0:00:02 > 0:00:04This is a game that everyone can play,
0:00:04 > 0:00:05and I hope you'll play it with us.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10We all love a good quiz.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14There's something about the chaos of a lot of clues
0:00:14 > 0:00:17sorted into the neatness of an answer...
0:00:18 > 0:00:21..that has a sense of relief about it.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Who was known, in the music halls, as the Handcuff King?
0:00:25 > 0:00:26So here's a question...
0:00:26 > 0:00:28Big one coming up - here's your starter for ten.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32..when did ordinary contestants turn into the pro quizzers of today?
0:00:33 > 0:00:34BELL
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Quizzing can't be a hobby for me cos it's my job.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39These are just some of the quiz experts
0:00:39 > 0:00:42who've taken the casual act of quizzing to a new level...
0:00:42 > 0:00:45- Ecuador.- Correct.- Edison. - Correct.- Pyramus.- Correct.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47..and have made a career of
0:00:47 > 0:00:49acquiring more and more knowledge.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51The sort of mantra that you have when you're right at the top
0:00:51 > 0:00:54in quizzing is, "Ooh, that might come up."
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Cosmo Lang. Trompette Militaire.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58- John Robotham.- Correct. - BUZZER
0:00:58 > 0:01:02In this show, we'll visit some key moments and key players
0:01:02 > 0:01:03in the history of quiz.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I was pretty damned excited,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07cos I was about to give somebody a million quid.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09- You've just won £1 million! - CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Well, I think it is the equivalent of sport.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15And it's mental. It's a mental sport.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Where did they come from?
0:01:17 > 0:01:18How did they start?
0:01:18 > 0:01:20And why do they do it?
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Winning the best and toughest quiz show the world -
0:01:22 > 0:01:24it doesn't get any better than that.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28We wouldn't be doing this if we weren't competitive by nature.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41First, a potted history.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Quizzing as we know it began life as a Victorian parlour game
0:01:45 > 0:01:47where the questions were probably about Dickens,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51horseless carriages or the chemical properties of laudanum.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59In the 1930s, the BBC began to make its own such parlour games
0:01:59 > 0:02:03and, during the war, General Forces' radio show Merry-Go-Round
0:02:03 > 0:02:08let real people on-air as contestants to quiz for money -
0:02:08 > 0:02:12a relaxing of the general no-cash-prize rule to boost morale.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Is it possible for the team that scores a goal
0:02:15 > 0:02:18to take the next kick-off?
0:02:18 > 0:02:19Yes.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21If half-time intervenes between.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23You're perfectly right. Well done.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25APPLAUSE
0:02:25 > 0:02:27Very good. Half a crown to Tim.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Half a crown? That's 12½ pence to you.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34The idea of mixing knowledge with chance
0:02:34 > 0:02:37is sort of irresistible, really, especially in a very new medium.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Everybody wants to have a part of it.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The BBC presents Wilfred Pickles and Have A Go.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44GONG CLANGS
0:02:45 > 0:02:48- AUDIENCE:- # Have a go, Joe... #
0:02:48 > 0:02:51And, after the war, we were hooked - 20 million listeners
0:02:51 > 0:02:55found Have A Go with Wilfred Pickles totally irresistible.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57A show where contestants could now quiz their way
0:02:57 > 0:03:00to winning a whole guinea -
0:03:00 > 0:03:03that's £1.05 in the new money.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Ladies and gentlemen of Bootle, how do?
0:03:06 > 0:03:07- ALL:- How are you?
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Wilfred's a great personality.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12He used to chat to people and talk to them.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14And then, at the end, they'd ask them a few questions
0:03:14 > 0:03:16and say, "Have a go."
0:03:16 > 0:03:18And, if they got the answers right,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20they gave them a little bit of money.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Now, here we go, Pat, with the guinea question,
0:03:22 > 0:03:27and I want you to tell us, if you can, who was Aircraftsman Shaw?
0:03:27 > 0:03:28Corporal TE Lawrence.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Well, he was Colonel but you're right with TE Lawrence.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Lawrence of Arabia. You've won the money.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35APPLAUSE
0:03:43 > 0:03:46When TV came along, quiz contestants as we now know them
0:03:46 > 0:03:50made their debut on the Charlie Chester Show.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52The BBC had again broken its own rules
0:03:52 > 0:03:55and contestants could win such - ahem - "presents"
0:03:55 > 0:03:58as tickets for a boxing match or a pair of scissors.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59BELL RINGS
0:03:59 > 0:04:03But opportunities for your average quizzer were about to explode.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09ITV was launched and they decided to make their "presents"
0:04:09 > 0:04:10somewhat more generous.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14This is the master of ceremony and the star of tonight, Hughie Green.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17APPLAUSE
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, friends.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23All right. I thank you. Thank you, friends.
0:04:23 > 0:04:24Thank you.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Thank you, friends. Bless you all. Thank you very much indeed
0:04:27 > 0:04:30and welcome to our very first show on television of Double Your Money.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33And for the young, emerging TV networks,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35these were wonderful because they were these magical things,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37they got good ratings and they were cheap.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Now, the first question here is for £1.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Does a polecat live up a pole?
0:04:42 > 0:04:44- No. - LAUGHTER
0:04:44 > 0:04:45- What?- No.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48No? You're perfectly right, it does not live up a pole.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49You've won a pound.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Next question here is for £2 - double your money.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56The mandarins of the BBC would have had a conniption over it,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58no doubt. This idea that, you know...
0:04:58 > 0:05:01"We shouldn't be giving them money, let alone doubling it."
0:05:01 > 0:05:05The very notion of offering ordinary people big prizes on TV shows
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and the potential for warping the morals of the nation
0:05:08 > 0:05:10was hotly debated in Parliament.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26There were all kinds of quite, er...
0:05:27 > 0:05:31..powerful, emotional speeches made, particularly in the Lords.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34That this... If we had commercial television,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36it would change the whole nature of our society
0:05:36 > 0:05:41and debase the values that we'd all lived and breathed by.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I find that anxiety completely bizarre.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48The idea that you would somehow lead, you know,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51to dissolution and a breakdown in public morals
0:05:51 > 0:05:54by sending people out into libraries to learn facts...
0:05:56 > 0:05:57..is just astounding.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00I mean, where do you even begin with that? You know?
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Also launched in the opening week of ITV
0:06:03 > 0:06:06was Take Your Pick with Michael Miles.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Like Double Your Money, the show recruited many of its contestants
0:06:09 > 0:06:11directly from the audience.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Hello, everyone, and welcome to Take Your Pick.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Good evening. What's your name?
0:06:16 > 0:06:17Thomas Daniel Price.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20That's a very good, loud voice and, Tom, you're even taller than I am.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22What kind of work do you do?
0:06:22 > 0:06:24I'm retired, Michael.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25May I ask how old you are, Tom?
0:06:25 > 0:06:2779.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29You're not! Are you really?
0:06:29 > 0:06:30Well... My gosh.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35Those quiz shows hastened the oncoming of the have-a-go heroes.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38"Oh, I fancy being on the telly, that must be great.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42"I get to go to a glitzy studio and get my make-up done
0:06:42 > 0:06:45"and meet the host, and maybe win some prizes."
0:06:45 > 0:06:47You have won...
0:06:47 > 0:06:48tonight's star prize!
0:06:48 > 0:06:50CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:06:50 > 0:06:55And tonight's star prize is a Mediterranean cruise for two.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57I think there's always a fear of popular entertainment
0:06:57 > 0:07:00when it gets really popular. There's always that,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02because people don't know what it's going to lead to.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04I think, with quizzes,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08there was a very specific reason to be anxious about it
0:07:08 > 0:07:12because there had been a sort of big money corruption scandal in America
0:07:12 > 0:07:14with, er... I think the quiz was Twenty One.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Tonight, here on Twenty One, Edward Stemple,
0:07:17 > 0:07:24our 29-year-old GI college student can win 111,500.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Bubbling away across the Atlantic was a full-on scandal
0:07:27 > 0:07:31from which game shows, to some degree, have never really recovered.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I mean, it was virtually a soap opera.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37One contestant had been coached to be a bit of a schlub -
0:07:37 > 0:07:41you know, a sort of working-class guy, bit awkward on screen.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43I know I'm putting an awful lot of money on the line,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45I'm certainly risking an awful lot of money
0:07:45 > 0:07:48but, by the same token, I could win a lot of money too,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50which is also very important.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55So this Harvard patrician, Charles Van Doren, was brought in.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Oh, yes. I know his name...
