Sleb Mastermind Show 6

Sleb Mastermind continues, even if the BBC are making it just that little bit harder to find by putting it on at different times each day. Jessica Hynes ( Shaun of the Dead, Spaced, The Royle Family etc. ) took the first turn in the chair tonight. Her subject, well, her specialist subject was the people’s poet, Pam Ayres. As Jessica said in the inter round chat Pam Ayres’ poems have a level of humour and wit which is not always given the credit it deserves. Jessica gave it a lash in the chair, but judging from the look on her face as she returned to her chair she didn’t feel that her score of 6 was very adequate recompense for the amount of time and effort she’d put into preparing for her round. Them’s the breaks. It was twice as good as my 3. Jessica’s charity was Action for Children.

John Sopel followed Jessica into the chair. John is a well known broadcast journalist – and as such was well favoured on the Clark sofa to do well. They often do in sleb MM. His subject was Tony Blair, and it proved to be my best subject of the night. After all, there were enough old chestnuts in there – what was his constituency – which band was he in at University etc. for me to get 6. Not as good as John though. He managed 10 , and what do we say ? Anything in double figures is a good score off a 90 second round. Save the Children was John’s nominated cause.

Neil Hannon, of the Divine Comedy, is the man who wrote the song National Express, which was enough for him to receive the full burden of support from the Clark sofa tonight. Neil’s subject was the TV series Frasier. Now, the last time we saw this as a specialist subject was in Gavin’s heat in Champ of Champs, where Shaun Wallace put on a fine display to score 17. Neil’s 8 wasn’t as good as Shaun’s performance – although it was a hell of a lot better than my 2. Still, it meant that he was only 2 points behind John, and the chances were that the outcome of the show would be decided by the GK. Neil’s nominated charity was the Alzheimers Society.

Before the GK though we had the specialist round of Michel Roux Jr. Now, way back in the day when I had my first ever audition for MM I asked to offer a couple of writers – especially William Makepeace Thackeray ( of whom I want to write a biography if I ever win the lottery ). I was told no, I couldn’t do it because I’m an English teacher by profession. Then later on when I read “I’ve Started So I’ll Finish” I found that it was a matter of policy in the original shows to dissuade people from taking subjects closely related to their careers to avoid any potential embarrassment due to low scores. Michel Roux might well have benefitted from such cautionary advice himself. His subject was Escoffier’s Guide . It wasn’t a great round, and he ended with 4. I had one, mind you. His chosen cause was VICTA.

Needless to say, Michel returned to the chair in fairly short order. He had a nasty visit to pass Hell at the start of the round, but managed to pull himself out of the soup, and finish with a respectable 8. I managed all of his questions. I also managed all of Jessica Hynes’. I’m sorry to carp and pick holes, but I’m afraid I really don’t like it when the slebs start to get bolshie and answer back during their GK rounds. You might remember David Threlfall did this in the last series, and it got up my nose then. I’m a bit of a purist when you get right down to it – I’d rather they just got on with answering the questions. Jessica managed 7, which at least meant that she finished 1 point higher than Michel. I can’t help thinking that if she’d just got on with it she might well have had a couple more.

It was down to Neil to set a challenging target for John, and he put in a good run of answers to finish with 14. I thought that I had all of Neil’s as well, but alas, the John Peel lectures did for me. Neil finished with 22. To put that into perspective, the lowest winning score so far this series has been Simon Day’s 23, so John Sopel was still the favourite to win. To be fair John didn’t have a bad round, but he never looked totally at ease, and never seemed quite as convincing as Neil did. He was slow starting, and although he picked up a little speed as the round went one the target was still too far away when the buzzer sounded. 11 points put him on 21, and in second place.

The Details

Jessica Hynes	The Life and Poems of Pam Ayres	6 - 1	7 - 0	13 – 1
John Sopel	Tony Blair	10 -1	11 - 3	21 – 4
Neil Hannon	Frasier	8 - 3	14 - 3	22 – 6
Michel Roux Jnr.	Escoffier	4 - 3	8 -7	12 -10

A Question of Taste - certainly is

Yesterday was only the second day of the year, yet already we’ve had a new quiz show enter the lists as a contender for the 2012 LAMMY for best new quiz show of the year. Is it a serious contender though ? Well . . .

