Episode 29 Mastermind

Our first contender in the black chair tonight is Jonathan Wright,

an operational support manager from Northumberland.

He's answering questions on Manchester music.

Christine Quigley is a communications consultant from London.

Her specialist subject, the 11th-century Battle of Clontarf.

Next, Claire Slater.

She is a pharmacist from West Sussex and her specialist subject,

the American television series ER.

Jonathan Frere, a retired army officer from Hampshire.

His subject, the 19th-century archaeologist Augustus Pitt Rivers.

And Brian Chesney, retired librarian from Worcestershire

on the Giordano Bruno novels by SJ Parris.

APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome to Mastermind with me, John Humphrys.

Our five semifinalists are under the usual pressure,

the ticking clock and so on,

but they also know that whoever wins tonight will go through to

the grand final and the real possibility of becoming

the nation's Mastermind, so the pressure is even greater.

Slightly changed timings, only a minute and a half on their

specialist subject and two minutes on their general knowledge.

So, let us have our first contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

Manchester music in 90 seconds, starting now.

"Punctured bicycle On a hillside desolate"

are the opening lines of the song that gave The Smiths

their first UK top 40 hit single. Which song?

This Charming Man.

Happy Mondays' debut album, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour

Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out),

released in 1987 on Tony Wilson's Factory Records, was produced

by which former member of Velvet Underground?

-John Cale.

-What was the title of the Stone Roses' second single,

which was originally released in '87 but failed to chart?

Sally Cinnamon.

Which group topped the UK album chart with their eponymous

debut album and the follow-up, "I Like It When You Sleep,

"For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It"?

-Sad Cafe.

-1975.

What was the name of the club in Little Peter Street

where Oasis played their first gig in 1991?

The Boardwalk.

Who produced Joy Division's debut album,

Unknown Pleasures, which was released in 1979?

Martin Hannett.

Howard Devoto formed the band Magazine

after he left the Buzzcocks.

What was the title of the group's first single, released in '78?

-She Goes By.

-Shot By Both Sides.

Which act, comprising Katie White and Jules De Martino,

topped the UK chart in 2008 with their debut album,

We Started Nothing?

-The xx.

-The Ting Tings.

What was the name of the EP released by Elbow in July 2015?

Guy Garvey's solo album, Courting The Squall,

was issued later that year.

Pass.

For which band did Noel Gallagher work as a roadie

before he joined his brother Liam in Oasis?

Inspiral Carpets.

What was the name of the band formed by Shaun Ryder

and Bez after Happy Mondays split up?

Their '95 debut album was called

"It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah".

-Black Grape.

-Black Grape is correct. BEEP

You had one pass there, Jonathan.

The name of that EP released by Elbow in July 2015 was

-Lost Worker Bee.

-Thank you.

-You have scored seven points.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

In 90 seconds, starting now.

The Battle of Clontarf was fought near Dublin on Good Friday

1014 between an alliance of Vikings and Leinster men

and the forces of the High King of Ireland, who was killed on the day.

-What was his name?

-Brian Boru.

Brian Boru was King of Munster as well as High King of Ireland.

Which Irish tribe or dynasty was he a member of?

Dal gCais.

The Annals of Loch Ce claim that Brian was visited

the night before the battle by a banshee who foretold his death.

What was her name?

Pass.

What title was held by Sigurd Hlodvirsson, who brought troops

and led the battle against Brian Boru's army at Clontarf?

The jarl of Orkney.

The title of the major Irish saga sources for Brian Boru's life

and the Norse wars translates as War Of The Irish With Foreigners.

What is its Gaelic title?

Cogadh Gaedhel Re Gallaibh.

To which of Brian Boru's daughters was Sigtrygg Silkbeard,

the Norse king of Dublin, married?

They reportedly watched the fighting from their battlements.

Slaine.

The Annals of Ulster compare Brian Boru to a Roman emperor,

saying Brian was his equivalent for the whole of north-west Europe.

Which emperor?

-Hadrian.

-Augustus.

Men from three generations of Brian Boru's family died at Clontarf.

