Episode 18 Mastermind

First in the spotlight tonight is Tom Williams,

a researcher from London.

He is answering questions on Barbara Castle.

Next, Nicola Ann Burton, an operations manager from Glasgow,

on the Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios.

Kenny Alexander is an electrician from Renfrewshire.

His specialist subject -

George MacDonald Fraser's Complete McAuslan trilogy.

And Michael Teague, from East Sussex.

His subject - the record producer Joe Meek.

APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome to Mastermind with me,

John Humphrys. Four contenders with us

this evening whose confidence may have been boosted

as much as possible by knowing that they can spend many hours

preparing for the specialist round.

But they can't do the same for the general knowledge questions

because they can come from anywhere.

As always, they get two minutes of questions on the first

and then 2.5 minutes on the second.

The winner will go through to the next round

and take a step nearer to becoming the owner of a rather fine

glass bowl and, far more importantly,

the prestige of becoming one of the nation's true masterminds.

So, let's have our first contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

Barbara Castle, in two minutes.

Barbara Castle was the Labour MP

for Blackburn and held several

cabinet posts in Parliament.

Of which left-wing faction of the Labour Party was

she a prominent member?

It was formed in the '50s in opposition to Hugh Gaitskell's

leadership and named after the former minister who headed it.

-Bevanites.

-Yes.

What device used by the police was introduced

in Castle's 1967 Road Safety Act

to much opposition from people who claimed

it infringed their personal liberties

and personal safety was threatened on account of it?

-The breathalyzer.

-Yes.

Which local independent Labour Party newspaper did

she contribute articles to while she was a student

at St Hugh's Oxford?

Her father, Frank Betts, was an editor of the paper.

-Bradford Pioneer.

-Yep.

When Castle entered Parliament in 1945,

she was given the job of Parliamentary Private Secretary

to the President of the Board of Trade. Who was he?

-Sir Stafford Cripps.

-Yes.

Who stood with Castle in a televised Oxford Union

debate in 1975 against the motion

that supported entry into the EEC?

-Peter Shaw?

-Yep.

She first met her future husband,

Ted Castle, following her speech

at the 1943 Labour Party conference

when he was the night editor of which newspaper?

-The Mirror.

-Yep.

Which country house in Oxfordshire

was occasionally loaned to Castle

and other Labour politicians as a weekend meeting place

by its owner, the Labour peer Lord Faringdon?

Pass.

For which department was Castle appointed

both First Secretary and the Secretary of State

at the height of her political powers in 1968?

-Employment and Productivity.

-Yes.

What was the name of her white paper

published in January '69,

outlining her proposals for trade union reform?

It never became law and marked

the start of her fall from power.

-In Place Of Strife.

-Yes.

Which major bill introduced by her in January 1970

was passed unopposed and enacted in late May,

just before the general election

the following month?

-The Equal Pay Act.

-Yes.

Who was the chairman of British Rail

who was forced to resign in 1967

while Castle was Minister of Transport?

-Stanley Raymond?

-Yes.

Stafford Cripps sent Castle

on a fact-finding mission in 1937

to report for the Tribune

about the position of women in which country?

-BEEP

-USSR.

-Is correct.

Just the one pass.

That country house that they were able to borrow occasionally,

it was a Buscot Park.

You have scored, Tom, 11 points.

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

Archbishop Makarios.

In two minutes.

Makarios was elected

the first president of the Republic of Cyprus in 1959.

What traditional spiritual and political title had he assumed

when he was enthroned as Archbishop of the Orthodox Church

in Cyprus in October 1950

and also became the de facto leader

of the Greek Cypriot community?

-Ethnarch.

-Yes.

In which monastery did the future archbishop become

a novice at the age of 13?

He was buried near there in 1977.

-Kykkos.

-Yep.

Makarios obtained his theology degree

from Athens University in 1942.

What subject did he subsequently study there

as the German occupation of Greece

prevented his return to Cyprus?

-Law.

-Yep.

What name was given to the struggle

that Makarios came to lead for the union

of Cyprus with Greece?