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Er, Halleck. General HW Halleck.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01You're right. You've got eight points.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03APPLAUSE
0:08:03 > 0:08:08So, essentially, quiz show producers then became drama directors.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Did he behead Catherine Howard?
0:08:10 > 0:08:12He did - you've got 18 points.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14APPLAUSE
0:08:14 > 0:08:17The drama direction even included instructions
0:08:17 > 0:08:20on how contestants should mop their sweaty brows.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24In 1958, the suspicions that contestants
0:08:24 > 0:08:29on US quiz show Twenty One had been cheating were finally confirmed.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33The nation was shocked and the show taken off air.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36I think that probably had some influence on British suspicion
0:08:36 > 0:08:39of this kind of particular popular entertainment.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43When British contestant Stanley Armstrong
0:08:43 > 0:08:46suggested that he'd been given leads to questions
0:08:46 > 0:08:49on ITV's version of Twenty One,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52the fear that quizzes were being contaminated with cash
0:08:52 > 0:08:54seemed increasingly justified.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56The television authorities,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00already looking for an excuse to curb this wave of quiz mania,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03took the opportunity to set strict prize limits,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06which remained in place for the next 30 years.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11But quiz shows were available where money was not involved,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13and contestants mainly competed for...
0:09:13 > 0:09:14fun!
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Big one coming up. Here's your starter for ten.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20What man has been shared by all of these women?
0:09:20 > 0:09:22- Sylvette... - BELL
0:09:22 > 0:09:23Picasso.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Murray. In which country did spaghetti originate?
0:09:29 > 0:09:31- Italy.- Two marks.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Now, this is a question for everyone again.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Here are four sums which all look similar.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Which two of them yield the same answer?
0:09:41 > 0:09:42BUZZER
0:09:42 > 0:09:45- The Duprees.- A half minus a third and a half times a third.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47You're quite right. What do they equal?
0:09:47 > 0:09:48- A sixth.- They certainly do.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53In the '60s, the snobbery and disdain towards quizzing
0:09:53 > 0:09:55for cash prizes continued,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57and Take Your Pick host Michael Miles
0:09:57 > 0:10:00was to bear the brunt of the criticism.
0:10:00 > 0:10:01Oh!
0:10:02 > 0:10:04This sort of show has become,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06to a very large number of people,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08almost nauseating.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11- I- watch it for the very worst possible motives.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13What I am worried about is that you misunderstand
0:10:13 > 0:10:15why people watch this show,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17but I'm sure a significant number of people who watch it
0:10:17 > 0:10:21are revelling in the discomfort, the gaucheness the awkwardness
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and sometimes sheer horror of the situations that take place on there.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26That is a typical BBC attitude
0:10:26 > 0:10:30because the BBC have never, ever enjoyed quiz shows.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32You can't honestly deny that,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34if we were able to recreate the Roman games,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38killing and all, chariots turning over, bear baiting, public hangings,
0:10:38 > 0:10:39that people wouldn't watch them.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41You're a showman, you know they would.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43This is absolute bunkum.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Bunkum or not, in the early '70s,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52quiz contestants across the country flocked to Norwich
0:10:52 > 0:10:54to take part in what became a surprise hit.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58And sitting at home, shouting out the answers from the sofa,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00were our future super quizzers.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02And now, from Norwich...
0:11:02 > 0:11:05DRUMROLL
0:11:05 > 0:11:07..it's The Quiz Of The Week.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10I thought that intro gave it a grandeur
0:11:10 > 0:11:12that it had earned or merited somehow.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14I thought, "Oh, wow, I'm going to watch The Quiz Of The Week."
0:11:14 > 0:11:17In what sport where Max Schmeling and Max Baer known?
0:11:17 > 0:11:19- BUZZER - Mike.- Boxing.
0:11:19 > 0:11:20Yes, it's as simple as that, Mike.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22You have £5 for a correct answer. 22 now.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Nicholas Parsons is the guy that you desperately wanted to be your uncle,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28who'd come round and ask you a load of general knowledge questions
0:11:28 > 0:11:29to keep you happy.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32What is the colour of the present standard postage stamp of 3p?
0:11:32 > 0:11:34- BUZZER - Mike.- Blue.- Blue is correct.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It's a dark blue, actually. Mike, you have three more pounds.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39I was just fixated by the speed of the questions,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41the speed at which they came,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45and the occasional pride in knowing an answer to a question
0:11:45 > 0:11:46that the contestants didn't.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49That's the deepest appeal of the quiz,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52is that you can get something someone else hasn't got yet.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54What do you need to make a haggis?
0:11:54 > 0:11:56- BUZZER - Mike.- A sheep's liver.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58It's the sheep's stomach you take.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Host Nicholas Parsons was soon charged
0:12:01 > 0:12:05with badgering his contestants like a stern school teacher.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08An allegation he has always denied.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11I used to meet the contestants beforehand and get to know them,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14and chat to them, and I always said,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16I remember I would say,
0:12:16 > 0:12:17"Towards the end, you know,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20"in the last sequence, no matter where you are,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22"I'll be putting the pressure on a bit.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25"I want you to know now, I'm working for you."
0:12:25 > 0:12:28What are you doing? Come on, say something!
0:12:28 > 0:12:31And so the idea that I was being antagonistic
0:12:31 > 0:12:32was absolutely ridiculous.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Another home for amateur quizzers was 3-2-1.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44Future BBC DJ Janice Long took part in the very first episode in 1978.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Well, this is Trevor Long and his wife, Janice.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50They both come from Liverpool and manage a record shop.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52They explained there'd be a general knowledge round,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54then some other little bits and pieces and, if you got through,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56you had that ridiculous round
0:12:56 > 0:12:58where nobody understood what Ted Rogers was talking about.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02All of those weird clues that he gave.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05"Although I'm slightly rusty, me motor's quite all right,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09"I'm getting married in the morning, should I stay out all night?"
0:13:09 > 0:13:10Now what could that mean?
0:13:10 > 0:13:12That goes with the hat.
0:13:12 > 0:13:143-2-1 was great entertainment but I still, to this day,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18defy anyone to actually say they solved any of the clues.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20"There was a little love match, of course -
0:13:20 > 0:13:21"did he give her the runaround?
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Well, he certainly did and what better to run her around in than...
0:13:24 > 0:13:26- A car.- Than a beautiful car. That's the prize.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29The ship's officer hit it right on the note with a triangle.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Ladies and gentlemen, the new Chevette car.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33Oh, dear.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37The car was meant to be the star prize.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39That's what everybody was aiming for -
0:13:39 > 0:13:41you must get the car.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43And there were various other prizes.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45One was a boat...
0:13:46 > 0:13:48..which we'd have had no use for whatsoever.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51One was a Saint Bernard with a year's supply of rum.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53I don't know where we'd have kept the Saint Bernard.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55A huge thing. A strange prize.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58And your prize, not pieces of eight that we had in the sketch,
0:13:58 > 0:14:03but a five-piece sterling silver tea service worth nearly £2,000.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05How does that grab you?
0:14:05 > 0:14:06You can see...
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Read my lips with me going to Trevor,
0:14:09 > 0:14:10"We've got the bloody tea set."
0:14:10 > 0:14:11CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:14:11 > 0:14:13We've got the bloody tea set.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15'But it was a solid silver tea set.'
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Even though it was in a fancy box, when they opened it,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20I think you can see the expression on my face is like...
0:14:20 > 0:14:22"Oh, no, really?"
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Two grand's worth of that. That can't be bad, can it, eh?
