Corrispondente specializzato del "The Independent" fino al 1986, lavorò anche per "The Independent on Sunday", inoltre, fu per 5 anni l'editore di Bridge Magazine e fu il coautore del fortunato libro "The Ultimate Trivia Quiz Game Book" che contiene oltre 10.000 domande.

 Fu capitano non giocatore della squadra inglese femminile che vinse a Oslo nel 1969 l'argento nei Campionati Europei a Squadre e della Squadra Juniores che vinse la medaglia di bronzo nella edizione inaugurale dei Campionati Europei nel 1968 a Praga.

 Da giocatore, oltre ad alcuni titoli nazionali, ha vinto il Campionato Mondiale Seniores a Coppie a Ginevra nel 1990 ed il bronzo ai Campionati Europei a Squadre di Dublino nel 1967.

Nella seconda metà degli anni '90, si trasferì con la moglie in Spagna per beneficiare del clima migliore e si spense dopo una lunga battaglia con la sindrome di Guillaine-Barre il 7 giugno del 1999 a Malaga.

 Nel 1983, dopo essere rimasto vedovo, sposò in seconde nozze la Campionessa Maureen Berman (1942 - 2022) che firmò come Maureen Hiron per lungo tempo le colonne specializzate di "The Independent" e che, insieme al marito, festeggiò il matrimonio andando a vincere il bronzo ai Campionati a Coppie Seniores del MEC nel 1993.

 La storia di Maureen è di quelle da ricordare, insegnante di fisica, nel 1974 restò vittima di un crollo avvenuto nella scuola che le lesionò parte del cervello lasciandola invalida ed inabile all'insegnamento. Maureen si dedicò allora interamente allo studio ed al gioco del bridge rendendosi protagonista di un miracolo clinico, le parti lesionate del suo cervello si rigenerano partendo da quelle sane e le conferirono un QI di elevato livello potendo godere allo stesso tempo delle conoscenze acquisite in vita e delle doti intuitive di un bambino!

Nel 1982 ebbe l'intuizione di creare "Continuo" un gioco che si vendette in centinaia di migliaia di copie fino d attirare l'attenzione delle multinazionali che le proposero di smerciare sotto il suo marchio le loro creazioni. Il destino era però ancora in agguato perché Maureen fu colpita da un cancro e dovette alienare la sua società e dedicare tutto il suo tempo a curarsi. Tuttavia, mentre era ricoverata in ospedale, ideò un nuovo gioco "Chip" che divenne famosissimo quando la premiere Margaret Thatcher fu ripresa a giocarlo a Downing Street.

Nell'ultima parte della sua vita si dedicò alla musica e fu un altro successo, assieme all'artista Sheyla Bonnick che aveva conosciuto in una crociera in cui era stata sua allieva di bridge. Le due dettero viva ad un nuovo genere musicale chiamato "Matzar".

Alan Hiron was the Bridge Correspondent of The Independent from its inception in 1986 and of The Independent on Sunday from its launch four years later.

He was born in 1933, in Enfield, Middlesex, the son of a refrigeration expert (by repute the first man to skate on an ice-rink in South Africa). He was educated at Latymer, Edmonton, and won the London Schools Chess Championship in 1949. In his first year at University College London, where he won a scholarship to read Mathematics, he represented London University at chess - and also at bridge, a new-found interest. He concentrated on bridge and his work and graduated with a First in Pure Mathematics, and a growing reputation in bridge circles.

After lecturing in maths at University College, in 1959 he joined Shell in their fledgling computer department (with a massive thermionic valve computer, static water tanks and a team of engineers on site). The same year he married the European Championship winner Marjorie Van Rees.

Hiron then joined PLRA, the Paper, Printing and Packaging Industries Research Association, but his increasing involvement as a bridge player, lecturer, trainer and writer led him to abandon the world of mathematics and concentrate full-time on bridge. For 29 years he lectured at the London School of Bridge, where he was affectionately known as "The Headmaster".

