Mastermind Champion of Champions - Heat 4

Well, you’ve seen the show for yourselves now. What follows is taken from the journal of my involvement in the series. It was all written pretty much as soon as I returned home from Manchester, although I did use the broadcast of the show tonight to check on the exact scores, and did check on the net to find out what Pat, Leslie and Patricia’s subjects were in their championship years. So here it is : -

What a day ! Experience from 2007 told me that I’m actually much happier driving to Manchester and back in the day, so that’s what we did. No hold ups on the road, and we were comfortably there by our allotted arrival time of 1:30. Not that there would have been any huge problem if we’d been later, since we weren’t due to film before 5:30, and we weren’t due to move from the green room for at least 2 hours.


The Granada studios car park, with me trying but failing to point at the Beetham Tower, the tallest building in the UK outside of London.

My daughter Zara was my guest for the day. Unfortunately my son Michael had to work on the day, so I was really glad to have Zara with me. However she wasn’t quite so pleased when she realized that she would have to fulfill two roles on the day – testing me on my specialist subject in the car, and then being my official photographer when we got to the green room.

When we arrived at reception, who should arrive behind me but Pat Gibson and his lovely wife. No problem with that, since Pat is the nicest quizzer you could ever hope to meet, and damn good company to boot. However, the rumour I’d heard was that neither Pat nor Kevin Ashman was taking part in the series. When Pat confirmed that he was in the last heat of the day it was like being told - You’re going to be executed, but I’ll give you the choice of whether you want to be shot or hanged - Oh well, I reminded myself that my absolute priority wasn’t to win, only to have a lot of fun.

We were escorted up to the Green Room, and the first person I saw as we walked in was Jesse Honey. Jesse Honey won the current series of Mastermind – only the fact was that the Grand Final wasn’t due to be shown on telly until the next day ! Mind you, a friend of mine who knows these things dropped a VERY heavy hint to me 6 months ago that Jesse was the latest champion, so it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Jesse, and indeed all of the other 15 champions taking part in the shows were all lovely, and all of them agreed to pose with me for a photograph. The only ones I didn’t get were my friends David Edwards and Andy Page, and that’s only because the only time that I saw them during the whole day was in passing in a corridor.

So, on and off I spent parts of the next hour or so working the room, and getting photographs taken. For me meeting other champions was a big thrill. If there is such a thing as a Mastermind groupie, then I won’t lie to you, I’m it. Before the show I’d already met a few of the champs –
Kevin Ashman
Chris Hughes
David Edwards
Geoff Thomas
and although I hadn’t met them in person I’d also become acquainted with some others through the internet : -
Andy Page
Nancy Dickmann
Jesse Honey
So in one day , I got to take my total of other champs I’ve met up from 4 to 16. Of course there were some disappointments. Not in any of the champs I met. Some of them I didn’t exchange more than a few words with, but they all seemed like thoroughly delightful, modest , warm and friendly people. However it would have been lovely to have met some of the other champs who weren’t there. I’ve never met Fred Housego, for instance, and I’d love to do that, if only to tell him how much his 1980 triumph meant in the Clark household. Its not just Fred, though. I’d love to meet all of them. I know that I can’t, for instance I’m fairly certain that Nancy Wilkinson and Sir David Hunt have both passed away. Still, lets not be greedy.

Within an hour or so I had learned who was going to provide the opposition in the last show. Pat I already knew would be favourite for my show. With the two of us, though, would be Patricia Owen, the 1973 champion, and Leslie Grout, the 1981 champion. What lovely people. One of my party pieces I used as an opening conversational gambit a lot when first introducing myself to other champs during the day was to say the year they were champion, and if possible what their specialist subjects were. I think they must all have felt me a bit odd for doing so. Patricia was the most senior champion, having won the second series in 1973. It might be 38 years since she won her series, but all day I found her to be as sharp as a tack. She endeared herself to me when we played a little game. The research assistant left her run down of which contender in which heat was taking which subject lying around, and so I circulated it, and asked the others to pick one subject to answer, other than their own, which they would have to answer cold, with no study. Patricia announced she’d pick mine , the Bayeux Tapestry. When Patricia won in 1973 her subjects were Byzantine Art for the first round and final, and Grand Opera for the semi final. Yes, didn’t they have wide subjects in those early days ! For the show she opted to take a brand new subject in the shape of Benjamin Britten.

Leslie, like me, was a teacher when he became champion in 1981. He is from Windsor , which isn’t so very far away from my hometown of Ealing, and I was interested to see him reverting to one of his old subjects, The Burial Grounds of London. Leslie took this as his semi final subject, and St. George’s Chapel Windsor in the first round and the final. Leslie has a lively wit, and it was very interesting talking to both him and Patricia on the differences between the Magnus era, and our own.

