Episode 21 Mastermind

First in the spotlight tonight is Ben Holmes,

a customer service agent from Salford.

His specialist subject - the Manic Street Preachers.

Next, Alister Jones, a civil servant from Bristol.

He'll be answering questions on Sir Edmund Hillary.

Richard Pyne is a management consultant from London

and his subject - Kew Gardens.

And Sarah Greenan, a barrister from Leeds.

Her subject - the ghost stories of MR James.

Hello and welcome to Mastermind with me, John Humphrys.

Tonight, four more contenders will sit in that infamous black chair,

where they will answer two minutes of questions on their

specialist subject and 2½ minutes on general knowledge.

Tonight's winner goes through to the next round, the semifinal,

and then, perhaps, the grand final,

and THEN, perhaps, the glass bowl and the incalculable honour

of having been crowned the nation's mastermind.

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

In two minutes, starting now.

The Manic Street Preachers' first professionally recorded

single was the self-financed Suicide Alley in 1988,

produced by Glen Powell at which recording studios?

Pass.

What did James Bradfield wear when the band

performed Faster on Top Of The Pops in 1994?

It resulted in the BBC receiving

thousands of complaints.

A balaclava.

The title of the group's 1998 album

This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

is a quotation from which Welsh politician?

Aneurin Bevan.

What was the nickname of the group's original guitarist

Miles Woodward, who left the group in the late 1980s?

Flicker.

The group's last live appearance with

Richey Edwards, before he disappeared,

was at a London venue where they destroyed

£10,000 worth of equipment. What was the venue?

The Astoria.

What song did the band perform with Kylie Minogue

when she joined them on stage at

the Shepherd's Bush Empire in December '96?

Little Baby Nothing.

The Manics became the first western band

for more than 20 years to play in communist Cuba,

when they played in which Havana theatre

in February 2001?

The Karl Marx Theatre.

What track from their debut Generation Terrorists album

was given a remix called Stars And Stripes

by Public Enemy's sound engineers?

Repeat.

When the band decided to carry on

after Richey Edwards' disappearance,

they went to a producer's Normandy studios

to record the album Everything Must Go.

Who was the producer?

Mike Hedges.

Nicky Wire sang for the first time

on a Manics album on the track Wattsville Blues.

On what B side was the only other time

he was featured on vocals?

Ballad Of The Bangkok Novotel.

The cover of a single led to the band

being threatened with legal action

because it featured a montage of celebrities,

including Robert Johnson, Robert De Niro

and Bob Marley, without their agreement.

What was the single?

You Love Us.

Released in 2002,

the group's greatest hits compilation album

Forever Delayed included There By The Grace Of God

and which other new track?

Door To The River.

The Manics were supported by which rock band

when they went on tour in early '92

to promote the Generation Terrorists album?

Pass.

The band allegedly commandeered

-their own Portaloo...

-BEEP

..at Glastonbury 1999.

Whom did the band get into an argument with

when he commented,

"That's a nice socialist gesture, lads"?

Billy Bragg.

It was indeed.

You can hear him saying it, can't you? You had two passes.

It was The Wildhearts who supported them on that tour in early '92.

And they recorded their first single at the South Bank Studios.

You've scored 12 points.

And our next contender, please.

In two minutes...

Mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary was born in Auckland,

New Zealand, in July 1919,

but in which small town was he brought up,

where he attended the local primary school?

Tuakau.

Hillary and Tenzing were the first people to reach

the summit of Everest in May '53.

Tenzing left some sweets

as a gift to the mountain's gods at the summit.

What item did Hillary leave?

A crucifix.

Hillary joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force

in 1944 after originally being exempted

from conscription because of his occupation

of bee keeping.

In what role did he serve?

Navigator.

On the 4th January, 1958,

Hillary and his party became the first people

since Scott to reach the South Pole over land.

What main means of motor transport had they used?

Tractors.

What's the name of the peak near Mount Cook,

where Hillary reached his first mountain summit at the age of 20?