It was a desire expressed by almost all Greek

Cypriots in a plebiscite of January 1950.

-Enosis.

-Yes.

What was the name of the governor's country house

overlooking Victoria Harbour

where Makarios stayed during his exile in the Seychelles?

-Mahe.

-No, Sans Souci.

What was the Greek acronym of the national organisation

of Cypriot fighters, a militant group formed in 1955

that favoured the union of Cyprus and Greece?

The British believed Makarios to be deeply involved with it.

-EOKA.

-Yes.

Near which city was an assassination attempt

made against Makarios on 7 October, 1973?

Mines were detonated as he made his way

to the village of Agios Sergios

to conduct a service.

-Famagusta.

-Yep. Who was the last

British governor of Cyprus? Before independence,

he urged Harold Macmillan to allow Makarios

to return to Cyprus.

-Sir Hugh Foot.

-Yep.

To which Greek president,

a general installed by the military regime,

did Makarios write a letter in July '74 requesting

the removal of all Greek officers from Cyprus?

-Ionides.

-No, Gizikis.

To which group of islands was Makarios exiled

by the British Government in March 1956,

following his arrest at Nicosia airport?

-Seychelles.

-Yep.

Diaries purporting to belong to which EOKA leader were published

by the British Government during Makarios' exile

in the Seychelles with the aim,

at least in part, of discrediting Makarios?

-BEEP

-Grivas.

-Grivas is correct.

And your time is up.

No passes. Nicola, you have nine points.

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

In two minutes, starting now.

In Silence In The Ranks, what is the name

of the commander of D Company who informs

the newly arrived Lieutenant Dand MacNeill

that Private McAuslan is the dirtiest soldier in the world?

-Bennet Bruce.

-Yes.

Which regiment does George MacDonald Fraser confirm

in the final chapter, Extraduction,

to be the basis for the one depicted in the McAuslan stories?

-The Gordon Highlanders.

-Yep.

In The Servant Problem, MacNeill is sent home

from North Africa for one month on leave

in advance of Python.

What is Python the codeword for?

Pass.

What is the nickname of the rugged giant

of extraordinary strength

and evil temper who McAuslan is paired with in the company

orienteering exercise in the North African desert at night

in The Constipation Of O'Brien?

-Wee Wullie.

-Yes.

Although McAuslan has been in the Army longer than MacNeill,

they are demobilised on the same day.

What demobilisation number do they share?

Pass.

In Fly Men, what are Big Aggie and

Baby Boadicea employed as in the Blue Heaven club?

-Belly dancers.

-Yep. Which soldier, described

as a terrible creature of blood and iron,

does Captain Errol manage to stop in the third round

in the final of the regimental boxing tournament?

-Captain McCann?

-Captain Stock.

In The Gordon Women, what is the nickname

of Aeneas McLaren, an elderly criminal

who was running an illegal whisky still?

-The Dipper.

-Yes.

Which corporal is the father of the mischievous

nine-year-old twins Davie and Donnie who were known

to the locals as bullet-headed little bandits?

Pass.

In Night Run To Palestine,

Lieutenant MacNeill finds himself

in command of a troop train to Jerusalem.

From which city does it leave?

-Cairo.

-Yep.

What is the name of the Medical Corps coronel's daughter

who comes out to North Africa?

McAuslan asks her to marry him.

-Ellen Ramsey.

-Yep.

In Monsoon Selection Board, during Dand MacNeill's interview with

an Army psychiatrist, he says the only regret he has about being

in the Army is that it prevented him

from signing on to sail on a what?

-Norwegian whaler.

-Yep. McAuslan has a fight

with Private Chisholm in the Battalion library

when Chisholm objects to him hogging

the gramophone and repeatedly playing a song

sung by Richard Tauber. Which song?

-Beauty.

-Because.

BEEP What was the name of the play...

I started, I'll finish.

..in which MacNeill says he played the part

of a Prussian general in a production for India Radio

while he was completing his officer training course

in Bangalore?

-Pass.

-I can tell you cos you're out of time.

It is the harbour called Mulberry.