0:14:25 > 0:14:28And my dad had a mate who said he would buy it
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and, as a result, we got the £2,000
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and used it as a deposit on our first house.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45And if you didn't get selected to be on Sale Of The Century or 3-2-1,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47you could always target this show.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52I loved Bullseye. What struck me was that the general knowledge
0:14:52 > 0:14:54was actually quite testing.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Just because it was a darts-based show
0:14:56 > 0:14:59didn't mean that they'd dumbed down the questions.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01In 1978,
0:15:01 > 0:15:07which Egyptian President joined with the Israeli premier, Menachem Begin,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12in negotiations towards the Camp David accords?
0:15:12 > 0:15:14Anwar Sadat.
0:15:14 > 0:15:15What a good answer, sir.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20But as the '70s gave way to the '80s,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22the dawn of the super quizzer was upon us.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Mastermind has been the cradle of quizzing for 44 years.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31But for the show's first eight years,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35the winners were pretty much all from the professional classes.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Until this man came along.
0:15:39 > 0:15:40Your name, please.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Occupation.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46I was always called "the working class hero" for a while
0:15:46 > 0:15:48and the one not expected to do it
0:15:48 > 0:15:52cos all the others were solicitors, barristers,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56civil servants, retired teachers, librarians and so on.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Fred Housego in 1980 just shattered that myth.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01You know, an ordinary taxi driver, you know,
0:16:01 > 0:16:06winning the world's most prestigious quiz.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08I said, "Are you going to apply?"
0:16:08 > 0:16:09"No."
0:16:09 > 0:16:12So I said, "Well, I'll do it for you if you want."
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Did you expect him to do so well on Mastermind?
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Yes, I did. I wouldn't have put him in otherwise.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18Why did you...?
0:16:18 > 0:16:19He's very clever.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21Very knowledgeable. And...
0:16:22 > 0:16:23..I think he can do it.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26I fill all the forms. Any forms. He won't fill them in.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31His excuse is that I've got better handwriting, which I have,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33but he's lazy.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36- SHE LAUGHS - Yeah. That's fair enough.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37THEY LAUGH
0:16:39 > 0:16:41But Fred made it to the final,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45where he took on the traditional two civil servants and a student.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50So let's now find out who is about to become Mastermind 1980.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53My primary aim was to do well enough so I could come out
0:16:53 > 0:16:55and no-one's going to say, "Well, you bombed, didn't you?"
0:16:55 > 0:16:59What is remarkable about the church at Greensted near Ongar in Essex?
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Wooden walls. Anglo-Saxon wooden walls.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Anglo-Saxon log church is correct and, at the end of the round,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Mr Housego, you have scored 33 points.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11APPLAUSE
0:17:11 > 0:17:13The final, I think, I took in my stride.
0:17:13 > 0:17:14I think where...
0:17:15 > 0:17:16..there was any doubt...
0:17:18 > 0:17:20..was in the final round,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24when Sam Mortimer was getting question after question correct.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26- Algeria.- Correct. - Russia.- Correct.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28- Mekong.- Correct. - Esther.- Correct.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30But how can you keep count?
0:17:30 > 0:17:32I didn't know where I was.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35I knew I had 33 and he came after me.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37What is the literal meaning of "Stabat Mater"?
0:17:37 > 0:17:38- "Mother stood".- Correct.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40'I was behind him...'
0:17:41 > 0:17:43..and I was counting on my fingers.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45- Pass. - BUZZER
0:17:45 > 0:17:46AUDIENCE GASPS
0:17:47 > 0:17:50That was the first time I realised I had won.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Mastermind 1980 on 33 points
0:17:54 > 0:17:56is London cabbie Fred Housego.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02It's the first time in my life I felt inhibited
0:18:02 > 0:18:05because I wanted to go, "Yeah!" And I went...
0:18:07 > 0:18:09..which was rather sad, really.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Like a little boy who's just been told, "Don't make a noise."
0:18:15 > 0:18:19So, would the Mastermind winner for 1980, Mr Fred Housego,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21come and collect his prize?
0:18:24 > 0:18:27INAUDIBLE
0:18:32 > 0:18:34There she is, with the Nine Graces.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40And that's how you sat there, having your photograph taken.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45But it was everywhere. Every paper, I was on the front page.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49I was, for that brief moment, the most famous person on Earth.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Because of the fact that he was just an ordinary citizen.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54That had a profound effect on people like myself.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56It just goes to show,
0:18:56 > 0:18:58you don't have to become from a particular social group
0:18:58 > 0:19:01or particular social background to appear on these shows,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03cos you are just as clever, just as determined,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05just as focused and just as motivated.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Fred Housego was popular because people could perceive him
0:19:08 > 0:19:11as one of them, who was just able to do this stuff.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14He was from a background that people could relate to.
0:19:14 > 0:19:20And yet he was taking on your more academic quizzers and winning.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23- We're all proud of you, Fred. - Very proud of you.- Tremendous.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Even my wife was saying, "Go on, Fred."
0:19:25 > 0:19:28"If he can do it, there's hope for everybody else."
0:19:28 > 0:19:30It just shows that all cab drivers ain't ignorant.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33- Eh?- You're right, you're right. So right.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38He's a very early example of the celebrity quizzer.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42We have quite a few of them now but he was the first one, I'd say,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44that really captured the imagination,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47this unassuming taxi man,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50as well as having the A-Z in his brain,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53has all world knowledge to boot.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55In a way, I suppose it's not that surprising that a cab driver,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58who can remember all those names of streets and so on,
0:19:58 > 0:19:59was also able to win Mastermind.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Perhaps it's more surprising there haven't been others.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07Fred's talents found a home on radio show Round Britain Quiz.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Probably the longest-running -
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and arguably the most demanding - quiz in the world.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Hello, and welcome back to another series of Round Britain Quiz.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21The one where you can't just google the answers because it isn't
0:20:21 > 0:20:24the facts so much as the fiendish way they fit together.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26I suppose the first time I heard Round Britain Quiz,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30it would be driving at night and I always found it extremely hard.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32And then I went along for the audition.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34They asked me to do the programme.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36It started off, we all did the thing at Broadcasting House,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40which suited me cos I could park on the rank outside, go in, do it,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43get paid, come out, jump in the cab and go to work.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Which mighty warrior, never crowned but married twice,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49calls to mind a dancing bag and a little girl
0:20:49 > 0:20:52who was much cleverer than her headmistress?
0:20:52 > 0:20:54- CONTESTANTS:- Oh, God.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56- Matilda.- Matilda.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59- Very good.- Henry I's daughter.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02That's right. Can you say who she married?
0:21:03 > 0:21:05She was first married to the Emperor.
0:21:05 > 0:21:06So, which made her Empress Matilda.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10That's right. Then she was married to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou
0:21:10 > 0:21:12and, through him, she had Henry II,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16who was king of England from 1154 to 1189.
0:21:16 > 0:21:17'You never just got the answer,
0:21:17 > 0:21:19and that's the good thing on Round Britain Quiz -
0:21:19 > 0:21:21you like to have that sort of...
0:21:21 > 0:21:23All of these facts come up
0:21:23 > 0:21:27and they trigger off other facts and more little details
0:21:27 > 0:21:29and little anecdotes. I think that's when the programme works well.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31He was very good at that.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34It's a real connoisseur's quiz, even now.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Because there's so many different things that you need to unpack.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41There's so many bits of information that you need to pull on
0:21:41 > 0:21:44and connect them together, and that is, for a quizzer,
0:21:44 > 0:21:46absolute manna from heaven.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49I'd prefer a pint, actually.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52And if you happen to want a bit of brain work with your bitter,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54you could also join in a pub quiz.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58What opera is set in the borough
0:21:58 > 0:22:02- which is a fishing village on the coast of England?- Peter Grimes?
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Peter Grimes is absolutely correct for five bonus points.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Today, it's difficult to visit your local without being asked,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11"How many gallons of beer are in a firkin?"
0:22:11 > 0:22:13It's nine. It's actually nine.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17In the same way that quiz shows on television
0:22:17 > 0:22:20started from parlour games in the front room...
0:22:20 > 0:22:23By the same token, people moved out of the living room
0:22:23 > 0:22:25and went down to the pub to start quizzing as well
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and tried their luck in a bit more low-key atmosphere.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32I know a few people who do them, and they really gen up.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35They really swot all of the time.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37I've been in conversation with friends
0:22:37 > 0:22:40and I've said something that you think is just a little bit of a...
