Obviously to the fine team from Manchester University who won the Grand Final of University Challenge on Monday evening. Don't worry, the review is coming.
Also on Monday evening Neil, Brian and Andrew and I, the Llangewydd Arms, played our last league match of the season in the Bridgend League. We've retained the league title we won last year, but it certainly wasn't all plain sailing, and the title wasn't clinched until the last game. Credit for that goes to the boys from The Oldcastle. You'd have been forgiven for thinking that we were running away with the league by the Christmas break halfway through the season, but the Oldcastle had a better second half season than we died, became the first team to beat us, and frankly took us all the way to the wire.
On Monday we have the Cup Final. This is going to be the last match for our skipper, Andrew, who's taking a break next season. We'll be doing our very best to try to send him off on a high note.
Friday, 23 March 2012
Mastermind 1st round review - Semi Final Preview
Click on the table above and it should enlarge a little. Basically it gives you the 30 semi finalists, ranked in order of total scores in Round one. The column on the far right also gives the Gk score for each .
You know, predicting who is likely to make it through from the semis is never an easy thing to do. For one thing, I don't know who has been drawn against whom. It's a feature of Mastermind that there is often at least one 'top heavy' semi, where three or even four contenders for the whole series are pitted against each other. Then there are the contenders who have a one off brilliant performance in the first round, which they can't repeat in the semis. So, allowing for that, who has caught the eye ?
Well, you have to say that the top four on our list all look highly impressive. Andy Tucker with a brace of 18s was the pick of the bunch. However his 18 was matched on GK by Nick Duffy, who has already been to the Mastermind semis before, as has John Beynon, and our own Gary Grant and Gareth Kingston. Don't underestimate the advantage of experience in this game. I'll be honest, I can't see any dangerous looking mid table lurkers this year. You might remember that last year Ian Bayley wasn't one of the top scoring players in the first round, for example.
Looking at the table I'd say that our chances of another lady champ are pretty slim this year. Only 4 ladies have qualified for the semis this year. Repechage slot winner Julie Aris had the highest score of the 4, but this was based on a perfect SS round of 18. The chances of repeating this in the semis aren't huge, and her GK of 12 suggests she will struggle to qualify for the the final.
Pick a winner ? Hand me a pin and a blindfold. Yes, Andy Tucker's first round score was fantastic and marks him out as a potential champion. Yet it's no more impressive than Brain of Britain Iwan Thomas' first round last year, and he didn't get to the final. There are 13 contenders who have scored 30 or more, and I'd expect most of the 6 finalists to come from these. But then again, there's another 4 on 29, and 3 on 28. It's all very close.
Mastermind - First Round - Heat 24
I did say in my previous review that I am not the most observant person in the world, and I’m not, but I wonder how many people also noticed Pat and Shelagh Gibson sitting prominently in the front row of the audience. I wonder which of this show’s contenders they were supporting ? Well, whatever the case this was the last of the first round heats. What a show it was, too. Audrey Williams kicked off the show with The Life and Work of William Yeates Hurlestone, or as he is known in the Clark household, William Who? A composer , contemporary of Holst and Vaughan Williams, I gathered from the answers to the questions. Audrey started the round brightly enough, but found it a little tougher going than most of our contenders did in tonight’s two shows. As we’ve said, 8 is nothing to be ashamed of , but it wasn’t a score likely to give her any realistic chance of a win.
Quentin Holt answered question on my favourite subject of the whole evening , The London Olympic Games of 1908 and 1948. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed as if there were more questions on the earlier of the two, which is hardly surprising since the 1908 Games was certainly not short on controversy. Wyndham Halswelle’s 400m walkover and Ralph Rose refusing to dip the flag to the king were there pretty much as I expected, for example. Now, in the previous show Ken Owen posted a perfect 16 for 16 in two minutes. Quentin also posted a perfect score in this round, of 15 from 15. This sounded just about fair because I don’t believe that he was quite as quick as Ken was. We’ll come back to this later. As it is, you can’t do better than perfection. Superlative performance.
The specialist subject chosen by Julie Aris, The What Katy Did Novels of Susan Coolidge irresistibly brought to mind an old Two Ronnies joke. It went something like this : - The BBC have announced that they will be screening 4 new classic serials – What Katy Did – What Katy Did Next – Who Did What To Kay – and – Son of Katy. Well, be fair , it was the 1970’s. - Now, Julie too scored a perfect round. She, tho0ugh, scored 18. Gary left a comment after my last post , suggesting to look out for something like this. I have to say I can’t see that Quentin was 3 questions slower than Julie. Julie answered well, and she answered quite quickly, but she wasn’t greased lightning fast. I may be wrong, but I expect people will have some opinions about this. None of which is Julie’s fault. As we always say, you can only answer what you’re asked, and she did this superbly well. 18 is a brilliant score.
