Roy Hollands was born July 20th,1924 to an unpromising start. The doctors said he had one week to live. Roy gave his own second opinion and proved right and is stll here nearly 4,000 weeks later!
Boxing was his early passion. He began fighting in a boxing booth for 'nobbins' , then the Amatuer Boxing Association, followed by captaining his University team. He was selected to box for England and seriously considered becoming a professional at one time, though never did.
He served in the RAF on flying duties during World War 2, including a spell in Nigeria.
He married Margaret in 1945, and they now have have a daughter, Ann, two grandchildren and a great-grandson; who has recently arrived.
Roy, an educated man can boast several letters after his name: B.Sc, M.A., M.Ed, F.Coll.P, Ph.D. He says they look impressive and that there are others too!
He is an authority on the teaching of mathematics as his 224 books and over 300 articles testify. He was the Editor and main author of a series of publications on mathematics for several countries around the world: Uganda, Lesotho, Cameroon, Nigeria, West Indies, Egypt and the U.K. He has also lectured and advised in the U.S.A., Tanzania and Pakistan. Altogether he has visited more than a hundred countries.
He has been playing backgammon for ten years, and joined BIBA in September 1992. He spends about 20 hours a week playing or studying the game. 1999 was a great year for him. He won the Hilton Trophy, the Townharbour Trophy, the Swiss Grand Prix Championship and was Champion of Champions. He also won the 1000-to-1 award with eleven consecutive wins in 11 point matches. Together with Corinne Sellens and Simon Gasquoine, he came second out of 72 teams in the World Team Championship in Monte Carlo. He is currently Number 1 in the Netgammon UK ranking. He is also a regular contributor to Bibafax, the newsletter of the British Isles Backgammon Association.
He was Mensa Chess Champion in 1992, and is the captain of their A Correspondence team and top of their individual League Table.
Unfortunately 1999 did however have a downside for him. Prostate cancer was diagnosed . But, ever the optimist, Roy expects to win this fight, on points, by the end of this year.
