Misunderstandings will arise anyway -

but you don't have to go out of your way to make it happen.

If you phrase a question in a way that makes it possible for people to misunderstand it in any way, then you can bet your bottom dollar that someone will misunderstand it. This is a salutary lesson which all of us who aspire to be question masters at whatever level would do well to take on board.

Fast forward to this afternoon. I’m sorry for those of you who had to suffer less than perfect weather for your bank holiday, but here in the Swansea Bay area its been fine and sunny all day. My mum and step Dad have been staying the weekend with us, so we dragged them out of the house to introduce them to one of my favourite museums, the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. One day all museums will be like this one, which utilises all the wonder of interactive Information Technology to the full.

As you can see from the photograph, its in a wonderful setting, since it looks right out onto the Marina. Visiting the museum reminded me of a question I was asked in a quiz a few weeks ago : -
“Which was the world’s first fare paying passenger railway ? “
Now, if the answer – The Stockton and Darlington Railway – has just popped into your head, well, I can understand that. Have a look at the question again, though. As asked, it doesn’t mention steam at all. As asked, the correct answer is
The Oystermouth Railway ( which later became the Swansea and Mumbles Railway )
OK, so when it began it was horse-drawn, but nonetheless it is generally recognised as the world’s first fare paying passenger railway. It actually lasted until 1960, as a tramline, when the council, showing the great foresight and respect for heritage that councils were famed for during that decade, ripped up the tracks, and consigned the trams to the dustbin of history.
As for the question , well, the question master went down the Stockton and Darlington route for the answer. No, Gentle Reader, it was not I who asked for a steward’s enquiry. I didn’t need to . People in Swansea, especially those of a certain age, are justifiably proud of their city’s part in railway history, and several people pointed this out to the QM. His explanation of
“well I thought everyone would know I meant steam railway. “
did not appease many, it must be said, but the time honoured rule of – the question master is always right was observed.

Still, you’ll be glad to know that we had a nice day in Swansea today, at least !

Mastermind News

Would you like to be the next Mastermind champion ? If your answer is yes – well , sorry , but you’re out of luck, since they’ve already been recording the first round of the next series. So unless you’re already in it, you’re too late. Now, it doesn’t matter where I was or what I was doing. I’ll tell you all about it in the future. However I have it from cast iron sources that there’s a fundamental change to the format of the show. Basically the filmed inserts have all gone. Ok, we can all live with that, I’m sure. Albeit that they were an improvement on the inter round chats from previous Humphrys era series. This frees up the time to increase the GK rounds to 2 and a half minutes. This is not a rumour, or a mooted change – its already happened.

You know me. I’m essentially a pupil of the school of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ , so my feelings about this change are mixed at best. Its interesting to think that Bill Wright, the show’s creator, originally envisaged it as consisting only of specialist questions. Happily the classic format of contenders being given equal time on both specialist and general knowledge was established during the very first series in 1972, and this basic principle was adhered to right up to the semi finals of the series that finished earlier tonight.

On the other hand . . . well the principle was abandoned in this year’s semis, where the specialist round alone was reduced to 90 seconds, and yet we still saw some exciting shows. If anything they moved along at an even more cracking pace, having no filmed inserts to hold up the specialist rounds. So I think that we have to give it a try, and reserve judgement until we see it in practice.

One Million Pounds Dropped, and an Opportunity Missed

Let me choose my words carefully. The 1 Million Pound Drop Live burst onto our screens this week, and like it or loathe it, I couldn’t ignore it. Actually the truth of it was that I did none of the above. I can’t say that I particularly liked it, for reasons which I shall explain later, but on the other hand it really isn’t aimed at people like me anyway, and as such its inoffensive and I certainly don’t hate it.

So, if its not for my particular demographic, and I’m really ambivalent towards it, what am I doing bothering to review it ? Well, I do like to think of myself as at least a student of the Quiz show genre, if not a connoisseur, and I think that any show that tries to offer us something new is at least worthy of notice.