Lord alone knows what was going through Paul Maddern’s mind when he had to follow that. More power to his elbow that he produced a very good round himself on Lord Byron. I didn’t score quite as highly on this round as I had on the Olympic Round, but picked up a half dozen or so which was pleasing enough. Paul got 14, and what do we always say ? Anything in the mid teens on specialist is a good round.
Audrey Williams returned to the chair, and methodically picked off those she knew, and made her way to respectability with 11 , which raised her total to 19. Paul too managed 11, which took his overall total to 25. It didn’t look like a winning score with two contenders yet to return to the chair, but you have to say remember that this would have been a good enough score to win several of the earlier heats. Quentin Holt returned to the chair, and he took a little bit of time to wind himself into the round. He dropped a couple of points early on, and wasn’t answering that quickly, but the tempo quickened, and by the minute and a half mark he was reeling them off like shelling peas. In the end he posted 15 and no passes to finish on 30. Which guaranteed him a place in the semis, whether Julie could beat that score or not.
I wondered whether we might possibly have another tie break. I stopped wondering after Julie took the first of her 6 passes. Still although she wasn’t going to post as high a score as Quentin, the fact was that she didn’t need to. She was inching towards the target, and there was enough time on the clock . Enough time to get to 30 herself, that is. Which wasn’t enough to get the win, since Quentin was passless, but that proved to be academic since Julie earned herself a runner up slot anyway. Well played both.
The Details
Quentin Holt answered question on my favourite subject of the whole evening , The London Olympic Games of 1908 and 1948. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed as if there were more questions on the earlier of the two, which is hardly surprising since the 1908 Games was certainly not short on controversy. Wyndham Halswelle’s 400m walkover and Ralph Rose refusing to dip the flag to the king were there pretty much as I expected, for example. Now, in the previous show Ken Owen posted a perfect 16 for 16 in two minutes. Quentin also posted a perfect score in this round, of 15 from 15. This sounded just about fair because I don’t believe that he was quite as quick as Ken was. We’ll come back to this later. As it is, you can’t do better than perfection. Superlative performance.
The specialist subject chosen by Julie Aris, The What Katy Did Novels of Susan Coolidge irresistibly brought to mind an old Two Ronnies joke. It went something like this : - The BBC have announced that they will be screening 4 new classic serials – What Katy Did – What Katy Did Next – Who Did What To Kay – and – Son of Katy. Well, be fair , it was the 1970’s. - Now, Julie too scored a perfect round. She, tho0ugh, scored 18. Gary left a comment after my last post , suggesting to look out for something like this. I have to say I can’t see that Quentin was 3 questions slower than Julie. Julie answered well, and she answered quite quickly, but she wasn’t greased lightning fast. I may be wrong, but I expect people will have some opinions about this. None of which is Julie’s fault. As we always say, you can only answer what you’re asked, and she did this superbly well. 18 is a brilliant score.
Lord alone knows what was going through Paul Maddern’s mind when he had to follow that. More power to his elbow that he produced a very good round himself on Lord Byron. I didn’t score quite as highly on this round as I had on the Olympic Round, but picked up a half dozen or so which was pleasing enough. Paul got 14, and what do we always say ? Anything in the mid teens on specialist is a good round.
Audrey Williams returned to the chair, and methodically picked off those she knew, and made her way to respectability with 11 , which raised her total to 19. Paul too managed 11, which took his overall total to 25. It didn’t look like a winning score with two contenders yet to return to the chair, but you have to say remember that this would have been a good enough score to win several of the earlier heats. Quentin Holt returned to the chair, and he took a little bit of time to wind himself into the round. He dropped a couple of points early on, and wasn’t answering that quickly, but the tempo quickened, and by the minute and a half mark he was reeling them off like shelling peas. In the end he posted 15 and no passes to finish on 30. Which guaranteed him a place in the semis, whether Julie could beat that score or not.
I wondered whether we might possibly have another tie break. I stopped wondering after Julie took the first of her 6 passes. Still although she wasn’t going to post as high a score as Quentin, the fact was that she didn’t need to. She was inching towards the target, and there was enough time on the clock . Enough time to get to 30 herself, that is. Which wasn’t enough to get the win, since Quentin was passless, but that proved to be academic since Julie earned herself a runner up slot anyway. Well played both.
