Julian Pottage is the Bridge Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, a regular contributor to English Bridge and, prior to Mr Bridge’s retirement, was Associate Editor of BRIDGE. Julian has also written or co-written 25 books, and continues to provide commentaries for simultaneous pairs events and contributes to the Norweigan magazine Bridge I Norge. Two of his books, A Great Deal of Bridge Problems and Defend or Declare, have won the International Bridge Press Association book of the year.
Julian was born on the Hampshire Sussex border and went to school in Portsmouth and Somerset. After reading mathematics at Cambridge, Julian had a career in the occupational pensions industry, working for consultancies and in house, including as a pensions manager for Blue Circle in Berkshire prior to the company’s takeover by LaFarge. For 10 years he then worked as a financial compliance consultant for a company founded in Oxford. More recently his work has concentrated on bridge writing and breeding golden retriever dogs.
As a player Julian reached the final of the 1994 Gold Cup in a Hampshire and Sussex based team and won the Pachabo/Tollemache double in 1999 representing Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. After that family commitments (wife and four children – none of them bridge players) meant he could play little tournament bridge for quite a while. In recent years he has won several simultaneous pairs, including the inaugural Peter Jordan trophy. Julian was in the winning England team in the 1984 Junior Camrose and, having moved to Wales in 2005, has represented Wales in a number of international competitions.
Lasy updated: May 2023
Major International Selections:
Junior Camrose Selections: 1984
Tollemache Cup winner: 1988 and 1999