0:22:40 > 0:22:43"Oh, did you know?" "Oh, I must remember that for the pub quiz."
0:22:43 > 0:22:45So they're storing constantly.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49I read an article that said quizzers drink something like three times as
0:22:49 > 0:22:52much as people who go down the pub to watch sports on the big screen.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Which I think is quite...
0:22:54 > 0:22:57It's a recommendation for landlords if nothing else, isn't it?
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Cancel your sports subscription and run a pub quiz instead.
0:23:01 > 0:23:02I don't tend to go to pub quizzes
0:23:02 > 0:23:04because it's slightly difficult for me.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06It's a slightly lose-lose situation.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09If I win the quiz, people think, "Yeah, well,
0:23:09 > 0:23:10"that's not fair because she would win a quiz
0:23:10 > 0:23:13"cos she does quizzes all the time. It's not fair."
0:23:13 > 0:23:15If I don't win the quiz, people go, "I thought she was clever,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17"turns out she's sort of a moron."
0:23:17 > 0:23:20So it's safer for me not to.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27And for the increasing number of pub quizzers
0:23:27 > 0:23:29who are taking it seriously,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32there was inspiration in the shape of quiz star Kevin Ashman.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36The first thing I did on television was Mastermind
0:23:36 > 0:23:40because it was simply a case of a lot of people saying to me,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42"You ought to go in for Mastermind."
0:23:42 > 0:23:46I was doing more little competitions off-screen and...
0:23:46 > 0:23:47I just thought, as I say,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51that I was in a rut at the time and said I'd just try something new.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53Your name, please.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55And I found that the nerves did get to me,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59in the sense that I was extremely nervous beforehand.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02I mean, I really was. I had a pounding head.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05I felt, I suppose, physically sick.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07But I found, and this is something
0:24:07 > 0:24:11that then encouraged me subsequently to start going in for other things,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14that, when it came time to perform and Magnus said,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16"Can I have in the next contestant, please?"
0:24:16 > 0:24:18And the lights... You do your walk to the chair,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21the lights go down and then it was just me and Magnus.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23William Rogers is right.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25At the end of that round, Mr Ashman,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28you have scored 18 points and no passes.
0:24:28 > 0:24:29Thank you very much.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34Having lost in 1987, Kevin came back in '95
0:24:34 > 0:24:36and, this time, he was unstoppable.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39In his confessions, which saint described how, as a youth,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41he prayed, "Give me chastity and continence but not yet."
0:24:41 > 0:24:42- Augustine.- Correct.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46Which dramatist and actor wrote the play A Question of Attribution
0:24:46 > 0:24:48about the art expert and spy Anthony Blunt?
0:24:48 > 0:24:49- Alan Bennett.- Correct.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is based in which Dutch city?
0:24:52 > 0:24:53Amsterdam.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Amsterdam is correct.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58At the end of the round, Kevin Ashman,
0:24:58 > 0:25:03your score has risen to a record 41 point and no passes.
0:25:03 > 0:25:04- Thank you very much. - APPLAUSE
0:25:04 > 0:25:07I had no idea that that was the case.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09It was only when, at the end of it, Magnus said,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12"And with a new Mastermind record score,"
0:25:12 > 0:25:14and I was as taken aback as anyone.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17I knew I'd done well because I'd answered virtually everything,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19but I didn't realise it was that good.
0:25:19 > 0:25:20Kevin Ashman.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Over 20 years later,
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Kevin's record score of 41 in the heats remains unbeaten
0:25:28 > 0:25:30and, in the final, he went on to win.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34The following year, Kevin achieved another record score
0:25:34 > 0:25:40on prestigious radio quiz Brain of Britain, which also still stands.
0:25:40 > 0:25:41Blimey.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I've talked about quiz at length with Kevin Ashman,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46the greatest quizzer who's ever lived,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and he never strikes me as being somebody who's
0:25:49 > 0:25:52as obsessed with talking about quiz as I am.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54He just gets on with being incredible.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55- Ecuador.- Correct.- Edison.- Correct.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57- Pyramis.- Correct. - Woodhouse.- Correct.
0:25:57 > 0:25:58- Brahms.- Correct.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03Kevin's just an incredibly modest person for the sheer...
0:26:03 > 0:26:06power of what he can do with his brain. It's just astonishing.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09I think he should be a national treasure, personally.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11APPLAUSE
0:26:11 > 0:26:14How on earth does Kevin remember all this stuff?
0:26:14 > 0:26:17People often assume that I've got a photographic memory.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20I don't. I have a very good memory, but it's not photographic.
0:26:20 > 0:26:21I wish it was at times.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24That would be a blessing and a curse, I think.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25He remembers faces,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28he remembers conversations that you had several years ago.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31He just has the best memory of anyone I've ever met in my life.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33His memory is astonishing.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37And I really think it should be medically investigated.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40I've never actually been...
0:26:40 > 0:26:43approached to do any kind of scientific testing...
0:26:45 > 0:26:48..which, in some respects, I find slightly surprisingly, in a way.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50The architecture of the style and period...
0:26:50 > 0:26:52But how do other serious quizzers managed to perform
0:26:52 > 0:26:55such feats of memory and recall?
0:26:55 > 0:26:56Then down to memorials and monuments.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59I've been asked about my memory on numerous occasions.
0:26:59 > 0:27:00People say, "Is it photographic?"
0:27:00 > 0:27:02No, it is not.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05In the Tower Army, there's a BAF jacket belonging to Colonel Hacker.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07What is this to do with Charles I?
0:27:07 > 0:27:08When Charles I was executed,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Colonel Hacker was in charge of the execution detail.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Get out.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16- What?- Get out, I need to go to my mind palace.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Sherlock Holmes helped me out no end here cos I used to refer to it as a
0:27:19 > 0:27:22filing cabinet, now I can call it a mind palace and people know
0:27:22 > 0:27:23what I'm talking about.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Mind palace...
0:27:25 > 0:27:27It's a memory technique, a sort of mental map.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33I start getting irritable if I haven't learned a fact
0:27:33 > 0:27:35in the last few hours.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38Pat Gibson always says that the best way of learning is to read
0:27:38 > 0:27:39the papers from cover to cover.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The real, sort of, next level quizzers,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47I think they'll have a sort of system that they draw on.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Some people choose pneumonics.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53To give you an example, "lead" is element number 82.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59And in 1982, Daley Thompson won BBC Sports Personality Of The Year
0:27:59 > 0:28:01for winning the European Decathlon Championships,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03where he "led" from the very first round.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08When it comes to learning general knowledge,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11I'm one of the lucky people who has got what I call a sticky memory.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14And I go through life absorbing facts.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16So at school when you're bored in a class,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20I'd look up at the map and I'd learn where places were in Europe.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Quizzers obviously have the ability to actually retain and recall
0:28:27 > 0:28:29at an instant under pressure.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31That is a different skill.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34That is a skill which, obviously, takes years to develop.
0:28:34 > 0:28:35Hound.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41I do have weak spots, but, of course,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44that would be telling, wouldn't it? That would really be...
0:28:44 > 0:28:46giving too much away.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Well, I bet he's not got that many weak spots.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54Kevin now has an actual job as an official egghead,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57where his co-workers share a background in serious quizzing.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Welcome to Eggheads, the show where a team of five quiz challengers
0:29:03 > 0:29:07pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.
0:29:07 > 0:29:08They are the Eggheads.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10I thought this whole move towards quiz panel games
0:29:10 > 0:29:14was a good idea because, before it, you had these
0:29:14 > 0:29:17amazingly talented people, like Kevin Ashman,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20who weren't been showcased in the way they should have been.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25It's given people like Kevin the opportunity to demonstrate
0:29:25 > 0:29:27their knowledge and it's an interesting format,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30having members of the public against these quiz professionals.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33The development of the quiz show format actually is all about
0:29:33 > 0:29:37tapping into that psyche and the most successful quiz shows now
0:29:37 > 0:29:42are the ones that play on that idea of, "Well, you could do this.
0:29:42 > 0:29:43"You could take down the Eggheads."