Eventually we were called to wardrobe, made up, and asked to change into Outfit Number One for the filmed insert. While Pat and I were waiting alone to be filmed I had a very interesting chat with him about Eggheads, filming, and the differences between TV and radio. When Pat won the series in 2005, his specialist subjects were the films of Quentin Tarantino, the Culture Novels of Iain M. Banks, and Father Ted. For the show Pat was taking the Pixar animated films.

With regards to my specialist subject I really felt that I should take something new. In 2006 I took the Modern Summer Olympic Games , and then in 2007 I took Henry Ford, the Prince Regent, and the History of London Bridge in the final. It’s a matter of some pride to me that I always performed pretty well in this diverse set of subjects, and to be honest I thought I’d get more out of myself if I had to learn a brand new subject, rather then going back over ground I’d already trodden before. I first saw the Bayeux Tapestry when accompanying a party of children from the school on a trip to Normandy back in the mid 90s, and I was absolutely bowled over by it. Then a couple of years ago I read both Andrew Bridgeford’s and Carola Hicks’ superb books on the subjects, and I always thought that if the opportunity to take another specialist subject ever presented itself, that would be the one.

I went first to film my insert, and I don’t really remember what I said. What did strike me was that it was actually surprisingly difficult to obey two simple instructions. Lizzie Foster, who was conducting the interview, asked me to remember to pause before answering, and then to try to work the question into the answer, so that it looked more like stream of consciousness narrative than a response to a question. Well, that was over, and it looked as if the time for the show was drawing ever closer.

We were taken into the studio at last. Patricia was unable to walk very much, and so the studios kindly provided her with a wheelchair. Granted, the tyres were flat, but it was the thought that counts, I suppose. At last we were wired up, then asked to do a short piece to camera for the website just before we went on. The order for the show was me, then Patricia, then Leslie, then Pat. This was shades of 2007, where I was first to go in my first round show. Was that an omen ?

Lets pause for a minute. Suppose I could have had a wish list for the show, what would have been on it ? Well, firstly that I would win. That was dependent on how well my fellow contenders did, so there was nothing I could do about that. Number two would have been for me to break my highest total score of 30. Number three on the list would have been to set a really good specialist score. You see, I’d never yet produced an outstanding score on specialist. Oh, in 4 previous rounds I’d scored 14, 14, 15 and 15, so I’d always managed a good score. But these are just good. Deep down, I wanted great. So, called to the chair, and away we go. Technically my round wasn’t as good as my 2007 semi final round, where I had no passes, and only 1 wrong to score 15. But I got in the zone early. If anything, I was going too fast, for when I came up against one question I knew the answer to, when it didn’t pop into my head at once I passed needlessly. Still, it was a real Devil’s Gallop of a round, and I was so much in the zone I was flabbergasted when John said that I’d scored 17. The only problem was that I’d broken my cardinal rule about never passing . It happened like this. I was asked an innocuous question – in the border underneath the Lady Aelfgyfa what is depicted ? What happened next was like driving fast , and seeing a problem develop immediately ahead of you. You put your foot down to get you out of trouble, and nothing happens, there is no gas there at all. I was answering faster than I’d ever managed before, and suddenly the answer, which I should have known – which I DID know – did not pop into my head on order. I panicked and passed straightaway. Still, even allowing for the pass, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t return to my seat with a huge sense of pleasure and relief.

You see, even though none of us have anything to prove, the fact is that you do not want to be shown up. Going in for this tournament has been a sheer joy, but it does mean that there are the odd occasional moments when the Doubt Demon pops up on your shoulder and starts whispering,
“ You’re going to get found out. People are going to see that your win was just a fluke. You’re going to be exposed.”
Alright, I admit that I didn’t have many of these moments, but I had a couple. Now, with 17 points safely in the bank, even my worst ever GK score of 10 would bring me a total of 27, which would be perfectly respectable. Whatever happened now, I had scored my highest ever on Specialist. Mind you, with the work I’d done on the subject I damn well should have done, but it doesn’t necessarily work that way.

Leslie helped Patricia into the chair, and she began her round on Benjamin Britten. 11 is a perfectly respectable score, and I honestly don’t think she minded whatever happened. I think she was strictly in it for the fun of it, and quite right too. She never seemed he slightest bit nervous, and never lost her good humour throughout the whole day. So whatever else happened I wouldn’t be the first to go in the GK round.

Leslie was taking the Burial Grounds of London as his specialist. This had been his second subject in 1981, before he returned to St. George’s Chapel Windsor for his final. He still knew his subject very well, scoring 15. Before today I’d never scored better than that myself. Still, it meant that I would be one of the last two to go in the GK round. However, one of the most formidable champions in the whole series was yet to come. Pat was answering on the Pixar animated films. I had a chat about this with Pat, and believe me this is not some subject he just plucked out of thin air. Pat loves these films, and is deeply, deeply knowledgeable about them. To the extent of watching parts of them frame by frame to verify facts. Pat produced a fine round, but even so I was surprised that he scored 16, and left me in the lead at the halfway stage. Being a great competitor, even when he didn’t necessarily get totally into the groove with the round he still scored brilliantly, and made sure that he avoided passing.

