The game of bridge might, just might, have gone the way of other once popular but now nearly defunct card games such as bezique and piquet. There was a time when it was seen as the preserve of bad-tempered old men and respectable ladies of the parish who were simply thrilled when the vicar agreed to make up a four on a Sunday afternoon, lured by the promise of Madeira cake. Bridge was for retired people, people with nothing better to do. All that has changed spectacularly. Bridge is fast becoming the social game of choice. Estimates of the number of players in Britain is as much as three million.

Paul Mendelson, the author and columnist, teaches bridge privately and also at the Roehampton Club in West London. "We sell bridge as a social asset. There are 100,000 people taking up bridge every year, and I sometimes have as many as 80 people in a three-hour class. And the bridge cruises can’t settle for Mr and Mrs Buggins any more; they get the world’s top players - Zia Mahmood, Tony Forrester and Andrew Robson."

Mr Robson, 35, a high ranked international who has won the world’s top events, exemplifies the sea change that has occurred in the game. His club in London - primarily a teaching club - has almost 2,000 members.

"My members are mostly in their 20s and 30s, professional people, lawyers, City types," he says. ‘They are socialised out, fed up with saying ‘hello, I’m so-and-so, what do you do?’ Bridge is a challenge for them. We live in a communication era, with more leisure time and often too much choice. Bridge uses the brain, which is good, and also you have to have a partner, so it is like a marriage without strings. It is a microcosm."

All worlds are in this microcosm. From the small and large screens come players such as Diana Rigg, Angus Deayton, Stephen Fry, Jeremy Paxman, Rory Bremner and Clive Anderson. From high society come Chantal Hanover, the Bismarcks, the Dalmenys and Lady Dudley. The Pinters and the Saatchis play bridge, so apparently do Radiohead and Blur. At the Portland Club in Mayfair you’ll find Michael Green of Carlton TV, the Duke of Marlborough, Guy Harwood, the racing trainer, Peter Jay and a raft of heavy-hitters from the City.. Not only are the country’s bridge clubs packed every day, but there is a thriving tournament charity circuit. I recently had a most unlikely partner in a Red Cross tournament in the House of Lords - none other than Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate. Errol is a delightful partner and a huge fan of the game, though not quite as addicted as his wife, Ginette. Chatting to her during an interval, I said: "I bet this isn’t your first game this week." She replied: "You’re right, it’s my eighth."

But my favourite social bridge story comes from Carol Ryan, a lawyer from America who now lives in London with her husband, the literary agent Ed Victor.

"I grew up in New York and I wanted a more glamorous life than sitting at home playing bridge with my parents. I wanted to be out at El Morocco’s nightclub. "But one day, as I worked out in the gym, I thought ‘This is to keep my body fit, but what am I doing to keep my brain in shape?’ I knew a bridge teacher, David Parry, from the Vanderbilt Club in West London, so I took lessons and immediately loved it.

"I said to Ed that he really had to learn, but he said he was far too busy doing important book deals. We rented a cottage at Sissinghurst in those days, and one weekend it was his birthday. I produced David Parry in person as Ed’s surprise birthday present, and insisted he have a marathon weekend bridge lesson. Ed is very good at figures, naturally, and now he loves the game."