How did his grandson, Toirdelbach,

reportedly die as he pursued the fleeing enemy?

He drowned at a weir.

What is the name of the coastal plain

on the Howth Peninsula on which the battle took place?

Mag Elta.

The elderly Brian Boru is thought to have spent most of the battle

praying away from the fighting.

Which of his sons was his battle leader?

Murchad.

What is the name of the palace that was Brian Boru's

stronghold during his reign?

He increased its fortifications prior to the Battle of Clontarf.

-BEEP

-Kincora.

-Kincora is correct.

And you know what? I really hoped you'd get the answer to this one

that you passed on because I have now got to pronounce it,

so you'll have to forgive me.

The name of the banshee who visited Brian was Aibhinn,

-does that sound about right?

-Aibhinn, yeah.

Yeah, there we are. Well, that's who she was.

And that was your one pass, and you have scored, Christine, nine points.

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

ER in 90 seconds, starting now.

In season one, a medical student leaves a guide wire in a patient,

which almost leads to the patient's death,

but later returns to the ER as a fully qualified doctor.

What's the doctor's name?

Dr Chen.

The surgical nurse played by Dinah Lenney appears in over 70 episodes

but is only ever referred to by her first name. What is it?

-Wendy.

-Shirley.

For which city does Dr Susan Lewis leave to live

with her troubled sister in season three because Mark Greene

leaves it too late to confess to his feelings for her?

Phoenix.

What is the nickname of the skilled but obnoxious surgeon Robert Romano?

It's embroidered on his white coat.

Rocket.

What is the full name of the tropical disease

caused by eating unripe ackee fruit and diagnosed by Dr Dave Malucci

in season six thanks to his experience

as a medical student in Grenada?

Pass.

A suspected outbreak of a disease puts

the ER on lockdown at the end of season eight with Carter,

Abby, Chen and Pratt all confined in quarantine. What disease?

Smallpox.

What is the specialism of the department chief, Dr Carl DeRaad,

who in his first appearance discusses the case

of an overmedicated young boy in the episode Rites Of Spring?

Psychiatrist.

In season three, nurse Rhonda Sterling mixes up a package

of a patient's belongings, including an American football,

with one containing what?

-His arm.

-His foot.

What song does George Clooney's character, Dr Doug Ross,

single with the trapped child Ben Larkin to keep him awake during

a heroic rescue from a storm drain in the episode Hell And High Water?

Pass.

What permanent disability is Reese,

the son of surgeon Dr Peter Benton, found to have?

Deaf.

What extracurricular commitment... BEEP

..does Michael Gallant give as his excuse for missing ER meetings?

-He's an Army Reservist.

-Indeed he is.

And your two passes, the song that George Clooney's character sang

was Take Me Out To The Ball Game.

And the full name of that tropical disease

is Jamaican vomiting sickness.

-Claire, you have seven points.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

In 90 seconds, starting now.

Pitt Rivers was a Victorian soldier, archaeologist and collector.

The museum of archaeological and ethnographic objects

named after him was founded in 1884

when he gave his collection to the university in which city?

Oxford.

Cissbury hillfort in Sussex was excavated twice by Pitt Rivers

and was shown to contain a Neolithic mine for rock. What rock?

Flint.

What was the name of the Oxford anatomist who was a close friend

of Pitt Rivers and accompanied him on a number

of excavations, including a visit to Denmark in 1879?

-Sir John Lubbock.

-George Rolleston.

Which liberal politician and banker introduced

the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 that led to the appointment

of Pitt Rivers as the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments?

Sir John Lubbock.

Which site on the edge of Cranborne Chase was

the location of a Roman villa

and was the last excavation carried out by Pitt Rivers in 1897?

Iwerne.

Into what regiment was Pitt Rivers commissioned in May 1845

as a lieutenant?

Grenadier Guards.

Which organisation did Pitt Rivers become secretary of in 1868,

a few years before it united with The Anthropological Society?

The Ethnological Society.

What is the name of the pleasure gardens

on the Rushmore Estate founded by Pitt Rivers in 1880?

Larmer Grounds.