This necessitated a little bit of a reappraisal of my chances at half time, and didn’t leave me a lot of time to do it. For some reason the half time break was a hell of a lot shorter than it had been in any of my previous shows. There wasn’t even time for lovely old Ted Robbins to do a little spiel with the audience. As we had walked in to take our seats at the start of the show, my thinking had been like this. Both Patricia and Leslie were rather unknown quantities, but I doubted that either of them were as serious about their quizzing as even I am, and I doubted that they had taken part in any kind of high pressure quiz for many years. As such I felt that they might well do well, and even manage a lead on specialist, but would not be able to match me on GK. Arrogant of me to think so ? Probably, but I do feel that you should always be realistic about your chances, good or bad. Pat, on the other hand, has won it all over the last few years, is the reigning World Champion, and is correctly seen as one of the world’s very finest quizzers. So before the start of the show I confidently expected him to take a lead after specialist, and go on to carry all before him in GK. Alright, I only had a one point lead going into GK, but that was a hell of a lot more than I expected. Whatever happened now I would be last to go in the show. My top score ever in GK was 15. So theoretically anything up to 32 was possible for me. Alright, it was quite possible that Pat would set the target well beyond me at 33 or more, but if not, well, all things were possible.

Patricia added another 8 to her score. She knew a number of the questions she didn’t answer , but just couldn’t get the answers out. Leslie came next. I think that he managed to get into double figures, and ended with 25. Pat , I fully expected to see fireworks from. It didn’t quite happen as I expected. There were a number of uncharacteristic pauses in his round. Even so, he added 14 with no passes to take his total to 30. To put that into perspective, Pat’s total , 30 and no passes, was equal to my best ever performance, in the 2007 final. To win, I needed 14 on GK. Actually that was possible. I achieved 14 on GK in the first round of 2007, and 15 in the final. Having said that though this always felt like it was going to be a bit of a tall order. I don’t know really how I can explain it, other than to say that in both of those rounds everything had flowed, and I was ‘seeing’ the answers before the question had finished being asked. This felt more like the semi final GK round, where I had stumbled my way through a ropey old round to get 13. That was enough then.

My tactic, if you can call it that, for the round was this. I already had one careless pass from the Specialist round. So it made no difference whatsoever how many other passes I took. Pat had none at all, so even if I didn’t pass in GK, then I was still behind on passes. So I just made up my mind to bomb through them, and if the answer didn’t come quickly, then I’d pass. So I picked up 3 passes. I had no idea whether I’d done it or not as the round ended. John looked up, and from the way he began to speak I had a feeling that I hadn’t. 13 brought me 30 points, and my passes meant that Pat went through.

No regrets ? Not a one. Pat is a far better player than I am. He did not produce his best form, whereas I produced very close to my best, and it still wasn’t enough. The better man won fair and square. Yes, I was gutted I hadn’t made it to the final, but I was very proud of the fact that I had managed to score in the 30s for a second time, and scored my highest ever specialist score. However the day wasn’t just about that. You know me by now, and how much I love the show. So for much of the day I was a bit like a kid in a sweetshop – a bit of an ironic analogy, come to think of it- since being diagnosed with diabetes a visit to the sweetshop is very unlikely to happen any time soon for me – but you know what I mean. I got to meet 15 other champions, some of whom I already knew, many of whom I knew from the internet but had never met in person, and some of whom I had only read about. In particular it was a delight to meet the other contenders in our show, the lovely Patricia Owen and the equally lovely Leslie Grout.


Champions All – Leslie Grout, Patricia Owen, Me, Pat Gibson













We’re Going Home, we’re going home ! Satisfied with my performance, and happy with a great day ! Here I am , demonstrating my new found ability to grow flagpoles out of my head.

The Details

David Clark	The Bayeux Tapestry	17 – 1	13 – 3	30 – 4
Patricia Owen	Benjamin Britten	11- 3	8 - 5	19 -6
Leslie Grout	The Burial Grounds of London	15 - 0	8 - 0	23 - 0
Pat Gibson	Pixar Animated Films	16 – 0	14 – 0	30 – 0

Postscript : - A week or two after the recording of the heats, I received an email from lovely Laura of the Mastermind Production team, informing me that I was the highest scoring runner-up of the series, and asking if I would be prepared to act as stand-in , in the extremely unlikely event that one of the finalists was unable to make it. Of course I jumped at the chance, fully aware that there was next to no chance of this actually happening. Still, it meant that I would get to come to the Final, and see behind the scenes, and support 4 friends.

So its Farewell, Robert Robinson? Would that it were not so !

Just in case you haven't caught the news, the BBC announced a couple of days ago that Robert Robinson is to permanently step down from his role as question master on Radio 4's brilliant Brain of Britain.

