I met Alex through being drawn together in the leagues at Eastcote Squash Club in the summer of 1984. He nearly killed me with his vicious backhand follow-through. After the game we shared pints (not lemonade) until he wanted to rush off as Mags was nearly due with Anna. Bizarrely, so was Maria (my wife) with our eldest, Shoshana. They were born 14 days apart and subsequently (in 1987) Lucy and Kirsten 10 days apart. We continued to play squash and discovered a mutual love of board games. I was just investigating man-jong and a school was formed, Alex, Kevin (a mate of mine), John (a neighbour) and myself. After a while to settle arguments (as to whom was the best player) a championship was created. We played 10 games a year. Computer records start from 1991. John was replaced by Andy and then by another Andy but the 3 old stagers stayed the same. Of course the overall champion is Alex (although I still had hopes of catching up). When the family car radio business was defeated by the Internet/better fitted stereo systems, Alex created Mr. Reliable. His DIY talents would have seen him prosper anyway but (after some persuasion on my part) he allowed me to put his details on Which. He became much in demand. Why? He was very good at doing almost anything DIY. He was jovial. He didn't overcharge. He was honest. His honesty was much in evidence in our mah-jong games when he would always see fair play even if he was the loser by it. Farewell old buddy. Brian, Maria, Shoshana & Kirsten.