A Question of Taste, new on BBC2 yesterday, fits snugly within the same sort of niche as BBC2’s own Antiques Master. In the same way that Antiques Master is a specialist quiz show about the world of antiques, AQOT is a specialist quiz about the world of food and drink. Like Antiques Master it’s potentially quite an elitist show, which goes some way to try and make itself of interest to members of its audience who have no specialist knowledge of the subject. The upshot of it is that like Antiques Master it’s a show that’s not entirely comfortable in its own skin. Well, that’s my reading of it anyway.

Basically 2 teams of three people compete against each other in several rounds. As in “A Question of Sport” there’s a variety of different rounds. First of all we had the more ‘pure’ quiz of the buzzer round. Then a video round, whereby teams were shown part of a TV food programme of years gone by, and then they had to deduce which word had been blanked out. In another round both teams were given a list of items, and asked to pick out five. For example, we were given 12 vegetables, and asked to say which 5 had originated in South America. We finished off with buzzer questions again.

As a quiz on one of my weaker subjects I found it entertaining enough. Kirsty Wark doesn’t irritate – which is pretty much what you want from a presenter. There’s a point as well. Last time we saw Kirsty presenting a quiz show it was “A Question of Genius”. That show lasted for a couple of series, but never quite gained enough critical mass to earn a loyal audience base. Personally I thought that a fussy format and gimmicky rounds were responsible for that, but that’s just my opinion. Kirsty wark, with her Newsnight background, gives a show a feeling of being a little more serious. She's got a ready enough smile, but she doesn't do frivolous that well.I noticed too that the show has it's own expert, William Sitwell, sat behind a computer screen a la Richard Osman on Pointless. I found his interjections rather irritating if I'm honest, and they did tend to hold up the show. If there's a second series I'd venture to suggest that he may well be surplus to requirements.

I can understand the programme makers saying – cookery is still very big business. Just witness the popularity of Jamie, Delia, Masterchef and the Great British Bake off. If we make a quiz based on food and drink, then there’s a good chance it might catch on. Maybe it will. But, I don’t know. I can’t help wondering whether it’s too quizzy for people who like cookery, and not quizzy enough for people who like quizzes. As I’ve said before, things which fall between two stools often end up falling. Still, let’s be scrupulously fair. This has more of the real quiz about it than our comparison piece, Antiques Master. It has no annoying voiceover woman. It has more straight questions. All of which means that it’s an amiable enough quiz, and might be worth looking in on if you’ve nothing much better to do.

Brain of Britain - Round One - Heat 8

BoB returned to Salford Quays for yesterday’s show. Not that it makes any difference at all, but I like old Broadcasting House, and was glad to play all of my matches in 2009/10 in there.

First to go was Nada Vekri . He missed out on novels by Arthur Ransome, which second to go Rob Milnes was happy to supply. Mr. Milnes continued a highly impressive start when he took his own first three on the bounce. They weren’t gimmes either. He didn’t know that fustian was made from cotton, but Nada did for a bonus. Stephen Porter took his own first, but missed out on Andre Gide. Another bonus for Nada. Cindy Stevens got a nasty bouncer for her own first question – nobody knew that a conestoga, invented in the USA , is a covered wagon. So the evidence of the first round was that Rob Milnes was certainly a quizzer to be taken very seriously, and that Nada Vekri seemed a bit handy as well.

Nada took his first, but didn’t know the native American Ghost Dance religion of the late 19th century. Rob did. He went on to go one better than his first round run, taking 4 on the bounce this time. He didn’t recognise a bicthy comment made by Lord Byron about John Keats – Stephen took the bonus on that one. He missed his own first , on the Britches Bible, allowing Rob to ramp up his own lead even higher. Cindy had a distinctly gettable starter, but didn’t know that Lloyds started life in a London coffee house. Rob knew that.With a score of 11 at the end of round two, one more would certainly put him onto the semi finals board. Sitting pretty is a phrase which comes to mind. Nada missed his first again – mind you, who actually does know the latin name of the koala ? Well if Cindy didn’t , she guessed correctly anyway. Rob didn’t know the term musique concrete – Cindy took her second bonus in a row from this one. Stephen didn’t know that Lammas Day is August 1st – a bonus for Nada there. Cindy got another tricky starter, being given George Borrow’s romany name for Scotland. Rob guessed correctly on that one.