The only regret I have about last year's series ( not one to brag, but joint runner-up, don't you know ) is that I never got to meet the man in person, having been a fan since I used to watch Ask the Family as a wee nipper. Mind you, Russell Davies did a fantastic job last year, and I am delighted to see that it looks like Paul Bajoria the Producer of the show has wasted no time in confirming him as the new host. Russell Davies has filled in on more than one series. In the series won a couple of years ago by the late, great Mark Bytheway, Peter Snow was the presenter, and I have to say that it didn't work for me, so I am delighted that Russell has the chair.

As for Robert Robinson, the man is, and will always be in my eyes, a legend. Happy retirement to you, sir.

Mastermind Champion of Champions Heat 3

Alright, I’m biased, but I think that this has been a great little series so far. If as you’ve been watching you’ve thought it looks like all the champions were really getting into the spirit of the show, and really enjoying it, then there’s a reason for that. They did and they were.

The first of tonight’s champions was Richard Sturch.

Richard was crowned champion in 1996. His subjects then were Charles Williams, Frederick III, German Emperor, and for the final, the Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. Tonight he opted for a new subject in the shape of Michael of Romania.

I enjoyed Richard’s piece to camera very much. He explained that he had entered primarily to counter the way that television had a way of portraying clergymen as rather amiable fatheads. He also explained how he had played in a heat of no less than 4 clergymen, which was originally meant to be shown on Easter Sunday, although for some reason it didn’t go out then. So that confirms that even back in Magnus’ day the schedulers would play silly buggers with the show when they felt like it.

Despite picking a totally new subject for the show, Richard put on a fine performance to lay down the gauntlet with a very impressive 15 and 1 pass.

Second to go was Andy Page.

Andy holds the enviable distinction of being the first ever Humphrys era champion, from 2003. His subjects were Academy Awards, ironically Gilbert and Sullivan as well, and Golf Majors for the final, which is probably as diverse a set of three subjects as you are likely to find. Tonight Andy followed what seems to be a pretty universal policy of the Humphrys champions, by opting for a completely new subject in the shape of the TV series Arrested Development.

Again, I really enjoyed his chat to camera. He explained watching the show as a child, something I can totally relate to. Winning the show was the fulfillment of a long held ambition, and again this is something which really strikes a chord with me too.

Alas, this heat was filmed immediately before my show, and I only saw Andy briefly in the corridor as they were going out and we were coming in, so was only able to shake the hand of an internet friend I’d never yet met in the flesh. I didn’t have my camera with me, so no picture of Andy, or David for that matter. Guys, I sincerely apologise.

Andy, frankly, went like the clappers on his round, getting through a highly impressive number of questions, of which he too achieved 15 correct answers.

The next champion was Nancy Dickmann.

Where do I start talking about the distinctions of my friend and successor , 2008 champion Nancy ? First and so far only lady champion of the Humphrys era. Nancy is settled in the UK, but she is originally from the States, and so to this extent our first ever overseas champion. In 2008 Nancy’s subjects were the Amelia Peabody novels of Elizabeth Peters, the Life and Films of Fritz Lang, and for the final, the Lewis and Clark Expedition. True to expectation, as a Humphrys champion, Nancy chose a new subject tonight, the Life of Roald Amundsen.

Nancy hit the nail on the head in her filmed insert when she said that its not easy to win Mastermind. I was interested to watch Poet Laureate Andrew Motion present the trophy. Shall I let you into a secret ? It should have been me to present the trophy, but I had to decline the chance. It was a special day at school , well in one way every day at school is special, and the special project I was doing with the new Year 7 pupils couldn’t be done by anyone else at short notice. Still, how many people can say that the Poet Laureate has been their stand in ? I digress.

When you watch these shows you are reminded just how good these champions were. Nancy fairly snapped out her answers with hardly the slightest hesitation during the whole round, and some of these seemed very long questions too. 16 and no passes put Nancy into the lead.

Last but not least of these champions was the 1990 champion, David Edwards.

I’ve known David for a couple of years now, and the most honest thing I can say about him is he is just as brilliant, charming, humble and nice as he manages to project on the telly. He’s a great guy. In 1990 David’s subjects were Michael Faraday, Benjamin Thompson, and James Clark Maxwell. David exercised the option of taking a brand new subject, and what a subject it was, none other than the mystery of Rennes le Chateau. As a reader of Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, the Tomb of God, Foucault’s Pendulum ad many others, I thought that this was a great subject to choose.

In his filmed insert David modestly described his win on Millionaire as just a big one. BBC rather spoiled this by actually showing the clip of him winning, and the word Millionaire being flashed in bold underneath ! David described the challenges of Mastermind and Millionaire as being very different. You never said a truer word as far as I’m concerned, David.

This was one of those subjects which was full of interest, but as a specialist subject should only ever be approached with caution. David threw caution to the winds, and only dropped two points on the way to equalling Nancy’s score with 16 and no passes.

