Vintage Mastermind - 1977 Heat 1

I didn’t realise until I watched the show on Monday evening, but the first heat of Mastermind 1977 - shown on Monday on BBC4 -  did actually get a brief mention in Magnus Magnusson’s “I’ve Started So I’ll Finish”. I only realized this when we came to the end of the show and Magnus issued a correction to Martin Leadbetter’s score, where he was awarded an extra point. It made no difference to the out come of the show and neither would it had he been awarded another point for what he felt was another badly worded question.

The heat was won by student teacher Sue Jenkins. I was struck by a number of things about it. Remember that this was 1977, by which time the show had well and truly found its feet and was becoming something of a national institution. I was just surprised how relatively unimpressive visually it was. If you compare it with the studio bound set used in the Next Generation, it all looks smaller, even maybe just a little cosier – although it was nice to see the black ribbed flooring around the chair that I remember.

Another thing which surprised me – and I feel a heel for saying this, because I was a fan of Magnus as the question master and regret never having had the chance to meet him – was how many slight stumbles and hesitations he made asking the questions. In fact he actually said that meticulous efforts were made to ensure each contender had the same amount of time and extra time was allotted for his own little stumbles and hesitations. Talk about letting daylight in on magic.

As for the contenders, well, I think I have to strike a note of caution. I do not know what quiz culture was like in the UK in the mid 70s. I really don’t know if, for example, pub quizzes were anything like as common or popular as they are now. I do know that quiz shows were one common TV staple back then because I watched a lot of them. But I have to say that I felt the GK round scores were rather modest considering the number of questions they got through. I don’t know if it was just an anomaly in this particular heat, but the number of passes made across the 4 rounds was huge compared to a show from the 2020s.

One other thing that struck me as well was that at least 3 of the contenders in this heat were a lot less impassive than has become the norm. You could see , at times, frustration, anger and despair going on inside all of which was at times written across the three gentlemen’s faces.

I hope that BBC4 is going to continue showing the 1977 series. If nothing else, in heat 2 we get to see where Magnus supposedly tells a contender that Jesus’ first name was Reginald. (It was Jeeves’ first name, but a viewer in Northern Ireland misheard and complained about the ‘blasphemy’).

University Challenge 2027 - First Round Magdalen, Oxford v. Warwick

The Teams

Magdalen College, Oxford

Anapan Bandi

Ellie Spicer

Bernardo Lustrini (capt.)

Ioan O’Reilly

Warwick

Jolie Yeh

Patrick Hartley

Odysseas Gabrielatos (capt.)

Tobin Payne

For the first starter I had the given name Jane from the young woman from Baltimore in novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tobin Payne had it from Jane Eyre. Starter one. Two bonuses on the Congress of Vienna followed. Magdalen lost five on the next starter allowing Jolie Yeh in with the word vernacular. Bonuses on the Chott el Djerid – as opposed to my answer, the Wadi El Yerwant – brought just one bonus, and they probably ought to have had Jules Verne as well. Ellie Spicer put Magdalen’s score into the black, recognising the moon Io for the next starter. Chemistry bonuses yielded two correct answers to Magdalen and one quick lap of honour around the Clark sofa for me. Yeah, I know very little about the subject but I know enough to yell ‘diabetes!’ when the words disease and ketones feature in the question. For the picture round we saw a chakra wheel, similar to that on the national flag of India, but nobody could link it to Ashoka the Great. Jolie Yeh recognised a description of the legendary Mulan for the next starter. Three more flags and symbols bearing prominent chakras brought a brilliant full house to Warwick. If Magdalen didn’t already know that they were in for a long evening, this might well have convinced them. Tobin Payne took a second starter knowing that the 2024 women’s Olympic climbing champion was Polish. 21^st Century fiction inspired by the Arabian Nights brought just one bonus. At the ten minute mark Warwick led 75 – 15 and they looked pretty good value for their lead, too.