The Charity Challenge Cup was an annual world-wide bridge event organised by Jill Gatti. For some 30 years Hiron edited the book of hands, and assisted in scoring the event - a mammoth task. In 1967, partnering Irving Rose, he played on the British team in the European Championships in Dublin; the team won the Bronze Medal. He also represented England in Camrose matches (the Home Countries international bridge championships) and was at various times non-playing captain, trainer, coach and selector for British teams.

Hiron had won most of the British and English major events, but perhaps his most dramatic was in 1964 when he won the British Premier team event, the Gold Cup, and in the final session turned a substantial deficit into the narrowest of wins by one point. His regular partner in those days, and his Gold Cup partner, was Albert Dormer, who shortly afterwards went to the United States. They did not play together again until 1990, when they discovered they would both be in Geneva to cover the World Bridge Championships. They teamed up to play in the first ever World Senior Pairs Championship and won handsomely, bringing the Gold Medal to Great Britain.

Hiron captained the British Junior team in the inaugural Junior European Championships held in Prague in 1968. His hired Skoda motor car set an unofficial world record of returning back to the hotel with 16 people on board. They were stopped by the police, but there was a happy ending when the present bridge correspondent of The Times, Robert Sheehan, produced his Bridge Master Points card in place of a driving license. An unsure police officer in charge allowed them to re-assemble and proceed back to their destination, so establishing the principle that Master Points served a useful purpose.

Hiron was the editor of Bridge Magazine, the world's oldest extant bridge publication, from 1985 to 1990. He also wrote a number of bridge books, the last two, Beginning Bridge (1989) and Easy Guide to Bridge (1994), in collaboration with Maureen.

The Hirons also co-wrote a range of quiz books, notably the best-selling The Ultimate Trivia Quiz Game Book (1984), which contains over 10,000 questions. They were also joint question consultants and adjudicators of the popular Channel 4 quiz show Fifteen To One, first screened in 1988. In 1982 they formed Hiron Games, to market and manufacture the game Continuo, also a best-seller. A string of other games followed, Alan's primary role being to test and refine the ideas originating from Maureen. In 1984 they were the subject of a BBC TV documentary, A Will to Win.

In the early 1990s the Hirons made the south of Spain their base to continue their bridge and games activities, benefiting from the better climate. It was there that Alan died, after a long fight against the muscle-paralysing Guillaine- Barre syndrome, in Malaga.

Alan Hiron was kind, principled and gentle. He enjoyed a party and his catch cry "Did you say redders?" invariably signaled that the beer had run out and other delights were to be sampled.

He died Malaga, Spain 7 June 1999.

In 1983 Alan Hiron married Maureen Berman (photo to right), who also represented Great Britain and England at bridge, and in 1993 they played bridge together in the European Union Senior Pairs in Portugal, winning the Bronze Medal.

The story of Maureen (1942 - 2022) is one to remember, a physics teacher, in 1974 she was the victim of a collapse in the school that damaged part of her brain, leaving her disabled and unable to teach.

Maureen then devoted herself entirely to the study and game of bridge, becoming the protagonist of a clinical miracle, the injured parts of her brain regenerate themselves starting from the healthy ones and gave her a high level IQ being able to enjoy at the same time the knowledge acquired in life and of the intuitive skills of a child!

In 1982 she had the intuition to create "Continuo" a game that sold in hundreds of thousands of copies until it attracted the attention of the multinationals who proposed to sell their creations under her brand.

But fate was still lurking because she Maureen was struck by cancer and she had to alienate her company and devote all her time to heal herself.

However, while she was hospitalized, she came up with a new game "Chip" which became hugely popular when the premiere Margaret Thatcher was resumed playing it in Downing Street.

In the latter part of her life he devoted himself to music and it was another success, together with the artist Sheyla Bonnick whom she had met on a cruise in which she had been her bridge student. The two gave birth to a new musical genre called "Matzar".