The Details
| Audrey Williams | The Life and work of William Yeates Hurlestone | 8 - 2 | 11 - 5 | 19 - 7 |
| Quentin Holt | London Olympics 1908 and 1948 | 15 – 0 | 15 - 0 | 30 - 0 |
| Julie Aris | What Katy Did Novels of Susan Coolidge | 18 - 0 | 12 - 5 | 30 - 5 |
| Paul Maddern | Lord Byron | 14 - 0 | 11 - 6 | 25 – 6 |
Mastermind - First Round - heat 23
Following last week’s show I must admit I was keeping a special ear open for the buzzer tonight. I didn’t notice anything untoward – which doesn’t really mean anything because I’m really not very observant. Still, I did notice that Ken Owen was sitting in the third seat as John introduced the contenders. “That’s the one who’s going to win .” I announced to no one in particular. Admittedly the Clark prediction has scuppered many people’s chances in the past, but then , if nobody is around to hear the prediction, then does the curse work, I wondered. In a way it’s a little like the question – if a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, does it make a sound, I suppose.
Enough of such twaddle. Offering us a popular culture specialist subject was the first of tonight’s last 8 contenders of the first round, Vicki Davies. She answered on the band Nirvana. Pretty well too, if truth be told. Crisp, quick answers, and no agonizing over the ones she didn’t know. 15 is a very good score by anyone’s reckoning, and that was exactly what she managed , with just two passes . Food for thought for the opposition, certainly.
Steve Ferry was answering on a far more traditional MM subject by way of contrast to the previous round. The Thirty Years War isn’t something I know a great deal about, but the couple of facts that I do know presented themselves ready for use if the questions arose. OK, there’s no very nice way of saying this. Poor Steve ended up equaling the lowest ever score for a specialist round, and scored the lowest ever SS in a first round heat. I can’t say for certain what it was that caused this, but it looked like brain freeze after getting his first question wrong. Maybe I’m wrong about this next point, and if I am I apologise, but it also looked to me like he hadn’t prepared anything like as thoroughly as he maybe thought he did. I don’t know.
Ken was next into the chair. You might remember Ken from Are You An Egghead Series 2. He’s certainly an experienced hand at this game, and even if you didn’t know it before his round, you certainly knew it after .Ken was answering on the Roy Grace novels of Peter James. Not a series I’ve ever read at all, which excuses me for scoring precisely zero. Ken, on the other hand, posted what was to be the first perfect round of the evening. Barely a hesitation, and a perfect round of 16 points from 16 questions. Highly impressive stuff, that.
Last to go was Stuart Reid. Stuart was answering question on Everton FC since 1992. These particular sorts of rounds, covering a sporting team or a sporting event over a relatively short period of time are inevitably harder than they appear to be on paper. Stuart acquitted himself well. You could have forgiven him for having been daunted by the two extremes of Stuart’s disastrous round, followed by Ken’s perfect round, but he wasn’t, and posted a competitive 13 himself.
I’m sure that John was only being encouraging when Stuart returned to the chair, and he made a comment about people finding their minds going blank when they sit in the chair. who knows, maybe this contributed to Steve’s very good showing in his GK round. It certainly was a very good showing. 15, even on a two and a half minute round is by no means an easy ask, and while Steve’s score of 16 isn’t one of the highest of the series, it’s not the lowest either. I hope that he’ll forgive me for saying this, but if that GK round wasn’t a one off, then if he picks the right subject, and prepares thoroughly, then he could go quite a long way if he tries again in the future.
Stuart came next, and if Steve’s round had been good, well, Stuart’s was better. He dropped a couple early doors, but kept his composure, didn’t let it put him off, and kept on plugging away throughout the round, picking up some very good answers along the way. By the time of the buzzer he’d added another 16 points to his score, to take him to a total of 29. That’s a very competitive total, and if it did nothing else it certainly meant that Ken was going to have to work for his place in the semis. This was not going to be a walkover by any stretch of the imagination.
Vicki Davies couldn’t match the standard of the two previous contenders on GK, although her 9 was a good battling performance which was respectable, and her final score of 24 was certainly nothing to be ashamed of. But all eyes were now on Ken. He certainly didn’t disappoint. Ken started brilliantly , picking off chestnuts, medium ones and hard ones with impunity. He built up a head of steam very quickly, and maintained his momentum until the end of the round, by which time he had achieved escape velocity. even though a few wrong answers began to creep into the round, the fact was that he finished with daylight between himself and Stuart, adding 15 to take his total to 31.
Well played Ken ! A great performance which marks you out as one to watch for the semis. But well played Stuart as well – a performance which deserves its own place in the semis.