And your other passes... You had four altogether.

Corporal Cooper was the father of the mischievous twins.

57 was there demob number, the number that they shared.

And in The Servant Problem, Python is the code word for demobilisation.

You have scored, Kenny, eight points.

APPLAUSE

And our final contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

Joe Meek in two minutes, starting now.

Joe Meek was a British record producer whose life

ended in tragic circumstances.

His first listed credit is for a 1956 top 20 hit

that he engineered for the Humphrey Lyttelton Band.

What was it called?

-Bad Penny Blues.

-Yes.

What was the name of the record company

Meek founded in 1960,

in partnership with William Barrington-Coupe?

-Triumph Records.

-Yep.

One of Meek's first major successes as a solo producer

was the single Be Mine.

Which singer had a number four hit with it

in early 1960?

-Don Charles.

-Lance Fortune.

After finishing his national service

in the RAF as a radar mechanic

and working briefly for a high street store,

Meek joined which regional utilities company?

The Southwest Electricity Board.

Midlands Electricity Board.

John Leyton's 1961 single Johnny Remember Me

that became the first number one

with Joe Meek as sole producer was

released on which record label?

-Top Rank.

-Yep.

Meek's greatest hit was the instrumental Telstar,

the first single by a British group

to top the American charts.

What was the name of that group?

-The Tornados.

-Yep.

Which mass-produced electronic keyboard

introduced in France in 1947

and a forerunner of the modern synthesizer

provided the distinctive sound for Telstar?

-The Clavioline.

-Yes.

Meek built his studio and control room

in two bedrooms of his rented property

above a leather goods shop in which London street?

-Holloway Road.

-Yes.

An early success for Meek as a songwriter came with

Put A Ring On Her Finger,

which reached the US top 40 for Les Paul and Mary Ford.

Tommy Steele subsequently recorded it

as the B-side to which 1958 hit single?

-Singing The Blues.

-Come On, Let's Go.

What was the name of the group credited on Meek's concert EP

I Hear A New World, released in 1960

and described as an outer space musical fantasy?

-The Blue Men.

-Yep.

Although he was always known as Joe,

what was Meek's actual first name?

-Robert.

-Yep. When Meek auditioned a band

called The Raiders,

he advised them that their teenage lead singer

was not up to standard. Who was that singer?

-Rod Stewart.

-It was.

Meek killed his landlady

and then immediately turned the gun on himself in February 1967.

What was her name?

-Violet Shenton.

-Yes. The final Meek produced single...

BEEP to be released in his lifetime was

Gotta Be A First Time by which group that failed to chart?

The Crying Shames.

It was The Riot Squad.

Michael, no passes. You have scored ten points.

APPLAUSE

Well, a very close first round there.

Let us have a look at the scores.

Fourth place with eight points, Kenny Alexander.

Third place, nine points, Nicola Ann Burton.

Second place, ten points, Michael Teague.

First place, 11 points, Tom Williams.

APPLAUSE

The general knowledge round now.

If there is 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.

And if they are tied on passes as well, there has to be a tie-break.

And the six highest scoring runners-up will also be able

to claim a place in the semifinal. So lots to play for.

Let's get on with it and ask Kenny to join us again, please.

And you start out with eight points with your knowledge

of the McAuslan trilogy.

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

2.5 minutes for this round.

What is the colour of the first adhesive

penny postage stamp that went on sale on 1 May, 1840?

-Black.

-Yep. Which name for the devil comes from the Hebrew

for lord of the flies?

-Satan?

-Beelzebub.

In January 2015, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

was elected as the first female president

of which European Union member state

and former Yugoslav Republic?

-Serbia?

-Croatia.

What type of car is indicated by the letters SC

in the acronyms NASCAR in North America

and BriSCA in Britain?

-Saloon car.

-Stock cars.

The headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron

are at which port on the Isle of Wight?

-Cowes?

-Yep.

What nickname was given to the 18th century Whig politician

Viscount Townshend for his contribution

to the development of crop rotation?

Pass.

Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves

and Huddersfield Giants are leading teams

in which 13-a-side team sport?

-Rugby league.

-Yep.

Bacchus, sculpted between 1496 and '97,

is the earliest surviving large-scale statue

by an Italian Renaissance sculptor and painter

who was also an architect and poet.

What was his name?

Pass.

Which Canadian pop singer became famous after his mother,

Pattie Mallette, posted videos of him on YouTube

and they caught the attention of a talent scout?

-Justin Bieber.

-Yeah.

Which novel by Michael Ondaatje,

later made into an Oscar-winning film,

shared the '92 Booker Prize with Barry Unsworth's Sacred Hunger?

-French Lieutenant's...

-The English Patient.

Which military hero was Lord Byron describing

when he wrote in his poem The Age Of Bronze

of "an eagle beak, that nose, the hook

"where he suspends the world."

-The Duke of Wellington.

-Yes.

The chemical elements palladium

and cerium are named after examples of what type of object

in the solar system that were discovered

around the same time as those elements?

-Galaxies?

-Asteroids.

In which 2002 film set in the Pleistocene era

do Manny, the woolly mammoth,

and Sid, the sloth, find a lost human child?

-Ice Age.

-Yes.

Which region of Northern Italy

takes its name from the tribe who settled in the area

in about 1000 BC?

It is known to some British tourists as Chiantishire.

-Tuscany?

-Yep.

In which Canadian province does the city of London

lie on the River Thames?

-Saskatchewan?

-Ontario.

Field, Sussex and English Springer

are breeds of which working gun dog?

-Spaniel.

-Yep.

Which spirit is mixed with cranberry

and grapefruit juices to make a Sea Breeze cocktail?

-Vodka?

-Yep.

In 1968, a Desert Island Discs guest

chose his own autobiography as the book,

his trumpet as the luxury item

and his own recording BEEP

of Blueberry Hill as his favourite track

to take to the island. What was his name?

-Fats Domino?

-No, it was... He was quite big as well, this one.

But it was Louis Armstrong.

You had two passes, Kenny.

It was Michelangelo, that bloke who sculpted Bacchus

and did one or two other things besides.

And the nickname for the Whig politician who contributed to

crop rotation was Turnip Townshend.

You have scored, Kenny, a total of 17 points.

APPLAUSE

And now, Nicola Ann again, please.

And you have nine points as a result of your knowledge of Makarios.

And you have 2.5 minutes

to answer general knowledge questions. Here we go.

According to the proverb, what is it that proves the rule?

Um...

Pass.

What name is given to the central casing of a fruit

such as an apple or pear that contains the seeds or pips?

-Core.

-Yeah.

Which former member of Genesis composed

the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's

controversial film The Last Temptation Of Christ?

-Peter Gabriel.

-Yep.

The ancient Greek poet Antipater of Sidon

who lived in the 2nd century BC

is often credited with having compiled what list

of monumental structures?

The Seven Wonders of the World.

Yes, of the Ancient World.

According to a poem by Hilaire Belloc,

whose defect was chewing little bits of string?

Uh...

-Smith.

-No, Henry King.

Where did Hercule Poirot investigate the murder

of an American businessman travelling under the name of Ratchett

according to the title of Agatha Christie's novel?

-Bertram's Hotel.

-On The Orient Express.

Who caused a scandal with his 1863 painting

Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe,

which depicts a naked woman picnicking with two clothed man?

Oh...

-Um... Manet.

-Yes.

In which European country is La Liga the equivalent

of the English football Premier League?

-Spain.

-Yep.

The Emperor is the largest species of penguin in the world.

Which regal-sounding bird is the second largest?

-King.

-Yep.

What is the name of the Roman poet

who claimed in his satires that

the Roman populace wanted only

bread and circuses to keep them happy?

-Ptolemy.

-Juvenal.

The name of which band formed on the Wirral in the late '70s

by Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey

was often abbreviated to OMD?

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

Yes. Mount Baekdu, a volcanic peak on the border

with China is, at over 2,700m,

the highest mountain in which Far Eastern peninsula?

