Radio Listen - BoB

Brain of Britain First Round Heat 5/12

Today’s contenders were all from the West of England , well, sort of. Valerie Cooper from Yeovil, 2008 Mastermind contender Ann Fallow from Totnes, LAM reader Rob Hannah from Torquay, and Peter Rodney from Gibraltar. . . Gibraltar ! That’s a hell of a commute to Broadcasting House.

Rob, Ann and Peter all scored buzz in bonuses, but Rob had answered two of his own questions correctly in the first round. So he led by the end of the first round. This set pretty much the template for the whole of the first half of the show. Rob continued to pick up bonuses, and was the only contestant to get at least one of his questions right in each round. So at the interval for the listener’s questions, Rob had a comfortable lead , having scored 9 points to Ann and Peter’s 4, and Valerie’s 2 points.

The canny listener managed to beat the contestants with both questions –
What can be sold in sizes including Marchioness – Queen – Empress etc. ? Apparently its roofing tiles.
Where would you find Galvane’s groove ?
Its in the upper incisor of a horse.

In the next two difficult rounds Rob failed to add to his 9 points. Nobody was scoring too highly, until the penultimate round. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, as Peter Rodney managed the first five question run. Those five points and the bonus took his score to 13. So going into the final round, he led Rob by 4 points. But LAM readers are a redoubtable and resilient bunch. Rob ideally needed a five question run. He didn’t get it, but he was close, with 4, and when this was added to a buzzer bonus, it took his score to 14. Peter Rodney could only add one to his score. 14 – all.

Great quizzing from the pair. So we had a tie-break – one, sudden-death question. Who said “ You taught me language . . . “ Rob knew it was Caliban in The Tempest, and wasted no time in buzzing in. A brilliant display of keeping ones nerves when in danger of having everything snatched away. Great show.

The Details

Valerie Cooper – 6
Ann Fallow – 6
Rob Hannah – 15 ( after tie – break )
Peter Rodney - 14