So to the Beat the Brains interval. Yesterday’s questions were sent in by listener Jane Anne Liston. Well, Jane Anne Liston is a BoB semi finalist herself. How do I know ? Because she was sitting next to me at the time – it was my own semi final in late 2009, which represented the high water mark of my time in BoB . Jane Anne’s first question foxed all of the Brains. She asked what the University towns of Buckingham, Lampeter and her own home , St. Andres lack. It’s a railway station. Her second asked what distinguishes the three kings, the stable , the ox and the ass in the story of the Nativity . I had this one, as did the brains, that they are none of them actually mentioned in the gospels.

Back to the contest. Nada took his first, but got no further, not knowing John Keble. Nobody had it. Rob missed his own first . I was a little surprised that none of the Brains knew Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. How soon we forget. I was also surprised that nobody knew Steven’s question, that the mother of Aeneas was Aphrodite ( or Venus in the Aeneid ) . To complete the round, nobody fancied Cindy’s first question either. Apparently Guyana is the South American country whose name means Land of Many Waters. New one on me. In round 6, everybody took their own first question. Nobody knew Nada’s second, referring to the noun atavism. Nada took a bonus on Rob’s second, naming whorls and loops as two terms from forensic fingerprinting. Nobody knew Gotland is the largest of Sweden’s islands. Rob knew that Worcester Country Club, home of the very first Ryder Cup match in the USA, is in Massachussetts. Rob was now on 14, 7 points ahead of Nada in second, and if his rate of scoring had slowed down, he looked as comfortable for the win as possible. Nada missed the chestnutty Dewar jar at the start of the 6th, and Rob was happy to snap that one up. He knew his first, but nobody knew that Prince Harry is the Commodore of small ships for the second. Stephen got a nasty one where he was asked to identify the recording of part of an opera. Nobody recognised Siegfried. Cindy didn’t know that it was Oliver Cromwell who was the first ruler of England to allow Jews to settle again after Edward Ist had expelled them. Nada did, and at this stage it just looked possible that he could force his way onto the repechage board.
The penultimate round saw Nada fail to score. Rob took a bonus on Sgt. Bilko’s serial number , but nobody knew that the beating of the bounds every three years at the Tower of London happens on Ascension Day. If you say so. Nobody knew that a Dzo is a cross between a yak and a cow, though Nada was rather unfortunate not to be given the bonus for a yak and an ox. Cindy didn’t know Dalton’s Law, but Rob did. All that remained was the last round. Nada needed a really good round to get onto the repechage board, and he had his best round of the show. He took his first two, then missed out on the moon Nereid. Rob knew that it belonged to Neptune. Rob didn’t know The Swale, and neither did anyone else. Stephen made a spirited late burst, taking three on the bounce before Calamine did for him. Nada knew that it is an old name for Zinc. This gave him 11, and puts him together with our own Colin Kidd and two others on the lowest rung of the repechage ladder. Finally Cindy’s first, and it was a little surprising that none of the brains knew that the world’s largest species of eagle is the Harpy eagle.

Well done to Rob Milnes. His run rate slowed considerably after the Beat the Brains interval, but even so his knowledge was comfortably wider than the other contestants, and he has to have a pretty decent chance in the semis I would say.

Daisy Goodwin - Sunday Times

I am indebted to LAM regular Joe, who emailed me Daisy Goodwin's article from New Year's Day's Sunday Times, all about her appearence in the Christmas series of University Challenge. I'm fighting a bit shy of posting the whole article here, since the Sunday Times make you pay to join their site, and it's only by joining their site that you can access the article. I have emailed them to ask if it's OK if I put the article on the website, but as yet I have had no reply. But if you can spare a couple of quid to join, then you can enjoy the article anyway if you go over to the Sunday Times website.

Thanks Joe ! All contributions gratefully received.

