Mastermind Round One: Heat 24

I was interested to see that we had a University Challenge winner among the contenders in this final first round heat. This was none other than Adam Barr, a member of the victorious Manchester team in 2013. Well - I announced to the empty living room - should he win the series he won’t be the first to complete the double – that distinction belongs to our own Stephen Follows. But this was getting ahead of myself. Adam hadn’t even sat down for his first round yet.

The round in question, then, was on Naval Battles of World War One. Good subject – many people think the extent of naval action in World War One was the Battle of Jutland and that was it. Au contraire, as Adam well knew. To be honest, his round looked to me worth rather more than the plain ten points that he achieved, but nonetheless we’ve seen during the series that usually, any double figure score will give you a chance if you have a good general knowledge, and from UC we at least already knew that he had this.

Trevor Rhodes, our second contender, offered us a genuinely great film actor, in the figure of Charles Laughton. I think I must have known more about Charles Laughton than I thought I did, since I managed 7 of these, for my best SS round of the evening. This wasn’t even close to Trevor’s score of 13, mind you. The last question was on my favourite of his films, Spartacus – in his autobiography “Dear Me” Peter Ustinov wrote very entertainingly about the antipathy between Laughton and Olivier during the making of the film.

For our second war-based subject of the evening, James Shore answered questions on the De Havilland Mosquito – the ‘wooden wonder’ Second World War fighter bomber plane. For the second time this evening, I felt that James’ performance on the round was actually somewhat better than the score he achieved. He obviously knew his stuff, and I did think that 8, while a perfectly decent score, wasn’t an accurate reflection of this. It’s a shame, because at 5 points behind the very least it would be was an uphill struggle for him.

Finally Dave Mason gave us The Punisher. I’m afraid that my knowledge of the Punisher doesn’t really go beyond a poor Dolph Lundgren movie (which is probably a tautology when you come to think of it.) This was my worst round of the night, but it went pretty well for Dave. 11 points meant that he was just 2 points behind Trevor at the halfway stage, and was still well in contention.

At this point I’d like to go back to a point that John made at the start of the show, where he said that only one place remained in the semi-finals. Point of order, John. One place as of right remained, but for all he knew at the start of the show the runner up in this heat might have scored enough to have gained a runner up slot. Still, by half time it was pretty clear that realistically, the contenders in possession of these going into this last heat were still going to be in possession of them by the end of it.

So to the GK rounds. James Shore’s round was something of a study in frustration. Now, while I would draw the line at making an observation that quizzing is not a matter of life and death, because it’s far more important than that, I do take my quizzing seriously while I’m playing. So I like to see someone else to whom it matters. And it clearly mattered to James. The questions did not fall his way, and his frustration as the guesses failed to reap a harvest was almost tangible through the TV set. Hard lines, and you do have my sympathy.

It was a pensive looking Adam who returned to the black chair. 3 behind is a significant deficit to make up, but it’s vital that you keep your head, and amass the best GK score you can. Adam’s job at the very least was to put Dave and Trevor into the corridor of doubt. His tactic seemed to be answering as many questions as possible, but passing when no answer came. It worked to the extent of bringing him 13. I felt that this would be enough to push open the door to the corridor, but the coin was in the air as to whether it would be enough for a win. Certainly he had a concerned look on his face as he left the chair.

Dave gave it a lash, but with only one point lead over Adam at the halfway stage, it soon looked fairly clear that he was going to fall some way short. The chair can do funny things to you, and it doesn’t help when John decides to rub it in that an answer you missed comes to you just too late. Yes, contenders never tire of that one, John. Dave finished with 21, and respectability.

In his SS round, Trevor answered precisely, and in a rather leisurely fashion, and he started his GK round in the same fashion. OK, he did have a little bit of leeway to begin with, but this cushion seemed to be melting away before our eyes. He rallied in the last minute, but the finishing post didn’t come within touching distance until the blue line of doom had begun to snake around the score. He reached 10 correct answers by the end of the round to take his total to 23, the same score as Adam. Yet who had incurred the fewer passes? Well, as it turned out, it was Adam. So the double is still on. Hard lines Trevor, but well played. As for Adam, good luck in the semis.

The Details

Adam Barr	Naval Battles of World War One	10	1	13	3	23	4
Trevor Rhodes	Charles Laughton	13	2	10	4	23	6
James Shore	The DeHavilland Mosquito	8	2	6	1	14	3
Dave mason	Garth Ennis’ Punisher Max	11	1	10	4	21	5