Penguin, C. *Golombek, H. and Hubert Phillips 1959. ''Chess''. Witherby. *Phillips, Hubert 1960. ''The Pan book of card games''. Pan, London. *Phillips, Hubert 1960. ''100 Crossword puzzles (the Hubert Phillips Crossword puzzle book)''. Penguin, Harmondsworth. *Phillips, Hubert 1960. ''Profitable poker: the mathematics and psychology of playing a winning game''. Arco, NY. *Phillips, Hubert 1960. ''Journey to nowhere''. MacGibbon & Kee, London. discursive autobiography, which concentrates on his early days*Phillips, Hubert 1961. ''My best puzzles in logic and reasoning''. Dover, NY. *Phillips, Hubert 1961. ''My best puzzles in mathematics''. Dover, NY. *Phillips, Hubert 1992. ''Mathematische puzzles: Homo ludens''. Munich.

References

External links

"The Chess-loving Puzzle-master"
by Edward Winter (chesshistory.com) * (1928–1972) {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Hubert 1891 births 1964 deaths British economists British contract bridge players Contract bridge writers Puzzle designers British broadcasters British male journalists English crime fiction writers Academics of the University of Bristol Alumni of Merton College, Oxford 20th-century English novelists British male novelists 20th-century English male writers Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Card game book writers People educated at Sexey's School Essex Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I