University Challenge - Quarter final match 2

Balliol, OXford v. Pembroke , Cambridge

I can only apologise to all LAM regulars who noticed that I never reviewed the first of our quarter final match ups. A combination of circumstances too tedious to relate here prevented me, and I’m sorry. I will do my best to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
Last night both Balliol of Oxford, and Pembroke of Cambridge had their first opportunity to get the win which would put one of each their collective feet in the semis. Balliol, who were Liam Shaw, Andrew Whitby, James Kirby and captain Simon Wood won their all Oxford second round clash when they squeaked past Merton.
Pembroke , represented by Ed Bankes, Ben Pugh, Bibek Mukherjee and Imogen Gold , have had little trouble disposing of their opposition in both of their previous matches. In their last match they scored 285 against Nottingham. Pembroke looked the favourites, then.

The show kicked off with a relative rarity – a first starter missed by both teams. They pinpointed that a set of actresses including Frances de la Tour and Sarah Bernhardt had all played a specific role in Hamlet, but not that the role was Hamlet himself. Bibek Mukherjee answered correctly on the French Revolution. This brought up one bonus on the Master(s) of the King’s Musick. Neither team could answer a tricky one on the amount of time since the Big Bang if expressed in specific units. The impressive Ben Pugh took his first of the night on Herman Goering. It’s fair to say that Mr. Pugh has been one of the most impressive individual buzzers in the series so far, and impression which was only enhanced by his performance last night. He followed it up with the next starter as well. He knew that Victor Sylvester’s SSQQS actually stood for Slow Slow Quick Quick Slow.
( I have a story to tell you about this. It was back during my childhood in the 1970s. I was off school for one of the usual childhood illnesses. My father was off work, probably the worst for drink the night before – I say worse, although if truth be told he was never much better when he was sober either. - He couldn’t abide the TV not being on, so he had it on in the morning, and was watching the Schools programmes – remember those ? A sex-education programme came on, and I distinctly remember idly listening as I was playing with my lego bricks. This is what I heard
“ Another, less reliable method of contraception is the rhythm method ( pause ) Slow, slow , quick , quick slow ! Keep it up now ! “
I looked up, to see that my father , deeply embarrassed, had turned the channel over, and we were now watching a programme on ballroom dancing. Come to think of it, maybe this explains why I have 5 children. I apologise for this pointless digression, and let’s get back to the review.)
One bonus followed on post war British Prime Minister. The picture starter showed one of the planets of the solar system in cross section. Ben Pugh made it a hattrick, identifying Venus. More of the same followed, and Pembroke, warming to their task, took the lot. Bibek Mukherjee, Pembroke’s other big hitter, took the next , knowing the daughter of Agamemnon offered up for sacrifice was Iphigenia ( which incidentally was the Christian name of Robin Williams’ character Mrs. Doubtfire ) . Bonuses took Pembroke to 90, and poor old Balliol, outbuzzed in this first part of the contest had yet to score. They remedied this when James Kirby knew the city of Augsburg , which brought up 3 bonuses on wind. That was enough to bring Balliol to 25 points by the ten minute mark.

Ben Pugh knew that if it’s an opera with a hunchback court jester then it’s Rigoletto. A full set followed on Literature. James Kirby took his own and his team’s second starter on Philosophers. 2 good bonuses followed on functional human anatomy. Bibek Mukherjee knew that Monaco gave its name to a declaration by a large gathering of the world’s top scientists in a particular field. One bonus followed on Ancient Greece. Neither team recognised the Hans Zimmer theme music of The Dark Knight. Those bonuses were held over twice because neither team knew the word Homomorphism. You don’t say. Ben Pugh knew the Russian acronym required for the next starter was Gulag. Damn good shout that, and it gave them one of the Hans Zimmer theme music bonuses. The Pembroke skipper took the next starter, knowing that the Roman province of Numidia was partly in modern day Tunisia. Liam Shaw grabbed some more points for Balliol on a quantum physics starter. They couldn’t take any of the bonuses on Geography. Imogen Gold got in on the act for Pembroke, knowing the various anagrams for the name of the poet Keats. Skate – Stake etc. So the second ten minutes had been almost a copy of the first. Pembroke had 190, and Balliol 55. The game , as a contest was over.

