Maurice Harrison-Gray
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Maurice Harrison-Gray (13 November 1899 – 24 November 1968), known always as 'Gray', was an English professional
contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each othe ...
player. For about thirty years from the mid-thirties to the mid-sixties he was one of the top players. As a member of the Great Britain national team he won the European Bridge League championships in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1963. He was from
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.


Early life

Gray, born Maurice Charles Harrison Gray on 13 November 1899 at
Ingatestone Ingatestone is a village and former civil parish in Essex, England, with a population of 5,409 inhabitants at the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census. Just north lies the village of Fryerning; the two now forming the parish of Ingatestone ...
,
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, was the child of an English father and an American mother. Much of his childhood was spent in
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, and he became
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
. He was educated at
Haileybury School Haileybury is a co-educational Public school (United Kingdom), public school (fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols ...
and served in the
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at the end of
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 ...
. In his younger days he boxed, played rugby and
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
, rode
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, but leg injuries stopped his sporting activities. 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 was a flight lieutenant in the
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. Later, he became an ardent
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, breeding tropical
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at his Hampstead home. Gray later used the surname Harrison-Gray and after leaving
Haileybury School Haileybury is a co-educational Public school (United Kingdom), public school (fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols ...
he joined the family brewing business. When the company was taken over he turned to writing, at first fiction but he soon became a full-time writer about bridge.


Bridge career

Gray turned to bridge at 30 after a series of accidents at sports, including a motor-bike accident at 100 mph. Within three years he was bidding for Britain in radio matches against the US and Australia. Gray participated in the development of the Acol System of bidding, He was captain of the winning Acol team in the years before
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 ...
, the other team members being his partner, S.J. (Skid) Simon, Jack Marx,
Iain Macleod Iain Norman Macleod (11 November 1913 – 20 July 1970) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. A playboy and professional Contract bridge, bridge player in his twenties, after war service Macleod worked for the ...
and Colin Harding: a stellar group indeed. Gray was also instrumental in helping, in 1938, to unite the two warring bridge organisations, the British Bridge League (founded in 1931) and the National Bridge Association (founded in 1933). After the war the line-up of the British teams generally included
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 ...
,
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 ...
, Kenneth Konstam, Leslie Dodds, and Edward Rayne, initially with Gray as captain. These teams won the European title three times running. In London, 1949, the England team of Gray, Konstam, Reese and Schapiro defeated the American team of Crawford, Rapee, Stayman and Leventritt by 2,950 points over 96 boards for the Crowninshield trophy. A British team captained by Gray, but without Reese and Schapiro, were defeated by the US in the first Bermuda Bowl. To summarise, Gray was European champion in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1963. He led Britain in the Bermuda Bowl in 1950, and played in the World Pairs 1962, World Team Olympiad 1964 and the European Championships in 1958. He won the Gold Cup seven times, and many other national events. The first time, in 1937, was with the original Acol team; the last time in 1968 was with Tony Priday, Nico Gardener, Albert Rose and the Sharples brothers: also a star-studded team. Like many other players of his day, Gray played rubber bridge almost daily. He used his bridge columns to champion the losing trick method of evaluating hands for suit contracts. Gray was bridge editor of the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' and '' Country Life'' for many years.


1951 withdrawal

In 1951, Gray's career as an international was interrupted for about seven years after he withdrew from the trials at an early stage, leaving his partner high and dry, and announced his retirement from international competition, without giving reasons. Thus, he did not play in the 1951 European championship, but he gave a lengthy account of it in a press report, which attacked the performance of the British team (who came third to Italy and Austria). An editorial in the English Bridge Union's official medium gave an unforgettable response: :"One article in particular makes us very hot under the collar and that is the one in the ''European Bridge Review'' under the name of Harrison-Gray ... We have searched closely for one single word of praise, but in vain ... Surely he could have brought out the fact that they finished joint second on VPs ictory Points and scored more IMPs nternational Match Pointsand lost fewer than any other country, and that had the result been decided on IMPs they would have been easy winners. :"Perhaps everything is accounted for by the statements of Mr Gray himself: ::'Although unable to make more than token appearances in the playing room e admitted he saw only one hand out of 3,460 played through to the endnbsp;... my impressions are gleaned from a number of reliable judges.' " This was a strange performance from Gray, especially given his motto for playing at the table, which was "Keep icy calm". The response from the British Bridge League, responsible for team selection at European and World events, was: "The British Bridge League have decided that Mr Harrison-Gray will not be considered for selection in the team to represent Great Britain in the European Championship in 1952." He did not play again for Britain until Oslo 1958. According to Richard Fleet, his long-term bridge partner Jack Marx wrote after his death:
Like many talented people, he was apt to be touchy at even implied criticism of his talent; and disagreements on impersonal issues were apt with him to become personal disputes. These failings perhaps accounted for his long and sterile feud with the BBL.


Schapiro's opinion

In 1951 Boris Schapiro wrote an article giving his opinion of the top players of the day. This was his assessment of Gray: :"Brilliant dummy player, very good defender, inclined to overbid in competitive situations but always liable to 'slip a contract through'. Concentration poor; difficult to play against." Eleven years later, Schapiro updated his article: :"Gray must be the best player over 60 and he is still a great force at the bridge table."Schapiro, Boris. 1962. ''Contract Bridge Journal''. Reprinted in Hasenson (2004), p. 64.


Family life

Gray married Stella Sonia Soltz on 1 January 1938, they did not have any children. On 24 November 1968 Gray died of heart failure at his home in Hampstead, London.Robson, Andrew. 2004
"Gray, Maurice Charles Harrison- (1899–1968)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Online ed., May 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2014.


Publications

* ''Winning Points at Match-Point Bridge'', Norman Squire and Gray (London:
Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...
, 1959), 151 pp., * ''The Losing Trick Count'' (Hounslow: Bibliagora, 1961) and 1983 (revised) * ''Shortcut to Expert Bridge'',
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 ...
and Gray (Slough: W. Foulsham & Co., 1967) – "Revised by M. Harrison-Gray." * ''Country Life Book of Bridge'', posthumous (Country Life, 1972), large format hardcover; (London: Hamlyn, 1973), , – collection of Gray's articles in ''Country Life'' from 1954 to 1968, selected by Jack Marx * ''The Best of Gray: The Country Life Book of Bridge revisited'' (High Wycombe: Five Aces, 1999), , paperback, – collection of ''Country Life'' articles edited and updated by Raymond Brock


References

;Citations * Hasenson, Peter, ed. 2004. ''British Bridge Almanack''. 77 Publishing, London. . 490 pages.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison-Gray, Maurice 1899 births 1968 deaths English contract bridge players Bridge players from London Contract bridge writers British Army personnel of World War I People from Ingatestone Military personnel from Essex Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers British Army soldiers