Episode 14 Mastermind

First in the spotlight tonight is Mohan Mudigonda,

a GP practice manager from Wolverhampton.

His specialist subject is Kurt Cobain.

Peter Young is from Rotherham.

He's answering questions on the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Next, Cathy Gibbons, a training and development manager

from Nottingham, on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

And Simon Rule, a maths teacher from Dorset who's answering

questions on Alfred Wainwright's Guides To The Lakeland Fells.

APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome to Mastermind

with me, John Humphrys. Tonight, as ever, four contenders.

And the rules don't change, either.

Two minutes of questions on their specialist subject and then

two-and-a-half minutes on general knowledge.

But, rules aside, if you're sitting in the black chair,

you do not know what to expect.

You can do lots of revision for your chosen subject,

of course, but not for the general knowledge round.

That's the really scary one.

Tonight's winner goes through to the semifinals and then... Who knows?

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

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

Kurt Cobain, in two minutes, starting now.

Soon after the drummer Dave Grohl joined Kurt Cobain

and Krist Novoselic in Nirvana,

The band recorded their breakthrough album,

which was released in 1991

and topped the US album chart early the following year.

What is the album's title?

-Nevermind.

-Yep.

Which local band led by Buzz Osborne was

a major influence on Cobain?

-The Melvins.

-Yes.

In April '87, Cobain, Krist Novoselic

and Aaron Burckhard

performed on a college radio station

before they had decided on the name Nirvana.

Which radio station?

Pass.

Cobain and Novoselic caused controversy when they kissed

each other at the end of Nirvana's appearance

on which American television show in January '92?

-Saturday Night Live?

-Yes.

What was the title of the song that Nirvana opened their

MTV Unplugged performance with?

Cobain introduced it with the words, "Good evening.

"This is off our first record. Most people don't own it."

-About A Girl.

-Yes.

Rudy Larosa played the janitor in the video for

which Nirvana single?

He was actually the janitor

at the director Sam Bayer's apartment building.

-Smells Like Teen Spirit.

-Correct.

What is the name of the Vanity Fair journalist

whose article in the September '92 issue

implied that both Cobain and his wife,

Courtney Love, continued their heavy drug use

while Love was pregnant?

-Lynn Hirschberg.

-Yep.

Which Nirvana song from the group's third

and final studio album

In Utero features the lyrics "I got a new complaint,

"forever in debt to your priceless advice"?

-Heart-shaped Box.

-Yes.

Which author, with whom he had worked on a recording

of The Priest They Called Him, did Cobain meet

in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1993?

-Iggy Pop?

-William S Burroughs.

An image of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's unborn child,

Frances Bean Cobain, appeared on the sleeve

of which '92 Nirvana single?

-Lithium?

-Yes.

In March '94, a month before he shot himself,

Cobain tried to commit suicide by overdosing on tranquilisers

and champagne while he was staying at

the Excelsior Hotel in which city?

-Rome.

-Yes.

What title was eventually given

to Kurt's Tune #1?

It was the last original song that Nirvana recorded

before Cobain's death

and eventually appeared on the band's 2002 compilation album.

-You Know You're Right.

-Yes.

Who was the front man of... BEEP

..the punk band Big Black

and later produced Nirvana's album In Utero?

-Steve Albini.

-Is correct.

You have only one pass.

The name of the radio station,

the college radio station, was KAOS.

However, you have scored 11 points.

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

Elisabeth of Austria, here we go, two minutes.

Elisabeth became Empress of Austria when she married

Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1854.

By what nickname was Elisabeth known

to her family and friends from her childhood?

-Sisi.

-Yep.

Elisabeth spent her summer holidays as a child playing

with local peasant children

at the Wittelsbach family's Bavarian residence

on the Starnberg Lake. What was it called?

-Possenhofen.

-Yep.

What was the name of the Hungarian

who Elisabeth first met in Budapest?

Under his influence,

she helped bring about the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

He went on to become prime minister.

-Gyula Andrassy.

-Yes.

Which city were Franz Joseph and Elisabeth visiting

when their elder daughter, Sophie, died?

Elisabeth had initially refused to go there

without the children.

-Trieste.

-Budapest.

When the Emperor Franz Joseph first met Elisabeth,

they performed a particular dance that singled Elisabeth out

and he gave her the dance flowers. What dance?

Pass.

Elisabeth set up a hospital to treat the wounded

from the Battle of Solferino of 1859, a military disaster

so extreme that it led to the establishment of the Red Cross.

In which palace did she set this up?

Pass.

What was the name of the horseman who was engaged

to be Elisabeth's guide

when she came to England for the hunting season in 1876

and stayed at the country seat at eastern Newton?