-Himalayas.

-The Korean Peninsula.

What name that comes from the Latin for breath

is given to the condition of bad breath?

-Halitosis.

-Yep.

The British classical musician

Jack Brymer, who died in 2003, aged 88,

was a leading exponent of which wind instrument?

-Clarinet.

-Yep.

In the world of economics and commerce,

the letters GDP stand for Gross Domestic...?

-Product.

-Yep.

Which Yorkshire city has five rivers running through it,

including the Don and the Sheaf

and, according to local folklore,

is built, like Rome, on seven hills?

-Sheffield.

-Yep.

In Mexican cuisine, what name that comes from little donkey

is given to a tortilla folded

and rolled to completely enclose

any of several savoury fillings?

-Enchilada.

-A burrito.

Closing Time, published in 1993

and set in the '90s,

is the sequel to which satirical novel

set in the Second World War?

-BEEP

-Um...

-How Late It Was, How Late.

-Catch-22.

You had...

You had one pass.

According to the proverb...

-BOTH:

-The exception.

-It has been in my brain since.

-Right, I bet.

The exception proves the rule.

-Nicola, you have 20 points.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

And Michael again, please.

And you have ten points already, Michael,

with your knowledge of Joe Meek.

And 20, as you have just heard, is the score to beat.

If you are to get through to the next round. 2.5 minutes, here we go.

In archery, what name is traditionally given

to the portable case for holding the arrows?

-A quiver.

-Yep.

The scaup and the smew are species of which water birds?

-Gulls?

-Duck.

What single word name is given to the total quantity

or weight of living organisms in a given area?

The word is used to refer to organic matter used as fuel

in a power station.

-Biomass.

-Yep.

The exiled Duke of Reichstadt,

who died aged 21 in 1832,

was the son of which French leader?

-Napoleon?

-Yep.

Lancelot Brown, the foremost English master

of garden design in the 18th century,

was better known by what name?

-Capability.

-Yes.

The Victorian model Lizzie Siddal

posed in a bath for John Everett Millais' painting

of a Shakespearean character

who drowns herself after being rejected by her lover.

Which character?

Pass.

In the early English church, what name was given

to the feast day at the beginning of August

that celebrates the first fruits of the harvest?

Its name comes from the Old English for loaf mass.

-Lammas.

-Yep.

The 2002 film City Of God,

directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund,

is set among gangland rivalry

in the slums of which South American city?

-Rio?

-Yep.

What name is given to the tax paid by companies

and other organisations on their taxable profits?

-Corporation tax.

-Yes.

A novel by Wilkie Collins takes its title

from a giant diamond that is given to Rachel Verinder

on her 18th birthday and subsequently stolen.

What is the title?

-The Woman In White?

-No, The Moonstone.

In which city's cathedral was

TS Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral

first staged in 1935 with Robert Speaight as Becket?

-Canterbury?

-Yes.

What term can be used to describe

a document or text that has been

compiled from a number of previous sources?

It comes from the Latin for "to bring back".

-Palimpsest?

-Redacted.

What is laid transversely across swampy ground

to make a track known as a corduroy road?

The name comes from its profile

that resembles the ribbed fabric.

Pass.

Which disease that has spores that can contaminate the soil

for many years is also known as Woolsorter's disease?

Uh...

-Brucellosis.

-Anthrax.

What widely covered song

by Leonard Cohen has the first line

"I've heard there was a secret chord that David played

"and it pleased the Lord"?

-Hallelujah?

-Yep.

Which theatre in St Martin's Lane, London,

is the home of the English National Opera Company?

Its name sounds like that of a famous Roman monument.

-The Coliseum.

-Yes.

The leaves of which wild plant

are used in France for a salade de pissenlit.

-The dandelion.

-Yes.

BEEP I'll finish.

Which capital city is linked to Malmo, in Sweden,

by a 16km combined road, rail, bridge

and tunnel system known as the Oresund Link

that opened in 2000?

-Copenhagen.

-Is correct.

Two passes, Michael.

That rather strange track across swampy ground is made of logs,

or tree trunks, yeah.

