Source: IBPA Bulletin; February 2013
IBPA member Andrew Robson has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s 2013 New Year’s Day Honours List for his services to bridge and charity. The investiture will be on February 13.
Robson obtained a B.Sc. at the University of Bristol in 1985, and a Cert. Ed. the following year. In 2001 he suffered serious injuries when he slipped on ice when hill-walking in the Lake District and fell thirty feet. He broke many bones, spent two months in hospital and was in a wheelchair for much longer. Robson was able to return to the bridge table five months after the accident, the speed of his recovery astonishing his doctors. As a result, he received the IBPA Sportsmanship Award in 2002 “for his spectacular recovery from adversity”. Robson also has the distinction of receiving the IBPA award for Best Defense of the Year both as a player (1999) and as a journalist (2002). As well as his current daily bridge column for The Times of London and weekly columns for Country Life and Money Week magazines, Robson has also written for The Oldie, The Spectator and The Express on Sunday. He has written books on bridge, produced instructional CDs and DVDs and, in 1995, opened his own bridge club, The Andrew Robson Bridge Club, in London. Robson has put his training as a schoolteacher to good use by heading many instructional seminars around the UK, as well as hosting master classes and charity bridge events and teaching at his club. Robson is married and has two daughters.
This is PHILLIP ALDER article in the 
January 2, 2013
Andrew Robson Given Order of the British Empire By PHILLIP ALDER Published: January 2, 2013
Each Jan. 1 the reigning British monarch announces an honors list. British and Commonwealth subjects are recognized for especially meritorious achievement in almost any field.
This year the English bridge personality Andrew Robson has become an officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to bridge and charity.
At the table Robson won the World Youth Teams and Junior Common Market Teams in 1989 and the European Teams in 1991. He has also captured three board-a-match North American championships, five Gold Cups (the most prestigious event in Britain) and several top-ranked pair titles.
But Robson has earned the O.B.E. for his work away from the top level of the game. In 1995 he opened the Andrew Robson Bridge Club, which is now one of the largest in the world, with over 2,000 members. He stresses zero tolerance (no bad behavior) and teaches lots of classes, especially for beginners and the inexperienced. He learned the game when he was 10 from his parents, who now sometimes attend his classes.
He also runs about 50 so-called Bridge Days each year, usually raising money for charities — over 60 so far and counting. These typically attract more than 100 people.
Robson, who is married with two daughters, writes a column daily in The Times of London and weekly in The Sunday Times. He has done all of the above in only 48 years.
Robson is known for his accurate card play. The diagramed deal occurred during an online practice session some years ago. His partner was Rita Shugart of Pebble Beach, Calif., with whom he won his three North American titles. Her four-diamond rebid was a splinter, showing spade support, at most a singleton diamond and slam interest.
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