The onslaught continued as Patrick Hartley correctly guessed that Mary Cassatt had completed a mural for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Recent biographical films about musicians brought them two bonuses and pushed them to the brink of triple figures.  Tobin Payne took his third starter, knowing that the Codex Regius containing the original manuscript of the Poetic Edda had to be housed in Reykjavik. Vreiðr vas þa Ving- þorr etc. etc. Frederico Busoni brought one bonus. The next starter was one of those UC specials where you wait and wait then there’s a mad dash for the buzzer when it becomes obvious. As soon as NH3 was mentioned Ellie Spicer was in with Ammonia. Two bonuses on optical illusions were taken. So to the music starter and both Tobin Payne and I recognised Chuck Berry. This was Tobin’s 4^th starter. Other pieces used for walk-on music by professional darters only brought one bonus, but as regards the match even at this stage it seemed very unlikely that Magdalen were going to be able to muscle their way back into it. They tried, though, you have to give them that, coming in too early on the next starter- which was exactly the right tactic even if it didn’t quite work this time. Warwick skipper Odysseas Gabrielatos came in with tremelo which meant that every member of the team had answered at least one starter each. They took just one on a pretty gettable set on the Judgement of Paris. Patrick Hartley took his second starter knowing that Henri de Navarre – King Henry IV was the first Bourbon to be King of France. They’d all been custard creams up to that point. You know, even I’m ashamed of that one, sorry. Currencies with geographical names brought two more bonuses. Patrick Hartley took a third bonus with Rhode Island. Didn’t once mention Family Guy in the questions either. One bonus on shades of blue named after people – Bert Prussian and Sid Cobalt were not name checked, unfortunately – brought one correct answer. This meant that the scores were 175 – 30. And the Warwick juggernaut rolled on.

A mind-numbing physics starter gave Tobin Payne starter five. Kapuscinski, a member of the famous ‘Who?’ family, brought 2 bonuses. Edward Muybridge’s famous horse photos pushed Warwick through the 200 barrier. Bonuses on horse paintings brought just one bonus – I’m a bit surprised that they didn’t know Stubbs. Ioan O’Reilly bought some hard-earned points for Magdalen, knowing that the first correspondence course taught shorthand. The wittig reaction – ‘twas wittig and the slithy toves ? – brought a full house and earned Ellie Spicer the gratitude of her skipper. I thought Ioan O’Reilly’s buzz for the next starter was a good one based on what we’d heard, but it was a gamble and lost 5. Given the full question Tobin Payne didn’t manage to add to his starter tally, even though the clue to Sweden was in the full question. Again, Bernardo Lustrini was definitely on the right lines with his early buzz for the next starter, but he gave chess openings while the question called specifically for the Sicilian Defence. To be fair to Tobin Payne, he did sound apologetic when he answered this to pick up his 7^th and last starter. A full house on terms from Japanese cookery raised the possibility of a 300+ score. With the next starter you had to wait and wait, then it became obvious that placenta was the answer and Jolie Yeh won the buzzer race to take her third starter. Seascape paintings brought a full house and Warwick hit 260, less than 2 full houses away from 300. Sadly Magdalen lost five with an early buzz for the next starter. Given the words philosopher and hemlock Odysseas Gabrielatos knew it had to be Socrates, captain of the 1982 Brazilian world cup football team. The South African National Assembly Elections of 2024 brought one bonus, but it meant that Warwick were just one full house away from 300. Odysseas Gabrielatos took his own third starter, knowing that the Diomede islands belong partly to the USA and partly to Russia. Three concepts in physics gave them the full house and the rarely achieved triple hundred. That was it. Warwick won by 300 to 40.

Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks. Magdalen are undoubtedly better than a 40 point team. Buzzing without caution was a gamble, but it was a worthwhile gamble. Yes, had they been a little more cautious they might even have approached triple figures, but they had to try to disrupt the Warwick rhythm. I give them credit for that. As it was they achieved a BCR of 77.7%. But they were very much outbuzzed by Warwick. Despite having so many bonuses to answer, Warwick still managed a BCR of 58.3%. How good are they? Well, we’ll start to find out the answer in round two. But a team to watch, I reckon.

Amol Watch

For once I thought Amol’s rather hyperbolic commiserations to the losing team were pretty much what was called for. Nice work, sir.

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week

Mulan means Magnolia

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

It was very tempting to select ‘pyruvate oxidative decarboxylation’ but the sheer endless waffle of the following has to take the prize:-

In Physics what letter of the alphabet names a theory that, according to one proponent, has the potential to unify the various forms of string theory with the theory of supergravity? What the letter in question represents is unclear, one suggestion being a mathematical term for a rectangular array of numbers or data.

