Early days - read by Nigel's brother Tom
Nigel was born in Lusaka, Zambia in 1940 to Charles and Barbara Guthrie. He was the first of four children. Over the next few years he'd be joined by Penny, me and finally Joy.
He was christened Nigel because our mother had been reading “The Fortunes of Nigel” by Sir Walter Scott, when she was expecting him. Nigel was a much doted upon first born, thought of, and referred to, as ’Nigh the King’ by his parents - to whom he was always extremely close.
In 1946 when Nigel was 5, Charles and Barbara brought us to Britain for the first time. They stayed with Charles's family in Kirkcaldy Fife.
Charles' next posting was to be in Ghana, at that time called The Gold Coast. Finding a local school there for Nigel would have been difficult to say the least of it, so the heart-breaking decision was made to leave Nigel behind in Scotland at a boarding school.
Schooling
Barbara was a catholic and Charles, though not a catholic, had agreed that the children would receive a catholic education so Nigel's first school was St Columba's in Largs, Ayrshire, a boarding school run by Maurist brothers. It must have been bewildering for Nigel to be on his own in Scotland with his family thousands of miles away. But each week the boys copied a letter written on the blackboard by one of the Maurist brothers telling their parents that they were well and happy. Nigel always had a happy disposition and an open and friendly nature so it may have been true.
When he was 7 Nigel was moved to Carlekemp Priory School, a preparatory school in North Berwick run by Benedictine monks. Nigel stayed there till he was 12 or 13.Nigel saw his family during his father's leaves which were spent in Scotland and also on occasional visits to Africa during summer holidays.
Around this time his parents bought a house in Edinburgh where his mother could stay with the children while Nigel's father was working abroad. So when Nigel left Carlekemp he didn't have to go on to another boarding school but was able to live in Edinburgh and be a day pupil at George Watson's College.
He did well there, especially in maths, chemistry and the science subjects. Such was his enthusiasm for chemistry that he persuaded his parents to build him a small wooden shed in the back garden which he stocked with chemicals. It was amazing what a teenage boy was able to purchase in those days. Penny and Tom remember Nigel returning from Bairds, the chemical supplier, with huge jars of sulphuric and nitric acid, and smaller jars of sodium, mercury and other potentially lethal substances.
Nigel’s chemistry shed
Nigel conducted some very exciting experiments. At one point his siblings believed he was trying to split the atom , but the recollections of his friend, John Perceval, who was in the same class at Watsons are probably more realistic.
In his post on this website, John remembers "I remember well him repeating the experiment we had been shown at school. It was a process used on the railways to weld rails together and was a combination of iron filings and I think sodium chlorate and magnesium in a crucible. Anyway it got very hot when he lit the blue touchpaper!"
His siblings remember more than one experiment ending in an explosion and Nigel emerging from the shed, face blackened, clothes in tatters, and on one occasion with shards of glass embedded in his face.
Acting
He was also an enthusiastic actor. At one Carlekemp end of term concert he played the part of the Queen of Hearts with gusto and at George Watsons he took part in a Sheridan play and was praised by name in the Edinburgh Evening Standard.
Fun at Portobello open air pool
Nigel was never particularly sporty but he and his brother and sisters loved going to the open air pool at Portobello. This was their idea of Paradise with a raft, regular wave sessions, a 10 metre-high diving platform and a nearby chipshop for after swim chips.
Only a very few intrepid divers took the 30 foot plunge from the top platform but Tom remembers one day losing his arm band in the deepest part of the pool under the diving boards. Try as he might he couldn't get down to the bottom to recover it. Nigel saved the day by diving from the top board and recovering it Tom was very impressed then and still is.
Early bridge
And then there was bridge.
Nigel's parents occasionally played bridge at home with friends. At an early age Nigel had watched or “kibbutzed” as he would say, and had sometimes been allowed to play a hand which he would later discuss with his dad. Indeed, it was his father, more than anyone, who played the most crucial role in developing Nigel’s lifelong devotion to bridge.
They were both bilingual and spoke fluent bridge endlessly - a language which is impenetrable to mere mortals. This constant loud, animated, drone is probably why Nigel’s siblings did not want to play any bridge at all for many years. Later on Nigel and his dad frequently partnered each other in major competitions and won many of them together. They both taught bridge too, at different times, in various bridge club night classes. Charles, like all of the family, was very proud of Nigel.
University
Returning to Nigel’s younger days, after Watsons he went on to study medicine at Edinburgh University where he took the opportunity to join every gaming group on offer, mastering Mah Jongg, backgammon, various pokers and of course bridge. This devotion to gaming may have been a part of why he didn't complete his medical degree. Nigel always said it was because he didn't like the human dissections. There's probably some truth in both versions.
Having decided medicine wasn't for him, Nigel took his degree in mathematics at Edinburgh University. He followed that up with a masters in Computer Science at Heriot Watt University.
Nigel and Val
Nigel married his first wife Val in 1963 when they were 19 and 22. The young couple lived in Edinburgh for a few years while Nigel was an actuarial student at Scottish Widows . Fittingly considering the derivation of Nigel’s name and his devotion to the Lay of the Last Minstrel, they lived for a while in at attic flat at 25 George Square, once the home of Sir Walter Scott.[1]
In 1967 or 8 Nigel got a job with the British Computer firm, ICL (now Fujitsu) and they moved down to High Wycombe where Nigel worked in ICL's educational research unit. Nigel's first daughter, Thérèse Sophie (Resi) was born in High Wycombe in 1971. Nigel was devoted to her. The family returned to Edinburgh when Resi was still a toddler but sadly in 1977 the marriage came to an end.