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Ptolemy I Soter, Macedonian General under Alexander the Great,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50became ruler of which civilisation?
0:29:53 > 0:29:54Well, when Alexander the Great died,
0:29:54 > 0:30:00his various leading generals all contended for parts of the Empire.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03About three or four of them wound up with different large chunks of it.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05Ptolemy got Egypt.
0:30:06 > 0:30:07OK, Kevin. Thank you for that.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09It's the right answer.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12We wouldn't be doing this if we weren't competitive by nature.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17So, even though I may appear fairly relaxed,
0:30:17 > 0:30:18when the competition is going on,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22there is the adrenaline pumping and I want to get the answers correct.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24I don't want to get them wrong.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Fellow Egghead Judith Keppel burst onto the quiz scene
0:30:28 > 0:30:30in a rather spectacular way.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35The strict cap on prize limits, first put in place in 1960,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39was now gone and, by the '90s, quiz shows could offer
0:30:39 > 0:30:41contestants huge amounts.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was on every night
0:30:43 > 0:30:46and became compulsive viewing.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50That was a game changer because it was a real step up in terms of,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52if you like, regular prize money.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56But after two years on air, 121 shows,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00and the whole country seemingly desperate to take part,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04the top prize of a million quid was yet to be won.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09The reason I applied for Millionaire was cos I was feeling rather skint.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11I didn't have enough money at that time.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15And I watched this programme. I thought it was extremely good
0:31:15 > 0:31:17and I thought the questions were quite easy,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and the sums of money you could win were huge.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? prize money millions
0:31:22 > 0:31:25were funded by a premium rate phone line.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29Out was the stamped addressed envelope, in was a phone frenzy.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35If you want to win, you've got to ring! 0891 44 44 44.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Anybody could get on and that's why this huge audience was going...
0:31:39 > 0:31:41"Get me the phone, I could ring, I could be there.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44"I could be there tomorrow night." I mean, that's how it was.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46For the first four or five years, it was like that.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49I think I rang up about 250 times before they rang back.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52And BT rang me up in the middle of all of this to say,
0:31:52 > 0:31:56"Do you know your telephone's being used rather a lot?"
0:31:56 > 0:31:59I just went on ringing till they rang back cos I thought,
0:31:59 > 0:32:03rather naively, that if I did £1,000 worth of telephone calls,
0:32:03 > 0:32:04I'd get it back.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09Well, being on the show, I found absolutely terrifying.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11The minute I knew I was on it,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13my heart started thumping.
0:32:13 > 0:32:14How do you think you've done?
0:32:14 > 0:32:16I've no idea.
0:32:16 > 0:32:17- You just won £64,000.- Wow.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25You're in the chair, the lighting is on you, the audience is blacked out,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28and so you're very isolated in this bubble.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31If you give me a wrong answer, you still get £32,000.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35You lose £468,000.
0:32:35 > 0:32:36AUDIENCE GASPS AND LAUGHS NERVOUSLY
0:32:36 > 0:32:38Gosh.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41I had an insane thought at that point, which was,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43"If I'm wrong, at least it would be a heroic loss...
0:32:43 > 0:32:44"I'll be a heroic loser."
0:32:51 > 0:32:53I think it's Henry II.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55AUDIENCE GASPS
0:32:57 > 0:33:00And I could hear... At that point, I could hear the audience.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02- They did a sort of... - SHE GASPS
0:33:02 > 0:33:04Like that. The whole lot of them.
0:33:05 > 0:33:06I saw her tomb, funnily enough,
0:33:06 > 0:33:08in France this summer.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11I'd been in France and I'd driven back through France,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14literally two months before the programme.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17And stayed at this place called Fontevraud,
0:33:17 > 0:33:19where there was a big abbey.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22In the church were these four tombs and one of them was Eleanor,
0:33:22 > 0:33:24and one of them was her husband, Henry.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27So it was quite sort of spooky, that, actually.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31I think it's worth going for.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33AUDIENCE GASPS
0:33:38 > 0:33:41I always wondered, with myself...
0:33:43 > 0:33:45..if we get someone to £1 million...
0:33:47 > 0:33:49..will I feel brave enough to go,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51"We'll take a break"?
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Cos I thought, "I can't do that." I really...
0:33:54 > 0:33:56It's wonderful drama, but I can't do it.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58We'll find out what the right answer is in a couple of minutes.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00- AUDIENCE GROANS AND LAUGHS - Oh, Chris!
0:34:00 > 0:34:06And then he came back and then he sat down, and you know how Chris is,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09the way he looks, and I noticed his voice was very husky
0:34:09 > 0:34:11and that, I thought, "Maybe I've done it."
0:34:11 > 0:34:12APPLAUSE
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Welcome back to the third part of tonight's
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Just before the break, Judith Keppel
0:34:17 > 0:34:18was asked this question.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21I've always thought that Judith...
0:34:21 > 0:34:23read too much into that. I've always thought.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26It's very much with Judith in hindsight, I don't know.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29I was pretty damned excited because I was about to give somebody
0:34:29 > 0:34:30a million quid.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33You've just won £1 million!
0:34:33 > 0:34:35CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:34:38 > 0:34:39You are amazing!
0:34:40 > 0:34:43I can't believe it. £1 million!
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Within hours of Judith actually becoming a millionaire,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51the press were in hot pursuit of her story,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54and the papers discovered a distant royal connection.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Very distant.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59One of the headlines was "Camillionaire".
0:34:59 > 0:35:00So ridiculous.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04It was something like 300 or 400 years ago,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06there was a very vague tie-up.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08You know, but if you go back far enough,
0:35:08 > 0:35:10I'm probably related Hereward the Wake.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13I was beginning to think we'd never ever show this.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16Have a look at this. "Pay Judith Keppel £1 million."
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Look at that.
0:35:18 > 0:35:19Well, it did change my life, actually.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22I mean, it really did change my life...
0:35:22 > 0:35:23in the nicest possible way.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27It gave me security.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Probably the second most famous contestant to appear on Millionaire
0:35:30 > 0:35:32was Major Charles Ingram.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34With accomplices embedded in the audience,
0:35:34 > 0:35:38he attempted to cheat using a system of coded coughs.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40It's such a...
0:35:40 > 0:35:42surreal story, the whole thing.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46And the way they tried to win money - and actually nearly did,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48I mean, they nearly got away with it -
0:35:48 > 0:35:50was so naff, the coughing thing.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52It's so silly but, I mean,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55we should have been more alert cos we're talking about
0:35:55 > 0:35:57a million quid.
0:35:57 > 0:35:58I think it's a hat.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01I think. I mean, again...
0:36:01 > 0:36:02COUGHING
0:36:02 > 0:36:04..I'm not sure, but I think it's a hat.
0:36:04 > 0:36:05I think it's one of those really
0:36:05 > 0:36:07sort of tall hats that came
0:36:07 > 0:36:09into fashion, presumably when he was prime minister.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11COUGHING
0:36:11 > 0:36:13Pretty confident it's Aristotle Onassis.
0:36:13 > 0:36:14COUGHING
0:36:15 > 0:36:18The show's host Chris Tarrant gave evidence in court
0:36:18 > 0:36:23against contestant Major Ingram and his two expectorating sidekicks.
0:36:23 > 0:36:24A-hem, excuse me.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27All three were found guilty, but they didn't go to prison.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29They were lucky not to.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35An audience member coughing on this show would just be annoying.
0:36:35 > 0:36:36Finish that round.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Let me know when you're happy, everyone. Yep? So, off you go then.
0:36:39 > 0:36:45Our next super contestant made a name for himself here in 2004.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47- And your name is?- Shaun Wallace.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50- Your occupation? - Barrister and part-time lecturer.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Your chosen subject in the first round was
0:36:52 > 0:36:54the European Champions League.
0:36:54 > 0:36:55This time it is...
0:36:55 > 0:36:59England at the European Championships from 1968-2003.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02It's a tribute to my training as a barrister because, as I say,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05I've appeared in Crown Court trials, I've appeared in the
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Court of Appeal.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09And if you can appear in front of a stern judge,
0:37:09 > 0:37:14you're prepared to actually face what may come at you,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17then sitting in the black chair, it's not daunting at all.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19In his 50th and last game for England,
0:37:19 > 0:37:21who conceded the penalty that gave Denmark a vital win
0:37:21 > 0:37:24over the home side at Wembley in September 1983?