So the contest was beautifully balanced moving towards the GK rounds, with only 1 point separating 4 champions. First back to the chair was Richard Sturch. He got off to a cracking start. And put on a very good display, only really being undone by popular culture and sport questions. Still 11 points on GK is absolutely never to be sniffed at, and he was still in with a chance of winning. Not by the time that Andy’s round had finished, though. Andy ripped through his round like an express train. He didn’t know all of the answers, but he didn’t waste ay time worrying about those he didn’t. By the end of the round he had raised the bar to 27.

Nancy , then, needed 11 and less than 8 passes to take the lead. She’d never scored less than this during her championship series. She too, like Andy, raced through the round, dropping a couple, but picking out those that were there to be got. By the end she’d scored 11. Like Andy, this meant a total of 27, but only 2 passes put her on top of the podium. Only David could possibly relegate her now.

It was always going to be close. David stumbled for a moment before passing his first question, and then too , like those who had gone before, started finding answers at breakneck speed. He had to, since the target was not an easy one. John began the last question just as the buzzer sounded. At this stage David had 11 and 2 passes, and a tie break would be the result if he could not find a correct answer. He could and he did, and claimed the third spot in the final, which now has a line up of 2 Magnus and one Humphrys champion so far.

That was a great contest- very well played to all of you.

As for tomorrow’s show, well the review will be a little different because, well, I’m in it.


The Details

Richard Sturch	Michael of Romania	15 – 1	11 - 5	26 – 6
Andy Page	The TV Series Arrested Development	15 – 5	12- 3	27 - 8
Nancy Dickmann	The Life and Career of Roald Amundsen	16 – 0	11- 2	27 - 2
David Edwards	The Mystery of Rennes le Chateau	16 – 0	12 – 2	28 – 2

Mastermind Champion of Champions Heat 2

In heat 2 of this absorbing and high quality series we saw three Magnus champions pitted against just the one Humphrys champion.

First up tonight was Gavin Fuller.

Gavin still holds the enviable record of being the youngest ever Mastermind champion. He won the series in 1993 at the ridiculously young age of 24.

Gavin revealed that he is currently the secretary of the Mastermind Club, a pretty unique institution for which the only entry requirement is an appearance on Mastermind.

In 1993 Gavin’s subjects were Dr Who, the medieval castle in the British Isles, and in the final, The Crusades. Tonight he opted for a change of pace, answering questions on Mike Oldfield. Ah – Tubular Bells !. I never knew that it was Viv Stanshall who acted as master of ceremonies announcing each of the instruments on that record. Gavin did, though, and every single other question he was asked, scoring a magnificent perfect 19.






The second of tonight’s Magnus champions was a former holder of the title of youngest champion, Elizabeth Horrocks.

Elizabeth was the third champion, following on from Nancy Wilkinson and Patricia Owen. Its been said before that several wags suggested changing the name of the show to Mistressmind after Elizabeth’s win.

In 1973 Elizabeth answered on Shakespeare’s plays, the works of JRR Tolkien, and for the final, the works of Dorothy L. Sayers. Tonight she offered The Legends and Literature of King Arthur, a very wide subject, I thought. After a slightly shaky start Elizabeth rallied very well, and finished at a full gallop with 13 points and 3 passes.I must mention something that Elizabeth said in her filmed insert, that I think it was 8 out of the first champions were educators of one form or another. How times have changed.I think that I’m the only teacher winner of the Humphrys era so far, which at least gives me a certain novelty value, if nothing else.




Our single Humphrys champion in tonight’s heat was barrister Shaun Wallace.

Shaun , we all know, is one of the chasers on ITV’s excellent The Chase. I was surprised but pleased to see the BBC showing a clip of Shaun from the Chase, tacit recognition from the BBC that The Chase is a worthy show and deserves to be taken seriously.

I was rather moved to see Shaun say that he had tears in his eyes when he won. I didn’t in 2007, but only because I was in a state of total disbelief for several hours, if not days, afterwards. In 2004 Shaun’s subjects were UEFA Champions League finals, England at the UEFA Fotball Championships and FA Cup Finals since 1970. No football subject for Shaun tonight , though, as he took the TV series Frasier. A daunting prospect since they made 264 episodes ! All of which makes Shaun’s perfect round of 17 exceptional. A superb performance.







Our third Magnus champion, and second TV regular, came next, and one of the most well known of all the Mastermind champions, the great Chris Hughes.

Now, thinking back to Elizabeth’s filmed insert, and her point about the professional credentials of many of the first champions, Chris was the second champion whose arrival signalled a great sea change. In 1980 Fred Housego was the first winner from outside the traditional winners from the professions, eg Education or the Civil Service. Then in 1983 London Underground train driver Chris proved that Fred was no aberration.