The Details
Enough of such twaddle. Offering us a popular culture specialist subject was the first of tonight’s last 8 contenders of the first round, Vicki Davies. She answered on the band Nirvana. Pretty well too, if truth be told. Crisp, quick answers, and no agonizing over the ones she didn’t know. 15 is a very good score by anyone’s reckoning, and that was exactly what she managed , with just two passes . Food for thought for the opposition, certainly.
Steve Ferry was answering on a far more traditional MM subject by way of contrast to the previous round. The Thirty Years War isn’t something I know a great deal about, but the couple of facts that I do know presented themselves ready for use if the questions arose. OK, there’s no very nice way of saying this. Poor Steve ended up equaling the lowest ever score for a specialist round, and scored the lowest ever SS in a first round heat. I can’t say for certain what it was that caused this, but it looked like brain freeze after getting his first question wrong. Maybe I’m wrong about this next point, and if I am I apologise, but it also looked to me like he hadn’t prepared anything like as thoroughly as he maybe thought he did. I don’t know.
Ken was next into the chair. You might remember Ken from Are You An Egghead Series 2. He’s certainly an experienced hand at this game, and even if you didn’t know it before his round, you certainly knew it after .Ken was answering on the Roy Grace novels of Peter James. Not a series I’ve ever read at all, which excuses me for scoring precisely zero. Ken, on the other hand, posted what was to be the first perfect round of the evening. Barely a hesitation, and a perfect round of 16 points from 16 questions. Highly impressive stuff, that.
Last to go was Stuart Reid. Stuart was answering question on Everton FC since 1992. These particular sorts of rounds, covering a sporting team or a sporting event over a relatively short period of time are inevitably harder than they appear to be on paper. Stuart acquitted himself well. You could have forgiven him for having been daunted by the two extremes of Stuart’s disastrous round, followed by Ken’s perfect round, but he wasn’t, and posted a competitive 13 himself.
I’m sure that John was only being encouraging when Stuart returned to the chair, and he made a comment about people finding their minds going blank when they sit in the chair. who knows, maybe this contributed to Steve’s very good showing in his GK round. It certainly was a very good showing. 15, even on a two and a half minute round is by no means an easy ask, and while Steve’s score of 16 isn’t one of the highest of the series, it’s not the lowest either. I hope that he’ll forgive me for saying this, but if that GK round wasn’t a one off, then if he picks the right subject, and prepares thoroughly, then he could go quite a long way if he tries again in the future.
Stuart came next, and if Steve’s round had been good, well, Stuart’s was better. He dropped a couple early doors, but kept his composure, didn’t let it put him off, and kept on plugging away throughout the round, picking up some very good answers along the way. By the time of the buzzer he’d added another 16 points to his score, to take him to a total of 29. That’s a very competitive total, and if it did nothing else it certainly meant that Ken was going to have to work for his place in the semis. This was not going to be a walkover by any stretch of the imagination.
Vicki Davies couldn’t match the standard of the two previous contenders on GK, although her 9 was a good battling performance which was respectable, and her final score of 24 was certainly nothing to be ashamed of. But all eyes were now on Ken. He certainly didn’t disappoint. Ken started brilliantly , picking off chestnuts, medium ones and hard ones with impunity. He built up a head of steam very quickly, and maintained his momentum until the end of the round, by which time he had achieved escape velocity. even though a few wrong answers began to creep into the round, the fact was that he finished with daylight between himself and Stuart, adding 15 to take his total to 31.
Well played Ken ! A great performance which marks you out as one to watch for the semis. But well played Stuart as well – a performance which deserves its own place in the semis.
The Details
| Vicki Davies | Nirvana | 15 - 2 | 9 - 4 | 24 - 2 |
| Steve Ferry | The Thirty Years War | 1 - 1 | 15 - 3 | 16 – 4 |
| Ken Owen | The Roy Grace Novels | 16 – 0 | 15 - 0 | 31 - 0 |
| Stuart Reid | Everton FC since 1992 | 13 - 3 | 16 - 3 | 29 – 6 |
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Mastermind Controversy
I don't know if you watched last Friday's Mastermind, or read the review of the show. If you did either, or both, you'll know that it was one of the most exciting heats we've had for a couple of years, with Mike Clark beating Ged Meheran on a tie break.
Well, as was pointed out in comments left by Angela and Gary after my review, there is a question mark over whether Mike Clark should have been asked his last question, with the buzzer appearing to sound while he was answering his penultimate GK question.