Unless of course you prefer dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

A Conundrum

Somehow I doubt that there’s a simple explanation, or indeed a single answer to this question but I’m going to ask it anyway. Why is it that some shows explode from the country of their birth to go on to be a success across different parts of the world while some only remain a home grown smash, and others find great success yet still have a few countries in which they flop.

I’ll tell you what prompts me to ask. The BBC have just put a couple of series of Australian Survivor onto the iplayer. I’m a Survivor fan from way back., and used to watch Australian Survivor on Netflix. And I’ve never quite been sure about why it never caught on in the UK, not in the original 2 UK series on ITV nor on the BBC revival a couple of years ago.

We can look at the things which can blight a homegrown version of a hit. If we start with the host, I don’t think Mark Austin was the right choice for the original couple of series on ITV. Too straight down the line and serious – it really called for someone with at least a foot in the world of Entertainment. Had you asked me beforehand whether I thought Joel Dommett would have been the right choice for the BBC revival I would have said absolutely not. But then he turned the dial on the godawful cheese that he dishes out on The Masked Singer (enjoy the show but not him on it) so much so that he was almost channelling the host of Australian Survivor, which was pretty much exactly what the show needed. Yet it never caught on and has not been back since.

Looking at the ingredients, it’s difficult to see which of them might put off a British audience. There’s been enough popular shows in the last two or three decades that have relied on contestants showing sneakiness and nastiness to each other that it surely can’t be that. There’s nothing on the show that is quite as gross as a lot of the bushtucker trials in the hardy perennial I’m A Celebrity. As for the physical trials, well, in some ways they are every bit as exciting and impressive as anything you’ll see in Gladiators. But for all of that it just doesn’t seem to catch on here. Strange.

Vintage Mastermind on BBC4

Of course, the silver lining to the cloud of having no new episode of Mastermind tomorrow night is that we do have an episode of Mastermind from 1977 on BBC4. The specialist subjects are The Alps, symphony orchestra instruments, children’s literature and the Old Testament.

I remember the 1977 series well. I turned 13 in 1977 and I’m pretty sure I watched most if not all of the shows in the series. It had really got into its stride by then and was well on the way to becoming a national institution. The 1977 series was won by Sir David Hunt, retired diplomat. I remember that in his heat he was defeated by, if I recall correctly, Lord Timothy Beaumont, when, according to Magnus’ book, he became rather too interested in the questions. He didn’t make that mistake in the repechage or the final.

He’s not in tomorrow night’s show, the first episode of the series, well, not according to the photo on the Mastermind webpage. 9pm tomorrow.

The Chase Around the World Update

4 Mastermind heats without a break and ‘That’s yer lot!’ says Auntie Beeb. Not sure why it’s off the screen tomorrow, but it’s only off for a week. Until the next time, anyway.

I’m still enjoying The Chase Across the World.The previous episode we saw another pair losing to the Chasers and going home from Lisbon. Last week we were in Paris. Now, some of the advertising for the show led me to believe that we’d be finishing in Paris – don’t remember now where I got that idea from. For the first time I incorrectly predicted where Bradders was going to be by the end of the show – I thought it would be the Eiffel Tower but that was just a stop on the way.

In the very first show we saw Ashwin and Nikita make a good stab at the GK and the Chasers make an uncharacteristic couple of errors in the Final Chase and they survived to make it to the next destination. In last week’s show, having made a wee bit of an oreille de cochon of some of the clues Ashwin and Nikita again were the last to complete Where’s Bradley. Again, they made a decent fist of the GK – although not, I fancy, quite as good as their first. Again, the Chasers made uncharacteristic errors and our intrepid pair survived. Once is bad luck for the Chasers. Twice is beginning to look careless.

When you get right down to it, I like that there’s precious little sneakiness being asked of our teams in this show, which I felt was a bit of a jarring note in Destination X last year. Yes, okay, the team in first place one week gets to determine the order in which the teams will be asked starting questions in the next show but that’s it. The show is about answering questions , working out clues, and passing through a few locations that are very easy on the eye and I like that.

Seriously, does anyone actually like the long questions?

