Brian Callaghan

Brian was born in 1952 in Ealing. His education was at Alleyne’s Grammar School, Stevenage and at Trinity College, Cambridge. The first quarter-century of his working life was as an IT professional, until cutbacks prompted him to turn to bridge to earn his crust. He is now mostly retired, but still does some work in bridge. He lives in London in the Barons Court area with his wife Chris Duckworth and their cats.

Whilst still at school his early card game was solo whist. Searching for more of a challenge, he and some schoolmates upgraded to bridge via self study, helped by a library of bridge books belonging to Brian’s father. University brought him into fruitful contact with what later turned out to be a very strong group of players, amongst whom the most successful in bridge were Graham Kirby and the late John Armstrong.

His bridge career went from strength to strength and he has played for England in 6 Camrose matches, 1 European and 1 Olympiad and he has won most of the major national competitions. He also enjoys playing in tournaments worldwide, and was delighted to have been on the team that won the NEC Cup in Yokohama, Japan in both 2002 and 2003. Nowadays he travels mostly with Chris and they particularly enjoy playing together in the Gold Coast tournament in Australia.

His interests outside bridge include ‘old-time’ piano (ragtime, blues, and early jazz), and reading science fiction.

Major International Appearances

European Championships: 2001
World Olympiad: 2000

Camrose Trophy selections:1989 1991 2000 2001 2002 and 2015

Crockfords winner: 1989

Spring Foursomes winner: 2000 and 2003

Brighton Four Stars Teams Winner: 1986 and 2005

Autumn Congress Two Stars Pairs Winner: 1989

National Teams Congress winner: 2014(PAB)

Tollemache Cup winner: 1988 1991 1996 1998 2003 2004 2005 and 2006