That having ben said, Balliol now took the last period to show us that they need not despair of reaching the semis. Simon Wood took a very good starter on words made up from combinations of the symbols of SI Units. 2 bonuses were taken on marsupials. The second picture starter showed a stamp bearing the picture of Ernest Rutherford. Ben Pugh knew it, and this brought up 2 bonuses on more scientists from the same set of stamps. James Kirby knew that the royal residence being described for the next starter was Clarence House. 2 bonuses were taken on chess terminology. Ben Pugh took his last starter on the river Garonne, which brought up a pair on films of the great Billy Wilder. Liam Shaw knew Stephen Jay Gould , and earned a full set of bonuses on a great UC set about people whose names begin with a greek letter – an example would have been Cecil RHOdes. Simon Wood knew a zygote, and a great full set on exponents of 10 in quantities followed. Nope, me neither. Neither team knew about what sounded like sexy primes. Andrew Whitby knew the Altiplano, and the team took a bonus on the history of Afghanistan. After this Balliol onslaught, Bibek Mukherjee though took the last starter, on South Seas geography.

At the gong, Pembroke had 240, a comfortable win, but at least Balliol had battled to a respectable 160. They aren’t finished yet by any means, but you have to say that Pembroke do look a pretty good bet for the semis.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

I think JP has used up a lot of his best lines on the Christmas series, since the only thing worthy of mention last night was his observation that the rules “remain as constant as the North star. “ You don’t get poetry like that on All Star Family Fortunes.

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

The Russian word Gulag – a forced labour camp – is actually an acronym.

Only Connect - Champion of Champions of Champions

The Epicureans v. The Crossworders

We’ve been waiting for this one for quite a long time. We’ve seen 5 teams become champions. We’ve seen two of these teams become champion of champions. Now, at last, the match to decide the champion of champion of champions. The Epicureans, our conquerors in the final of series five had won their super championship by beating the Gamblers, winners of series 3. Their opponents ? Who other than the mighty Crossworders, who beat the Lapsed Psychologists in the final of series one, then my friends the Rugby Boys, winners of series 2 , to win their super championship. By the way, I wonder will the Analysts – winners of series 5, have to wait to play the winners of series 6 to contest their own super championship ? Time will tell. Enough of such things. As a point of interest, opposing captains David Stainer of the Crossworders and Katie Bramall Stainer of the Epicureans are husband and wife.
Having met all members of both teams – indeed having played with or against most of them at one time or another, I can vouch for the fact that they are all top quizzers. The Epicureans, then are Katie, David Brewis, and LAM regular Aaron Bell. The Crossworders are David, Mark Grant, and Ian Bayley. Let’s get on with the show.

Round One – What’s the Connection ?

The Crossworders took the first set, with water. I was expecting the clues to be even harder than normal, and I think it’s fair to say that I wasn’t disappointed. Volleyball – Basketball – Toastmasters International – Fathers’ Day – stymied both teams. They knew that they were all created in the USA , but not that they were all created in YMCAs. Behind Two Reeds the Epicureans found music by bands and artistes including the Smiths, Muddy Waters and Queen. They didn’t get the connection, but the Crossworders leapt in for a bonus. Radio Gaga begat Lady Gaga. Papa was a Rolling Stone begat The Rolling Stones. You see ? I didn’t until it was pointed out to me – good shout. The Crossworders’ own set behind Eye of Horus was one of those – can’t see the wood for the trees sets. Q is to B – U is to N – P is to D – Z is to Z. Neither team – nor me at home, could see that if you turn these letters into lower case, then the second letter is what the first letter becomes if you turn it upside down. The Eps chose Twisted Flax, and at last I had a set right. Ingvar Carlsson 1986 and John Vorster 1966 didn’t give it to me, but Lord Liverpool 1812 did, and Lyndon B. Johnson 1963 confirmed it. They all took power following their predecessor’s assassination, and the Eps well knew. I did have the Crossworders’ set as well, but only on a lucky guess based upon the last clue. Transcending Existence – Syntactic Independence – Magnitude of a real number – all three meant nothing to me. Protagonists in the Rivals gave me the name Absolute – and apparently that was enough. Well, I think you know me well enough by now to know that I’m not the sort of chap to look a gift horse in the mouth. The Crossworders were clever enough to get all of the clues. Finally the Eps gave me another point by seeing a picture set including The Cenotaph – The London Eye, and The Eiffel Tower. They knew that all of these were originally intended to be merely temporary constructions.
Tough round, and the teams were level with 2 apiece.

Round Two– What Comes Fourth ?