I watched the show last Friday 'live' on the telly. I remembered thinking at the time that it was a close call, but in the excitement of the tie break I rather forgot about it afterwards, and never went back to the iplayer to the check just how close a call it was. Well, I did that earlier, and I have to say that I think that they do have a point. I freely admit that I could be mistaken, but it certainly seems to me that the buzzer goes just before Mike Clark has quite finished his 23rd answer, and that John does not quite start speaking before it goes. John carried on to say that he'd started and so would finish, and Mike correctly answered the question, thus earning himself a tie break, which he went on to win.
I don't read anything sinister into this - it's a marginal call, and mistakes can be made. But you have to say, it's very hard lines on Ged Meheran, who had produced one of the finest GK rounds of the series to put himself on the brink of the semis. Mastermind has an honourable history of being able to put it's metaphorical hand up to admit when a mistake has been made - giving an extra place in the semi finals on one occasion, correcting scores retrospectively, or offering contenders a chance to return in the next series. One can only hope that some such consideration may be offered to Ged Meheran.
Well, as was pointed out in comments left by Angela and Gary after my review, there is a question mark over whether Mike Clark should have been asked his last question, with the buzzer appearing to sound while he was answering his penultimate GK question.
I watched the show last Friday 'live' on the telly. I remembered thinking at the time that it was a close call, but in the excitement of the tie break I rather forgot about it afterwards, and never went back to the iplayer to the check just how close a call it was. Well, I did that earlier, and I have to say that I think that they do have a point. I freely admit that I could be mistaken, but it certainly seems to me that the buzzer goes just before Mike Clark has quite finished his 23rd answer, and that John does not quite start speaking before it goes. John carried on to say that he'd started and so would finish, and Mike correctly answered the question, thus earning himself a tie break, which he went on to win.
I don't read anything sinister into this - it's a marginal call, and mistakes can be made. But you have to say, it's very hard lines on Ged Meheran, who had produced one of the finest GK rounds of the series to put himself on the brink of the semis. Mastermind has an honourable history of being able to put it's metaphorical hand up to admit when a mistake has been made - giving an extra place in the semi finals on one occasion, correcting scores retrospectively, or offering contenders a chance to return in the next series. One can only hope that some such consideration may be offered to Ged Meheran.
Friday, 16 March 2012
A Little Extreme Quizzing
It’s Friday evening, and I’ve now completed what in real terms has been 12 days of the job without a break. This is the excuse I offer you for having posted no news questions last weekend, and for not doing it again this weekend. Oh, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not asking for sympathy. I thoroughly enjoyed last weekend in Disneyland Paris, and the children ( and the other staff ) were a pleasure to be with for the majority of the trip. In fact I did make a small contribution to the cause of Extreme Quizzing, by producing a Disney Quiz for the bus. The first two rounds were straight Disney questions. I read out the first set between Neath and Severn Bridge, and the second set between Leigh Delamere and Reading Services.
Now, I did used to think I was too competitive in a quiz. No bones about it, I AM too competitive in a quiz – can’t help it, it’s just how I am. But let me tell you, my worst tantrums are nothing compared to two of my colleagues who were with me. To be fair to the pair of them they have terrific knowledge of Disney – better than mine, and I thought I was no slouch on the subject either. I thought that they were going to lynch me when they were caught out by one question in the first round – what is the name of Mulan’s dragon companion in Mulan ? Mind you, they couldn’t remember the name of the villain in the Incredibles – Syndrome – either, and there’s really no excuse for that. I love the Incredibles.
The second section of the quiz we did when we were about an hour away from Paris. This one I didn’t prepare earlier, but used a CD for. 20 Disney songs, name the film from which the song is taken. For ground rules we agreed that the only acceptable answer was the one on the sleeve of the CD. However this did lead to one contentious answer. Tigger’s song – you know the one – “The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs etc. etc. “Now, the answer on the sleeve, and so the answer I had said I’d accept was “The Tigger Movie”. But surely this song was also sung in one of the much earlier Winnie the Pooh shorts . In fact I’d lay odds that Tigger first appeared in “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day” , and sang the song as well. Answers on a postcard to that one. A small footnote as well. The great Robert B. Sherman, who, with his brother Richard, wrote so many great songs for Disney passed away on the fifth of this month.
I saved the final round for the journey home on Sunday, and the long drag from the hotel at Disneyland to Calais. I used the Disney Trivial Pursuit DVD quiz. Which was a bit of an eye opener for me, as I didn’t know that Disney had even ever made a film called Atlantis. Adding up all the questions, there was a possible maximum of 94 points. To give you an idea of my colleagues’ obsession, their team scored a fantastic 91, and even then moaned about the Mulan question ! Thankfully they were ineligible to receive a prize. The top pupils’ team scored 86, though, which was certainly worth a prize I thought.
