Books by Nick Smith

A humorous yet honest look at the education system, from trainee teacher to headmaster across an extraordinary thirty-year career.

Nick Smith’s first book, Bridge Literature, was originally published by Cadogan Books in 1993 and has since been acclaimed as one of the quirky classics of the game. More Bridge Literature takes a similar form, as a set of parodies of well-known works of English literature.King Lear finds himself playing for France, Winnie-the-Pooh makes his first slam and Lady Bracknell proves hard to impress. Sherlock Holmes’ deductive skills fail him for once, Robinson Crusoe takes drastic action and there’s a lot of fumbling under the table at Cold Comfort Farm. More Bridge Literature is an irreverent and humorous take on much-loved literary classics.Most of the deals are also presented in quiz-form. Readers are encouraged to attempt these declarer-play problems before reading the stories in which the deals are located. But be warned — these may be the toughest single-dummy problems ever published! If you solve even half of these, you are a current or future international player.

Parody is the Sincerest Form of FlatteryBridge Literature was first published by Cadogan Books in 1993 and has since been acclaimed as one of the quirky classics of the game. Most of the stories in Bridge Literature originally appeared in English Bridge, International Popular Bridge Monthly and other periodicals.Readers may be inspired to turn to the original works upon which these stories are based. Most of the original stories are well-known, at least as far as the plot and major characters are concerned, but more pleasure may be derived from the stories if read in conjunction with the original.This new edition has been updated and extended to precede the publication of More Bridge Literature.

The Battle of Fyfield tells the story of a small village's struggle to prevent a new town being built on adjacent farmland owned by an Oxford college. Giles Debbage, the play's focal character, lives in the village's old schoolhouse or, more specifically, in a cellar-office, thanks to marital difficulties. In a vain bid to impress his wife Alice and two teenage daughters, he and a neighbour hatch a plot to kidnap a celebrity don from the college in question. They hope to blackmail the college into abandoning its plans to sell the farmland for development. The kidnap goes ahead but there are a number of surprising revelations and tragi-comic consequences.The Battle of Fyfield is perfect for a smallish, mixed-age cast. All the action takes place on a single, simple set and there are no special costume requirements. It is a mixture of comedy, history and contemporary satire, but it asks important questions about change within rural communities, the role of academic institutions, the power of social media and the future of family life. The play is based on real-life events and, although no such kidnap was ever attempted, the publicity for the play in the local press contributed to the eventual shelving of plans for the new town to be built. It will be an inspiration to any villages and towns faced with unwanted developments.

June 1822. P.B. Shelley is planning a new bridge book. It will feature the most dazzling, difficult deals ever published, the bridge of the gods. It will also be his manifesto – a defence of bridge...But before Shelley leaves on his ill-fated trip to Livorno, he only has time to send his publisher a short "Declarer Play Problems" pamphlet. Nick Smith, however, has unearthed a series of hitherto unchronicled episodes in the poet's life, which demonstrate where the deals first arose, and what actually happened at the bridge table in each case. Historically accurate and beautifully illustrated, this is a book for fans of classic literature as well as bridge players.

Glen is as dead as a dodo's doornail, and what's more he has just lost his job. How he became a differently-alive ex-employee is a mystery and extremely inconvenient, in fact it's a bit of a downer. But one thing is certain - he'll stop at nothing to find out how he became a morbid member of the ungrateful undead.