What’s new about The 1 Million Pound Drop Live ? Not the host , certainly. Davina McCall, or ‘Shouty Gurny Woman’ as she is known in certain circles, had a go at the Big Prize Quiz Show a few years ago with ITV’s The Vault. Screamin’ ‘Vina’s regular Big Brother gig ends with this year’s series, so she’s on the lookout for a new regular earner. Sorry, love, but I wouldn’t put a million pounds on this one being it.

How about the Prize ? No, sorry, winning a million on telly has been around since the 90s. The format , then ? Well, yes, to some extent. For one thing each contestant, or pair of contestants, starts with £1 million. They are asked a set of multiple choice questions. Put the million onto the wrong answer, and it falls down a hole and its goodnight Vienna. So you can hedge your bets, and spread the money around several answers. You’ll lose some, but you still carry some through. Well, I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched the show through from the start, but I have yet to see anyone get through all of their 8 questions without losing the lot.

You see , some of he questions are bloody hard. Most of them , in fact. I’ve seen a lot of questions of the – which of these happened first ? – genre. Trouble is, all of the options happened pretty much at the same time. These are things you are not meant to know. In fact I’ll go further. These are things you are meant NOT to know. So it’s a guessing game. There’s a place for guessing in a quiz, but there’s also a place for having a decent grounding in General Knowledge. I don’t think that this would get you very far in The 1 Million Pound Drop.

Is this why the show pretty much leaves me cold ? Its one of the reasons, certainly, but its not the only one. For one thing its obviously aimed at a younger demographic, the Big Brother Generation. There is a school of thought that says that all of the contestants will go straight into the Big Brother house and become the new set of housemates. Could be. But it means that the succession of contestants tend to merge into each other, and I found myself longing to see a scruffy, little balding bloke in his fifties for a bit of light relief. Fat chance of that. For another thing, I’m sorry, I’m sure she’s a lovely person when she’s off duty, very good to her mum and all that sort of thing, but I’m afraid that I find Screamin’ ‘Vina’s on screen persona very irritating. But above all else, it seems that the show is trying to set a new record for the least number of questions asked during a long show. Its pace is positively funereal.

So while I applaud this attempt to breathe life into the seemingly moribund big money quiz genre, I can’t help thinking that , as for The 1 Million Pound Drop, ‘dropped’ is exactly what it will be at the end of its run.

Mastermind Grand Final

Well, without lapsing into hyperbole, I think its fair to say that tonight’s show was probably the most eagerly awaited final for many a long year. 6 quizzers with a proven broadcast track record, duking it out in Mastermind’s answer to that old World Cup favourite, the Group of Death.

David Buckle had picked the cherry plum of what looked like the best outing for the filmed insert. In previous rounds he had taken Gerry Anderson, and the Jeeves and Wooster novels. For the Grand Final it was Hollywood in the 1980s, which necessitated a visit to what looked like Universal Studios. I have to be honest, I did think that this looked like one of those deceptively wide subjects, but David still managed to post a very respectable 13.

Second to take to the chair tonight was LAM joint favourite Kathryn Johnson. Kathryn had offered us Victorian and Edwardian Poisoners, then the Lord Peter Wimsey novels in previous rounds. She claimed that her choice of The Granddaughters of Queen Victoria had been the result of desperation rather than inspiration. Well, it resulted in a trip to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight for her film, so it can’t have been all bad. For a supposedly desperate choice Kathryn put on a bravura performance, and scored 16. Game on.

Our second joint favourite of the evening, Jesse Honey, was answering on Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. In previous rounds he had answered on the London Borough of Wandsworth, and The Life and Work of Antoni Gaudi. Jesse made his film – well , where else other than in the cathedral ? He explained how he had jumped on a train immediately after his semi final, and walked around taking pictures, determined to leave no cathedral stone unturned. It worked, too. 18 is a massive score at any time. In a grand final its magnificent.

Barbara Thompson , former Brain of Britain champion, whose previous subjects were British Female Cabinet Ministers and Ealing Studios, was answering on the English County Cricket Championship from 1960, and was filmed, appropriately enough, at a cricket ground. You couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for her, since I don’t know when they made the film, but it looked freezing to me. Barbara gave it a good old go, and at the end of the round she’d scored 10.

