My husband Frank Hawthorne and his friend Mike Myers, senior maths lecturers, enjoyed a game of chess. They often played together in the college staff room during their lunchtime break.

On one occasion the two men, both reasonably good players, accepted a challenge by their teacher colleagues to enter a competition taking place in nearby Croydon.

The two men set off for the large exhibition hall where the chess matches were to be held. Never having visited the place before, they wandered round the first floor searching for the venue. A woman came out of the lift, eyed them up and suddenly ran towards them.

‘Are you going to the Meet and Match?’ she asked, a tremor of hope in her voice.

Quick as a flash Mike replied, ‘No, sorry, we’re going to the Meet and Mate.’ Whether Frank and Mike won the tournament, I do not know, but the above story partly explains this book’s origin and title. Its aim is to help you meet, marry and stay with the right man or woman for you.