Nico Gardener

Nico Gardener (né Nico Goldinger, 27 January 1906 – 10 December 1989) was a British international bridge player and a leading bridge teacher in London and on cruise ships.

Nico Goldinger was born in Riga, Latvia, then part of Imperial Russia. After the Russian Revolution (1917) his family moved to the Ukraine, and then to Moscow, where he trained as a ballet dancer. He later moved to Berlin, where he read languages and history at Berlin University, and played chess rather than bridge. He moved to London in 1936, where his bridge career began. His father had been a banker, but in Germany the family became timber merchants. Nico changed his surname to Gardener after he settled in London. He became a naturalised British citizen in due course.

Gardener's partners in bridge competition included some of the great players of the day, such as Pedro Juan, Victor Mollo, Louis Tarlo, Iain MacLeod and Adam Meredith. As a tournament player he won World Mixed Teams in 1962 with Boris Schapiro, Rixi Markus and Fritzi Gordon. He won the European Championship twice out of five attempts, and competed in two Bermuda Bowls (1950 and 1962) and the 1960 Olympiad.

In domestic bridge he won the Gold Cup six times, firstly in 1946, and the Waddington Master Pairs in 1953. He won the Sunday Times Invitational Pairs in 1970 with Tony Priday; this prestigious tournament featured some of the world's strongest partnerships. He also played rubber bridge for many years at Lederer's club and at his own London School of Bridge.

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