I only really mention this as it’s the first time I’ve ever organized a quiz which has taken place over a couple of days. Good fun, and at least it distracted the attention on the way home from the driver, who was using his hands free headset to have an angry hour and a half phone conversation with his wife who had apparently been seen b one of his mates out at 4 in the morning. I’m not exaggerating this. It was like an episode of Eastenders, only without the laughs and the feelgood factor one always associates with that fun packed half hour.
Now, I did used to think I was too competitive in a quiz. No bones about it, I AM too competitive in a quiz – can’t help it, it’s just how I am. But let me tell you, my worst tantrums are nothing compared to two of my colleagues who were with me. To be fair to the pair of them they have terrific knowledge of Disney – better than mine, and I thought I was no slouch on the subject either. I thought that they were going to lynch me when they were caught out by one question in the first round – what is the name of Mulan’s dragon companion in Mulan ? Mind you, they couldn’t remember the name of the villain in the Incredibles – Syndrome – either, and there’s really no excuse for that. I love the Incredibles.
The second section of the quiz we did when we were about an hour away from Paris. This one I didn’t prepare earlier, but used a CD for. 20 Disney songs, name the film from which the song is taken. For ground rules we agreed that the only acceptable answer was the one on the sleeve of the CD. However this did lead to one contentious answer. Tigger’s song – you know the one – “The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs etc. etc. “Now, the answer on the sleeve, and so the answer I had said I’d accept was “The Tigger Movie”. But surely this song was also sung in one of the much earlier Winnie the Pooh shorts . In fact I’d lay odds that Tigger first appeared in “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day” , and sang the song as well. Answers on a postcard to that one. A small footnote as well. The great Robert B. Sherman, who, with his brother Richard, wrote so many great songs for Disney passed away on the fifth of this month.
I saved the final round for the journey home on Sunday, and the long drag from the hotel at Disneyland to Calais. I used the Disney Trivial Pursuit DVD quiz. Which was a bit of an eye opener for me, as I didn’t know that Disney had even ever made a film called Atlantis. Adding up all the questions, there was a possible maximum of 94 points. To give you an idea of my colleagues’ obsession, their team scored a fantastic 91, and even then moaned about the Mulan question ! Thankfully they were ineligible to receive a prize. The top pupils’ team scored 86, though, which was certainly worth a prize I thought.
I only really mention this as it’s the first time I’ve ever organized a quiz which has taken place over a couple of days. Good fun, and at least it distracted the attention on the way home from the driver, who was using his hands free headset to have an angry hour and a half phone conversation with his wife who had apparently been seen b one of his mates out at 4 in the morning. I’m not exaggerating this. It was like an episode of Eastenders, only without the laughs and the feelgood factor one always associates with that fun packed half hour.
Mastermind - First Round - Heat 22
Wow. I haven’t seen a Mastermind show like that for a long time. All will be revealed. The first of our contenders into the chair was Ged Meheran. Ged was answering on the life and times of Harold Wilson, one of the most interesting and colourful British politicians of the post war era. As he walked to the chair I though that Ged looked particularly nervous. This might have explained the very slow start he made to his round. Maybe I imagined it, but he seemed far more assured on the questions about the later period of Wilson’s career, from the 60s onwards, and less with the earlier years. Whatever the case, Ged only managed 7 , although he didn’t pass on any questions either. “Well, “ I observed to no one in particular “ He’s not going to win. “ Hmmm.
Geraldine Walters came into the chair with a good old traditional Mastermind SS in the shape of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Wife of two kings, and mother of two others, to name just a couple of facts about her. That and the fact that she was played by Katherine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter. Geraldine, needless to say, showed knowledge that went far between my meager offerings. In fact she added to Ged’s agony by posting a score that was precisely double that of his . 14 looked very competitive to me.
Mike Clark is , as it happens, the name of my son, although I believe the gentleman of the same name who came next into the chair is probably no relation. This Mike was answering on the sitcom Seinfeld. I did watch a few of these, but I don’t know that I ever ‘got’ it as such. Certainly I never really understood what the fans raved about. The target was 14, and Mike placed himself handily on the leader’s shoulder by scoring 13. Like Ged, he too avoided any passes. That’s good technique. Hmmm.
Our second traditional Mastermind SS was offered by Michael O’Callaghan, who was answering questions on Ludwig van Beethoven. I was interested to see that the chestnut quotient on this round was pretty low. There’s lots of oft asked quiz questions about Beethoven which have done the rounds in quizzes, and this round seemed to avoid asking them. Put it another way, Michael had to know his stuff – which he did to the tune of 12 points. Plenty enough to give him a decent shout.