Les Morrell, seen earlier this week in The Chase, had answered on Clement Atlee and Ever Decreasing Circles. Speaking to us from the picturesque surroundings of the Beamish Open Air Museum , Les told us all about his specialist subject, The General Strike of 1926, and very interesting it was too. He knew his stuff, did Les, as was confirmed by a fine performance to score 16.

Last week in my preview of the final I made the point that double Grand Finalist Mark Grant always prepares brilliantly for his specialist subjects, a point proven by great scores on previous rounds on Manet and Bernini. Tonight he offered what looked like a dangerously wide subject in the shape of Venetian Opera. Mark, who had drawn second prize in the filmed insert lottery, explained how he came to apply for the show, with the splendour of La Serenissima in the background. I needn’t have worried about the width of the subject. Mark proved more than equal to the task with a splendid 17.

Barbara returned to the chair. To be honest she looked a little shellshocked at all of the heavy artillery coming from the other contenders in the first round. She battled grittily through the round, but it wasn’t her best GK performance of the series. She scored 9 to take her total to 19. David Buckle followed. He too couldn’t match his previous GK score, and also scored 9, to shift the bar up to 22 points.

My joint favourite , Kathryn , returned to the chair. Here’s a thought. Who would have predicted that with a score of 16 she would be the third person to go in the last round ? Kathryn and Jesse have been the two outstanding GK performers of the whole series, and tonight was no different, as Kathryn delivered a super 16, to take her score to 32. Lets just pause and consider that for a minute. 32 would have won the finals of 2003, 4, 7 and 8. Only Pat Gibson and Geoff Thomas had ever scored more highly than that in a Humphrys era final.

However, we were only halfway through the final round at this stage, and the clinically obese female personage had not even begun to warm up her vocal chords, to coin a phrase. Following Kathryn into the chair was Les Morrell. Les had a tough round, make no mistake about it, but managed to put himself into second place with only 2 more contenders to go, with a final total of 23.

With a one point advantage over Kathryn in the first round, Mark needed to equal her score to go into the outright lead without resorting to a pass countback. He maybe didn’t quite manage that, but his 13 looked like a pretty good round from the Clark sofa. 30 points gave him second place, with one to play, so he was guaranteed a podium place whatever happened.

Step forward Mr. Jesse Honey. What followed in the next two minutes was a GK round the like of which has rarely been seen throughout the Humphrys era. Speed, calmness, great knowledge, and the ability to guess correctly on just one or two questions landed Jesse a monster of a score, 19 points, for a winning total of 37. Just think for a minute. That is a new record score for the John Humphrys era, beating the 36 scored in the 2006 series by the great Geoff Thomas. My heart goes out to Kathryn, for in most other years she would have been champion, but you can only wonder at such a breath taking performance as Jesse’s. Nancy Dickmann handed over the trophy to the new champion, and I wonder if the same thought crossed her mind as crossed mine – Thank Heaven he wasn’t around in MY series ! Seriously, many , many congratulations to Jesse, who is a smashing guy, and also to all of the other finalists, who played their part in as memorable a final as we’ve had for a long time.














Me with the new Champion

Very well done to Jon Kelly, and everyone who worked on the series this year. Its been hugely entertaining and enjoyable – I can’t wait for next year.

The Details

David Buckle	Hollywood in the 1980s	13 - 1	9 - 2	22 - 3
Kathryn Johnson	The Granddaughters of Queen Victoria	16 - 0	16 - 2	32 - 2
Jesse Honey	Liverpool Anglican Cathedral	18 - 0	19 - 1	37 - 1
Barbara Thompson	English County Cricket Championship from 1960	10 - 4	9 - 3	19 - 7
Les Morrell	The General Strike of 1926	16 - 1	7 - 4	23 - 5
Mark Grant	Venetian Opera	17 - 0	13 - 0	30 – 0

Enter the Governess

A few words, then, on Anne’s first appearance as the Chaser. Yes, of course she won. You didn’t expect anything different, did you ? Well, if you didn’t know about Anne before, since watching the show you now know just how formidable a quizzer she is. To be fair to today’s challengers they gave it a fair old crack of the whip. Anne disposed of two of the four challengers comfortably in the individual rounds, and if she got any of the answers wrong I certainly didn’t notice it, but the two who remained made a good fist of the first half of the two minute round. As it went on the correct answers began to dry up a bit, and they levelled out at 21. This is not a negligible total, but I was certain that Anne would do it, and to be fair , she managed it with time enough for perhaps another 3 or 4 questions if needed.

