Mastermind 2022 - First Round - Heat 7

Well hello there, dearly beloved. I’m sorry I’m a day late. It come down to a couple of things. Partly it’s because I was having an internet message conversation with KD, my best mate from University, which we kept up throughout OC – sorry Victoria – and also partly because I’m still suffering from the flu. My temperature had gone down and my head had cleared enough for me to go into work today, but I'm still suffering from a distinct lack of energy. Enough of my problems

Let’s begin with Gillian Burgoyne who gave us a round on the saxophone. Do you do what I do before a round like this? Ransack your memory for what meagre facts you might know and then sit there muttering things like “Adolphe Sachs was Belgian, Raf Ravenscroft did the sax solo in Baker Street’? No, didn’t think so. Well I often do, and those bought me two correct answers, which got me off to a great start when combined with a couple of good guesses for 4. Gillian just missed out on double figures with 9, which would surely put her in the mix for the GK round.

I fancied the second specialist, Margaret Thatcher, as my banker for the night. Maybe I should rephrase that. Not even in my most depraved moments did I ever ‘fancy’ Mrs. Thatcher. 'Eyes of Caligula' etc. But I watched “A Very British Revolution” , read her books (a fine cure for insomnia) and lived through the Thatcher years. My political stance has always been considerably to the left of Mrs. T., although it’s worth noting that the two best friends I ever had at Uni – KD and my best friend on the same English course as me – were big supporters of her and her policies. Now, Dean Ward looked incredibly nervous, an impression which was confirmed when he failed to identify her constituency as Finchley. Maybe he’s never seen the ‘Mrs. Finchley’ clip. He steadied the ship after this, and powered his way to 8, and, what’s more, so did I.

Now, Marianne Mckillop’s subject, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” didn’t offer me a great deal. It was possibly my eldest daughter’s favourite TV show when she was considerably less eld, but I’ve never watched it. Still a little bit of Spanish (the hellmouth question) and a good guess (the Woodstock one) added another precious couple of points to my aggregate. Marianne did well, and powered her way into double figures – and let’s face facts, dearly beloved, in the current existence of the show, you have to do well to get into double figures.

Okay, remember what I said about my reaction to the round on the saxophone? Well, when David Howard sat down to answer his questions on the venomous snakes of Africa, I began to mumble “Black Mamba – Puff Adder – Black Mamba – Puff Adder) Don’t knock it if you’ve never tried it. It was precisely these two wrigglers – or do I mean slitherers? – that brought me two points for the round to give me an aggregate of 16. Bloomin’ happy with that. David looked happy with his 8 as well he should, for it was an impressive display of knowledge. Glass half empty? – he was in joint last place. Glass half full? He was a mere two points off the lead.

So, with all 4 contenders having earned my respect for their preparation for their specialist rounds, we moved to what would once again be the business end of the competition. First to return was Dean. Now, I have to say that I was impressed with the range of answers that Dean gave. His face suggested that a few of his correct answers were guesses, but then that can also be said to be an attribute of a good quizzer – you prefer to be certain of the answer, but you’re able to make an educated guess at many things you’re not certain about. At one stage I did think Dean might get a score in the teens. Well, he didn’t quite. Nevertheless, his 11 was more than enough, I thought, to open up the prospect of an uncomfortable crossing of the corridor of doubt for the three remaining contenders.

David Howard really didn’t do badly at all when all is said and done. He bagged a further 9 points, which is certainly a respectable score, but somehow it never quite looked like he would do it, and the doorway leading out of the aforementioned corridor was still a couple of steps away from his outstretched hands as the line of doom snaked it’s way around the score.

Gillian Burgoyne held a one point lead over Dean at the halfway stage, and it  certainly looked as if she was going to need it. Although she actually picked off some quite difficult stuff during her round, her guessing antennae seemed off, and it was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to make it before the end of the round. She scored 6 to finish with 15.

All of which brought Marianne McKillop back to the chair to have her tilt at winning the heat. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself, and yes, of course she had the support of the Clark sofa. She’s an English teacher! Marianne, in her after show insert, did say that she never plays in quizzes, but she does shout along with TV quizzes at home. As do many of us, Marianne, as do many of us. Bearing this in mind her tactic of giving a correct answer to anything she knew, taking a guess if she didn’t, and saying something which conceivably might be the answer if she couldn’t guess, was absolutely the right one. She was on 19 and no passes, which would have seen her through, as Clive asked the last question – all she had to do was say anything and she’d win. So she did say something. The correct answer. Well done, ma’am! I take the liberty of saying that I speak for all English teachers when I say we’re proud of you.

The Details

Gillian Burgoyne	The Saxophone	9	1	6	0	15	1
Dean Ward	The Life and Work of Margaret Thatcher	8	1	11	0	19	1
Marianne McKillop	Buffy The Vampire Slayer	10	0	10	0	20	0
David Howard	Venomous Snakes of Africa	8	0	9	0	17	0