Radio Listen - Brain of Britain

Brain of Britain – Round One – Heat 12/12

Here we are at the end of the first round of this series of Brain of Britain. The Radio 4 website bills this week’s heat as containing 4 contestants from the North of England. I’m sure that this came as news to Richard Beatty, who hails from Edinburgh, which by no stretch of the imagination qualifies as the North of England. Oh, I can feel my scots inherited genetic hackles rising. On with the review, though. I have a record of a Richard Beatty playing in the semi finals of Mastermind in 1981. Same man ? I couldn’t tell you. However , our second contestant, Anne Hegerty, is most definitely the same Anne Hegerty who reached the semi finals of Are You An Egghead this year, incidentally knocking me out in the process. I believe Anne has been a semi finalist in BoB before, and she has also twice been a contender in Mastermind. The third contestant was David Smith from Nantwich. Again, I have a record of a David Smith playing in the 1990 and the 2003 series of Mastermind, although again, I can’t say whether this is the same gentleman. Finally Martin Wyatt from Accrington, and yes, I do have a record of a Martin Wyatt competing in Mastermind in 1988. Again, this may or may not be the same person.

On with the show, then. Good first rounds from Mr. Beatty and Mr. Smith saw them score 4, to lead by two points from Anne, and 4 points from Martin Wyatt. Anne began to make her move in round 2, though, with superb work on the buzzer pushing her up to 6 points, and the lead. In the third round she did even better, taking 5 points, to push her score to 11, and her lead to 4. Only two points came her way in round four, but only Martin wyatt managed to drag himself any closer.

The first of the listener’s questions was which Olympic event is contested over a distance of 51.5 km ? The team did very well to work out that we were dealing with the Triathlon. The second question was – what 4th event is most commonly added to the triathlon events to make a quadrathlon ? Again, the team did well to get kayaking. A fitting tribute to the quality of the field in today’s contest.

Anne added a point to her score in round 5, and another in round 6 , but neither Richard Beatty nor David Smith was making any headway at all. Going into the last round, being realistic only a set of 5 and a bonus was going to give anyone the chance of catching Anne. As it was that’s exactly what Martin Wyatt got. However Anne herself had managed 3 points of her own, to push her comfortably over the line for a two point win. As for Martin Wyatt, Russell Davies suggested that his late burst might not be in vain. Well, I can confirm that it was definitely not in vain, since he claims one of 4 highest scoring runner up spots, if my calculations are correct, along with Simon Pitfield, Marie Coyle and Jane Ann Liston. Well done both, Anne and Martin !


The Details

Richard Beatty – 11
Anne Hegerty – 18
David Smith – 11
Martin Wyatt – 16