Well, Chris has gone on to other things, among them Eggheads, and was fancied to do well going into the series. Chris answered on British steam locomotives from 1900 to 1963 in both his first round and final, and for his second round answered on The Flashman Novels of George Macdonald Fraser. Tonight as was his prerogative he reverted to his final subject, well, pretty much, although he added 5 years to make it British Steam Locomotives from 1900 to 1968. It was nice to hear Chris describe the black chair as actually very comfortable. I’ve always thought so too, although admittedly today’s chair is not the same one as in the original series. Chris put on a fine performance , he had a couple wrong surprisingly, but answered so quickly that he still managed to score 15 and no passes.

So going into the GK Gavin had the whip hand, but an advantage of 2 points can be overturned, and nothing was guaranteed. Elizabeth returned first to the chair. John correctly said that in a normal game her 13 would be a high score. Elizabeth was annoyed with herself for answering swift rather than swallow, and birdie rather than bogey, but kept her sense of humour, and kept picking off answers. By the end of the round she had scored 8 and 5 passes, to take her total to 21 points. Chris followed Elizabeth into the chair, and started confidently. Never a sports fan, he missed Joe Frazier as the 1964 Olympic Heavyweight champion, but kept his nerve well with a tricky set of questions, and kept picking off answers to keep his score ticking along. At the end of the round Chris had added ten and three passes to take his score to 25.

Its all subjective, I know. What I think of as a difficult round, you may quite like. But I do sometimes watch an edition of Mastermind and think – Thank God I never got asked a GK round like that ! – Well, I’m sorry to say that Shaun was given just such a round last night. Don’t take my word for it, ask the other contenders in the show and they will tell you the same thing, I’m sure. He took the first question well, but them the second one saw him stumble, and all his rhythm was lost. Then nasty question followed on nasty question, with just the odd one or two giving any chance for picking up points. By the end of the round Shaun had taken his score up to 22 points.

Gavin, then needed a modest total of 6 and up to 2 passes to progress. Still, if Shaun’s questions were anything to go by then this was by no means a forgone conclusion. He took exactly the right tactics, getting a couple wrong along the way, but taking a measured approach, picking up the points that were there to be picked up, and making sure of the win. By the end of the round he had added 2 passes and 9 points to his score, making a total of 28. Very well done, Sir, and commiserations to the other champions. So far the final is nicely balanced with one Humphrys champion, in the form of Jesse Honey, and one Magnus champion, in the form of Gavin.

The Details

Gavin Fuller	Mike Oldfield	19 – 0	9 – 2	28 – 2
Elizabeth Horrocks	Arthurian Literature and Legend	13 – 3	8 – 5	21 – 8
Shaun Wallace	Frasier	17 – 0	5 - 0	22 – 0
Chris Hughes	British steam Locomotives 1900 - 1968	15 – 0	10 – 3	25 – 3

TV Watch - University Challenge

First Round Match 5 – York v. Royal College of Music

At the start of this contest JP used the interesting term ‘plate glass institution’ to describe York. I understand it as a modern take on the term red-brick university, but it conjures up an unfortunate image of some bland headquarters of a faceless corporation. Sorry, I’m rambling. York were represented by Chris Caudwell, Ben Keane, Simon Donnelly and captain Andrew Clemo. As for the Royal College of Music, or RCM, I was delighted to hear JP explain that this is their first ever appearance in UC. So there’s hope for my alma mater Goldsmiths yet ! The epithet JP applied to the RCM was ‘leading conservatoire’ , which just shows my ignorance since I thought a conservatoire was where you ripen your tomatoes.RCM were represented by Stephen Daverson, Michael Scott, Mr. Corral Matute ( sorry ,but I didn’t catch your name, sir ) and captain Sam Evans.

York took the first starter by correctly identifying that Cupid and other people and mythological figures such as centaurs were often depicted carrying a bow and arrow. RCM hit straight back by answering a starter on George Orwell. One out of three bonuses on the West Country was taken. The third starter was our first missed starter of the show. Neither team recognised a quotation about the city of Venice. The real clue was talking about it marrying the sea. Oh well, this was followed by a Science starter on atomic particles, and again neither team could find the correct answer. Not that this will come as a surprise, but I couldn’t either. The rot stopped with a good question based on Vassari’s Lives of the Artists, concerning a demonstration given by Brunelleschi which led to the building of the Duomo in Florence. Good shout from Mr. Caudwell of York, that.

I have to say that I loved the first picture starter. All the teams had to do was to identify a pop group, - a pop group made of their lego counterparts ! Personally I thought that the starter picture was the hardest of the whole set, but Ben Keane of York saw that it was Blur very quickly. Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Queen were all despatched to the boundary for a full set.
Captain Sam Evans buzzed in very well to identify a quotation about Edgar Degas – apparently ‘nothing but a peeping Tom’ . This was a timely shout, since York were starting to build up a head of steam as we headed towards the 10 minute mark. 3 questions on the Nobel prize for physics followed. I did know that Willhelm Roentgen won the first, and that Dennis Gabor worked on holography, but the last escaped me. Neither team took the next starter, but Michael Scott of RCM kept up his team’s good work by identifying popcorn from a long clue. A good set of bonuses on Shakespeare’s Hamlet followed. After this set of bonuses the gap had been closed a little, and York now led by 60 points to 45 .

