It was about 20 years ago that I first became friends with Janet de Botton, and urged her to take up bridge. Although I knew she’d love it, I didn’t hold out much hope that she’d get beyond ‘social’ bridge; the club scene was (and still is) pretty weird and intimidating. But Janet amazed me: as soon as she’d mastered the rudiments, she insisted on coming with me to play for low-stakes at St John’s Wood Bridge Club. I warned her: some of these people aren’t nice, they’ll yell at you. But she came, they did yell, she lost all her loose change — and she still had the pluck and drive to keep coming back.
Soon we graduated to higher-stake bridge at TGR’s; then she started playing in tournaments and got a top team together.
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