Mount Ollivier.

Hillary made his first visit to Everest in '51

as a member of the British Reconnaissance Expedition.

Who was its leader?

Eric Shipton.

Hillary set up a charitable organisation in 1960

to help the Sherpa people by building schools,

hospitals and other infrastructure projects. What's its name?

Himalayan Trust.

During his Himalayan expedition of 1960,

a research station was erected at 19,000 feet

above sea level, where the physiological effects

of high altitude were studied.

What was the station's name?

Silver Hut.

With which astronaut did Hillary and his son Peter

fly to the North Pole in April '85?

It made Hillary the first person to visit both poles

and the summit of Mount Everest.

Neil Armstrong.

What was the single word code message sent back

to Scott Base confirming that Hillary and his party

were near the South Pole, to alert

the expedition sponsors, the BBC and the Times?

Success.

Rhubarb!

By what name meaning "Big in heart"

did Hillary become known to the Sherpa people?

Burra Sahib.

What was the name of the incoming

Labour Prime Minister who persuaded Hillary

to become the New Zealand High Commissioner

to India in 1985?

Lange.

In '95, Hillary was made

a Knight of which order of chivalry by the Queen?

Garter.

In March '75, Hillary's first wife Louisa

and their youngest child Belinda

were killed in a plane crash on their way to a town

in Nepal where Hillary was building a hospital.

-Which town?

-BEEP

Phaplu.

Is correct.

No passes, Alister. You have scored 13 points.

And our next contender, please.

In two minutes, here we go.

What was the name of the gardener whose appointment to manage

the Physic Garden at Kew in 1759 is regarded as marking

the foundation of the Royal Botanic Gardens?

William Aiton.

What did the architect Decimus Burton

and the engineer Richard Turner build in the 1840s?

It's regarded as one of the most important

surviving Victorian glass and iron structures.

The Palm House.

A willow twig, said to have been from a tree

growing near the grave of a historical figure

was exhibited, then planted at Kew in the '20s. Whose grave?

Napoleon.

A Seeds Of The Future time capsule

was ceremonially buried in the foundations

of the Princess of Wales Conservatory in 1985. Who buried it?

David Attenborough.

In a diary entry of February 1789,

the writer Fanny Burney recalled being

pursued through Kew Gardens by whom?

She said of the event, "It occasioned me the severest

"personal terror I've ever experienced."

George III.

In 1913, two suffragettes were jailed for burning down

the refreshment pavilion at Kew. One was Lilian Lenten. Who was the other?

Pass.

Which building at Kew was constructed in 1852 to house

the exotic plant victoria amazonica?

The Waterlily House.

The famous Kew Pagoda -

a 163 foot octagonal tower constructed in 1761 -

was originally decorated with 80 gilded carvings

of what mythical creature?

Dragons.

Which building at Kew was wrecked by a cedar of Lebanon

that fell on it during a violent storm in March, 1916?

The Temple of the Sun.

Which former gardener at Kew was the botanist aboard The Bounty

and one of the crew cast adrift with Captain Bligh?

David Nelson.

What is the common name of the flowering plant

introduced to the gardens by Joseph Banks

in 1773 and named by him

Strelitzia reginae in honour of

Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz?

Uh...

Strelitzia reginae.

The bird of paradise flower.

What was the name of the ship on which Francis Masson I,

plant collector officially commissioned by Kew,

sailed with Captain James Cook to The Cape in 1772?

The Discovery.

The Resolution.

Who was the botanic painter to His Majesty,

who became the garden's permanent botanical artist

in 1790 and remained in the post until his death?

Francis Bowyer.

-Which garden...

-BEEP

..opened in 1882, was established by

William Thiselton-Dyer to house a collection of Alpine plants

left to Kew by George Curling Joad?

-Can you say that again?

-I'm afraid not, we're out of time.

Um...

The Rock Garden.

Yes! You've got it.

You had one pass.