Their relationship caused much gossip.

-Earl of Richmond.

-It was George Bay Middleton.

What was the name of Elisabeth's only son,

who committed suicide?

He died with his mistress at his shooting lodge

at Mayerling in 1889.

-Rudolf.

-Yes.

Elisabeth had a house called the Achilleion, built in Corfu.

Although she lost interest in it almost before it was completed,

what animal became her symbol at the house?

-Pass.

-Which German poet did Elisabeth greatly admire?

She wrote many verses in imitation of him,

said that every letter of his was a jewel and erected busts

and statues of him in all the Imperial palaces.

-Schiller.

-No. Heine.

Elisabeth travelled onboard Queen Victoria's royal yacht

to spend the winter of 1860 to '61

on an island to recover from a supposed lung infection.

Which island?

-Madeira.

-Yes.

Franz Joseph had a long-term relationship that was

encouraged by Elisabeth... BEEP

..with an actress whom he referred to as The Friend.

What was her name?

Katharina Schratt.

Is correct.

You had three passes, Peter.

The animal that became a symbol at her house was the dolphin.

Laxenburg was the name of the hospital.

And the dance that she did with Franz Joseph was the cotillion.

You've scored, Peter, six points.

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your specialist subject?

Buffy The Vampire Slayer in two minutes. Here we go.

In the television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer,

what did Buffy Summers burn down

at her previous school in Los Angeles?

She was expelled because of it

and she and her mother moved to Sunnydale.

-The gym.

-Yep.

By what nickname was Giles known

at the time he was tattooed with

the Mark of Eyghon, the demon who appears in The Dark Age?

-Ripper.

-Yes.

While Willow was dreaming in

the season four episode Restless,

she thinks that she is going to her first drama class,

but it turns out to be a performance of which play?

-Madame Butterfly?

-No, Death Of A Salesman.

Who leaves behind the message "Be seeing you"

in the otherwise empty costume shop after causing chaos

in Sunnydale at Halloween?

-Ethan Rayne.

-Yes.

In the series two episode School Hard,

Miss Calendar has worked out

that the Saturday after parent-teacher night

is the feast of a saint who led a crusade of vampires.

Which saint?

-Vigecom.

-St Vigeous.

What is the name of the cheating loose-skinned demon

who Spike plays poker against

and bets with kittens instead of money?

-Clem.

-Yes.

In the season seven episode Showtime,

while discussing how to save Spike,

Giles mentions an oracle-type

creature as the one option they haven't tried.

What creature?

-Eye of Bayon?

-The Eye of Beljoxa.

Who is the final character to speak before The Gentlemen

steal the towns' voices in Hush?

She says to Giles,

"That's enough small talk, don't you think?"

-Anya?

-Olivia.

In Once More With Feeling, while under the spell

that causes everyone to sing the truth,

Xander complains that Anya is hard to live with

because she eats what?

-Smelly cheeses.

-Yes.

What is the name of the Mayor of Sunnydale?

After finding a picture of him in the Hall of Records,

Buffy and her friends discover that he is over 100 years old

and posing as his own grandson.

-Richard Wilson.

-No. Richard Wilkins.

In the series seven episode Chosen,

when Dawn opens a blind which allows sunlight into the school

and causes the Turok-Han to disintegrate,

Xander jokes that it is an example of what phenomenon?

-Dancing.

-The greenhouse effect.

Which watcher who was supposedly sent

by the Council is found to have been expelled

a couple of years before for misusing dark power?

-BEEP

-Gwendolyn Porter.

-Gwendolyn Post.

-Ah.

-Ah, very close.

You got a few that were absolutely nearly there, but not quite.

-No passes, Cathy. You've scored five points.

-Thank heavens.

APPLAUSE

And our final contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your specialist subject?

In two minutes, starting now.

Alfred Wainwright split the Lakeland Fells

into seven geographical areas

and wrote and illustrated a pictorial guide for each.

Which area was the subject of the first book,

published in 1955?

-The Eastern Fells.

-Yes.

In his guide to the Central Fells, Wainwright dedicates

two pages to a rock scramble across the face of the Pavey Ark.

What is this scramble called?

-Jack's Rake.

-Yep.

He describes the view from the hill above Windermere

where he had his first sight of the Lake District in 1930

as "a scene of great loveliness, a fascinating paradise."

Which hill?

-Orrest Head.

-Yes.

Which of Wainwright's geographical areas

is divided into three parts

by the valleys of the Dash,

the Caldew and the Glenderaterra?

-The Northern Fells.