0:37:24 > 0:37:25- Phil Neal.- Yes.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28Who embarrassed David Seaman by scoring direct from a
0:37:28 > 0:37:29corner when...
0:37:29 > 0:37:31- BLEEPING - I'll finish the question.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33When England drew 2-2 with Macedonia at the
0:37:33 > 0:37:34Saint Mary's ground?
0:37:34 > 0:37:35- Artim Sakiri.- It was indeed.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38You had no passes, you got only one wrong.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40Shaun Wallace, you have 14 points.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42APPLAUSE
0:37:43 > 0:37:45When I did my research,
0:37:45 > 0:37:47it wasn't a chore for me because I remember watching
0:37:47 > 0:37:49those matches vividly
0:37:49 > 0:37:52and the way in which I prepared for Mastermind was not to
0:37:52 > 0:37:56think like a contestant, think like a question setter.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59What questions could they ask me to catch me out?
0:37:59 > 0:38:00And that's the way I prepared.
0:38:00 > 0:38:07The winner of Mastermind 2004, with 24 points and no passes,
0:38:07 > 0:38:08Shaun Wallace.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14They had to stop the recording because I just sat there
0:38:14 > 0:38:17for two minutes, tears of joy.
0:38:17 > 0:38:18I thought of everything.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21The hardships I went through, the difficult times,
0:38:21 > 0:38:23how people were going to react.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27I remember I just sat there and the production assistant came up to me
0:38:27 > 0:38:29like, "Shaun, you all right?"
0:38:29 > 0:38:31I said, "Yep, I'm fine."
0:38:34 > 0:38:35It's all yours.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47You know, winning the best and the toughest quiz show in the world,
0:38:47 > 0:38:49it doesn't get any better than that.
0:38:49 > 0:38:50A very tight contest.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52It was. It was really close.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55And you are... If I'm not mistaken,
0:38:55 > 0:38:57- you had a little tear in your eye at the end.- I did.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59And I slept with the trophy that night.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01And when I woke up the following morning,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03I realised this really did happen.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07I would always bring my trophy into schools cos children have never
0:39:07 > 0:39:08seen something like that.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11I remember I was going into a school, one of the teachers said,
0:39:11 > 0:39:13"Do you want a hand?"
0:39:13 > 0:39:16I was about to hand it to them and I sort of stumbled...
0:39:18 > 0:39:19Ouch.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21I mean, I'm going to try and get a replacement.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Even though it sort of shattered into little pieces,
0:39:24 > 0:39:26the one thing that's not shattered is my title.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31With his Mastermind trophy broken, but his pride intact,
0:39:31 > 0:39:33Shaun was able to find a more permanent outlet
0:39:33 > 0:39:35for his quizzing talents
0:39:35 > 0:39:39and somehow juggle a career as a barrister with a new part-time job.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42The destroyer that is Shaun Wallace.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46- Good afternoon, Gill. - Good afternoon, Shaun.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48I got a phone call from ITV.
0:39:48 > 0:39:53They said to me, could I come long for an audition for
0:39:53 > 0:39:55a new exciting game show? I said, "All right."
0:39:55 > 0:39:57They said they were looking for someone who's
0:39:57 > 0:40:00brash, flash and cocky. They asked me 30 questions, I got two wrong.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Prime Suspect. He's got it wrong. Fantastic.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06Can't believe you've got that wrong, you being in that business.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08I prefer Law and Order.
0:40:08 > 0:40:09I love you for that.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13But I wouldn't say I'm adopting a specific persona.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15That is just me, because I'm quizzing.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17I'm there to win. I'm not there to smile.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20I'm not there to have a laugh. I'm there to answer questions.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22Me and Bradley have a great rapport on the show.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28When he's trying to crack a joke, I just give him a look.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30It's a genuine look. "Look, mate, I'm not here too...
0:40:30 > 0:40:32You know. Listen to your badinage."
0:40:32 > 0:40:34Fantastic. Well done.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37- Congratulations. Chaser. - Well played, Susie.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39- Thank you.- Well, I'm going to get you in the final.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41- I'm going to get all the others. - I've got my eye in now.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43Yeah, she has an eye in now.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45Watching you. Smiler.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47Shaun's the nicest Chaser.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49It's just that he's playing a role.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54Shaun is a man with a constant smile on his face, who has an incredibly
0:40:54 > 0:40:56upbeat and gracious attitude towards life.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58He's playing a role.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03I get stopped every single day and I never get tired of that.
0:41:03 > 0:41:04It's not an ego thing,
0:41:04 > 0:41:10it's a sign of gratitude from people who do stop me that they love the
0:41:10 > 0:41:11product and show I'm on,
0:41:11 > 0:41:13and I'm grateful for their watching it,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16because, if they wouldn't watch it, the show wouldn't be a success.
0:41:18 > 0:41:24Doctor, comedian and self-confessed king of trivia Paul Sinha somehow
0:41:24 > 0:41:27finds time to seek quiz glory on national television.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30Welcome to the Weakest Link.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35In 2002, I kind of fluked my way onto the Weakest Link.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37Paul, remind me what you do.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39I'm a doctor and a stand-up comic, Ann.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41- Which is more important?- They are both equally important, Ann.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43- Oh, really?- Yes.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45So, when you've got a patient, you say,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47"I must go off and tell jokes."
0:41:47 > 0:41:50I make sure I never allow the two to interfere with each other, Ann.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53- OK, well, you can today. Tell me a joke.- Tell you a joke?
0:41:53 > 0:41:57How many male chauvinists does it take to change a light bulb?
0:41:57 > 0:42:00- I don't know.- None, the wife can cook in the dark.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02ONLY A FEW PEOPLE LAUGH
0:42:02 > 0:42:05And given that I normally sit and watch the show,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07and just go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11it kind of breaks my heart that, on my first go at an actual speed quiz,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13I just didn't bring anything to the show.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Paul, in agriculture, mangelwurzel is an important fodder variety of
0:42:17 > 0:42:19which crop - beet or maize?
0:42:21 > 0:42:23- Maize.- Beet.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25What name is given to a small square of rich chocolate cake,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and also to a kindly elf said to do household chores at night?
0:42:31 > 0:42:32- Pass.- Brownie.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34In language, what is the Spanish translation
0:42:34 > 0:42:37for the English number two?
0:42:37 > 0:42:39- Duo.- Dos.
0:42:39 > 0:42:40Paul, the joke's on you.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43You are the weakest link. Goodbye.
0:42:43 > 0:42:44You'd think that, when someone says,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46"You are the weakest link, goodbye,"
0:42:46 > 0:42:49you are feeling devastated but you're just devastated because
0:42:49 > 0:42:52you lost. The fact that Ann's gleefully rubbing salt in your
0:42:52 > 0:42:53wounds is neither here nor there.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56I wanted to win, because I'm good at quizzing
0:42:56 > 0:42:58and I just played really badly.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02An Eggheads spin-off show was another opportunity
0:43:02 > 0:43:06for serial quizzer Paul Sinha to break his TV quiz duck.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11What I really wanted to do was win an episode of a quiz show,
0:43:11 > 0:43:14because I'd already done the Weakest Link,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16I'd already done University Challenge: The Professionals
0:43:16 > 0:43:18and I'd already done Mastermind.
0:43:18 > 0:43:19And I hadn't won any.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22And they gave me an opponent who was very much beatable.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24A guy called Rob Huxley,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27who worked at the Natural History Museum, but didn't appear to have
0:43:27 > 0:43:29any background in serious quizzing.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32Paul, you've got all five eggheads to call upon should you need them.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34Rob, you are playing on your own.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38I had five eggheads that I can use once each
0:43:38 > 0:43:42and not one of them gave me a correct answer.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44I had to watch my hopes wilt away.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47Rob, you're through to the next round.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49I think we are all shattered.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52I mean, no-one more shattered than Paul in this studio. I mean...