The other suffragette in 1913 was Olive Wharry.

You have scored, Richard, 11 points.

And our last contender, please.

What is the title of the first collection

of MR James ghost stories published in 1904?

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.

Which of James's ghost stories tells

of a visit made by the church historian

Mr Anderson to Viborg

and his discovery at the Golden Lion Hotel

of a room that only appears at night?

Number 13.

Which east coast port does MR James

say he had in mind as the model for Burnstow,

the setting for the story Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad.

Felixstowe.

An Episode In Cathedral History is set in a fictional cathedral

that had been heavily altered during the 1840s

gothic revival. What's the name of the cathedral?

Southminster.

In a school story, a teacher called Samson

mysteriously disappears. 30 years later,

a body is found at a country house in Ireland

and an object found in its clothing

suggests it is the missing teacher. What is the object?

It's a coin with his initials on it.

Yes, a gold coin. In which magazine was James's ghost story,

A Warning To The Curious first published in August 1925?

Empire Magazine.

The London mercury. In which story does the occultist Mr Karswell

pass a cursed slip of paper to Edward Dunning

who manages to return it in a ticket case?

Karswell is subsequently killed.

Casting The Runes.

At the end of one of the stories,

the author apologises and says it

may be considered to be no more than a variant on a former story -

The Mezzotint. Which story does he make this comment about?

The Haunted Dolls' House.

In A View From A Hill, an exceptionally heavy object

shatters when it's dropped and is found to contain

an inky black liquid with an indescribable odour. What's the object?

A pair of binoculars.

In Mr Humphries and His Inheritance,

what's the name of the woman who is writing a book about mazes

and wants to include the maze

at Mr Humphries' inherited property - Wilsthorpe?

Lady Wardrop.

In which story does a mysterious body in a bed in Suffolk

turn out to be that of a previous landlord

who had been hanged as a highwayman?

Rats.

Whenever Abbot Thomas was asked where his treasure his hidden,

he always replied the secret would be told by Job, John

and another biblical figure. Who was the figure?

Zachariah.

Which ghost story did James write for the Eton College Boy Scout Troup?

It was first read at their camp at Walborough Bay in August 1927.

Wailing Well.

At which country house in Essex, recently bought

by Mr and Mrs Anstruther, does the construction...

-BEEP

-..of a new rose garden cause Mr Anstruther to have

a strange dream about a trial and execution?

Westfield House.

Yes, Westfield Hall.

No passes, Sarah. You've scored 13 points.

Well, what a close round that was. Let's have a look at the scores.

In fourth place, Richard Pyne...

Third place, Ben Holmes...

Joint first place,

Alister Jones and Sarah Greenan.

And it is now the general knowledge round.

If there's a tie at the end of it, then the number of passes is taken

into account, and the person with the fewer passes is the winner.

If they are tied on passes as well, we must have a tie-break.

The six highest scoring runners up from this round will also be

able to claim a place in the semifinals, so lots to play for.

And let's get on with it and ask Richard to join us again, please.

As we know, you start this round with 11 points

with your knowledge of Kew Gardens.

Let's see how you do with your general knowledge.

2½ minutes this time, of course, starting now.

What name is given to the sleep-like condition adopted by

some animals to survive the winter?

Hibernation.

Otomto is the Japanese name for what eating implements?

Pass.

The 2011 Turner prize was awarded in which Gateshead venue,

only the second time it's been held outside London?

Pass.

Which former schoolteacher who launched a clean-up television

campaign in 1964 was played by Julie Walters in 2008?

Mary Whitehouse.

What was the nationality of the mediaeval statesman

and writer Snorri Sturluson who preserved many key

texts of Norse mythology.

Danish.

Icelandic. The song You Wear It Well, from the 1972 album

Never a Dull Moment, was the second UK number one from who?

Pass.

The people on which Ireland's voted by a majority of 1513 to 3

with one voice unaccounted for to remain an overseas

territory of the United Kingdom in a referendum of March 2013?