Bradley seems to have latched onto the soubriquet “The Governess” for Anne. Fair enough. Well, anyway, its got to be better than his other offering, which unless I’m very much mistaken was , and I quote, “Frosty knickers “. I really wouldn’t stand for that from him, Anne ! I know a couple of blokes who could have a quiet word in his ear for you if you like . The repartee with the challengers was all good fun, and it was another enjoyable show. In a way Anne offers a slightly different challenge to Mark and Shaun, the ‘threat’ to the challengers is rather more subtle, but none the less effective for that, a rapier rather than a bludgeon if you like. Well done on your debut Anne – I enjoyed it a lot .

Speaking of The Chase, I did mention in my earlier review this week that Shaun Wallace was the only Humphrys-era Mastermind champion that I didn’t know via the interweb and had never met personally. I’m absolutely made up that this state of affairs was rectified yesterday. Les Morrell, who played in Monday’s show, told me that he really liked Shaun and thought that he was a top guy, and I’m delighted to say that although we only managed to have a brief chat, this was the impression that I formed as well. Shaun, if you’re reading, it really was a pleasure to meet you. A word for Mark, too. He’s been in rather merciless form this week. It may be one step easier for challengers to get into the final chase, but none of our chasers have been in charitable mood at all this week. So I look forward to seeing how close next week’s challengers get.

A little more on The Chase

Anne Hegerty, our newest Chaser, has just informed me that we have to wait until this Friday for her first show as Chaser. Well, it is a lady's prerogative to keep a gentleman waiting.

One other thing she pointed out to me, which I must admit that I didn't notice, is that the tweak for this series is that the ladders in the individual contestants' rounds are actually one rung shorter. If they stick with the amount that they have won they now only have to answer 5 questions correctly, rather than 6. Which should result in more contestants going through to the Final Chase if they play cannily. This certainly seemed to be the case tonight.

If I knew how to programme it, I would be setting the DVD recorder for Friday's show now.

Alan Coombs

I received the sad news today that one of my best quiz friends throughout the last 20 years, and a truly great quizzer, Alan Coombs, passed away yesterday.

If you’re not part of the South Wales quiz community, then I don't know that you ever knew of him, but within this community he was a figure who received total respect. In many ways Alan was my first quiz mentor. He was the first truly great quizzer that I ever met. In 1988 I was first introduced to the world of the pub quiz by another friend, Neville. I found that I wasn’t bad, and within a few weeks I was invited to play for the club in the quiz team in the Port Talbot League. I won’t lie to you, I fancied myself a bit as a quizzer. That’s when I first met and played alongside Alan. Alan, who was still in his pomp as a quizzer then, was awesome. Whenever you walked into a pub to play a league match, or a charity quiz, and Alan was with you, the other players in the room would seem to wilt. Mentally they were usually beaten before the start of the match. And if Alan was playing they were invariably beaten by the end of the match. Alan was that good. In my early years I used to look at Alan and think – if I can ever come close to being that good, then that’ll do for me.

As well as being an awesome quizzer, Alan was great company as well. He was one of very few people I have known for whom the phrase ‘nobody had a bad word to say about him’ was in no way hyperbole. It was through Alan that I was invited to make my first ever appearance in a TV quiz, where through his influence I was drafted onto a team for “Come And Have A Go If You Think You’re Smart Enough’. We didn’t win the show, but I look back on that weekend we spent in London, Alan, his wife Alison, myself and the other members of the team as one of my most enjoyable experiences in TV quizzing.

My deepest condolences go to Alison, and to all of Alan’s family, and to all of his friends from both the quizzing community and outside, of whom there were many. Tomorrow night John, who was Alan’s friend and team mate for even longer than I was, and I will be in Cowbridge, and even though it’s a school night, I hope nobody will blame me if I raise a glass in his memory and say God Bless you Alan. Thank you for being a friend all these years. Rest in Peace.