My "Mastermind" story.
Prologue
From the mid 1970s one of my favourite TV shows has always been the BBC quiz Mastermind. Every
time I watched it I would see how many questions I could get right. As I got
older and my store of knowledge increased and I got a few more questions right
and I started to think "I could do that." When in 1987 Magnus
Magnusson made his annual appeal for contenders for the next year's series I
decided to apply. I applied every year until 1993 when I was lucky enough to be
called for an audition to take part in Mastermind 1994.
Off I went to Manchester for the audition and I met the producer and
production assistant from the BBC. They
asked me some general knowledge questions and stuff about my specialist
subjects. I got about two-thirds of the questions right but I knew only one in
ten of those auditioned got on the show and I was one of the other nine.
Audition
I kept applying every year as usual and in 1996 when I had moved to Cambridge University I was asked for another
audition so on September 17th I walked down the road from the Chemistry department to the Centennial
hotel for another audition. Same format as before and I did about the same on
the general knowledge, I was told that they were thinking of recording a heat
in Cambridge in the coming series. Off I went fully expecting to be one of the
other nine again. Then one evening.....
I came home to find a message on the answerphone from the BBC inviting me to take part in Mastermind 1997!!!!
As I heard the message it was very strange, as if it was happening to someone
else, I had to play it through again to make sure it was really true. November
25th 1996 in the Cambridge Union
Society, my specialist subject, "The Life and Works of Arthur C. Clarke." Oh
no, what had I done. I've always been good at quizzes but this was the big
league, Mastermind.
First round - Cambridge Union Society
And so, after two months of rereading my old Arthur C. Clarke books, the
great day arrived. A couple of days before it had been announced that this was
to be the final series of Mastermind so I'd only
just made it. At 3.30pm I arrived at the Cambridge Union feeling rather
nervous. As soon as I arrived I was introduced to Magnus and seated in the
dreaded black chair for a photograph and an interview by the Cambridge Evening News, all before
I got a chance to catch my breath!
My fellow contenders were:- Peter Bolt, a factory worker from Studely in
Warwickshire, his specialist subject was "The Life and Reign of Emperor
Franz Joseph 1848-1916". Katharine Taylor, a graduate student at Oxford University, her specialist subject was
"The Life and Music of Elton John".
Christine Warman, a Tesco checkout
operator from Clitheroe, her specialist subject was "Therapod Dinosaurs".
We were to take part in the first of two first round heats to be
recorded that evening. All of the Masterminders had a briefing to explain the
rules with Magnus and the producer, David Mitchell before we all went into the Cambridge Union debating chamber for
a dress rehearsal. We all had 2 lots of old general knowledge questions so we
could get used to the quiz format and the BBC
technicians could get the sound and lighting and cameras set up for the
evening. Apart from the lack of audience and no specialist subject questions
the rehearsal was exactly like the real thing. I came 3rd out of 4, everyone
else seemed to get easier questions than me! I had no thoughts of winning at
that stage, all I wanted to do was not make a fool of myself, I reckoned 20
points would leave me with some dignity. Most importantly I wanted to BEAT OXFORD! Magnus went to "the
other place" and there were lots of good-natured barbs about which was the
better of the two ancient universities. I couldn't lose to an Oxford student on my home ground.
After the rehearsal we had to go into make up so we would look OK under
the TV lights, I was now getting very nervous indeed as the clock ticked round
to 7.30pm.
With about 15 minutes to go I went to meet my guests who had come to
watch me suffer in the black chair. Shelley was there with my sister Marie and
my old friend Judith, most of my research group from the Chemistry department were there as well. I
would not be short of support in the audience. By now I was so nervous I was
seriously thinking of an escape route before the recording started, I hope I'm
never that nervous again in my life. But it was too late to escape now, Scotty wasn't
there to beam me up, this was it.
We all lined up outside the debating chamber whilst David Mitchell was "warming
up" the audience before he handed over to Magnus. Then we all trooped in
one at a time as we were introduced to the audience. When everyone was in
position and Magnus was behind his desk the lights were dimmed,
"Approaching Menace" was played. Magnus did his introduction bit
about the contenders and the Cambridge
Union before mentioning that we had a Cambridge Student taking part and also an Oxford student to maintain the traditional
rivalry.