-The Falkland Islands.

-What items of nightwear take their names from the Persian

for "leg clothing"?

Pyjamas.

Which Elgar work is dedicated to My Friends Pictured Within?

-The Enigma Variations.

-In which sport have Constanine II of Greece

and Juan Carlos I of Spain both won Olympic gold medals?

Sailing.

Blackgang Chine and Alum Bay, famous for its coloured sands,

are among the beauty spots on which of the British Isles?

The Isle of Wight.

What's the name of the writer and artist who popularise limericks

and also gave drawing lessons to Queen Victoria?

Charles Dodgson.

Edward Lear. Regore Mendell used a vegetable in his experiments that

laid the foundation of the science of genetics. What was the vegetable?

-Peas.

-What is the name of the mark placed under

the letter C in French, Spanish and Portuguese to soften its sound?

-The cedilla.

-Which film director found international fame

in the '70s with Assault On Precinct 13 and Halloween?

Pass.

Which ducks, famous for their down, are known in the North East

as Cuddy's ducks after the seventh-century St Cuthbert

who gave them special protection on the Farne Islands?

-Eider.

-Which city's tourist attractions include the Blue Mosque

and the Topkapi Palace Museum?

-Istanbul.

-Peter Mandelson was the member of Parliament for which

constituency from 1992 until 2004,

when he became the member of the European Commission?

Hartlepool.

The best-known book by the philosopher and author

Robert Pirsig, published in 1974 after being rejected by more

than 100 publishers, was entitled Zen And The Art Of...?

Motorcycle Maintenance.

David Moyes was appointed as the manager of which Premier League

football club in 2002?

Everton. BEEP

You had four passes. John Carpenter was the film director who did

Assault On Precinct 13.

Rod Stewart sang You Wear it Well, in 1972.

And the Turner Prize went to

the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.

-Richard, you now have a total of 25 points.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

And now Ben again, please.

And you start out with 12 points with your knowledge

of the Manic Street Preachers.

25 is the score to beat

if you are to get through to the semifinals. Here we go.

The molten material or magma discharged in a stream

by a volcano is known by what name?

-Lava.

-What was originally founded in Holloway, north London,

in 1860 as the Temporary Home For Lost And Starving Dogs

but moved to its current location in 1871?

Battersea Dogs Home.

Charles Frazier's novel Cold Mountain, made into a film

starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, is set during which conflict?

-American Civil War.

-Which artist created Another Place,

an installation of 100 cast-iron naked men on Crosby beach in 2005?

Pass.

Who became the first player to win seven FA Cup winners' medals

when Chelsea beat Liverpool in the 2012 final?

His first three were with Arsenal.

Ashley Cole.

Which of the anthropoid apes is genetically most similar to man?

Chimpanzee.

The kettle drums in an orchestra are usually known by what Italian name?

Timpani.

On which Turkish peninsula did British and Allied forces

land in 1915 at the start of the Dardanelles Campaign?

-Gallipoli.

-In which British sitcom did Richard Ayoade and

Chris O'Dowd play socially inept computer nerds?

The IT Crowd.

What word for intrusive freelance photographers

comes from the surname of a character

played by Walter Santesso in the film La Dolce Vita?

Paparazzo.

Northwich in Cheshire has been a centre for the extraction

of what substance since Roman times?

-Salt.

-In 2013, which folk-rock band won the Album of the Year

at the Grammys and were named Best British Group at the Brit Awards?

Mumford and Sons.

What's the name of the singer and model who married

the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2008?

-Pass.

-Which island is divided between three countries -

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Sultanate of Brunei?

-Java.

-Borneo. According to the Book of Genesis,

what meteorological phenomenon was created by God following

the Great Flood as a token of the covenant between me and the earth?

-The rainbow.

-In the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit,

what name to the humans use to refer to the animated creatures?

-Toons.

-Which East Anglian river whose lower reach is a part of the Broads

forms the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk?