-Yes.

The guides contain individual entries for 214 fells.

The only one with a height of less than 1,000ft is described

as an obstruction in the throat of Borrowdale.

What's it called?

-Castle Crag.

-Yes.

What is the third highest of Wainwright's Southern Fells?

It's described in book four,

along with the two highest - Scafell Pike and Scafell.

Pass.

The Nan Bield Pass is described as the finest

of Lakeland passes

and links the Kentmere Valley and which other valley?

-Newlands.

-Mardale.

The guides were written and illustrated by hand in pen and ink.

Which newspaper owned the company that first printed them and,

in 1963, became the publisher?

-The Westmorland Gazette.

-Yes.

Wainwright describes the Fells

in each volume in alphabetical order.

Which hill is the first one

in his first book, The Eastern Fells?

-Arnison Crag.

-Yes.

A fell that overlooks the Langdale Valley

is described as the country's

most important site of stone axe manufacture

by Neolithic man. Which fell?

-Pike o' Blisco.

-Pike o' Stickle.

Who were the "unlovely twins" mentioned in the dedication

to book six?

Wainwright describes them as

"staunch supporters that endured much

"without complaint and never once let me down."

-His right leg and his left leg.

-Yes.

What name does Wainwright give to the traverse from

Robinson's Cairn that leads to the summit of Pillar?

-The Shamrock Traverse.

-Yes.

Which summit in the far Eastern Fells has

a 14ft-high column of stones

described by Wainwright as one

of the most distinctive cairns in Lakeland?

-Thornthwaite Crag.

-Yes.

BEEP And that's it.

Your time is up. You had one pass.

The third highest of the Southern Fells was, or rather is,

Great End.

You have scored, however, Simon, ten points.

APPLAUSE

So, that's the first round done. A nice spread of scores.

Let's have a look at all of them.

In fourth place, five points - Cathy Gibbons.

Third place, six points - Peter Young.

Second place, ten points - Simon Rule.

First place, just 11 points - Mohan Mudigonda.

APPLAUSE

So it's the general knowledge round now.

And 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,

then there has to be a tie-break.

And it is possible for a runner-up tonight to get through to the

semifinal, as well,

as the six highest scoring runners-up will qualify.

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

And you've got a bit of ground to make up,

but this is your opportunity

because you have two-and-a-half minutes of general knowledge.

Here we go.

Which pantomime character has a brother called Wishy Washy?

His mother is Widow Twankey.

Aladdin?

Mrs Danvers is the sinister housekeeper in

a novel by Daphne du Maurier.

At which house is she employed?

Manderley.

Which planet was known to the Ancient Greeks as Phosphorus

when it appeared as a morning star and Hesperus when it was seen

as the evening star?

Venus?

What film, that is set in the 1820s,

about a frontiersman on a fur-trading expedition who's

left for dead after being mauled by a bear,

is based in part on a novel by Michael Punke?

Not Renegade...

No. Close. Revenant.

Whose first UK chart-topping single as a solo artist came

in 1990 with the double A-side Sacrifice/Healing Hands?

-John Pope.

-Elton John.

Which northern English county has a tradition of bagpipe playing?

The pipes are smaller than the Scottish version,

and they're inflated by bellows rather than by mouth.

Northumbria.

No, Northumberland, I'm afraid.

Which family ruled Florence and later Tuscany during

most of the period from 1434 to 1737?

-Borgias?

-The Medici.

In the poem To Althea, From Prison by Richard Lovelace,

what word completes these lines?

"Stone walls do not a prison make

"Nor iron bars a..."

Cage.

A model of a crustacean is lying on top of a telephone handset in

Salvador Dali's classic surrealistic work of 1936 that was made

for his patron, Edward James. What's the crustacean?

A lobster.

Dot-dot-dot dash-dash-dash dot-dot-dot is the Morse code

for which three letters, used as a distress call?

SOS.

Who became world heavyweight boxing champion in

November 2015 after beating Wladimir Klitschko in a fight in Dusseldorf?

Pass.

What word for an expression of great admiration or praise

ultimately comes from a French word meaning "to embrace"?

-Je t'adore.

-Accolade.

Carpenter, weaver and harvester are among the 12,000 species of

which insect?

-Beetle?

-Ants.

Which volcanic island between the Italian mainland and Sicily

erupts constantly and is known as the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean?

-Etna.

-No, Stromboli.

Which entrepreneur, whose business interests include mobile phones,

media and property, is the only one of the original Dragons to

appear in the series of Dragons' Den that began in 2015?

BEEP

-Peter Smith.

-Peter...?

-Smith.

