Mastermind: Semi Final 6

We start in the same way that we started with each of the previous semis, by casting an eye over the previous performances of our plucky contenders.

John Cockerill	British Race Courses	12	0	16	3	28	3
Adrian Staton	Sir Michael Caine	13	0	15	3	28	3
Alison Rawlinson	Flanders and Swann	11	4	16	1	27	5
Keith Nickless	The Faces 1969-75	9	0	17	0	26	0
Martin Lloyd	The Battle of Trafalgar	11	1	13	5	24	6

You’re maybe thinking what I’m thinking – there are some pretty hefty performances on GK there. Of course, first round GK can only tell you so much about semi-final potential – I think the fact that the GK rounds have been a notch harder in the semis than they seemed to be in the heats have caught out some of our semi-finalists in earlier heats. Still, I have to say that the manner of both John Cockerill’s and Adrian Staton’s victories in the first round suggested that they would be in the mix.

Keith Nickless was first to go. Keith had the advantage of having been in a semi-final before, a few years ago. Of all tonight’s contenders he had produced the most modest performance in specialist in the heats, and so he achieved the feat tonight of scoring more highly in his semi-final specialist than he had in his heat, despite having had 30 seconds less in which to do it. I would never have forgiven myself if I hadn’t got his question about Morecambe and Wise appearing as themselves in the final episode of the Sweeney. Keith took 10 points, and as a rule of thumb, a double figure score in a semi final specialist round will usually put you into contention.

Sadly for our repechage runner-up, Alison Rawlinson, she was some way short of this mark in her own specialist round on Mary Seacole. It was difficult for me to put my finger on exactly what it was, but there was something about Alison’s round which made it seem as if she was not quite as comfortable with her subject as she had been with Flanders and Swann in the heat. 7 is nothing to be ashamed of by any means, but making up a gap of at least 3 points in GK was already looking like a tall order, and there were still three contenders to come.

The first of these, John Cockerill, had impressed me with the way he’d gone about his business in his heat. It’s pretty rare that you get the feeling that a contender hasn’t worked hard enough on their specialist in the heat, but it’s just as rare that you get the feeling that the contender could have gone on answering questions on their subject for the full half hour. I had that feeling with John’s round tonight on Captain Cook – it was a cracking round which saw John grab the round by the scruff of the neck, and not let it go until the buzzer. With a 2 point lead nothing was yet guaranteed, but he had certainly made the best start possible.

From Captain Cook to Tranmere Rovers FC, and our fourth contender of the show, Martin Lloyd. Martin had scored a pretty useful 11 on The Battle of Trafalgar in the heat. The nature of the task facing him was that he really needed a score of that ilk off a 90 second round. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he produced a pretty good round to take 8 points, but faced his own uphill battle if he was going to overhaul John in the GK.

Adrian Staton is a man after my own heart in choosing to answer on the travel writings of Bill Bryson. Put simply, I happily devour everything Bill Bryson writes that I can get my hands on. Apart from the fact that he’s incredibly interesting, and funny, his prose is so beautifully constructed and readable. So I’m in a position to say that I know Bill Bryson’s travel writing well enough to say that the questions in the round were testing, yes, but not unfairly difficult. So the causes of Adrian’s problems with his round remain a matter of speculation. What we can say is that he fell into a pass spiral, and at the end of the round had scored 3 with 5 passes.

All the more reason, then, to praise the GK round that Adrian put in. Somehow I doubt it helped that John made his comment about taking on a writer who has written so many books. John, I know that you’re only trying to be sympathetic, but I can’t believe that most people would find it helpful to have attention drawn to the disappointing specialist round they’ve just put in. Adrian’s GK round was a brave display of calm in the face of disappointment, and was well worth the 12 points he picked up – a performance comparable to his 15 off 2 and a half minutes in the first round heat.

I mentioned at the start of the review that the relative gentleness of the first round GK scores can make it difficult to separate the competent from the good, and the good from the great, and maybe this was demonstrated by Alison’s GK round. Maybe the questions just didn’t suit, and maybe it was just a bad day at the office. Whatever the case she needed 8 to equal Adrian’s 15, and couldn’t quite make it. She scored 7 for a total of 14.

Essentially the contest really got down to the nitty gritty with the commencement of Martin Lloyd’s GK round. It was another very good round, and I dare say that Martin is a quizzer, looking at the range and breadth of questions that he answered correctly. A score of 12 and no passes meant that John would need to score 8 and no passes just to equal his score. Maybe not a huge score, no, but enough to place many a contender within the corridor of doubt.

We’ve seen Keith Nickless comfortably negotiating his pathway through that particular corridor before, and so I had a feeling that he would find the double figure score he needed to take the lead from Martin. He did too, although if truth were told there really wasn’t a great deal in it. He was level on score and passes with Martin when he guessed the answer to the last question, correctly. That raised the bar to 21 and no passes for a tie break, with the banker paying 22 and over.

In pretty much any game or sport where skill is involved, the best practitioners can make it look easy. John always looked as if he was going to make the target, and he did too, with a little time to spare. By the end of the round his own score of 12 had taken the total to 24, putting daylight between himself and the chasing pack. This was a performance which ear marks John as a person to watch in the final. Mind you, there are another 5 of those as well.

Well played all – and John, best of luck in the final.

The Details

Keith Nickless	The Sweeney	10	0	11	0	21	0
Alison Rawlinson	Mary Seacole	7	1	7	2	14	3
John Cockerill	Captain James Cook	12	0	12	0	24	0
Martin Lloyd	Tranmere Rovers FC	8	0	12	0	20	0
Adrian Staton	The Travel Writings of Bill Bryson	3	5	12	2	15	7