And the character in the John Everett Millais painting

was Ophelia.

You have scored, Michael, 22 points.

APPLAUSE

And finally, Tom again, please.

And you...

have 11 points with your knowledge of Barbara Castle.

The score to beat now is 22.

So, here we go.

In Greek mythology, who flew too close to the sun

on wings constructed by his father, Daedalus,

when the wax on the wings melted,

he fell into the sea and drowned.

-Icarus.

-Yep.

Which band's first UK top 20 hit was Love Me Do?

-Beatles.

-Yes.

What name that comes from a French term meaning

to clap one's hands is given

to a group of people who are hired

to applaud at a theatrical performance?

Pass.

Which river in Ireland was the scene of a battle fought

on 1 July, 1690, where William III

and his troops defeated the army of James II?

-The Boyne.

-Yep.

The acronym PETA is used by a charity that

lobbies for the end of the fur trade,

among other things. The acronym stands for

People for the Ethical Treatment of what?

-Animals.

-Yep.

Which house on the banks of the Thames became infamous

during the Profumo affair when it belonged to the Astor family?

Pass.

On which BBC TWO game show were questions delivered

in one round by the Dove from Above?

-Shooting Stars.

-Yes.

Hasselback potatoes, almost cut through in thin slices

and baked with a topping of crispy bread crumbs and cheese,

get their name from a hotel in which Scandinavian country?

-Sweden.

-Yep.

Who was the UK's poet laureate from 1972 until his death in May '84?

-Betjeman?

-Yep.

Immaturity, The Irrational Knot

and Cashel Byron's Profession were among the unsuccessful novels

by which writer born in Dublin in 1856

and best-known as a playwright?

-Joyce?

-Shaw.

Which newsreader joined ITN as its political editor in 1963

and for many years anchored the News At 10?

He was knighted in 1984.

-Trevor McDonald?

-Now, Alastair Burnet.

What name that comes from the Latin for shepherd is given

especially in some Protestant churches to a person

who has spiritual charge of a body of Christians?

-Pastor.

-Yeah.

Paramaribo is the capital of which republic

and former Dutch colony in South America?

-Suriname.

-Yeah.

Which actress who spent her childhood in India

and Malaya is credited with the concept of the garden bridge,

a pedestrian bridge across the Thames

designed by Thomas Heatherwick

and scheduled to open in 2018?

-Joanna Lumley.

-Yeah.

Which city is the largest in Texas in terms of population,

the fourth largest in America?

-Houston?

-Yep.

What was the nationality of the composers Erik Satie

and Adolphe Adam?

-French.

-Yeah.

What word more typically associated with a large group

of insects is also used to describe a series

of many similar sized earthquakes

in a short period of time?

-Swarm?

-Yeah.

What name for a fungal disease

of plants such as broccoli,

cabbage and cauliflower comes from the swollen

and knobbly appearance that it causes to part of the plant?

-Blight.

-Club root.

Who played Tom Parfitt,

a frail Yorkshire pensioner...

BEEP haunted by the ghost

of his childhood nanny in the television series Remember Me?

It was his first straight acting role for more than 20 years.

Spike Milligan.

No. I suppose it might have been,

but it wasn't. It was Michael Palin.

And you had two passes, Tom.

Cliveden was the name of that house on the Thames that became famous

during the Profumo affair.

And the group of people who are hired

to applaud at a theatrical performance is a claque.

C-L-A-Q-U-E.

There you go. You have scored, Tom, 24 points.

APPLAUSE

Well, he got there. Let's have a look at all the scores.

In fourth place, with 17 points, Kenny Alexander.

Third place, 20 points, Nicola Ann Burton.

Second place, 22 points, Michael Teague.

It wasn't quite enough.

In first place, with 24 points, Tom Williams.

APPLAUSE

Which means, of course, that Tom is tonight's winner.

He goes through to the semifinals. Congratulations to him.

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

do go to our website.

And you can follow us on Twitter at...

And do please join us again next time for more Mastermind.

Thanks for watching. Goodbye.