I'm afraid not. It was Peter Jones.

So you got it half right,

but not the important bit, I'm afraid.

You had one pass. It was Tyson Fury who beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.

You've a total now, Cathy, of 11 points.

APPLAUSE

And now Peter again, please.

And you start out with...

six points, Peter. The same applies to you.

Two-and-a-half minutes of general knowledge in which to storm ahead.

Here we go.

Liza Minnelli is the daughter of a legendary singer

and film actress. Who?

Judy Garland.

The peninsula known as Baja California is part of which country?

Mexico.

Which dim but good-natured literary young man about town made his

first appearance in the short story Extricating Young Gussie in 1915?

Pass.

In art, what term, from the French for "to paste", is used for an

artistic composition typically made from pieces of paper or

fabric glued onto a backing material?

-Stucco.

-Collage.

Who stars as the housewife Laura Jesson in the 1945 film

Brief Encounter? Trevor Howard plays the doctor, Alec Harvey.

-Cicely Courtneidge.

-Celia Johnson.

In Roald Dahl's book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory,

whom does Grandpa Joe describe as "the most amazing, the most fantastic,

"the most extraordinary chocolate maker the world has ever seen"?

Willy Wonka.

Which character, played by James Doohan, was the USS Enterprise's

chief engineer in the original Star Trek television series?

Scotty.

By what title is the Chairman of Ways and Means better known

in the House of Commons?

Pass.

Which singer's single and album, both entitled Music,

topped the UK charts in September 2000?

Pass.

The condition known as dysphagia causes difficulty or pain in

doing what?

-Hearing.

-Swallowing.

What was the name of the Swedish manager who led the England

football team to the quarterfinal stage at both

the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals?

Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The name of a smooth, creamy, unripened cheese

comes from the German for "curd". What cheese?

Pass.

What was the name of the close collaborator of Karl Marx who

published The Condition Of The Working Class In England in 1844?

It was based on his experiences of working at the textile firm

in Manchester that was co-owned by his father.

Friedrich Engels.

In computing, the abbreviation "app", meaning a small, specialised

program downloaded onto a mobile device, is short for what word?

Application.

The River Wyre flows for its entire length through an English

county before reaching the Irish Sea. Which county?

Lancashire.

The first hearing of which bird in spring is the theme of

a tone poem by Frederick Delius, composed in 1912?

Cuckoo.

The name of which natural pigment, involved in photosynthesis,

comes from the Greek for "green leaf"?

Chlorophyll.

An early example of what instrument was devised by

Alexander Graham Bell to try to find the bullet

BEEP ..with which President Garfield had been shot?

It's now widely used by amateur archaeologists.

-Metal detector.

-Yep, that was it.

You had four passes, Peter.

Quark is the name of that smooth, creamy cheese.

Madonna topped the charts in September 2000.

The Chairman of Ways and Means

is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

And that dim but good-natured literary young man about town

was Bertie Wooster.

Peter, you have scored now a total of 17 points.

APPLAUSE

And now Simon again, please.

And you start this round with ten points.

The score, as we speak, to beat is 17.

So let's see how you get on with your two-and-a-half minutes

of general knowledge.

What is the name of Popeye's girlfriend, for whose

attention he constantly vies with the bearded, hulking Bluto?

Olive Oyl.

Which fabric, one of the oldest known to man,

was used to wrap mummies from about 3000BC?

-Silk.

-Linen.

Of which meal did Somerset Maugham reportedly say,

"To eat well in England, you should have it three times a day"?

-Fish and chips?

-Breakfast!

What term for a bomb developed during the Second World War

to do maximum damage to buildings has come to mean

a notably expensive or extravagant film?

-Bomb.

-Blockbuster.

The English artist Louis Wain is best remembered for his

paintings of which domestic pets?

Cats.

What appropriate name was given to the dock in Wapping, east London,

where pirates were hanged?

Pass.

Which Conservative politician was Secretary of State for War from 1960

to '63, when he was forced to resign after he admitted

he had deceived the House of Commons?

John Profumo.

Which composer's 3rd Symphony in D is nicknamed the Polish

because its finale is in Polonaise rhythm?

-Chopin.

-Tchaikovsky.

In which novel does the computer Deep Thought declare that the answer

to the great question of life, the universe and everything is 42?

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish.

No, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

What alternative name for sodium hydroxide refers to the fact

that it burns tissue that comes into contact with it?

It's used in the treatment of effluent

and the manufacture of soap.

Pass.

Of which country did Queen Maud Land in Antarctica become

a dependency in 1949?

When it was first claimed in 1939,

it was named after that country's recently deceased queen.