The gap narrowed further when Captain Sam Evans identified the mythological bird in titles of works by DH Lawrence, Shakespeare and E. Nesbit as the phoenix. One bonus correctly answered on heads of government of the Irish Republic brought the scores level. From one captain to another. Andrew Clemo, growing in confidence now and finding his buzzer form identified the Snowdon Mountain Railway as the only rack and pinion system railway in Britain. I was sorry to see York fail to answer that it was Khaled Hosseini who wrote the brilliant “One Thousand Splendid Suns”. “The Kite Runner” is a wonderful novel as well. However, I digress. Building on the good work of his captain Ben Keane correctly answered that red herring was a phrase possibly derived from the practice of drawing a smoked fish across the line of a fox’s tracks to put hunting hounds off the scent. After the bonuses York had eked out a lead of 40 points.

A music starter followed. It wasn’t really a surprise that RCM took this one, but it was nonetheless impressive the way that they identified Jacques Brel from a brief interlude. To make an impression, though, they needed more than the one bonus they actually managed. Another Science starter passed both teams by. Then Tom Evans correctly offered orchids as the largest family of flowering plants. A good buzz that. A frankly unhelpful set of bonuses on medical acronyms, for example PET, followed, and RCM were unable to benefit from them at all. At this stage Andrew Clemo decided to start to settle matters in York’s favour, by beginning a very good run. He correctly identified Alba as the four letter gaelic word for Scotland as a whole. Bonuses on paintings followed, and I think that the team must have misheard that they were being asked for paintings, as they offered the Venus de Milo as an answer to one of them. Well, we’ve all misheard or misunderstood questions before, so lets move on. With the bit firmly between his team captain Clemo interrupted the next starter, identifying Juan Sebastian del Cano as a member of Magellan’s expedition. Then just coming up to 20 minutes he took the picture starter by identifying a painting of the Storming of the Bastille in 1789. At the 20 minute mark York now led by 155 to 85.

Nothing was decided yet, but York looked good for at least a repechage berth, while RCM were going to have to have a spectacular last few minutes. Andrew Clemo took his 4th starter in a row by identifying a group of halogens from rather basic descriptions of them. A good buzz, that. By the end of the bonuses they had a 100 point lead. Captain Evans of RCM buzzed in early and guessed Knight on a question asking for one of Chaucer’s pilgrims. York made the mistake of conferring on a starter, and were penalised by our Jeremy for it. Which hardly mattered since they took the next starter anyway, which took them to 200. The longer the show went on, the better and better this York outfit were starting to look. Just to be on the safe side they took the next starter as well, correctly seeing that a new town on the River Severn was referring to Telford. This was followed by a really nice set of bonuses on the NATO alphabet. Captain Evans showed his mettle by taking the next starter, answering that Shami Chakrabati is the head of Liberty. They also took the next starter on the term used for religious restrictions on Jewish diet, which put them through the 100 point barrier. They might not have a chance of reaching the next round now, but they had the satisfaction of reaching respectability. The rearguard action was ended as the excellent Andrew Clemo took the last two starters, identifying that a Lusophone would speak Portuguese, and the bridge in the song from the 15th century would be the pont d’Avignon.

So at the bell York had assembled a fine score of 245, to York’s respectable 105. Not a thrashing at all, but something rather different from the close calls we’ve seen so far.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

JP seems to be warming to his work as the series progresses. We had quite a bit to choose from this week. Firstly, the growled warning to the York team, who dithered over a bonus about The Father of The House “Next time cut to the chase !”
He had laugh over the physics question asking for rays named after their discoverer, when RCM offered gamma rays. “That would be MISTER Gamma, would it ? “ his retort. Yet my favourite JP moment of the show was when York correctly gave the answer of Eric Satie, he muttered “Yes, your French pronunciation is as bad as mine. “

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Popcorn was introduced to the settlers at the very first Thanksgiving feast, where it was believed to contain spirits of the dead since it burst open on exposure to heat.

Mastermind Champion of Champions Heat 1

I’m not going to lie to you, I was there so I already know who won each of the 4 heats of the series. I hadn’t seen any of the other heats in person, though, and didn’t know what had happened in each, and how it all worked out.

The Champion of Champions series is something I really hoped might happen again one day. This one isn’t actually the first. In 1975 a Supermind challenge pitted the first four champions against each other, and was won by the late Nancy Wilkinson, the first ever champion. Then in 1982 the first 10 champions all took part in the last champions tournament, which was won by the late Sir David Hunt, champion in 1977.

