Episode 8 Celebrity Mastermind

Four celebrities who hope they know everything there is to know about their specialist subject.

But can they cut it on TV's toughest quiz? They've put themselves in the hot seat for their chosen charity,

but only one person can be the winner. Who will be crowned tonight's Celebrity Mastermind?

The first celebrity tonight is the actor Neil Dudgeon. His subject - the life and work of Philip Larkin.

Comedian Stewart Francis - his subject the Toronto Blue Jays.

Broadcaster and journalist Andrew Collins on disaster movies of the '70s.

And singer and '60s icon Sandie Shaw has chosen Nichiren Buddhism as her specialist subject.

Hello, I'm John Humphrys and welcome to Celebrity Mastermind.

Tonight our contenders will have one and a half minutes of questions on their specialist subject

and two minutes on general knowledge. Whoever scores highest has not only the great prestige

of being the winner, but will also take home this lovely trophy.

So let's get on with it and ask our first contender to join us, please.

And your name is...?

Your chosen charity?

And your chosen subject?

Philip Larkin, starting now. Which post did he turn down when offered it after the death of John Betjeman?

-Poet Laureate.

-In '55, he became the librarian at which university, where he remained for 30 years?

-Hull.

-In his '79 poem The Mower, what animal does the narrator inadvertently kill?

-A hedgehog.

-Which well-known poem is inspired by a train journey he took from Hull to London

on a Bank Holiday in May, '55?

-The Whitsun Weddings.

-He first met which fellow writer at Oxford

when he gave a dramatic performance of being shot in the quadrangle?

-Kingsley Amis.

-The last lines of poetry he wrote are thought to be,

"You may get drunk or dry half hours may pass, it seems to turn on where you are. Or who." For which poem?

-Party Politics?

-Yes. In which Shropshire town did he meet Ruth Bowman? They later became engaged.

-Wellington.

-When he chaired the Booker Prize committee in '77,

Staying On won, but Quartet In Autumn was his choice. Who wrote it?

-Barbara Pym.

-Which of his female companions was the model for Margaret Peel in Lucky Jim?

Larkin advised on the novel.

-Monica Jones.

-Who was his secretary with whom he had an affair and who helped to destroy his diaries?

-Betty Mackereth.

-He wrote the words for A Bridge For The Living,

a cantata for the opening of what in 1981?

-The Humber Bridge.

-In his letters to Monica Jones, he addresses her as what animal in letters of early '61?

-Bun.

-Yes.

-BEEP

And we're out of time. A perfect round, Neil. 12 points.

And our next contender, please.

And your name is...?

The Toronto Blue Jays. In what year did they begin playing in the American League?

-1977.

-In '89, they moved to the Sky Dome. What was the name of the stadium that they left?

-Exhibition Stadium.

-Who was their first manager?

-Roy Hartsfield.

-In September '87, they scored a single-game record 10 home runs against which team?

-Baltimore Orioles?

-Yes. They retired the number worn by Roberto Alomar. What number was it?

-Oh, 12.

-Who was the first player they signed, acquired from the White Sox in October '76?

-Bill Singer?

-Phil Roof. In their first post-season games in '85, they lost to which team?

-Kansas City.

-By what score did they beat the Chicago White Sox in their first MLB home game in 1977,

Doug Ault scoring two home runs?

-9-5?

-Yeah. Who only managed 13 home runs in his first full season,

but then hit a total of 97 in the following two seasons?

-Jose Bautista.

-Before the start of the '99 season, the Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Roger Clemens

was traded to the NY Yankees for David Wells, Graeme Lloyd and which infielder?

-Er, pass.

-Which team did they beat in the '92 League Championship series to reach the World Series?

-Oakland Athletics.

-In which Caribbean city did they open the 2001 season with a win over Texas?

-BEEP Can you repeat that, John?

-I can't because we're out of time.

-Rats.

-Take a guess.

-I love you.

-LAUGHTER

-That'll do.

The actual answer, I'll take it as a pass, was San Juan.

-Your other pass - Roger Clemens was traded in return for David Wells, Graeme Lloyd and Homer Bush.

-Oh!

-You have, Stewart, 9 points.

-Thank you, sir. Thank you.

And our next contender, please.

And your name is...?

Which producer of several big-budget disaster movies was nicknamed the Master of Disaster?

-Irwin Allen.

-The shark catcher Quint in Jaws reveals that he was torpedoed on which US Navy cruiser?

-The USS Indianapolis.

-Which 1974 film begins with a dedication to firefighters?

-The Towering Inferno.

