Friday 25 August 2017

Mastermind 2018 - Round One - Heat Four


You know, I’m a simple soul at heart, dearly beloved, and it really doesn’t take that much to make me happy. One of the things which will do it every time is an edition of Mastermind in which every one of the contenders has clearly taken their preparation seriously, and given a good account of themselves. Such a one we were served up last night.

M*A*S*H* was something of a phenomenon in American TV shows of the 70s – American sitcoms of the 70s in particular. It ran for 9 years, 11 seasons and 251 episodes. All of which made Emma Busk’s specialist round task more difficult, I’d wager – there were an awful lot of them. Bearing in mind what we’ve been saying for several years now, that anything in the teens on specialist with the length of these questions is a very good score, then Emma’s 12 was a good return, and it was probably fair to say that barring something exceptional she would be in with a shout in the GK rounds. As for me, well I loved M*A*S*H*, and I managed 8 of these, which looked as if it might be the springboard to a new season highest aggregate.

David Sutherland looked rather familiar, and a quick check on my archive revealed that he had indeed been a contender before. Twice in fact, in Jesse’s 2010 series in which he reached the semi-finals, and in Clive’s 2014 series, when he lost by a point in his first round. Bearing in mind my theory that it becomes easier to handle the experience of being in the chair the more times that you do it, then this gave him every chance of doing well again this year. He did too, getting into the teens with his round on the First Earl of Durham. I didn’t know much about the Earl, but I did know enough about the history of the time around the first great Reform Bill to add another 3 to my aggregate, which now stood at 11.

Now, if you’ve been with me for any great length of time, you know me and you know how proud I am of being the last schoolteacher to win the series. I However, the fact is that I would actually like to see another schoolteacher win. I think that the longest gap between schoolteacher wins would be that between David Edwards in 1990, and Michael Penrice in Discovery Mastermind in 2001. Well, all of this is, I suppose, a longwinded way of saying that as much as I take a keen interest in the performances of all contenders, I am especially interested in schoolteachers, and so I was willing David Noble to do well. Answering on English League Football Stadiums I thought he did well to get 12, but ironically his two passes were ones I got. The Hawthorns being the highest ground in England is an old quiz chestnut. In fact I got the 9 I needed to set a new aggregate high score of 20 for this series. There was still a round to come as well. 

I’m not a huge fan of the band U2. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against them or their music, but they’re unlikely to make an appearance in the Clark CD player in the Clarkmobile any time soon, if you know what I mean. They were being offered by Michael Taylor. Now, I may well be wrong, but I have a feeling that this is none other than 2015 University Challenge winner Michael Taylor of Gonville and Caius. He certainly shaped up like a UC winner in this heat, taking 14 consecutive correct answers, and only missing out on a perfect round on the last question. Me? 4 more points to take the new aggregate target for the season to 24.

Based on what I knew about the contenders it looked to me like a straight shootout between the experienced recidivist, David S., and the proven champion, Michael. First back to the chair, though, was Emma. Now, when you start a GK round and you’re a couple of points adrift, it can look like a huge gap, whereas in reality it’s a gap which can be wiped out with just a couple of moments of hesitation by the opposition. So if Emma could manage a decent score there was always the chance of putting those yet to come within the corridor of doubt. Ideally, you want to set a target that is 10 or more points ahead of all of those yet to come. She didn’t quite manage that, and I dare say that her round of 10 points didn’t mark her out as a quizzer. It did mark her out, though, as someone who had a good enough GK to compete, and someone who had achieved a highly respectable score.

Much the same could be said for David Noble. His round was not exactly a carbon copy of Emma’s, but the end result was pretty much the same. Nice to see that. I take no pleasure in anybody only achieving a modest total on Mastermind, but I’m especially glad when a schoolteacher acquits him or herself well.

So to David Sutherland, who has had, if truth be told, mixed fortunes in the General Knowledge rounds in his previous appearances. He wasn’t the quickest to answer that we’ve seen, but on the other hand if it means that you’re making sure that you answer every question you possibly can, then it can be a successful tactic. For the first minute the score built rather slowly, with David only managing correct answers on just over half of the questions. In the last minute, though, he really clicked into overdrive, and took his score up to 26. That’s a score which would win a significant number of first round heats, and it meant that while Michael could still do it, it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy.

It never looked difficult, though. Michael didn’t miss any low hanging fruit, and took a lot of the high hanging stuff as well on his way to a score of 14, and a total of 28, which meant that he won with a little bit of daylight between himself and David S. It looked like a pretty nerveless performance too, and I dare say that he is a contender we need to keep an eye on this season. Recently we saw UC winner Adam Barr get as far as the semis, and just miss out on the final. Stephen, it looks like you have another serious challenger again. As for David, well on 26 you never know. As regards a highest scoring runner up slot, I’d say that the coin is in the air.

Well played all – good show.

The Details

Emma Busk
M*A*S*H*
12
3
10
2
22
5
David Sutherland
John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
13
1
13
5
26
6
David Noble
English League Football Stadiums
12
2
10
3
22
5
Michael Taylor
U2
14
1
14
4
28
5

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