Richard was born in 1957 in Yorkshire where he continues to live. He retired from legal practice as a local authority solicitor manager in 2022. He is married to Sarah Teshome who also plays bridge and they have two grown up children - Sophie born in 1998 a solicitor and Daniel born in 2000 a management consultant who both now live in London where Daniel plays bridge.
Richard was introduced to bridge by his mother, who took him to various local bridge clubs, where he met and was encouraged by Brian Senior, Tony Forrester and Roman Smolski. He went to Liverpool to read law and formed a bridge team with Andy Eastwood, Steve Wood, and Peter Hawkes.
Whilst still a junior, Richard won the pairs at Brighton with Andy Eastwood and they formed part of the Great Britain team which came second in the Junior European Championships in 1982.
When Andy emigrated to the USA, Richard formed a partnership with Mark Horton with whom he had a number of appearances for England in the home international series. In partnership with Mark, Richard won the Spring Foursomes, Crockfords (1992) and the Life and Grand Masters in the UK. The Gold Cup was the only domestic trophy which eluded them.
Internationally, he and Mark played in numerous events with notable wins in the Dunhill Nations Cup (1991) and the Hoechst (1992). Richard thinks his greatest bridge achievement lay in winning the Hoechst because the first winners of that event were Belladonna, Garozzo, Avarelli and Forquet - not bad company to be in!
Although Richard no longer plays international bridge, preferring to spend time with his family, he still plays some national bridge, with Sarah. They have won several national events together and regularly appeared in the later stages of the Gold Cup and Crockfords.
More recently and since COVID Richard has been restricted to online bridge due to illness via the National Teams League Division 1, the Online Knockout teams and the Pachabo representing Yorkshire.
Things to know about Richard ..
Who would you like to be stranded on a desert island with and why?
Sarah, Sophie and Dan and our dog Popcorn, even though I would still have to do most of the tidying up.
If you could come back as an animal what would it be?
A pampered domestic dog, preferably one of ours.
What would be your ideal job?
Well my job wasn't so bad - interesting people, variety of work etc. Although being in public legal service does seem to entail listening to a lot of whingeing.
If money was no object, tell us about your dream holiday?
Sarah usually decides where my dream holiday is and usually in France.
Who do you most admire and why?
I admire a number of people for different things.
What book are you currently reading?
We have literally thousands of books at home (most of them Sarah's) but I always fall asleep reading. At the moment I am reading Why Nations Fail which won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics for James A Robinson and Daron Acemoglu (Sarah's university bridge partner and York University winners of the Portland Bowl 1989 with Sarah, Heather Dhondy and Harry Anoyrkatis.
What CD's are in your car?
Pavarotti, Tina Turner and David Bowie amongst others.
What is your ideal night (day out) out (or in)?
A good meal with good company as long as I don't have to cook or wash up (which I usually do as Sarah is a fantastic cook OR at the theatre at Christmas with family usually Northern ballet.
Tell us something about you very few people would know?
I was a best selling writer! A book I co-authored with my solicitor friend Jack Henriques, entitled Local Authority Prosecutions reached No1 in the lists for legal textbooks. Also I was the ASBO king having obtained the first ASBO in 1999. Before you ask, I was not the subject of the order.
Major International Appearances
European Junior Championships: 1982
Camrose Trophy selections and Winners England: 1988 1992 and 1994
Crockfords winner: 1992
Spring Foursomes winner: 1988
Brighton Pairs, Harold Poster Cup Winner: 1983
National Teams Congress winner: 1995 1996 and 2005
Scottish Fours Winner: 2008