-Whose novel was the basis for The Medusa Touch?

-Jack Gold.

-Peter Van Greenaway. In which '74 Richard Lester film

do a team try to defuse explosives planted on a luxury ocean liner?

-Juggernaut.

-What sort of contraband does Colonel Ritter find concealed in a pen in The Hindenburg?

-Explosives?

-Diamonds. David Cronenberg's Shivers was released in America as They Came From where?

-Within.

-The title of a '79 film refers to a worst-case scenario

in which an exposed nuclear reactor core melts through the Earth. What's it called?

-The China Syndrome.

-Who appears as a taxi driver in the '78 remake of his 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

-Don Siegel.

-LB Abbott and AD Flowers received a Special Achievement Oscar for their work on which film?

-Towering Inferno?

-Poseidon Adventure. When Brodie and Hooper perform an autopsy in Jaws,

-they find a licence plate from where?

-Denver.

Louisiana. Who played the father of Ava Gardner in Earthquake, despite being only seven years her senior?

-Lorne Greene.

-What does Matthias in The Omega Man define as a man...

-BEEP

-..who understood nothing until there was nothing left to understand?

-Pass.

-It was a scientist.

-Right.

-And you have, Andrew, 8 points.

-Thank you.

And our final contender, please.

-They're all so clever, aren't they?

-Well, here's your chance.

Your name...?

Your chosen charity?

And your chosen subject?

Starting now. Which body, founded in 1975 by Daisaku Ikeda, is a worldwide movement

based on Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism and its teaching?

-Soka Gakkai.

-Characters inscribed by Nichiren on the Dai-Gohonzon scroll

are from Chinese and which language?

-Sanskrit.

-In which work of 1255 did he expound the view that the Buddhas of the universe lie within?

-Nichiren?

-On Attaining Buddhahood In This Lifetime. In the chant, "Nam myoho renge kyo,"

renge means lotus flower. What law does it represent?

-The Simultaneity of Cause and Effect.

-According to Nichiren,

if other forms of Buddhism represent harvest, what does his represent?

-Sowing.

-The Sixth World is characterised by short-term pleasure. What's it called?

-Rapture.

-Which of his writings opens with the command that all human beings should respect

-the sovereign, the teacher and the parent?

-No idea!

According to his letter thanking a disciple for a gift of rice, it was not merely rice, but what?

-Life itself.

-On which island was he exiled for over two years, writing some of his most important works?

-Sado.

-Which fisherman gave him food and shelter at the beginning of his exile on the Izu peninsula?

-Ohhh...I can't remember.

-To whom did he send the letter The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of life?

-I don't know.

-Which specific proposal...

-BEEP

..to further world peace and harmony was proposed by the Soka Gakkai president in 1957 and is supported

by Soka Gakkai International?

-It would be for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

-Exactly right. That's what it was

You had three passes - the convert to whom he sent that letter was Sairen-Bo.

The name of the fisherman who gave food and shelter was Funamori Yasaburo.

And the writing that opens with the command to respect three categories of people

-is The Opening Of The Eyes. You had three passes and eight points.

-Thank you!

So that's the end of the first round. Let's look at the scores.

Joint third place, Andrew Collins and Sandie Shaw.

Second place, Stewart Francis.

In the lead, Neil Dudgeon.

Which means it is the general knowledge round now. If there's a tie, passes are taken into account.

The person with fewer passes is the winner. So let's ask Andrew to join us again, please.

You've been a film reviewer for a while now. What's happening in the movies?

Nowadays you have to have a franchise?

This happened with the disaster movies. Jaws and Jaws 2...

They'll make part 2 and 3 at the same time to save money.

-They literally do that?

-They filmed parts 2 and 3 of Pirates of the Caribbean.

You've got the cast there. You might as well do two films.

-But what if the first one is rubbish and nobody goes?

-They let the first one be a success.

-Then they'll make the second and third.

-So you wouldn't make one and two together.

-That would be bad economics.

-Because you couldn't be sure.

-They've got to be relied on.

-Jaws is brilliant. Jaws 2 is rubbish. Jaws 3 is even worse.

-The law of diminishing returns.

-Is it always like that?

-Not if it's based on a series of books.

-With Pirates of the Caribbean, isn't 2 better than 1?

But 3's worse than 2 and 1. LAUGHTER

All right. You've got eight points on disaster movies. Let's see how you do with general knowledge.

The Bolshoi and Maryinsky perform what sort of theatrical dance?

-Ballet.

-Which prehistoric stone circle stands on Salisbury Plain?