Peter went up first and got 14 on his specialist subject, Katherine was
second and got 9 and then it was my turn. I managed to get out to the black
chair without falling over and sat down to face the dreaded interrogator,
Magnus Magnusson. The lights dimmed so that there was just a bright light in my
eyes, I couldn't see anyone else but Magnus.
Name? Tony Bell
Occupation? Mature Student
Specialist Subject? The Life and Works of Arthur C. Clarke.
Magnus started questioning me and I just sat back and answered them, all
the nerves went away. I only guessed on one which I got wrong, all the others
were straightforward enough and I got them all right! My 2 minute interrogation
seemed to take about 30 seconds and at the end I was having fun and wanted
Magnus to keep going. At the end I thought I'd got about 15 but Magnus told me
I'd got 19 points with no passes!!! Raise lights, get up from the black chair
to thunderous applause. My first thought was "If I'm not careful I could
win this". Now I was really, really nervous.
Christine was 4th up and she got 15 right on dinosaurs, strange how the
two non-academics took the most academic specialist subjects. I was in the lead
by 4 after the first round.
Straight into round 2 for general knowledge, we went up in ascending
order of our first round scores. Katherine got 13 to total 22, one of her
answers was "Cambridge." Peter got 12 to total 26 then Christine went
up, she had won the rehearsal on old general knowledge questions so I was
worried she'd set me a tough target. She got 13 to total 28 so I needed 10 to
win.
Back to the black chair and I had the best round of general knowledge of
my life, after getting the first 6 right I knew I was going to win, I ended up
getting the first 11 right before getting of all things a science question
wrong. One of my answers was "Oxford"! I only got 1 out of the last 4
right but I scored 16 with one pass to total 35 and win by 7 points. In all my
years of trying to answer the questions when watching Mastermind on TV I'd
never got much more than 10 or 11 so 16 was amazing. More thunderous applause,
Magnus announced the scores, handshakes all round from the other three
contenders. I'd achieved both objectives by a large margin, I scored a lot more
than 20 and the Oxford student came last
(what a shame :-)).
Approaching Menace again and they dimmed the lights before they stopped
recording and we were let out of the debating chamber. By now I was shaking
like a leaf, all the nervous energy I was able to control during the recording
came out. Lots of congratulations from my guests and other audience members.
One of my rehearsal questions was who said "In the future everyone will be
famous for 15 minutes", in my case Andy Warhol was right.
Back into the debating chamber to sit at the back of the audience whilst
they recorded the second heat of the evening. I was still shaking all the way
through this recording although now I wasn't taking part I could notice more of
what was happening behind the scenes. They try to record Mastermind in one go
although they do have to stop and restart sometimes, it's not as seamless as it
all appears to be on TV. After the second heat was all finished all of us
Masterminders and our guests went to a reception put on by the BBC for us. Shelley, Marie and myself got to
have a chat with Magnus, the other contenders, some of the BBC people and some local members of the
"Mastermind Club". The guest of honour was Nancy Wilkinson, winner of
the very first Mastermind
in 1972. Finally out into the real world again, what a night!
The next day I got my picture in the Cambridge Evening News and I got
interviewed by the Warrington Guardian on my next visit home. I
wasn't allowed to reveal the result as it would be some time before the
programmes would be transmitted. I now had the dubious honour of having to go
through it all over again in the semi-final. February 26th 1997, Britannia Royal
Naval College, Dartmouth, my specialist subject, "The Marathon Footrace
from 1896."
Semi-Final - Britannia Royal
Naval College, Dartmouth
And so after 3 more months of study the semi-final came around. Off on
the train to the West Country to Paignton, got a taxi to the river Dart ferry
and across the river to Dartmouth to the very impressive looking Naval College.
Met up with the BBC people, they were going to record the last of the first
round heats before our semi-final. I was nervous but nothing like as bad as
last time in Cambridge.
The other three semi-finalists were:- Akintunde Akinkunmi, a forensic
psychiatrist from Luton, his specialist subject was the Life and Career
of Rommel. Tony Dart, a
chartered engineer from Reading, his specialist subject was the Professor Fen stories of
Edmund Crispin. Colin Cadby, a building society employee from Hove, his
specialist subject was British Naval
History 1939-1945. Akintunde had won the other first-round heat in Cambridge.