Nigel and Sandra - read by Babs
Dad had met Mum in passing at his sister Joy's wedding in 1976. But it was not until 1979 when they went to a wedding together that romance blossomed. They got married later the same year. A year later I was born, followed two years later by David.
Family life in Edinburgh
We lived in Edinburgh near Calton Hill (conveniently near the Calton Bridge Club) until 1987, when dad worked as IT Manager[2] at Highland Digital.
He later moved south again to take up a job with DEC UK in Reading working on digital systems. It was then that he embarked on his long association with Reading Bridge Club.
To begin we stayed in Edinburgh and dad commuted by plane, reliving his boarding school days. He brought back many excellent presents, mainly plastic ponies.
Family life in Reading
We didn’t see much of Dad until we all moved to England to join him. We got fewer presents but we did get to see more of dad. I remember particularly bedtime stories morphing into bedtime contract whist. And the time he taught us how to play Mah Jongg on the kitchen table. I loved the beautiful tiles and lyrical names of the winning hands. I did not love having to build the walls each time we played. Dad was an excellent Mah Jongg player, usually winning while we were still trying to sort out our suits, so we'd have to rebuild the whole thing every five minutes. David and I were probably 10 and 12 at the time.
In 1989 Resi's daughter, Eve, was born in Edinburgh. Nigel’s first (and so far only) beloved grandchild.
After he left DEC, having survived the infamous DEC fire, dad had various contracts. I remember one year in the 1990s going with him to a summer school where he taught English to German students. The set text was Bram Stoker's Dracula and they clearly all loved his lessons which were full of laughter. When he walked down the corridor students would shout out his name and in class they would rush to hand out the books.
Family holidays
Dad stayed active in his retirement, writing bridge articles and winning tournaments.
He also went on several international holidays with extended family.
Tom recalls “On a holiday in Agadir for a family birthday Nigel swam, played tennis and golf; did Arabic lessons; played backgammon and chess and even tried belly dancing. By the end of the week he had made friends with everybody in the resort He was also very generous and spent all his holiday money on the first night buying drinks for all his new friends.”
Dad’s nephew Mark who lives in Australia also shared his memories of some of those holidays. In particular the knock out tennis game we played for Joy’s birthday in Turkey. Mark was so confident of victory he spent the day drinking in the villa. Dad spent the day on the tennis courts practicing. In their match at 10pm dad’s practice paid off and Mark still can’t get over it to today. You can read his excellent funny article about his Uncle Nigel for the North Shore Bridge Club, Sydney. A link to it is on dad’s memorial website.
Bridge achievements
Dad was a legend at bridge, winning the Scotsman trophy for EBU national pairs competition online with partner Charles Outred while in hospital with a broken hip earlier this year. Other bridge achievements included
- winning every stanza and every match in 2018 in the Home Internationals with Jim Forsythe leaving him with a 100% international record
- winning the national Swiss pairs with Ying Piper in 2011
- winning the EBU Grand Master Pairs with David Barnes in 2008
- winning the mixed pairs three times with Carolyn Peploe in 1970, Liz McGowan in 1973 and Hedy Brown in 1997 (when Hedy was in her eighties)
- designing the Jasmine Club bridge system, immortalised on his website (You can find a link to this on Nigel’s memorial website.
Mark and several others speak of dad’s endearing habit of calling everyone 'partner'. This greeting often extended to his family, particularly when he couldn't remember our names because he was thinking of a bridge hand he'd played in 1972.
Personal bridge tributes
All who speak of him mention his patience and kindness with players who might not be up to his standard. Joy has happy memories of partnering Nigel in ‘friendly’ games. She recalls that Nigel was always unbelievably kind, patient and never criticised her. She has one particular memory of partnering him in the Young Chelsea bridge club in London at a French evening, when the players gathered around him afterwards in awe and admiration to ask (in French) how he’d managed to get a top result with some lowly card like the 8 of clubs.
Dad’s partner and team mate Ying Partner also speaks touchingly of Nigel:
“A truly kind, fair, generous man, Nigel was passionate about bridge, he would travel anywhere for a good game. He always enjoyed a good post mortem with a glass of red wine. Nigel spent endless hours helping others to improve their bridge, he encouraged less experienced players by playing with them, speaking out for them and standing by them, if there was any slight injustice in his eyes. Nigel never criticised his partner, always treated all his opponents with respect and welcomed everyone with a warm gentle smile. No strangers were at his table. He was the only player I know who was able to maintain a calm dignified manner when things could “explode” at the bridge table.”
Final years
Dad was diagnosed with cancer[3] 7 years ago. Since the diagnosis he's been in and out of hospital and had numerous operations. Throughout it all he's been his usual cheery, funny, optimistic self.
Mum and David have been there with him every step of the way, supporting him and helping him to live at home for as long as possible. From staying up late to watch Columbo repeats and order midnight take-aways, to finally finishing their childhood computer game Hugo's House of Horrors, they made his last year something to remember.
Thank you for listening to us talk about Nigel, beloved dad, partner, brother and friend. I couldn't ever do him justice, there'll always be so much more to say. I’m sure you all have memories of him too. We love to read them so if you can do add them to his website. Meantime, I know we'll all miss him so much. Bye dad, I hope there's good buns and buckets of horrible tea wherever you are.