-Stonehenge.

-Which actor, who plays Snape in the Harry Potter films,

was Hans Gruber in Die Hard?

-Alan Rickman.

-What colour is the Northern Line in the Underground?

-Black.

-Which mountain is considered to be 33 feet higher than the first 1856 estimate of 29,002 feet?

-Snowdon.

-Everest.

-Oh, well!

-Who formed High Flying Birds after the break-up of Oasis?

-Noel Gallagher.

-Which royal residence was hit by fire in 1992?

-Windsor Castle.

-Which designer and founder of the Arts and Crafts movement

first produced his wallpaper designs in the 1860s?

-Em...Blake.

-William Morris.

Who married his third wife, Nancy Shevell, at Old Marylebone Town Hall in October 2011?

-Paul McCartney.

-Which British monarch has a type of sponge cake named after her?

-Victoria.

-What word is used for the backbone in mammals and for the back of a book?

-Spine.

-Which BBC conspiracy thriller shown in Autumn 2011 starred Philip Glenister as solicitor Harry Venn?

-Hidden.

-The name of which single, unified currency was agreed at a summit in Madrid in 1995?

-Euro.

-What Cambridge University dramatic club's presidents include Clive Anderson and Hugh Laurie?

-Footlights.

-Which term for a loutish young person is thought to come from a Romany word for child?

-Chav.

-The third of which series of horror films, written and directed by Oren Peli, was released in 2011?

-Saw.

-Paranormal Activity 3.

What post did Gordon Brown hold from '97 until he became Prime Minister in 2007?

-Chancellor.

-Which football pundit began with Partick Thistle in '73 before moving to Liverpool in '77?

-Alan Hansen.

-Which entertainer's son, named Zachary Jackson Levon,

was born to a surrogate mother on Christmas Day 2010?

BEEP

-Michael Jackson.

-Sir Elton John.

-Yeah.

-Close.

-Very close.

Andrew, you've got a total now of 23 points.

APPLAUSE

-And Sandie, would you join us again now, please?

-Yes.

You must be fed up to the back teeth with this, but you did win the Eurovision Song Contest.

-Yeah, when it was worth winning.

-Ah! I wondered about that?

Lots of songs have won Eurovision and they disappear, but Puppet On A String just...

I don't know. I wish it would disappear sometimes.

-You still do it?

-Yeah. I'm in the middle of a Jools Holland tour.

-And we redo it. It's like a really heartfelt ballad now. It's very wistful.

-Really?

-Yeah, it would make you cry.

-Would it?

-Hmm.

-Aw! And you still do it barefoot, I mean, sing?

-Yeah, I sing barefoot. I should try answering questions barefoot. I migh get more points.

-You didn't do badly

-So you still tour?

-Yeah.

Why?

-(I'm 64.)

-Yes...

-It's all right.

-There were things I wanted to tidy up.

I wanted to go back on stage and jus sing the songs people wanted to hear

and to say "hi" to them again, let's get close again,

and, um, just not be nervous.

Well, I wish you well with that. Let's see how you do with general knowledge.

You've got 8 points. You've got to beat 23.

-Ohh!

-23.

Here we go, two minutes. What name is given to the footway that models walk down at a fashion show?

-Catwalk.

-The male members of which '70s pop group collaborated with Tim Rice on the musical Chess?

-Abba.

-Which iconic American actress converted to Judaism on her marriage to the playwright Arthur Miller?

-Marilyn.

-Yes, Marilyn Monroe.

Which former Conservative MP was the first contestant to be voted out of Strictly Come Dancing 2011

after her foxtrot failed to impress?

-Vincey Cable!

-No, Edwina Currie.

What cured meat is traditionally used in the dish spaghetti carbonara?

-Cream and bacon?

-Bacon.

Which best-selling novelist has written books

including The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Riders, Polo and Jump?

-Jilly Cooper.

-Pauline Collins received her only Oscar nomination

-for playing a middle-aged Liverpool housewife in which 1989 film?

-Pass.

Alencon, Brussels and Chantilly are types of which decorative fabric?

-Silk.

-Lace. What is supposed to have crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947?

-A meteor.

-A flying saucer or UFO.

In which Jane Austen novel does the heroine imagine herself to be gifted at match-making?

She eventually marries Mr Knightley.

Oh, you know, that silly one.

-Give it a name.

-I'm not an Austen fan.

-All right, I'll take it as a pass.

Which US singer/songwriter was booed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 for using an electric guitar?

-Oh, Bob Dylan!