I’ve often said in the past that I think this one is the hardest round. The Crossworders picked eye of Horus, and after 1792 and 1848 they had the logic of the sequence. Both teams had worked it out that this was the sequence of years of the founding of the first and second republics of France. But which year was the 4th ? The CWs went for 1945 . Wrong. I think that the Eps actually offered the date of the 5th Republic. But it was 1946 rather than 1945. Hard lines with that one. For their pains, the Eps found a mathematical thing to do with sines. They didn’t get it, but Ian did. What’s more, he even explained the answer after wards – and it is no reflection on his ability at all that I wasn’t really any much the wiser afterwards. A good bonus. The CWs chose water, and at last a round two set that I could get. After Qattara and Turfan I shouted “Dead Sea”, going for lowest /deepest depressions on the Earth’s surface. The CWs had worked this out as well, but took Lake Assal as well just to be on the safe side. The Eps found pictures behind two reeds. This was a set of philosophers. Neither team got it. I didn’t either – although if the name “Emmanuel Kant” had been written in words, chances are I would have sung “ was a real etc. etc. “ as the sequence was fro, Monty Python’s Philosopher’s song. Nice set that. The Cws flexed their muscles with their next set. Lion gave them O’Connor and Ginsburg, and they gave back Kagan . These being the list of female justices of the Supreme Court of the USA , and a correct answer off 2. Viper remained for the Eps, giving up Row 1 = blue – Row 2 = Green – Row 3 = Purple. Neither team knew that Row 4 = Turquoise, this being the sequence of colours in the rows of a solved Only Connect Wall. Wonderfully sneaky. Going into the walls, the Eps remained on 2, but the CWs had pulled significantly ahead with 8.


Round Three

The Eps knew that their lightning speed on the last round would give them a good chance if they could at least make sure that the gap didn’t widen, and so it was vital to grab as many points as possible in the wall. They untangled Blue – A1 – 911 – East 17 , the boy band set, very quickly. They also untangled Love Bug – Code Red – Melissa – Anna Kournikova – which are all computer viruses. I’ve heard of Melissa, of course, but I’d have been out with the washing with the rest of them. When the wall was resolved they could see that NC – Channel 16 – Orange Smoke and 112 are all means of sending a distress signal. But Suicide – Flare – 1990 and Windmill they didn’t know. Me neither. They are all Acrobatic Dance Moves. 5 points scored.

This gave the CWs the chance to establish a winning lead , although they wouldn’t have known this at the time. They unraveled the whole wall in the time. Group – Field – Ring and Monoid they knew as terms in structural algebra. Red face time. I remember the Monoids as creatures in a William Hartnell Doctor Who series called the Ark, and went barking right up the wrong tree with that. Johnson – Webster – Grove and Partridge they knew as lexicographers. Lime – Wormold – Pulling and Fowler they recognized as characters from the novels of Graham Greene. Ideal – Funland – Massive and Bodies they didn’t get. Apparently they are all series on BBC3. Still, 7 points increased the lead, to 15 – 7.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

Captain David admitted that the CWs were concerned over the renowned buzzing ability of their opponents, and the fact that they were right to be concerned was aptly demonstrated by what happened next.
The first set was words which begin with 3 vowels. As it happened, the first clue was the only one that the CWs managed for the whole round. The Eps took two and one went begging. Score – 16 – 9. A wonderful OC speciality set followed. Two film titles combined into one – for example There’s Something About Mary Poppins. David buzzed in too early and the answer wouldn’t come, thus losing a point. This let the Eps in for a shutout, and full four points. Score – 15 – 13. There wasn’t a lot of time left, and the next set was Major Football Venues. Ah yes, but not necessarily Association Football Venues. The Eps had time to get The Gabba, but that was it. The gap had been decimated, reduced from 8 to 1, but one point is enough, and it was a win for the Crossworders.

Well done – a match which only does credit to both teams.

