Victor Mollo

He is best known for his "Menagerie" series of bridge books, which consist of fable-like stories of caricatured people with animal names and mannerisms playing the game.

As an editor in the European service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, he began to write books and articles on the game.

He would play rubber bridge at his club each afternoon, enjoy a dinner and wine with his wife, whom he referred to as "The Squirrel", and then work all night until 6 am, when he would take a brief sleep.

Many of his daily achievements at the rubber bridge table would become elements of fictional stories written later in the night.

The Bridge in the Menagerie series started with the book of the same name, originally published in 1965, which had several sequels on the same theme.