0:43:52 > 0:43:54I return chastened once more.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57I just decided, "Well, that was it, Paul.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00"That is the end of your journey in television quiz,"
0:44:00 > 0:44:02and then, two years later, I got a phone call
0:44:02 > 0:44:05from my agent going, "You've done it.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08"They picked you." And I could not have been any more excited.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11Yeah, forget Eggheads,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15Paul Sinha's talents were finally recognised by The Chase.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19Sarcasm is no sin for the Sinner Man.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22- It's Paul Sinha. - Hi, Paul.- Hello, Sean.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24A lot of people go, "You know, you're the loveliest chaser.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29"You never seem to say anything nasty to the team," and it's like,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33it's because I can't bring myself to do it, because I know,
0:44:33 > 0:44:35through being a failed quiz show contestant,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37what they've gone through
0:44:37 > 0:44:40and I know what it's like and I know that pressure.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42Unlucky, Sean, I never really put down the guy
0:44:42 > 0:44:44that goes for the higher offer, because
0:44:44 > 0:44:47I think it's very, very brave. You backed yourself,
0:44:47 > 0:44:49it didn't work out. Unlucky. I'm delighted,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51because I know you're a good player and I know that
0:44:51 > 0:44:53it'll dispirit the other three that are sat back there.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55I'm not the most ruthless chaser.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58I'm not there to emotionally destroy the team.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00I'm there to try and win a quiz.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03What did the poet John Keats call a joy forever?
0:45:03 > 0:45:04A thing of beauty.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08Correct. Which singer and actor was Joan Collins' second husband?
0:45:08 > 0:45:10- Anthony Newly.- Correct.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16And if, like Paul, you have a serious quiz itch
0:45:16 > 0:45:20that needs scratching, maybe try this.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23It's in a pub, it looks like a pub quiz,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25but it is in fact a quiz league.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27If you fancy yourself as a pub quizzer
0:45:27 > 0:45:31and then you think you are ready to go to the next level,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35then you go to the quiz league and those first instances are
0:45:35 > 0:45:37a big shock, because then
0:45:37 > 0:45:40you realise you're all tip and no iceberg, really.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43There are people who are really serious about this.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45They are a step on the way
0:45:45 > 0:45:50to working out whether you want to be a quizzer
0:45:50 > 0:45:52with a capital Q or not.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56With species including the Indian and Egyptian,
0:45:56 > 0:46:02by what common name are snakes of the genus naja, N-A-J-A, known?
0:46:02 > 0:46:06The growth of quiz leagues... I think it's terrific,
0:46:06 > 0:46:09but it's hard to come up with an explanation for it.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13Unless it's the fact that we do live in a far more complicated world.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16We live in a world where a lot of things are uncertain
0:46:16 > 0:46:20and it's a very, very sort of psychologically satisfying thing
0:46:20 > 0:46:26to have the world represented as a set of known facts,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29to which there are right answers and wrong answers.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32That's not true in life, mostly.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35The satisfaction of quizzing is somehow tied into that.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40There's something about the chaos of a lot of clues sorted into the
0:46:40 > 0:46:43neatness of an answer
0:46:43 > 0:46:46that has a sense of relief about it.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49And it's not just a British thing -
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Quizzing is now an international phenomenon.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55The World Quiz Championships is quite amazing, because you do have
0:46:55 > 0:46:58thousands of people across the world doing it, all on the same day...
0:46:58 > 0:47:01in a venue, in their own home country.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Waiting for the results to filter through is quite exciting.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07Now, in 2012, when I did it, I was very, very lucky
0:47:07 > 0:47:10and a lot of the questions I had been thinking about
0:47:10 > 0:47:12just magically did come up.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14As a result, I won it by nine points,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17so that was just one of those strokes of luck,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20and I've actually since retired from quizzing and I think part of the
0:47:20 > 0:47:22reason for retiring is I knew nothing like that
0:47:22 > 0:47:24would probably ever happen ever again,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26so it was good to get out while I could.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31I'm very much aware that Jesse was part of a golden quartet, involving
0:47:31 > 0:47:35Kevin Ashman, Pat Gibson and Olav Bjortomt,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38who I think realistically are significantly better
0:47:38 > 0:47:43than any four British people who have ever walked the planet.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45Virginia is correct.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47That is the end of round eight.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51The standard in the British quiz scene is so much higher than it was
0:47:51 > 0:47:5420-30 years ago, but there's no doubt also the thing that now
0:47:54 > 0:47:56there are now TV shows where, actually,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59you can show off this knowledge.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03And Mark was able to show off his knowledge as a postgrad student on
0:48:03 > 0:48:07the show that kick-started his TV quiz journey.
0:48:07 > 0:48:08University Challenge.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14In one sense, it was a lifelong quest from about whatever it is,
0:48:14 > 0:48:15the secondary school age,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18I looked at it and I were starting to get more questions right
0:48:18 > 0:48:20and I thought, "I would love to go on that show."
0:48:20 > 0:48:22- Glamorgan, Labbett.- Princess Royal.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Princess Royal's right, well done.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28- Glamorgan, Labbett.- First encounter, second encounter, third encounter,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31close encounters. Close encounters is correct, yes.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34John Bird is one half of a duo...
0:48:34 > 0:48:36- Glamorgan, Labbett.- John Fortune in the Long Johns.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38That's correct. He's the other half.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41We won it, and, afterwards, I'm going...
0:48:41 > 0:48:44"I'll never play that well again." If only I'd have known what was
0:48:44 > 0:48:46going to happen since, but that was just my magic...
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Suddenly, everything that could go right, did go right.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56And this mild-mannered student has now transformed into the Beast.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04I think I bring of The Chase, more than any of the others, that,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06if you like, element of confrontation.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09I don't mean the, "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough,"
0:49:09 > 0:49:12but you may notice the little quips. Anything that...
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Well, in sporting terms, I call it sledging.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Anything that can put them off a little bit -
0:49:17 > 0:49:19I think sledging's fine, abuse is wrong.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21I admire Ian's bravery,
0:49:21 > 0:49:22but I'm going to punish you for it.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24I thought I was having a bad day.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26Oh, well, this won't take long.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29The United Kingdom tax year ends in what month?
0:49:29 > 0:49:33- April.- Correct.- The TV series Doc Martin is set in which county?
0:49:33 > 0:49:36- Cornwall.- Correct. Which Charlotte Bronte heroine married...?
0:49:36 > 0:49:37- Jane Eyre.- Correct.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Obviously I never expected it to be a career, because it didn't
0:49:40 > 0:49:42exist up until seven years ago.
0:49:42 > 0:49:48Then I'm lucky enough to fall in the job I was designed to do.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Launched the same year as The Chase,
0:49:51 > 0:49:53even recorded in a studio next door,
0:49:53 > 0:49:55is arch rival Pointless.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59Thank you very much indeed. Hello, I'm Alexander Armstrong
0:49:59 > 0:50:02and welcome to Pointless - the show where we are always striving to find
0:50:02 > 0:50:05- the most obscure answers. - The Chase and Pointless,
0:50:05 > 0:50:07I think the two shows make each other stronger,
0:50:07 > 0:50:10because we've got such a good, strong rivalry.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13We are killing everything else in that time slot.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16- Jemina Balme.- Jemina Balme.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20- Inese Jaunzeme.- Inese Jaunzeme.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23And Mihaela Penes.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25You have done it!
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Pointless is the most ingenious idea to come out of anybody's quiz
0:50:31 > 0:50:35workshops in years, because of the simplicity of it.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38It's all about that kind of quizzer's desire
0:50:38 > 0:50:41to be able to one up the next person with how much rubbish they
0:50:41 > 0:50:43know about a particular topic.
0:50:43 > 0:50:45And how irrelevant they can be.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49That's in everybody, that desire to one up the next person.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51It's in every quizzer.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55But back to University Challenge and some potential super-quizzers of the
0:50:55 > 0:50:59future. This lot upped the ante with their formidable preparation.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Hi, I'm Ted Loveday.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03I'm from Hammersmith in London and I'm studying law.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Our training regime was basically, every day,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10maybe five days a week or so, we would go to the college bar,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13we'd go to a little dingy cellar underneath it,
0:51:13 > 0:51:15which after we'd spent enough time in there,
0:51:15 > 0:51:17we called it the Quiz Dungeon.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19We would go down the cellar underneath the college bar
0:51:19 > 0:51:21and we would watch an episode together,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23or two episodes or three episodes.
