Hubert Phillips

Hubert Phillips (13 December 1891 – 9 January 1964) was a British economist, journalist, broadcaster, bridge player and organiser, composer of puzzles and quizzes, and the author of some 70 books.

Phillips was educated at Sexey's School, Bruton, and Merton College, Oxford, where he read History and Economics, taking a first class degree. He served in the British Army with the Essex Regiment throughout World War I.

After the war, he became Head of the Department of Economics at Bristol University and Head of Extra-Mural Studies 1919–24; he was Director, Liberal Research Dept 1924; Economic Advisor and Secretary, Liberal Industrial Enquiry 1924–28; and adviser to the Parliamentary Liberal Party 1926-8. He stood as a Liberal Party candidate in 1929 at Wallasey. He joined the News Chronicle in 1930.

Phillips' later career was as a journalist, broadcaster, freelance author, and organiser.

Phillips was the founder (1932) and editor (1936–39) of the British Bridge World, and a pioneer of bridge organisation in England. He was the first chairman of the English Bridge Union in 1936. He was a key person in setting up the first Anglo-American match (Buller v Culbertson). He was the devisor and co-presenter of the first ever bridge programs on television, BBC 1936. These were programs which involved discussion of pre-selected hands, displayed on boards, followed by their bidding and play by expert pairs. Some of the hands were taken from famous matches, others were devised by Phillips. After play, comparison might be made, for example, with the play on the same hand in the Beasley–Culbertson match. The series was thought to be a great success, though of course viewership was limited in those days.

As an author (the greater part of his income) he wrote on bridge, and on general knowledge, intellectual, mathematical and bridge puzzles and quizzes. Chess, he said, was his favourite game, but he wrote little on that subject. He wrote over 100 crime stories. He composed thousands of puzzles, both mathematical and inferential, and about 6000 crosswords. He wrote on bridge for the News Chronicle as 'Nine-spot', as well as being (by his own testimony) the chief leader writer for the paper for several years during World War Two. He also contributed to The Nation and The New Statesman as 'Caliban'. He was the editor of the London early editions of Ely Culbertson's Contract Bridge Blue Book. He broadcast regularly on BBC radio – on Transatlantic Quiz and its offshoot Round Britain Quiz and later, on occasion, The Brains Trust. In his heyday he earned a five-figure income; but in later years a fondness for drink and gaming led to a decline in his fortunes.

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