-In pastry-making, what term is used for pre-baking an empty pastry case,

lined with greaseproof paper and weighted down with rice or dried beans?

-I do it all the time! I don't know.

-I'll take that as a pass.

In which film about a gorilla who terrorises New York has the leading female role been played

by Fay Wray in '33, Jessica Lange in '76 and Naomi Watts in 2005?

-What's the gorilla one? You know this one!

-You've got to tell me, not them. Take a guess.

-King Kong.

-What did you say?

-King Kong?

-Yes. Which party won...

-BEEP

-Which party won their first Parliamentary seat

when Caroline Lucas was elected as the MP for Brighton Pavilion in the last General Election?

-Green.

-Yes, the Green Party.

Now, you have three passes. Baking blind is what you...

-Oh, yes!

-That's what it was.

Emma is the name of the book by that person you don't like very much.

-Shirley Valentine was what Pauline Collins...

-I should have got that.

-You didn't do badly.

-You've got a total now of 16 points.

-Can I go?

-Yeah.

APPLAUSE

And now Stewart again, please.

And you have 9 points, Stewart.

You are a stand-up comedian who doesn't do those big riffs...

-Yeah, boring.

-Just boring stuff. You do joke after joke after joke.

-You have 30 seconds to do ten jokes.

-No.

-All right, 20 jokes.

-No.

-50?

-No, I'm not going to do any because I'm not getting paid.

-You won't do any jokes at all?

-I've changed.

-Into what?

-Into a money-grubbing son of a gun.

-I thought you said you'd changed?

Ah! Touche!

-You are Canadian.

-I am.

-Why did you leave Canada to come here?

-To pursue my career professionally. This is where I need to be.

-Why?

The best audiences in the world. LAUGHTER

-Is that really why you came here?

-Yeah, I had done everything I could do in Canada.

I was a game show host, I was in a sitcom, bunch of television wor

and it was time for me to move on.

So I came to the UK, which I'd been coming to for about 15 years. I knew this is where I needed to be.

Honestly, it's the best audiences in the world. I've travelled the world, but the UK is phenomenal.

-Really?

-Absolutely.

-What's behind that?

-I don't know.

It's where humour was invented.

-Was it?

-Yeah, I think so. You go to the corner pub, there's half a dozen comedians there

just having a chat. It's where it originated.

-I love running with the big dogs over here.

-Stewart, you got 9 points

-This is general knowledge?

-Yes.

-I'll do bad here.

I know nothing about generals. LAUGHTER

Two minutes, starting now. What is the name of the house in Memphis where Presley lived and died?

-Graceland.

-Which famous Knightsbridg department store was founded as a grocery shop in 1849?

-Harrods.

-Calvados is a brandy distilled in Normandy. From which fruit is it fermented?

-Apple.

-Who became the Duchess of Cambridge on the 29th of April, 2011?

-Camilla...Parker...

-Close, but it was Kate.

Which crime drama set in Atlantic City during the Prohibition era

stars Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson? The pilot was the most expensive ever made for television.

-I don't know.

-Which city, famed for its architecture by Gaudi,

is the capital of the Spanish region of Catalonia?

-Bamber Gascoigne.

-Close(!) Barcelona

Who directed the films Vertigo, Dial M For Murder and North By Northwest?

-Hitchcock.

-The Power Of Love, Think Twice and My Heart Will Go On

have all been hit singles for which French-Canadian singer?

-Celine Dion.

-Who became the first President of the US in 1789

when he took his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall, New York?

-George Washington.

-In the '96 film Evita, which Spanish actor stars as the narrator Che

who tells the story of Eva Peron's rise to power?

-Madonna?

-Antonio Banderas.

The Australian bird the kookaburra can be called by what name because of its fiendish chuckling call?

-Bamber Gascoigne.

-Laughing jackass.

He might sue! What type of dancing involves wearing special shoes with metal plates on the soles and heels?

-Tap.

-Which mythical creature that wa on the flag of China until 1911 was the symbol of the Chinese Emperor?

-Dragon.

-Who wrote The Invisible Man and War Of The Worlds, published at the end of the 19th century?

Oh, uh... Him. That guy. With the pen. I don't know.

In the Bible, which sea dried up to let the Israelites pass through on their way to the Promised Land

and then closed over the pursuing Egyptians?

-Lake Ontario.

-Red Sea. What title, a form of the Roman "Caesar" was held by the rulers of Russia...

-BEEP

-..until 1721 and commonly used up to the 1917 Revolution?

-Bamber Gascoigne.

-Bamber Gascoigne is true... No, it's Tsar.