You could have been forgiven at half time for saying – as I did – that’s one contender out of the running, and it’s between the remaining three. Now, I do wonder whether Ged thought so as well, because when he returned to the chair there was a noticeably different air about him. He didn’t look anything like as nervous as he had just over 10 minutes earlier. It certainly showed in his answers. This was a very fine GK round by anyone’s standards. The answers kept on coming, and believe me there were plenty of answers to difficult questions in there too. The score continued to climb, so much so that when he squeezed in a last answer to take his score up to 24 and no passes I just did begin to wonder whether we were actually going to witness the finest comeback since Lazarus.
Michael O’Callaghan couldn’t match Ged’s GK performance. Not that he needed to. He needed to find 13 points to over haul Ged, but you got the feeling by the half minute mark that he wasn’t going to. More hesitant than Ged had been, he was picking up a few wrong answers as well, and by th4e two minute mark he was behind the clock. In the end he came close, but 11 points was only enough to give him 23. Ged still led.
Mike Clark must have been given food for thought by Ged’s round. Maybe he knew that he wasn’t going to match Ged’s general knowledge. What he did have going for him, though, was a smart game plan. He had decided beforehand, so it seems. to answer everything, and let the correct answers pile up among the wrong ones. My goodness it was close. Mike was on 23, and John had only just said the first word or two of the last question as the buzzer went. Mike made no mistake of his answer, and the scores were tied on 24.
Not that everything was over yet. Geraldine Walters was the leader at the halfway stage, and a further 11 correct answers would see her carry the day. She didn’t start too badly, but after the first minute or so the going got harder, and I’m sorry to say that she found herself trapped in a horrible pass spiral. By the end of the round she had raised her score to 19. Well, if you’ve been following Mastermind for any length of time you’ll know how such a situation is settled. In cases of a tie, the number of passes is taken into account. On the majority of occasions this is enough to settle matters. However, what we had here was a pair of very canny contenders, neither of whom had given any passes away at all. So what we were faced with now was a tie break.
Very few Masterminders have ever taken part in a tie break. I believe the last person to win a tie break was LAM reader Gillian Taylor who won a heat in the 2009 series. It was a remarkable heat that – 2 contenders scored 27 and 0 passes, and a further 1 scored 27 and 1 pass. Then , going back to the 2008 SOBM, lovely Sandra Piddock won a semi final tie break . The way that it works, of course, is that both contenders are given the same five questions to answer. The one who scores most is the winner. Tonight’s five questions were :-
1. Mahe Island is the largest of which island group ?
2. Spencer Gore was the first winner of which sporting title ?
3. Which river is nicknamed China’s Sorrow ?
4. Karl Langsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize for identifying the four main groups of what ?
5. Which poet accompanied the poet Dante on his journey through the Inferno in The Divine Comedy ?
Following my earlier prognostications I again told nobody in particular that Ged was sure to do it now, because he seemed a lot stronger on GK. Well, I don’t know – maybe he just tried to snap out the answers too quickly – maybe he was nervous again, having the opportunity to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He managed to answer the first , and the last . Mike returned to the chair, and he missed out on the Seychelles. One nil to Ged. However he knew that Spencer Gore won the Wimbledon singles. One all. Like Ged before him, Mike wrongly identified the Yangtse as China’s sorrow – it is in fact the Yellow river. Mike, though, knew that Karl Langsteiner identified the four main blood groups. 2 – 1. Ged had known that Vergil accompanied Dante. If Mike knew it as well, then it was all over. To cut a long story slightly shorter, he did, and it was.
Very well done Mike , you held your nerve well, and certainly earned a place in the semis. Special commiserations to Ged. It didn’t quite work out tonight, but if you come back another day with the right specialist subject, then you, sir, will be a force to be reckoned with. Good show.
The Details
Geraldine Walters came into the chair with a good old traditional Mastermind SS in the shape of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Wife of two kings, and mother of two others, to name just a couple of facts about her. That and the fact that she was played by Katherine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter. Geraldine, needless to say, showed knowledge that went far between my meager offerings. In fact she added to Ged’s agony by posting a score that was precisely double that of his . 14 looked very competitive to me.
Mike Clark is , as it happens, the name of my son, although I believe the gentleman of the same name who came next into the chair is probably no relation. This Mike was answering on the sitcom Seinfeld. I did watch a few of these, but I don’t know that I ever ‘got’ it as such. Certainly I never really understood what the fans raved about. The target was 14, and Mike placed himself handily on the leader’s shoulder by scoring 13. Like Ged, he too avoided any passes. That’s good technique. Hmmm.