-The Ouse.

-Waveney.

Which Hungarian composer's only opera,

Duke Bluebeard's Castle,

was based on a fairy story Charles Perrault?

-Liszt.

-Bartok.

Whose experiences as a soldier taken into slavery supplied

much of the raw material for his work, such as the novel Don Quixote?

-Cervantes.

-The Criollo, Forastero and Trinitario are types of which

bean used in the confectionery industry?

-Peanuts.

-Cocoa. In February 2013 in Minsk,

21-year-old Becky James became the first Briton in which sport

to win four medals at a single World Championship?

-Ice skating.

-Cycling.

You had two passes. The former French president

-Nicolas Sarkozy married Carla Bruni.

-Yeah.

-Yes!

And Anthony Gormley created that installation of 100 naked men.

Ben, you have 26 points.

APPLAUSE

And Alister again now, please.

And you start out with 13 points

with your knowledge of Sir Edmund Hillary.

And 26 now the score to beat.

2½ minutes of general knowledge starting now.

Which comedian plays the accident-prone Mr Bean

and the inept British intelligence agent Johnny English?

-Rowan Atkinson.

-Phileas Fogg and his his valet are the principal

characters in which novel by Jules Verne?

Round The World In 80 Days.

Who was appointed England's rugby union team captain for

the Six Nations tournament in January 2012?

-Pass.

-In art, Jugendsil,

which developed in Munich during the 1890s, was initially

the equivalent of which movement in Britain and France?

-Arts and Crafts.

-Art Nouveau.

Which well-known character of Italian farce,

a boastful coward, is in Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody?

-Pass.

-The Turks and Mongols who overran much of Eastern Europe

under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson

were known by what colourful name?

-Pass.

-Which alcoholic drink that was banned in France for nearly

a century from 1915 was first made commercially

by Henry-Louis Pernod in 1797?

-Absinthe?

-Yes. The dark gap between the Rings A and B

of one of the planets in the solar system

is known as the Cassini Division after the astronomer

who discovered it in 1675. Which planet?

-Saturn.

-Yes. Who announced in March 2013

that he was retiring from British politics

to take up a senior role in the charity

the International Rescue Committee in New York?

Er...Hilary Benn?

David Miliband. Which country is divided into four provinces -

North West Frontier, Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab -

plus a capital territory, and federally administered tribal areas?

Er...

-Pakistan.

-Yes. The police chief Baron Scarpia

is the villain of which opera by Puccini?

-Tosca.

-Yes. Which sitcom about a sharp-tongued housewife,

her husband Dan Connor

and their children Darlene, Becky and DJ

was set in the town of Lanford, Illinois?

Roxanne.

Roseanne. What is the title of the Tolstoy novel that begins,

"All happy families resemble one another;

"each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"?

-War and Peace?

-Anna Karenina. Which dark-brown pigment

is obtained from the ink sacs of the cuttlefish?

-Sepia.

-Yes. What is the name of the three-headed dog,

the guardian of the Gates to the Underworld, that Heracles

was required to retrieve in the last of his 12 labours?

-Cerberus.

-Yes. In the NATO and International Aviation

phonetic alphabet, which word represents the letter G?

-Golf.

-Yes. Which controversial film director

made the 1992 biographical film Malcolm X?

-Spike Lee.

-Is correct. Which long, thin dinosaur

whose name means "double beam"

had an extremely small brain in relation to its size?

-Diplodocus.

-Yes.

-BEEP

And I didn't quite start that question.

So, you have three passes.

The Turks and Mongols who overran so much of Eastern Europe

were known as the Golden Horde.

That well-known character in Italian farce -

Queen mentioned them - Scaramouche. Yeah.

And, er, Chris Robshaw captained England in 2012.

You have, Alister, 24 points.

APPLAUSE

And finally, Sarah again, please.

And you also start out with 13 points,

and for you also, 26 is the score to beat.