Being a quizzer and an ex-teacher means I could probably moan for Britain (England through birth, Scotland through ancestry or Wales through long term residency. I also have Irish ancestry, but too many generations back for me to qualify and French Huguenot ancestry from even further back. )  And one of the things long term viewers of Mastermind do like to moan about is the length and wordiness of too many of the questions. This is not exactly news to anyone, is it? Now, on the odd occasions that I have heard anyone official justifying this the argument has been that it plays fairer to the viewers at home who then have a bit more time to think of the answer yuttah yuttah.

I wonder. Is it maybe just possible that the repeat of episodes from Mastermind – The Original Series on Monday evenings at 9pm will maybe encourage the production team to rethink this? As I noted in a previous post, BBC4 repeated the 1972 Grand Final last Monday. Yes, there were some notable differences between this first final and what Mastermind – The Next Generation has become. But one of the things worth noting was the sheer speed with which the rounds moved . Yes, okay, the specialists were 2 and a half minutes long, and the GK 3 minutes long, but blimey, they didn’t half cover some ground and get through a lot of questions. To me, that’s a lot more exciting than watching the poor old contender sit through a question so long that you’ve forgotten the start of the question before Clive has got to the end of it, who then passes or gives a wrong answer anyway.

And the thing is it doesn’t seem to be only me who feels this way. That bastion of truth, honesty and fair play, the Daily Express, published a thundering article in the week, claiming that angry viewers had blasted the performance of last Monday’s 4 contenders. Typical clickbait rubbish, but what was interesting was the number of comments from viewers unfavourably comparing the questions on the current show compared with the 72 final. With the best will in the world, I do think that the style of questions at the moment makes it very hard for a contender to build up any momentum, and I honestly think that with shorter questions the average GK scores of the contenders at least would increase. Blimey, it’s got to be worth a try, at least.

The Continuing Saga

If you’ve been following my recent posts about the changes to the marking system in our quiz at the Aberavon Rugby club and my suspicions about the scores emanating from one of the teams during our ‘mark your own’ era then you’re maybe feeling that it’s all rather distasteful and shows me up as small-minded and petty. Probably guilty as charged if I’m being totally honest. Well, if you are of this opinion, this post is the latest installment of the mini-saga and you might want to give it a miss.

Right, now they’ve gone, let me tell you what happened last night. To recap, from the end of lockdown until a fortnight ago we had a marking policy in the quiz that everyone would mark their own answers, relying on the fact that it’s just a fun quiz with no prizes to be able to trust teams not to inflate their scores. For all bar one team I trust their scores implicitly. With the other one, no, ‘fraid not.

I’ve mentioned these suspicions on the blog from time to time, but never tried to discuss it at the quiz. Just didn’t think I could, really. Blimey, the way that team reacted when I asked them how they managed to score 15 on a 14 point round would put anyone off making a scene in the club. Then  a fortnight ago our esteemed and valued organiser, Dai Norwich (his name is David and he has spent a lot of time in Norwich) announced that with Covid hopefully receding ever further behind us we would be switching to swapping our answer sheets with another team for marking. The team I have my suspicions about were not there. Last week, when I was the question master, two of that team were there. Now, bear in mind that they have several times played with just two of them there. I gave them the answer sheets, and the picture handout and they did not say a word about not playing. I announced we were carrying on swapping answers for marking. Then, when it came to swap answers they said that they weren’t playing.

Right, so what happened last night with them then? Answer – nothing. They weren’t there. Maybe they were all away on holiday. One of the guys has an injury at the moment I believe as well. On the other hand, I just can’t help wondering whether the change in marking policy has anything to do with it. Dan, Jess and I were discussing this in the car on the way home and we all agreed that we’d just really like to be certain about it all. Yes, I think that they were inflating their scores somehow, but all I have is evidence, not proof. I’d just like to see how they perform in a few quizzes where someone else is marking their papers and knows what they really, honestly scored. And if they still score as well as they were scoring when they marked their own papers then that’s absolutely fine. We’ll know. Likewise, I really don’t want to thrash them week in week out – it’s not that kind of quiz. I don’t want them to be driven out of the quiz. But I do want to feel we can trust the scores that teams are saying they had , and I don’t want to be leaving the quiz on a Thursday evening feeling that one team is taking us all for mugs, which to be honest is a feeling I’ve had a lot over the last 5 years.