Sorry, would you repeat the question?

Of which country did Queen Maud Land in Antarctica become

a dependency in '49?

When it was first claimed in '39,

it was named after that country's recently deceased queen.

-Sweden.

-Norway.

Which species of native duck gets its name from its long,

rounded, spade-like bill?

Shoveller.

The 1988 Dire Straits greatest-hits compilation album shares its title

with a Grammy award-winning track from their Brothers In Arms album.

What's its title?

Pass.

Who gives the black spot to Billy Bones, who then falls down dead,

in Robert Louis Stevenson's story Treasure Island?

Blind Pew.

What word for a trick or artifice is used for a sharp double bend

created to form an obstacle on a motor-racing track or road?

-Hairpin.

-Chicane.

Which 1955 film musical features the songs

"True Love", "Well, Did You Evah!" and

"Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"?

High Society.

What is the name of the talking horse owned by the architect

Wilbur Post in the '60s TV series...

BEEP ..of the same name?

-Mister Ed.

-Is correct.

Three passes, Simon.

Money For Nothing was that Dire Straits album.

Caustic soda is the other name for sodium hydroxide.

It burns rather unpleasantly.

And the name of the dock where they used to hang pirates -

Execution Dock.

You have also 17 points.

APPLAUSE

And finally Mohan again, please.

And you start out with 11 points, Mohan.

Let's see if you can beat the 17 that is sitting there

waiting to be challenged. Here we go. Two-and-a-half minutes.

Flaky, suet crust and shortcrust are all types of what?

Pastry.

Which patron saint is depicted in a wooden statue in Stockholm Cathedral

that dates from 1489?

It shows him mounted on horseback with an upraised sword,

about to kill his traditional foe.

George?

In geometry, what name is given to an angle that is greater

than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees?

An obtuse angle?

The name of what item, originally used to keep a wheel in position

on its axle, has come to mean a person or item

essential to a plan or organisation?

-Spoke?

-Linchpin.

Which boyband reunited and represented the UK in

the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest?

They came 11th with I Can, which was included on their fourth

studio album, Roulette, in early 2013.

Blue?

After which English scientist and mathematician is the SI unit

of force named?

Pass.

Who plays the antihero title character in the 2016 film

Deadpool, which is set in Fox's Marvel Universe?

Ryan Reynolds.

Which rocky outcrop in the mouth of the Firth of Clyde is regarded

as being the source of the best granite for making curling stones?

Pass.

Which award-winning character comedy television series, which ran

from 2003 to 2006, was created by Matt Lucas and David Walliams?

Little Britain.

Who became the only prime minister to have served under three monarchs

during his final term of office, that lasted from 1935 to '37?

-Lloyd George?

-Stanley Baldwin.

Which Spanish writer is often said to have died on

the 23rd April 1616, the same date as William Shakespeare?

Because Spain and England used different calendars,

the deaths actually occurred more than a week apart.

Cervantes?

Which South African city was founded in 1886 after the discovery of

gold that rapidly made it the country's largest city?

Erm, Johannesburg?

Hooded and carrion are the two native British species of which bird?

Crow?

What name is given to the holiday normally celebrated in America

on the fourth Thursday in November?

Thanksgiving.

Which British comedian and writer is the author of the children's

novels The Parent Agency and The Person Controller?

Pass.

Which Canadian snooker player,

known as the Grinder because of his dour style,

won the world title in 1980

and in '83 became the first person to make a 147 break at the Crucible?

Cliff Thorburn?

What was the world's first ready-to-eat breakfast cereal?

It was produced by Henry D Perky of Denver in 1893 and is still

sold today.

-Porridge?

-No, Shredded Wheat.

-Oh!

The toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 was accompanied...

BEEP ..by locals throwing what items of clothing at it?

It's a great insult in the Arab world.

-The shoe.

-Yep, they threw their shoes at it.

You had three passes, Mohan.

The author of The Parent Agency was David Baddiel.

Ailsa Craig is that rocky outcrop

regarded as being the best sort of granite.

And - you'll be cross -

Isaac Newton was the scientist. It's always Isaac Newton, isn't it?

All of those questions are Isaac Newton!

Anyway, no matter, because you have scored a total of 23 points.

APPLAUSE

So, we have a very clear winner. Let's have a look at all the scores.

In fourth place with 11 points, Cathy Gibbons.

Joint second place, 17 points apiece,

Peter Young and Simon Rule.

First place, 23 points, Mohan Mudigonda.

Which means, of course,

that Mohan is tonight's winner and 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...

And do join us again next time for more masterminds.

Thanks for watching. Goodbye.