Tony (President of the "Mastermind club") had beaten Colin by
one point in their first-round heat but after the recording they realised one
of Colin's incorrect answers should have been correct. Colin had qualified for
the semi-finals as one of the highest-scoring losers so this semi-final was a
rematch.
We had a rehearsal as before with old general knowledge questions in
which I managed to come last, I knew was up against people who were really good
at general knowledge. After the rehearsal my guests Shelley and Judith arrived,
I was starting to get a bit more nervous, instead of wanting to escape I wanted
to get the whole thing over with. We semi-finalists sat at the back of the
auditorium of the "Quarter-Deck" of the Naval College whilst the last
first-round heat was recorded. This seemed to drag on for ages, there were
quite a few technical problems before they were finished. By the interval
between the recordings I was feeling as if I was on the start-line for a big
race, I was warmed up and raring to go.
As in Cambridge we walked out to our seats one at a time. From my
contestants seat it looked very impressive under the lights in the auditorium.
In Cambridge the audience appeared to be full of students but here in Dartmouth
there were lots of special guests seated by the contestants, several
high-ranking Naval officers and local civic dignitaries, some of these guests
had to be moved as all light reflecting off the gold braid on the Naval
uniforms and all the shiny Mayoral chains were affecting the television
cameras! Akintunde went up first and got 14 points and now it was my turn. Out
to the black chair, dim the lights and Magnus started his interrogation.
Name? Tony Bell
Occupation? Mature Student
In the first round your Specialist Subject was "The Life and Works
of Arthur C. Clarke",
what is your Specialist Subject for the semi-final? "The Marathon Footrace
from 1896".
The questions were on the whole pretty straightforward, I got one wrong
which I should have got right. There was one tricky one which I passed although
the correct answer was the one I thought it might be. 17 points with one pass,
thunderous applause but I was disappointed not to have got more.
Tony went up next and equalled my score with 17 and Colin ended up first
round with 15. I was in the lead but not by much, it wasn't going to be as easy
as in Cambridge.
Second round for general knowledge, Akintunde scored 10 more to total
24. Then Colin went up and scored 18 more to total 33, what a target to set!
Off to the black chair for my second interrogation. I got the first 4 questions
correct but after that things started to go seriously wrong. I made some
plausible guesses which were wrong and only passed on 2, I managed to get 3
more correct to crawl level with Akintunde's score of 24. Sympathetic applause,
my first thought was that I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I
still had to sit through Tony's second round, he did well to get 12 to total 29
but Colin got his revenge to win by 4 points and qualify for the "final
final" in the Orkney Isles. Handshakes all round, applause from the
audience and Approaching Menace was played. I wasn't quite free yet, I had to
go out to the black chair one more time as there was a problem with the
recording of my walk out earlier on. Finally we were free and I could get back
to Shelley. Felt a bit disappointed at first but I'd done really well to get as
far as I did and I didn't disgrace myself in the semi-final. The Royal Navy put on a
really good reception for us, Shelley and I got to have a chat with fellow
Masterminders, Magnus and the BBC people as
well as some of the Navy people. Afterwards it was back to the hotel to end a
long, exciting day.
At breakfast the morning after I got see the Masterminders again which
was a nice way to end our stay in Dartmouth. I wished Colin good luck for the
final and told him I never wanted to play him at trivial pursuit!
Then off home, we stopped off in Glastonbury on the way back, a very
strange place but well worth a visit. Shelley told me there was a shop there
selling lots of Arthur C.
Clarke stuff and it turned out this shop was owned by Arthur's technical
associate and my first-round specialist subject question setter Brian Thomas!
We met Brian's wife and daughter, Brian was in Sri Lanka with Arthur at the
time, what a small world!
Transmission
Monday 23rd June 1997, transmission date for the first-round heat. I
happened to be doing an experiment at Daresbury Laboratory that day so I was able to
get out in the evening to watch with my family at my brother Mark's house on
his big TV. Did I really look and sound like that? Not how I thought I would
look and don't I have a funny voice!
The semi-final was transmitted on Monday 11th August, I was back in
Cambridge so we watched it with my Chemistry
department friends at home. I got to see myself squirming in the black
chair in the second round but it wasn't as bad as I feared. It was strange to
be recognised by people who normally wouldn't notice me in the days after
transmission but fairly soon I was back to anonymity. All in all a great
experience but I thought that would be the end of it all.