In 1851, Pitt Rivers joined a committee testing rifles

for the British Army that selected a muzzle-loading rifle

named after the French designer of the bullet. What was he called?

Minie.

The easterly section of which linear earthwork

in North Wiltshire was excavated by Pitt Rivers from 1889?

It was probably built as a defence against the Saxons.

-Brookley Down.

-Wansdyke.

BEEP Pitt Rivers served

as an officer in the second division

in the opening battle of the Crimean War.

What's the battle called?

-Alma.

-The Battle of Alma is correct.

No passes, Jonathan, you have nine points.

APPLAUSE

And our final contender, please.

And your name is?

Your occupation?

And your chosen subject?

In 90 seconds, starting now.

The first novel in the series, Heresy,

opens in 1576 when the Dominican friar Giordano Bruno

is forced to flee from his monastery after

he's caught reading a forbidden book.

In which Italian city is the monastery?

-Naples.

-What's the name of the unscrupulous, earless book dealer

who features in Heresy and again in Treachery?

Roland Jenks.

Bruno is arrested for the murder of William Fitch in Sacrilege.

What was Fitch's occupation?

Apothecary.

Which of Jesus' disciples supposedly wrote the gospel

that forms an intrinsic part of the plot in Treachery?

Judas.

What Latin phrase is disclosed to Bruno as the password

he must use to gain access to an illegal Catholic Mass in Heresy?

Ora pro nobis.

Which mythological character is played in the Mass

performed in front of King Henri III of France

and his mother Catherine in Conspiracy?

It's also the first victim's dying word to

Bruno at the start of the story.

Circe.

What is the name of Sir Francis Drake's flagship where

much of the action takes place in Treachery

while the ship is at anchor in Plymouth harbour?

Elizabeth Bonaventure.

What city and its cathedral are the main setting

for the third novel, Sacrilege?

Canterbury.

Who is sent to the tower in Prophecy for the murder of the Queen's maid

of honour because she was wearing his monogrammed shirt when she died?

He's released when a second body is found.

Sir Edward Bellamy.

What astrological sign is Bruno's personal symbol?

He uses it to mark his urgent and cryptic correspondence from

Paris to the Queen's spy master,

Sir Francis Walsingham, in Conspiracy.

It's a sign of Jupiter.

What pseudonym does Bruno adopt

when he travels to Canterbury to investigate a murder in Sacrilege?

-Filippo Savalino.

-BEEP

That's it, time is up. All of them right, 11 points.

APPLAUSE

High-scoring round, there. Let's have a look at all of the scores.

In joint fourth place, seven points apiece, Jonathan Wright and Claire.

Joint second place, nine points apiece,

Christine and Jonathan Frere.

First place, 11 points, Brian.

APPLAUSE

So, it is the general knowledge round now

and 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.

So, let us get on with it and ask Jonathan Wright

to join us again, please.

And you start this round with seven points, Jonathan.

Two minutes of general knowledge, so plenty of time to catch up.

Here we go.

Which King had a sword called Excalibur?

Arthur.

Nisan, that usually coincides with parts of March and April,

is the first month of which religion's calendar?

-Buddhism.

-No, Judaism.

What alternative name for Velazquez's painting

The Toilet Of Venus comes from the mansion in County Durham

where its one-time owner lived?

-West Auckland.

-The Rokeby Venus.

Which American government organisation's headquarters

are in Langley, Virginia?

CIA.

Which Oscar-winning actress appeared in a number of episodes

of Star Trek - The Next Generation as Guinan,

the hostess of the ship's Ten Forward bar lounge?

Pass.

What is the name of the BBC's security correspondent

whose first novel, Crisis,

set against the Colombian drug wars, was published in 2016?

Frank...

Pass.

What collective term that comes from the Latin for worm is applied to

small and generally troublesome or objectionable animals such as rats?

Vermin.

Which Scottish castle that lies between Dundee and Forfar

has belonged to the late Queen Mother's family since 1372?

-Dunnottar.

-Glamis.

In what type of Roman building were there rooms called

a caldarium, a tepidarium and a frigidarium?

Baths.