Our second traditional Mastermind SS was offered by Michael O’Callaghan, who was answering questions on Ludwig van Beethoven. I was interested to see that the chestnut quotient on this round was pretty low. There’s lots of oft asked quiz questions about Beethoven which have done the rounds in quizzes, and this round seemed to avoid asking them. Put it another way, Michael had to know his stuff – which he did to the tune of 12 points. Plenty enough to give him a decent shout.
You could have been forgiven at half time for saying – as I did – that’s one contender out of the running, and it’s between the remaining three. Now, I do wonder whether Ged thought so as well, because when he returned to the chair there was a noticeably different air about him. He didn’t look anything like as nervous as he had just over 10 minutes earlier. It certainly showed in his answers. This was a very fine GK round by anyone’s standards. The answers kept on coming, and believe me there were plenty of answers to difficult questions in there too. The score continued to climb, so much so that when he squeezed in a last answer to take his score up to 24 and no passes I just did begin to wonder whether we were actually going to witness the finest comeback since Lazarus.
Michael O’Callaghan couldn’t match Ged’s GK performance. Not that he needed to. He needed to find 13 points to over haul Ged, but you got the feeling by the half minute mark that he wasn’t going to. More hesitant than Ged had been, he was picking up a few wrong answers as well, and by th4e two minute mark he was behind the clock. In the end he came close, but 11 points was only enough to give him 23. Ged still led.
Mike Clark must have been given food for thought by Ged’s round. Maybe he knew that he wasn’t going to match Ged’s general knowledge. What he did have going for him, though, was a smart game plan. He had decided beforehand, so it seems. to answer everything, and let the correct answers pile up among the wrong ones. My goodness it was close. Mike was on 23, and John had only just said the first word or two of the last question as the buzzer went. Mike made no mistake of his answer, and the scores were tied on 24.
Not that everything was over yet. Geraldine Walters was the leader at the halfway stage, and a further 11 correct answers would see her carry the day. She didn’t start too badly, but after the first minute or so the going got harder, and I’m sorry to say that she found herself trapped in a horrible pass spiral. By the end of the round she had raised her score to 19. Well, if you’ve been following Mastermind for any length of time you’ll know how such a situation is settled. In cases of a tie, the number of passes is taken into account. On the majority of occasions this is enough to settle matters. However, what we had here was a pair of very canny contenders, neither of whom had given any passes away at all. So what we were faced with now was a tie break.
Very few Masterminders have ever taken part in a tie break. I believe the last person to win a tie break was LAM reader Gillian Taylor who won a heat in the 2009 series. It was a remarkable heat that – 2 contenders scored 27 and 0 passes, and a further 1 scored 27 and 1 pass. Then , going back to the 2008 SOBM, lovely Sandra Piddock won a semi final tie break . The way that it works, of course, is that both contenders are given the same five questions to answer. The one who scores most is the winner. Tonight’s five questions were :-
1. Mahe Island is the largest of which island group ?
2. Spencer Gore was the first winner of which sporting title ?
3. Which river is nicknamed China’s Sorrow ?
4. Karl Langsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize for identifying the four main groups of what ?
5. Which poet accompanied the poet Dante on his journey through the Inferno in The Divine Comedy ?
Following my earlier prognostications I again told nobody in particular that Ged was sure to do it now, because he seemed a lot stronger on GK. Well, I don’t know – maybe he just tried to snap out the answers too quickly – maybe he was nervous again, having the opportunity to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He managed to answer the first , and the last . Mike returned to the chair, and he missed out on the Seychelles. One nil to Ged. However he knew that Spencer Gore won the Wimbledon singles. One all. Like Ged before him, Mike wrongly identified the Yangtse as China’s sorrow – it is in fact the Yellow river. Mike, though, knew that Karl Langsteiner identified the four main blood groups. 2 – 1. Ged had known that Vergil accompanied Dante. If Mike knew it as well, then it was all over. To cut a long story slightly shorter, he did, and it was.
Very well done Mike , you held your nerve well, and certainly earned a place in the semis. Special commiserations to Ged. It didn’t quite work out tonight, but if you come back another day with the right specialist subject, then you, sir, will be a force to be reckoned with. Good show.
The Details
| Ged Meheran | Harold Wilson | 7 - 0 | 17 - 0 | 24 – 0 (26 after tie break ) |
| Geraldine Walters | Eleanor of Aquitaine | 14 - 1 | 5 – 9 | 19 - 10 |
| Mike Clark | Seinfeld | 13 - 0 | 11 – 0 | 24 - 0(27 after tie break ) |
| Michael O’Callaghan | Ludwig van Beethoven | 12 - 2 | 11 - 6 | 23 – 8 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
