Sleb Mastermind - Show 8

I think that this one was on last Sunday while I was out scraping a win at the Twelve Knights. First up was a two time sleb contender, Fred Macaulay. Fred last passed this way during the Children in Need Special of November 2010. Back then he lost by a point , scoring 29 to double winner Andi Osho’s 30. His specialist subject in that show was “Fawlty Towers”. In this show he went for another iconic 1970’s sitcom, “Porridge”. Fred certainly knew his subject, and then so did I, as we both scored 11. I was a big fan of the show back in the day, you see.

Mark Billingham is a crime novelist, but even if you’re not familiar with his novels you may well have seen some of his television work, not the least of which was the rather wonderful Maid Marion and her Merry Men – that one is out of the too good for kids file. He was answering on Elvis Costello. Now, that is very much my era, well, I say that, but only some of the questions were from before the 90s, which probably explained why I only had 5. Mark, on the other hand, scored a fantastic 12, only 1 point away from a perfect round. It was slightly disappointing that they didn’t ask about him backing his Dad Ross on the classic “Secret Lemonade Drinker”, but you can’t have everything.

Have you ever watched “Waterloo Road”? To be brutally frank this show ‘jumped the shark’ as it were several years ago, and those of us in the profession who can still be bothered to watch it know it informally as the Gross Professional Misconduct Show. Still, if you are persisting with it, then you might well have recognized Georgia Henshaw who played one of the kids a series or two back. She was answering on the popular TV series Sherlock. My youngest girls keep on to me about how much I’d enjoy it if I watched it, and I’m sure they’re right, but I’ve never quite got round to it yet. Under those circumstances three points wasn’t a bad return – I knew Mark Gatiss and Una Stubbs, and guessed that the painting would be a Turner. Georgia’s 10 was a good return for 90 seconds.

Charles Collingwood I mostly remember for being the toff from Noel Edmonds’ Telly Addicts, but he’s also been in The Archers since Methuselah was a lad apparently. He was answering on Hampshire County Cricket Club from 1988 – 2013. Well, you know about me and cricket, so when I tell you that I had 5 you might be a bit surprised. I was. There were a couple of gimmes, mind, but having only recently read David Gower’s autobiography helped.

Right, that was the entrée, now it was time for the main course. Charles made a swift return to the chair, and managed a knock of 8 before trudging back to the pavilion. Not the best GK round we’ve seen, but not the worst either. Georgia Henshaw earned my respect by never losing her enthusiasm, and despite only managing to take her score to 15 seemed to be enjoying the experience tremendously. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.

Now, being the show’s comedian Fred looked to be in with a decent shout of setting a competitive score. I don’t know, he managed to get into double figures, but his 10 never seemed quite convincing. Bearing in mind how sharply and crisply Mark had answered his specialist questions I couldn’t help thinking that he would probably get home with something in reserve. Well, again, he never quite convinced with his round. Oh, don’t misunderstand me, 11 in a sleb round of 2 minutes is nothing to be sniffed at, and it was quite enough in this show.

So that was that, and we’ve only one show to go before that wraps it up for another year.

The Details

Fred MacAulay	Diabetes UK Scotland	Porridge	11 - 0	10 - 3	21 - 3
Mark Billingham	The Connection at St. Martins	Elvis Costello	12 - 0	11 - 4	23 - 4
Georgia Henshaw	Circus Eruption	Sherlock	10 - 2	5 - 1	15 - 3
Charles Collingwood	Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation	Hampshire County Cricket Club 1988 - 2013	8 - 1	8 - 3	16 – 4