What name for the injection sometimes given to women to

ease pain during childbirth comes from the region of the spine

where the anaesthetic is administered?

Epidural.

The dish paella is particularly associated with

the province of eastern Spain where it's said to have originated.

Which province?

-Catalonia.

-Valencia.

The Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha are respectively the upper

and lower houses of a Commonwealth country's bicameral parliament.

Which country?

India.

What was the Olympic Stadium renamed

when it was remodelled as the home of West Ham United?

The London Stadium.

Who is reported to have said at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801,

"I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes.

"I really did not see the signal"?

Pass.

Which Mediterranean island... BEEP

..had its official status changed in 1991

from that of French region to territorial collectivity?

-Corsica.

-Is correct.

Three passes, Jonathan.

It was Lord Nelson who had to turn the blind eye.

Frank Gardner is our security correspondent

and Whoopi Goldberg was the hostess of the ship's bar lounge.

-Jonathan, you now have a total of 15 points.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

And now Claire again, please.

And you also start out with seven points, Claire.

15 is the score to beat as it stands. So, here we go.

The male of which animal is generally called a colt

when it's under four years?

Horse.

What does Mercutio wish on both houses, Montague and Capulet,

in Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet?

A plague.

The white-faced clown dressed in a baggy white costume,

a stock character in French pantomime, has a name that comes

from the diminutive of the French for Peter. What name?

Pierrot.

Who first came to prominence in 1982

when she flew around the country in a helicopter

looking for clues in the television game show Treasure Hunt?

Anneka Rice.

Which religion celebrates Maghi and Vaisakhi?

They also share the celebration of Diwali with Hindus and Jains.

Sikhism.

What is the alternative common name

for the cylindrical-bodied worms known as nematodes

that occur as parasites in animals and plants,

or as free-living forms in soil and water?

-Flatworms.

-Roundworms.

Adolf Hitler met his future wife in 1929 when she was working

as an assistant at the offices of his official photographer.

What was her name?

Eva Braun.

In which sport did Kelly Smith become Britain's first

full-time woman professional when she joined the American side

New Jersey in 1999? She retired in January 2017.

-Basketball.

-Football.

In mathematics, what name is given to a number

multiplied by itself to give another number?

-A prime number.

-Square root.

Which county is known as the Garden of England

because of its abundant orchards and fruit-growing areas?

Kent.

What name is given to the highest female singing voice?

Soprano.

In 2016, the performance artist Deborah De Robertis

was arrested at the Musee d'Orsay for reclining naked

in front of a famous nude painting by Manet.

Which painting?

Pass.

According to Dr Johnson, what salad vegetable did English physicians

believe should be well sliced and dressed with pepper

and vinegar and then thrown out as good for nothing?

-Carrot.

-Cucumber.

What word for causing pain or discomfort is used

in the antiques industry for the deliberate superficial

damage of furniture to make it appear older than it really is?

Distressing.

Which small principality lies between Switzerland and Austria?

-Vaduz.

-Lichtenstein.

What is the name of the former tennis champion

and gay rights activist who has written a series of novels

with Liz Nickles whose central character, Jordan Myles...

BEEP ..is a former tennis champion

turned amateur detective?

-Billie Jean King.

-It was Martina Navratilova, yeah.

One pass - the performance artist was naked in front of the painting

by Manet called Olympia.

You have now, Claire, a total of 16 points.

APPLAUSE

And now Christine again, please.

And you start out with nine points.

16 is the score to beat.

Let's see how you do, here we go.

What name is given to the centre of the target

in archery or the centre of a dartboard?

-The target.

-The bull's-eye.

Which city is the administrative centre of

the Nord department in France?

It's a stopping point for Eurostar trains to Brussels.

Lille.

Yeah. What name is given to a period in which a person is appointed

to take the place of the monarch who is either a minor,

incapacitated or absent?

Regency.

The emblems of which saint,

who was made Bishop of Winchester in about 852,

are raindrops and apples?

-Aethelred.

-No, Saint Swithun.

Whose experiences as a governess are reflected in her first novel,

Agnes Grey, first published in 1847?

Pass.

In 1874, what became the last

non-royal English dukedom to be created?