0:51:23 > 0:51:28They, I think, looked at pretty much every single question
0:51:28 > 0:51:31that Jeremy had said out loud in five years.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33Looked at every book of everything before that.
0:51:33 > 0:51:38Every gram of the internet that they could weigh,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40they got questions out of it.
0:51:40 > 0:51:41We call it doing a Caius now.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45- Caius, Loveday.- Is it Menander?
0:51:45 > 0:51:47It is. Yes.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51If you were representing your university in a national sports
0:51:51 > 0:51:54competition, you would take it really, really seriously.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57You would probably be training at their every single day.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59Right, ten points for this. Meaning said only once,
0:51:59 > 0:52:01what two words Greek term denotes...?
0:52:01 > 0:52:03- Caius, Loveday. - Hapax legomenon.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05Correct.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09I was in the studio that day.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13I was sitting watching him do this and I buzz in
0:52:13 > 0:52:15and you can sort of hear everybody going,
0:52:15 > 0:52:18"What on earth is he doing buzzing in there?
0:52:18 > 0:52:20"He has no right to buzz in there."
0:52:20 > 0:52:23And then he said, "Hapax legomenon."
0:52:23 > 0:52:25People go, "Oh, I'm checked out.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28"What has he just...?" And Jeremy goes, "Yes!"
0:52:28 > 0:52:31And everybody is in a rapture.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37Well, the internet was certainly in raptures
0:52:37 > 0:52:39and Ted became an instant meme.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47You know, there are a fair few accounts that
0:52:47 > 0:52:49tweeted just that clip. Not any of the others.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51People didn't even know what quiz show it was from.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53So, someone once came up to me and said,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56- "You're that guy from Mastermind." - What two-word Greek term...?
0:52:56 > 0:52:59- Caius, Loveday. - Hapax legomenon.- Correct.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04What? "Hapax legomenon"?!
0:53:04 > 0:53:06"Hapax legomenon"?
0:53:06 > 0:53:09What planet are you on, son?
0:53:09 > 0:53:12It's a crazy word and it sounds great.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16It sounds a bit like abracadabra or an incantation of something.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19I really think JK Rowling should have a spell called Hapax legomenon.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Come on, chaps.
0:53:21 > 0:53:22Well done.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28They absolutely demolished all-comers.
0:53:28 > 0:53:34It was the most stunning thing that I've ever seen on Uni Challenge.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37- That's it. You've done it. - Thank you.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44I finally got to meet Jeremy Paxman afterwards to shake his hand.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48Yeah, it didn't get much better than that.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57And finally, if there are any contestants out there looking for
0:53:57 > 0:53:58the ultimate challenge,
0:53:58 > 0:54:02there is one more quiz rabbit hole you can tumble into.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Hello, and welcome to Only Connect -
0:54:06 > 0:54:08the quiz that this use mental excellence,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11like James Bond at a bad guy in the opening sequence of...
0:54:11 > 0:54:13Well, take your pick.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17Only Connect is a relative new kid on the block,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20but one of the most well-regarded and definitely one of
0:54:20 > 0:54:22the best quizzes out there.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25I think it's fair to say, at the team level,
0:54:25 > 0:54:28Only Connect is the toughest quiz by a country mile.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30I find Only Connect very difficult.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34I mean, that is very cryptic and also you need extraordinarily good
0:54:34 > 0:54:37knowledge, I think, for Only Connect.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40It's Thymine.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43Brilliant. Coming in after one clue, you get five points.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Very well done. As a matter of fact, I heard you say,
0:54:45 > 0:54:47if we were being evil, it would be Uracil.
0:54:47 > 0:54:48I would have accepted Uracil.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Oh, man, that would have been really cool.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54It's a little bit like what I think you get out of watching athletics in
0:54:54 > 0:54:56the Olympics or the Paralympics.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58Some people find it very exciting
0:54:58 > 0:55:01and moving to see what the human body can do.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06A great, talented, skilled athlete pushing themselves to their limits
0:55:06 > 0:55:09and you go, "Well, that's amazing, because I can't even get the biscuit
0:55:09 > 0:55:12"tin off the top shelf." Only Connect, for me, is like that,
0:55:12 > 0:55:14but with the mind.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Well, Only Connect is more like Round Britain Quiz, I think.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20It's doing that thing and expecting you to be able to, sort of,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24manipulate the facts that you have into a new shape.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26It's a very, very pure form of quizzing
0:55:26 > 0:55:29and it does encourage quizzing to another level,
0:55:29 > 0:55:33because you have to make those connections that are so
0:55:33 > 0:55:36beloved of your top level Grand Prix quiz setters.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38I know myself and my two colleagues
0:55:38 > 0:55:40are fantastically proud of having won it.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43120 is a regular hexagon, 108's a regular pentagon,
0:55:43 > 0:55:4690's a square and 60 is an equilateral triangle.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49That's it, they're the interior angles of polygons.
0:55:49 > 0:55:51Very good, so you get the bonus point.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Only Connect breaks so many of the rules.
0:55:54 > 0:55:59But it never tries to be anything other than really unashamedly nerdy.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02A show that can be at times comically gauche and proud of it.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04If I hadn't looked at the answer,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08I could stand with your team for 47 years and not get this.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10They are filters on an Instagram,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12so I don't blame you for not getting that.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Our question writers are the sort of people that would be writing those
0:56:15 > 0:56:19questions even if there wasn't a show to put them on.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22So, when a series finishes and we don't know if we've got another
0:56:22 > 0:56:25series, they are writing the questions anyway just,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27because it's a fun thing to do. What are they going to do,
0:56:27 > 0:56:30- watch the X Factor? No.- It's made itself a lovely niche.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33It is the quiz show to people who really want to be stretched.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37Not only has Mark appeared on the share and won it, of course, yes,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41he's even had the ultimate accolade of being turned into a question.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43And who is in that last picture?
0:56:43 > 0:56:45Is it Mark Labbett?
0:56:45 > 0:56:48Yes, it is. From The Chase.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50And of Only Connect as well, of course.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53Known as the Beast, they are all known as the Beast.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58It gives me joy unconfined, really, to see a programme like Only Connect
0:56:58 > 0:57:00succeed to the level that it has.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03It started out as this really obscure cult quiz show
0:57:03 > 0:57:06and now it's big, which is fantastic.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08It's good news for quizzing as a whole.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11It proves how many people there are in Britain
0:57:11 > 0:57:14that are up for TV that pushes them a bit harder,
0:57:14 > 0:57:18where not everyone has hair extensions, false nails.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22I mean, I do, but the teams don't and that sort of deeper,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25cleverer stuff is appealing to an awful lot of people
0:57:25 > 0:57:27and that's really pleasing.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33So, that's it. Some of our devoted quizzes have managed to become
0:57:33 > 0:57:38professionals. Many take competing to new heights and all of us are
0:57:38 > 0:57:40seemingly surrounded by quiz.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47But the final question is, are quizzes now cool?
0:57:47 > 0:57:49The whole attitude has changed.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54Certainly when I was younger, people who were
0:57:54 > 0:57:59quiz show buffs were considered a little bit like anoraks.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02Now they are highly respected, like Kevin Ashman.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06Because quizzes are so widespread and they're just so much part of
0:58:06 > 0:58:10British culture now, it's much more accepted amongst
0:58:10 > 0:58:13the general public than it perhaps once was.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15We don't have a quizzers hall of fame.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Actually, maybe that's something we should get, a quizzers hall of fame.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20That might not be a bad idea.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23It's the knowledgeable ones and the ones that got picked last for sports
0:58:23 > 0:58:27that came top in maths who are inheriting the earth.
0:58:27 > 0:58:28This is my world.
0:58:28 > 0:58:30I have found what I want to be doing for the rest of my life
0:58:30 > 0:58:32and it's quizzing.