The Czar or Tsar, whatever you want to call it. You had two passes.

The Invisible Man, War Of The Worlds were written by HG Wells.

And that crime drama set in Atlantic City was Boardwalk Empire.

You will doubtless be hearing from Bamber Gascoigne, but you have, Stewart, 17 points.

APPLAUSE

And finally, Neil Dudgeon again, please.

And you start out with a pretty impressive 12,

a very impressive 12, you got them all right.

But let's talk about what you're doing in Midsomer Murders.

I've taken over as the Detective Chief Inspector, yeah.

Was it slightly intimidating because John Nettles had been doing it for a heck of a time?

I just thought it was something I might be able to have a go at.

Like this. Somebody said, "Do you want to have a go at this?"

You think, "No," then another bit of you thinks, "Go on, have a go."

-So I thought I could make some sort of fist of it.

-Is it fun?

It's very good fun. A great thing is whenever I used to watch the show

I'd see these beautiful shots of lovely little English villages

and the village green and the ivy-clad pub and the Norman church, which I think again is...

The show sells to 250 territories around the world

and when you speak to foreign journalists and say, "Why is it popular in Hong Kong or Canada,"

they say, "We like your English sense of humour and we love your English countryside."

But there are so many great facts about Midsomer. 2,850 people have been killed.

You'd think there wouldn't be many people left.

People keep moving there because of the beautiful countryside and there' so much cheap property available.

-People keep moving there.

-Yeah, exactly.

You've got 12 points, as I said.

24, if you're going to be a Mastermind, which is a huge privilege and honour.

Let's see if you can do it. What geographical feature is described as being active, dormant or extinct?

-Volcano.

-Which comedy actor, who starred in Porridge, retired in 1987

to run an antiques shop called The Emporium in Chipping Norton?

-Ronnie Barker.

-Most of America's reserves of what have been stored at Fort Knox since 1937?

-Gold.

-The 2011 film Midnight In Paris is by which American director,

famed for Hannah And Her Sisters and Annie Hall?

-Woody Allen.

-Which raid on Germany in May 1943 by 617 Squadron

was officially codenamed Operation Chastise?

The Dam Busters.

Which tidy, furry creatures lived on Wimbledon Common in a '70s children's television series?

-The Wombles.

-What title did Philip Pullman give to a trilogy of novels

comprising Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass?

-Pass.

-Which former county in north-west England gives its name to a type of long, unlinked sausage?

-Cumberland.

-In the traditional song The Twelve Days Of Christmas, how many gold rings are there?

-Five.

-Which city's railway station a Temple Meads was designed by Brunel and is a Grade One listed building?

-Bristol.

-Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips are two of the ingredients in a witches' spell

that appears in which Shakespeare play?

-Macbeth.

-In 2011, who won the Rugby Union World Cup for the first time since 1987,

beating France by 8 points to 7?

-New Zealand.

-Which canal connects th Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea?

-Suez Canal.

-Gary Oldman plays George Smiley in the 2011 film version of which spy novel by John Le Carre?

-Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

-Who won the '95 Turner Prize

after his exhibition called Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away, which included a lamb in formaldehyde?

-Damien Hirst.

-Achilles could only be wounded in which part of his body?

-Heel.

-Which dog, the largest of the terriers, is named after the area of Yorkshire where it was bred?

-Doncaster.

-Airedale. Which member of The Who had a top ten hit

as a solo artist with Giving It All Away in 1973?

-Roger Daltrey.

-Darbies or bracelets...

-BEEP

-..are slang for what type of equipment used by policemen?

-You should know this one.

-Handcuffs.

-Handcuffs it is. One pass.

The Philip Pullman trilogy - His Dark Materials.

But you didn't need that because, Neil, you have a total of 29 points.

APPLAUSE

A high-scoring contest in the end. Let's look at all the scores.

In fourth place, Sandie Shaw.

Third place, Stewart Francis.

Second place, Andrew Collins.

First place, a big 29 points, Neil Dudgeon.

APPLAUSE

Neil...

Well done.

Thank you very much.

Are you going to be taking that to Midsomer with you?

-Yes, I shall be polishing it up and taking it to work to prove that I've been here.

-I think they'll know that

-I hope I haven't brought shame on th county.

-A worthy winner.

-Thank you.

Thanks for watching. Do join us again for more Celebrity Masterminds. Good night.

You don't have to be a celebrity to appear on the show,

so if you would like to appear in the next series of Mastermind on BBC-2, then do visit us online

at bbc.co.uk/mastermind

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2012

Email [email protected]