So the first heat pitted two Magnus champions against two John Humphrys champions. First up was none other than my predecessor Geoff Thomas, champion in 2006.

Since winning Mastermind Geoff added the 2008 Brain of Britain title to his exceptional resume. In anybody’s list of pre tournament favourites, Geoff’s would feature prominently. In his final, Geoff triumphed answering questions on Margaret Mitchell and Gone With the Wind. Tonight Geoff took the life and career of the man many people consider to be the finest cricketer of all time, Sir Donald Bradman. Geoff missed the first question, and dropped one more later on, but apart from these minor blemishes he produced a fantastic round of 16 and no passes. Game on.


Dr. Jeremy Bradbrooke was champion in 1987.

This was a series which saw, amongst other things, the first Mastermind appearance of Kevin Ashman, who reached the semis. In “I’ve Started So I’ll Finish” the late great Magnus commented on Jeremy wearing his lucky underpants for the final, so I was delighted to hear Jeremy mentioned that these still exist!

Dr. Bradbrooke opted to return to the subject with which he won his final, the Crimean War. I think it was left very much to the individual champions as to whether they reverted to old subjects, or opted for new, although I did get the impression they were happier for recent champions to go for new subjects, which is quite understandable.

Considering that its 23 years since Jeremy last sat in the chair, he found his form pretty quickly. He too scored a very fine 16, although he did succumb to one pass.





Current champion, LAM reader Jesse Honey said in his filmed insert that one of the thoughts which went through his head on winning the latest final was relief that he would never have to sit in the chair again ! I’m sure this was just Jesse being modest, since he has never handled a stint in the black chair with anything less than aplomb.

His final subject was Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, but tonight it was a case of now for something completely different, as he opted for National Flags of the World.What followed was a round the like of which we have not seen since. . . well, ever. The top score for an individual round before was Joe West’s 22. Tonight Jesse went one better with a perfect 23. A superlative performance, albeit one that seemed to finish the game as a contest before half time.



Stephen Allan milked this as he made his way to the chair, and very funny it was too. Stephen won the 1991 final answering on Sir Francis Drake. Tonight he chose the Life and Poetry of Edward Thomas, a subject which obviously won John Humphrys’ approval. You would have forgiven Stephen for letting Jesse’s breathtaking round put him right off, in the same way that Bob Beamon’s 1968 long jump demoralised all of his opponents. He didn’t. A great round saw him also score 16, with three passes.

Take Jesse out of the contest and it was beautifully balanced. Geoff was first to return for the GK round. You might recall that Geoff set a Humphrys era record in his final with 36, a record which was finally surpassed this year by Jesse himself. Geoff didn’t quite manage to hit the same form tonight, but still scored a distinctly useful 12 and no passes, to take his score to 28. Jeremy returned to the chair knowing that equalling Geoff’s score would not be enough, by dint of the pass he had picked up in the first round. He gave it a go, but levelled out at 9 and 1 pass. I did get a chance to have a chat with Jeremy behind the scenes, and he is an absolutely lovely chap, and I really hope that he enjoyed the day as much as I did.

It remained then for Stephen Allan to strike a blow for the Magnus era champions, and he certainly didn’t let them down. A battling good 13 and no passes saw him overhaul Geoff’s score – and achievement in its own right – and guarantee him at least the runner-up spot. To be honest, it was highly unlikely that Jesse would fail to get the points needed to win. What was at stake , though, was a new Humphrys era record. Jesse scored 37 in his own Grand Final. 15, and that would be broken. 2 minutes later Jesse had done it, clinching his place in the final.

Very well played gentlemen all. A great start to the series.

The Details

Geoff Thomas	The Life and Career of Sir Donald Bradman	16 – 0	12 – 0	28 – 0
Jeremy Bradbrooke	The Crimean War	16 – 1	9 – 1	25 – 2
Jesse Honey	National Flags of the World	23 – 0	15 – 0	38 – 0
Stephen Allan	The Life and Poetry of Edward Thomas	16 – 3	13 – 0	29 – 0

Gavin on Champion of Champions

I can only apologise that I failed to notice that a few days ago Gavin Fuller ( Mastermind Champion 1993 ) wrote a very interesting article about Champion of Champions, and his feelings about how it was different preparing for the series back in 1993 compared to preparing for the Champions series. It appeared in the Daily Telegraph, and you can find it online if you follow this link –
My Specialist Subject: how to win Mastermind by Gavin Fuller

For the uninitiated, Gavin was champion back in 1993, at the tender age of 24, the youngest ever champion. Don’t worry, he does not give away any clues as to what happened in the series.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
I will be writing about the series myself in this very blog, but after this week I'm going to be away in Spain again, although this time we're only going for just over a week, so if I don't post anything for a week or so after next weekend, don't panic, and I'll be back , tanned and refreshed - or at least slightly less pale, and slightly more laid back.