Sleb Mastermind Show 5

I was a little surprised to see Andi Osho among tonight’s contenders. As John pointed out at the end of the show, Andi had already appeared in the 2010 Children in Need Special – which she won. Mind you , it’s not a totally unique case. Dave Spikey appeared in regular Sleb Mastermind in 2006 and won his show, then appeared in 2009 Children in Need Mastermind, and didn’t win. So a definite chance for Andi to get one up on her fellow comedian there.
Well, her chance would come later on anyway. First up was TV presenter Richard Arnold. He’s no stranger to TV quiz shows, having presented Take It Or Leave it on Challenge TV for a couple of series. Richard’s subject was the TV show Dallas, 1978 – 1991, and he scored a mightily impressive 13 points. It would have been a perfect round if he hadn’t faltered at just the last question too. Mind you, a lot of the questions weren’t extremely difficult either. I haven’t spared that TV series a thought for at least a couple of decades, but I still managed 8 myself. Richard was representing ASAP – African Solutions to African Problems.

Ashes winning captain Michael Vaughan was second to go. As befits a distinguished sportsman, Michael opted for the English FA Premier League in the 21st century. This was by no means an easy set for the casually interested armchair viewer – me – and I struggled my way to 5. Michael did quite a bit better, but he just couldn’t drag out the name of Delia Smith – famous in football circles for her ‘Let’s Be Having You’ rallying cry to the faithful at Carrow Road, even though John gave him about half an hour to dredge it up. Michael’s chosen charity was Sheffield Children’s Hospital Trust.

Poet Simon Armitage had his pads on and strode out to the wicket next . His specialist subject was fellow poet, the late Ted Hughes. Well, there will always be a debate about the relative difficulty of different specialist rounds, and I know for a fact that the team make every effort to make the rounds as fair as they possibly can. Well, I thought that I knew a bit about Ted Hughes and his work, but I struggled my way to make only a couple. It seemed to me that there was a huge bias towards The Birthday Letters, for example. Well, Ted Hughes wrote a lot more than that. Quibble over. Simon’s chosen charity was the National Autistic Society.

At last Andi, and her chance to return to the chair. Respect to her for her choice of subject too, none other than John Humphrys ! I guarantee that the production team would only ever allow that subject for a sleb or children in need special. I didn’t think I’d get any of these, but actually managed 4. Andi had clearly done her homework, though, and she managed a fine 10. It put her 3 points behind Richard, but certainly didn’t put her out of the running completely. Andi’s charity was Trekstock.

A two horse race, then ? Yes, really it was, but that didn’t stop Simon putting on a very good display in his return to the chair. Alright, these are sleb GK rounds, and not as difficult as normal ones, but nonetheless 14 is a good performance. With the shortened specialist rounds any sleb score of 20 or over is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, so that really puts Simon’s 21 into perspective. I’m afraid it also puts Michael Vaughan’s GK round into perspective as well. He had a dreadful first minute, spraying passes and wrong answers around with abandon. After this early collapse though, after the minute mark the tail end of the innings began to wag a little, and he did manage to rally to make 9, to take his score to 18.

Last time out Andi was the last to go in her GK round. Then she needed 10 and managed 11. Tonight she had to chase a target rather than set one. 11 again would put her level with Simon, so she needed to do better than that at the very least. She did. Her round pretty much matched Simon’s, and the 14 she scored put her at the top of the leaderboard with Richard still to go. The highest sleb GK score so far this series is Justin Moorhouse’s 17, so it’s some way behind that, but nonetheless a very good performance.

Richard needed 11 to go to countback, and 12 for an outright win. He looked pretty good value for this as he reeled off the first three or four answers. But this round was like cycling up a hill whose gradient steadily gets steeper. From the halfway point it looked more and more in doubt that he’d get there, and in the end he fell short. Richard scored 10 to take his score to 23. It was close, but a miss is as good as a mile they say. So well done Andi Osho. It’s some kind of record, I’m sure, and makes her the first Sleb to win 2 Mastermind trophies. Nancy Wilkinson won Mastermind 1972, and the first Supermind Competition in 1975. Sir David Hunt won Mastermind 1977, and the first Champion of Champions tournament in 1982. Pat Gibson won Mastermind 2005, and the second Champion of Champions tournament in 2010. That’s a pretty impressive list of two time winners to join. Very well done indeed !

The Details

Richard Arnold	Dallas – 1978 - 1991	13 - 0	10- 4	13 – 4
Michael Vaughan	The Premier League in the 21st century	9 - 3	9 - 5	18 – 8
Simon Armitage	The Life and Work of Ted Hughes	7 - 5	14 - 2	21 – 7
Andi Osho	John Humphrys	10 -2	14 - 2	24 – 4