So here we go. In Britain, the Bramley Seedling

is the most popular cooking variety of which fruit?

-Apple.

-Yep.

The Chinese-American architect IM Pei remodelled

the Richelieu Wing of a former Parisian palace

so the whole building became a museum. What's the museum called?

-Pass.

-The term "murmuration" is used

to describe a flock of which birds,

known for their large communal roosts

and spectacular aerial displays?

-Starlings.

-Yes. Which West London club holds a prestigious

men's grass-court tennis championship in the run-up to Wimbledon?

-Queen's Club.

-Yep. What name is given to the soft spot

in the skull of an infant where the bones have not yet

fully fused which is covered with a tough fibrous membrane?

-Fontanelle.

-Yes. Which cocktail

whose principal ingredients are rum and lime juice

is thought to be named after a village in Cuba?

-Mojito.

-No, daiquiri. Which writer and academic,

born in Belfast in 1898,

was at the centre of the literary discussion group

The Inklings at Oxford University in the 1930s,

along with Tolkien?

-CS Lewis.

-Who reprised her portrayal of the Queen in the play

The Audience that opened in the West End in March 2013?

-Helen Mirren.

-Yes. Which Welsh town was made a city in 1969

to celebrate the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales?

-St David's.

-No, Swansea. In which Shakespeare play

are twins named Dromio bought as slaves for two other twin brothers,

Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse?

-Comedy Of Errors.

-Yes. In 1909, whose record-breaking aircraft

was put on display by Harry Gordon Selfridge

at his newly opened Oxford Street store?

-Louis Bleriot.

-Yes. Which religious leader,

a founder of the Quaker movement, had a religious vision

on the summit of Pendle Hill in Lancashire in 1652?

-Pass.

-Guayaquil is the largest city

and the chief port of which South American country?

-Ecuador.

-Yes. The tune Barwick Green

from Arthur Green's suite My Native Heath

is the theme music to a long-running Radio 4 series called...?

-The Archers.

-Yes. Offa was the king of which Anglo-Saxon kingdom?

He established a form of silver coinage there

that was employed in England for centuries afterwards.

-Pass.

-In the nursery rhyme,

what did the sparrow use to kill Cock Robin?

-Arrow. My little arrow.

-Yes, a bow and arrow.

Which of his titles did Sir Archibald Primrose use

as British Prime Minister in the late 19th century?

-Melbourne?

-Rosebery.

What word for a soft-soled running shoe without spikes

is first thought to have appeared in 1968 in World Sports magazine?

-Plimsoll?

-Trainer.

In which opera does Canio the clown sing

the aria Vesti La Giubba, or On With The Motley?

Pass.

What fish gives its name to a pattern of high cirrocumulus clouds

that in some conditions resemble the pattern of the fish's scales?

-Mackerel.

-Yep. Who starred as jazz singer Billie Holiday

in the 1972 biopic Lady Sings The Blues?

BEEP

I don't know.

Well, I will take that as a pass.

It was Diana Ross.

And your other passes - Canio the clown sang On With The Motley

in Pagliacci. That museum that the Chinese-American architect IM Pei

remodelled was the Louvre.

George Fox was the religious leader,

one of the founders of the Quaker movement.

And Mercia is what Offa was king of.

You have, Sarah, a total of 25 points.

APPLAUSE

Well!

Masterminds don't get much closer than that.

Let's have a look at the scores. In fourth place,

with 24 points, Alister Jones.

Joint second place,

25 points apiece,

Richard Pyne and Sarah Greenan.

First place, 26 points, Ben Holmes.

APPLAUSE

Which means, of course, that Ben is tonight's winner

and he goes through to the semifinals. Congratulations to him,

commiserations to Richard and Sarah.

But with a score of 25

it is possible we'll see them again in the semifinal.

If you would like to be a contender in the next series,

do go to our website...

And you can follow us on Twitter...

And do join us again next time for more masterminds.

Thanks for watching. Goodbye.

APPLAUSE