One of my first-round questions on Arthur C. Clarke was
"who was the teacher at Huish's Grammar School who first encouraged Arthur
to write for the school magazine"? I correctly answered this as
"Mitford". A few weeks after transmission I got a letter from
Mitford's daughter-in-law thanking me for remembering him, she sent me a copy
of an autographed ACC book which had been given to his old teacher as thanks
for his early encouragement. What a pleasant surprise.
University
Challenge
In October 1997. I got a phone call from Granada TV in Manchester asking if I was
available for a special edition of University Challenge where the current
champions from Magdelen
College, Oxford, would play the final
Mastermind finalists. As a mere semi-finalist I was asked to act as a reserve
in case any of the finalists couldn't make it.
So three days later Shelley and I went to Manchester to a Greek
restaurant for a get together with the Masterminders, our opponents and the
University Challenge production people. Just after I arrived I met up with Mastermind champion
Anne Ashurst who I met at my semi-final at Dartmouth and finalist Clare
Ockwell. We went into the restaurant and a few minutes later the other two
members of the final four, Andrea Weston and Colin Cadby arrived. I was very
pleased to see all of the final four arrive as it saved me the ordeal of being
shouted at by Jeremy Paxman! It was really nice to meet fellow Masterminders
again, especially Colin who easily defeated me in my semi-final. It was great
to be able to talk again about our common experience of the dreaded black chair
and how our "fifteen minutes of fame" have affected us since the end
of Mastermind.
Next day we went to the Granada
TV studios for the recording of what will sadly be a unique contest between
the nation's two toughest TV quizzes. It was strange to go a recording of a BBC programme in an ITV studio. I was in the audience whilst the
final four had a quick rehearsal before Jeremy Paxman turned up for the
recording and off we went. The whole show was recorded "live on
tape", just like Mastermind.
Our team didn't disgrace themselves against the young whippersnappers,
especially as the Masterminders were playing them at their own game but in a
close match the University Challenge champions were the victors. The programme
was transmitted during the 1997-8 Xmas/New Year holidays.
It was interesting to see how other people organise a TV quiz show. It
all seemed a bit rushed compared to Mastermind, although being recorded in a
studio rather than as an outside broadcast there were fewer things to be
rehearsed. Andrea had appeared on University Challenge in the Bamber Gascoigne
years and said they took more time back then. What seemed slightly out of place
to me was that they had a comedian as an audience warm-up man! . Still it was a
great experience and the University Challenge people looked after us well,
although naturally not quite as well as we were on Mastermind.
My fifteen minutes of Mastermind fame still hadn't finished. "Today's Runner"
magazine published an article in the November 1997 issue about close marathon
finishes that was full of errors. I emailed the TR editor to
complain about this, I mentioned that I knew a lot about marathons and that I
had taken it as a Mastermind specialist subject. I got a suitably apologetic
reply, they said they would do better next time.
Then I got another email from the TR features editor
asking if they could interview me for their "eccentrics" (who me,
surely not?) feature. So a few days later the features editor and a
photographer came to our house and asked me about marathons and Mastermind and took
about a zillion pictures of me. The result of this was a 3 page article in the
January 1998 issue of TR. All I got for
my pains was 2 copies of the magazine in the mail for which I had to pay the
postage!
The quest to return to the Black Chair.
After my 15 Andy Warhol
minutes I thought that was it, Mastermind had ended
and I would have an interesting tale to tell for the rest of my life. But Mastermind wouldn't
go away so easily. Mastermind
returned on BBC Radio 4 for three
years. Then it came back to TV for a year on the Discovery Channel. I unsuccessfully
applied for both of these series.
In 2003 I got an email from fellow members of the "Mastermind
club" telling me that our favourite quiz was returning to BBC television in the summer. I made yet
another application and this time I was rewarded with an audition! Every day on
my way to work at the University of Manchester
I walk down Oxford Road, one of the first buildings that I pass is BBC Manchester. I had the strange
experience of actually going inside this place for the audition. The audition
went well, I even got a phone call with a query about my specialist subject but
I didn't make it onto Mastermind
2003.
Mastermind 2004 - The return!
The Beeb brought back Mastermind for
another season in 2004, I applied as usual and I got called for another
audition down the road from work. They asked me about my specialist subjects and
why I wanted to return to the black chair, I told them that after reaching the
semi-final last time I had always wanted to know if I could go one stage further.
