OSAmag88

T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 8
politics. The following day dawned and we were whisked by cabs
to the tv studious very early for our start. We had to take three
shirts each from which the TV company made their selections of
what we would wear! We met all the Eggheads who were a
friendly bunch and then we were plied with many layers of
makeup before taking our positions on stage. The first subject up
was Film and TV which was our captains choice so he was on
and quickly beaten. History was next and our next man was on
and beaten. I was getting nervous by now as we had agreed to
keep our lady for the final which left me and one other and we
were dreading the idea of subjects such as Food and Drink or
even Arts and Literature. Sport game up next and that was for
me. By then it was very easy to choose Judith Keppel (the first
who wants to be a millionaire £1M winner) as my opponent as
she notoriously does not like Sport. We drew 2-2 with Judith
getting some easy questions! We went into sudden death which
I won on a cricket question thus securing my place in the final.
Our last man was up next and got beaten. That left just the two
of us for the final, me and our lady against 4 Eggheads including
the phenomenal Kevin. Of course its all down to the luck of the
questions and we got lucky getting our three right whilst they
floundered on one that we knew. We had beaten the Eggheads!
Our prize was £3000 which we split between the six of us.
Whilst you only have 5 taking part you have to have 6 there
presumably in case anyone loses their nerve at the last minute!
The episode appeared on TV about 4 months later. It's series 17
episode 37 and can still be found on digital downloads or on
YouTube. After the filming I got a train to Edinburgh to meet
up with my daughter who told me I looked ridiculous! I hadn’t
taken off my many layers of make up! That was quickly rectified.
We had a lovely evening and I flew home the following day. All
in all a memorable weekend.
I was on holiday once in Monte Carlo when I found the world
Backgammon Championship at my hotel the Fairmont. I
thought I fancy some of that and duly stumped up my 200 euros
to play in the novice section. I wasn’t up for the 1000 euros
professional section! I got stuffed in my first game but then went
into the plate and won a good three rounds before losing
unluckily. Its funny how I'm always unlucky when I lose!! I've
since studied the game and improved dramatically.
Dave on the Eggheads Challenge
About eight years ago my wife and I found cruising for the first
time and loved it . I could go off and play bridge whilst she could
go to a cooking lesson, and we would visit lots of lovely places on
the way. We found there was plenty of entertainment and
excellent dining. I always went to the bridge lessons and often
they were very poor.. One time there was an old American trying
to teach an English audience and I had to put him straight on a
number of points as the English system of Standard Acol is quite
different to the Standard American Yellow card system. I
thought I can do better than this! I was already qualified as a
Bridge Director and then took the tests to become a qualified
English Bridge Union teacher. I started my teaching at my
bridge club in Beckenham whilst having taught many other
friends over the years. I told my wife of the retirement plans of
combining our cruising with bridge teaching thus getting a free
cruise. It was difficult getting on the approved lists but eventually
I did so with P&O cruises. They clearly send out emails to all
their approved teachers and I got one asking if anyone could fly
to Venice in three days time to take over from someone taken ill
with a 12 day cruise back to Southampton. I had to cancel a
bridge match and a bowls match but otherwise jumped at the
chance and got my first appointment. It all went well. I had a
good audience and they took to me and gave me a good report
and I'm now annually asked as to my availability. It's not quite a
doddle. There's a bit of work to do. It's on every sea day. I do a
beginners lesson at 10.00 for an hour, an improvers lesson at
11.00 for an hour and then run a duplicate bridge session from
2.00-4.00. then I've got to do the scores and get them put up
and prepare some boards for the following days teaching. I love
it. My wife Sandra is my assistant and is with me. When its a
port day we have no bridge work to do and often get asked to
assist in running a trip which also comes for free. I've now done
two bridge teaching cruises a year since 2016 on Aurora and
Oriana and am already booked for two more in 2019.
I regret never really playing in the bigger bridge congresses in my
youth but they always seemed to be at weekends and I was always
playing football for OSFC. I'm now a Liveryman of the
Stationers Company and playing with fellow Old Stationer and
Liveryman Peter Bonner we won the inter-livery bridge cup for
The Stationers Company in 2017. This was run by the
Worshipful Company of
Playing Card Makers and
held at Drapers Hall.
I know I've never grown up
and frankly don’t intend to.
I was brought up to believe
that the greatest
achievement and my
destiny was the no 10 shirt
for Spurs and England. I
have to be honest and say
that at the age of 67 I'm
beginning to doubt
whether I will achieve that
and still don’t have the
courage to break that news
to my 97 year old father.
Maybe with my cruise
bridge teaching though
I've landed the second best
job in the world.
David Hudson
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