Allan Simmons (Scrabble ace) 1968 to 1975

St Mary’s old boy Allan Simmons with the very first British Matchplay Scrabble Championship (BMSC) trophy which he won in 1987

After leaving St Mary's with A-Levels in 1975, Allan joined the Central Electricity Generating Board as a trainee computer operator in the days when a computer was room-sized. He progressed into programming and then over time became a Project Leader. Staying with the Electricity Industry he then worked for National Grid as a Project Manager and then Contracts Manager. Allan married Gilli in 1989 and they have three daughters (now 31, 28, 26). He took early retirement at 50 which allowed him and his family to escape the rat race and move from Surrey up to the coastal village of Coldingham in the Scottish Borders, not too much further north of Northumberland where Gilli comes from. 

In a parallel universe, Allan had established himself as a Scrabble expert fairly early on after leaving St Mary’s, making his mark in the London Scrabble League and creating a fanzine (Onwords) in 1979 [folded in 2009]. He progressed to winning the inaugural British Matchplay Championships in 1987 and also taking the title in 1988 and 1991. He says that English was not his forte at school but thinks the fascination with words and game strategy is more related to art and mathematics. Amongst many other major tournament wins on the UK scene since, was the prestigious Mattel's National Championship which he won in 2007.

Allan was also instrumental in setting up the UK Scrabble Association (ABSP) in 1987 and similarly the World Players Association (WESPA) in 2003 serving periods as chairman for both. He was one of the team establishing the very first Official Scrabble Word List in 1988 and a member of the formal Scrabble Dictionary committee. This led to working alongside publishers which opened an avenue for writing books on the game, of which he has four to his name. He also engineered getting a regular Scrabble column in the Times which he wrote from 2005-2017 [now handed over to a younger player more active on the tournament scene]. But he still compiles a weekly prize Scrabble puzzle for the Saturday Daily Telegraph which he has been doing since 1995, and has also been compiling the content of the annual page-a-day Scrabble calendar since 2004.

Allan says he has largely retired from playing since 2015 (serious Scrabble demands a lot of time spent perfecting and refreshing word memory, plus travel to events, and is very draining). He now enjoys playing bass in a local rock covers band, walking their two flat-coated retrievers, and has rekindled his interest in art through a local village art club.