They also asked me some general knowledge questions, I got 15 out of 20 correct
and this was enough, they offered me a spot on Mastermind 2004!!!! This
time my first round specialist subject was "The
1981 England versus Australia Test Series", the great "Botham's
Ashes" series of my lost youth.
Recording.
So on Friday 19th March 2004 I walked from Manchester University to the Granada TV
studios (for a BBC show!) for the recording
of my first round heat.
On my arrival I was taken to the "Green
Room" where I met my fellow Mastermind contenders, we were all furiously doing
some last minute swotting up. I looked over my notes for the zillionth time, by
now I was sick to death of Ian Botham.
The other three contenders for my first round heat were:- Derek Moody, a
production manager from Great Sankey (in Warrington!), his specialist subject
was the Novels of Frederick
Forsyth. Penny Townsend, a company director from Dorking, her specialist
subject was the Life and Films of Marilyn
Monroe. Roland Marshall, an IT consultant from Broadstairs in Kent, his
specialist subject was the Life and Works of Edward
Elgar. I wasn't quite as nervous as in 1996 but still felt a bit worried.
Eventually we were taken to the studio and shown our seats. I had a lot of
supporters in the studio audience, Shelley was there with my family, I also had
some friends from work and Spectrum Striders. They
explained what they were going to do in the studio and then they took us out again. As it was
all done in the studio there was no need for any other rehearsal.
Finally it was time, we briefly met John
Humphrys before we went on. They played "Approaching Menace" and
off we went. Derek was first in the black chair, then Penny and Roland sat in the hot seat before me. The three
other contenders all scored 11 points. Then it was my turn
Name?
Tony Bell
Occupation? Scientist
Specialist Subject? The 1981 England versus Australia Test Series.
I managed too managed score 11 points on my specialist
subject, not that pleased with my score, most of my educated guesses were wrong
and I made some silly errors. All part of the fun of the black chair! Getting the
same score as the other three contenders really confused the BBC people, John
Humphrys' autocue had been programmed so he could just read off the scores
at the end of the first round but it hadn't been programmed for everyone
getting the same score! In the break whilst they sorted this out they wheeled
out the audience warm-up comedian (who appears in the "Phoenix
Nights" TV series). To me he seemed as if he had been to the old joke
shop on his way to the studio that day but they didn't have any good ones left,
I was in no mood for his jokes, although I wasn't in the best frame of mind to
appreciate his efforts.
Round 2, general knowledge. Penny scored 15, Derek 20
and Roland 23 after their general knowledge rounds. I was the last contender to
sit in the black chair. The most uncomfortable part of the whole evening was
trying to explain to John
Humphrys my research at Manchester University
in "words of one syllable", I had more fun chatting to John about
cricket. After John's little chat with me on with the questions, I needed 24 to
win and I got the first few wrong. I knew after that I wasn't going to win,
they kept asking me hard questions. I ended up with 18 points in total and I
finished 3rd.
I was relieved to get out of the black chair. John
announced the scores, Roland was a worthy winner, handshakes all round.
"Approaching Menace" was played and that was it, I survived.
After the recording I had a chance to have a less
pressured chat with John, when not
interrogating you he seemed like a nice chap. He kindly autographed one of his
books for my brother (who was in the audience). My previous experience in the
black chair made me think that Magnus was like a strict but fair headmaster. John's
interrogation technique seemed a bit more sinister, sometimes I think John
forgets he is not at his day job.
Transmission
I was told that the planned transmission date was
going to be September 2004 but I eventually got a letter telling me that my
heat of Mastermind would be
transmitted on Friday 2nd July 2004.
I watched myself on TV at home with Shelley, a
distinctly odd feeling to see myself staring back at me on the TV screen. I
looked rather tense and nervous waiting for my interrogation but I looked
reasonably calm in the black chair. Fortunately they cut my scientific
explanation from my chat with John, they just showed the cricket chat instead.
Watching the show without the pressure of being in the studio I was able to pay
more attention to the questions asked to my fellow contenders. I would have got
more points with some of the other contenders general knowledge questions.
However, answering questions from the comfort of your own armchair is so much
easier than doing the same in the black chair!
The letter from the Beeb
telling me about the transmission date told me that I was free to apply for
further series of Mastermind. I don't think so, I started but now I
have finished. An interesting experience but no more, I don't want to be back
in the black chair again.