-Gloucester.

-Westminster.

Which comedy trio were chased around a maze by a giant-sized

version of the dog Dougal from The Magic Roundabout

in an episode of their television series?

Pass.

Which Swiss tennis player, after winning Wimbledon in 2003,

was presented with a cow called Juliette on his return home?

-Nadal.

-Federer.

Which European capital city is associated with the waltz,

which first developed there in the 18th century?

Vienna.

The first public commission of a sculptor,

the son of a Yorkshire miner, was for a relief carving at

London Underground's new headquarters in 1928.

Which sculptor?

Henry Moore.

Doyenne du Comice, first grown in France in 1849,

is often considered to be the sweetest

and juiciest variety of what fruit?

Pear.

What bird, that lives all year in Britain,

gets its name from its unusually-shaped beak that it uses

to extract seeds from conifer cones?

Pass.

Which Hebrew word meaning "gathering" is given to

a collective farm or settlement in Israel?

Kibbutz.

The works of which British-born fantasy writer include

the Sandman series of graphic novels?

Neil Gaiman.

Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Princess Victoria,

was the mother of which European ruler?

Pass.

Anne Reid and Derek Jacobi appear as Celia and Alan,

two childhood sweethearts reunited through Facebook...

BEEP ..in which television drama series

first shown in 2012?

Last Tango In Halifax.

Is correct. You had four passes.

Princess Victoria was the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Crossbill is that bird that lives all year round in Britain.

The Goodies had that Magic Roundabout chase.

And Anne Bronte was the governess whose experiences were

reflected in the novel Agnes Grey.

You have, Christine, 17 points.

APPLAUSE

And now Jonathan Frere again, please.

And you also start out, Jonathan, with nine points.

17 is the score to beat.

So, let's see if you can do it. Here we go.

Who created the fantasyland of Middle-earth,

where many of his novels are set?

JRR Tolkien.

What Japanese word that means "empty orchestra"

is used for an entertainment where amateur performers sing

well-known songs over a pre-recorded backing tape?

Karaoke.

Whom did the coach Warren Gatland name as captain of the British

and Irish Lions for their summer tour of New Zealand in April 2017?

-Neil Gaitlin.

-Sam Warburton.

Which Swiss city was known as the Protestant Rome in

the 16th century, when it was the centre of the Calvinist Reformation?

Geneva.

What word for a small, fluffy ball of wool or other

material is applied to some varieties of dahlia

and chrysanthemum where the petals are tightly clustered together?

-Puffball.

-Pom-pom.

Gunga Din is described in Kipling's poem as a regimental beastie.

What was the traditional occupation of the beastie?

A water carrier.

Who won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year with her

debut novel, Behind The Scenes At The Museum?

-Anita Brookner.

-Kate Atkinson.

What device was first used to regulate clocks

by the 17th-century Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens?

A pendulum.

What is the name of the official London residence of Prince Charles

and the Duchess of Cornwall?

-Kensington Palace.

-Clarence House.

Which Swiss-born architect wrote in his 1923 book

Towards A New Architecture,

"A curved street is a donkey track, a straight street a road for men?"

Le Corbusier.

What starch, originally obtained from the rootstock

of a tropical plant, is often used as a thickening agent or in glazes?

In the past, it was used to make easily digestible biscuits

for the sick and infirm.

-Tapioca.

-Arrowroot.

Which city on the Tigris River is the capital of Iraq?

Baghdad.

In 2006, who stepped down as only the third presenter of

Desert Island Discs since it started in 1942?

She was replaced by Kirsty Young.

Sue Lawley.

What occupation is usually associated with

the Greek warrior Stentor, who had the voice of 50 other men?

-He proclaimed... He was a messenger.

-Yes, or herald.

Which Berkshire village is the home of the Atomic Weapons Establishment?

Its name became synonymous with the CND marches of the '50s and '60s.

-Aldermaston.

-Is correct. BEEP

No passes, Jonathan.

You have taken the lead, 19 points.

APPLAUSE

And finally, Brian again, please.

And you start out with 11 points, Brian,

but the score to beat now, as you've just heard, is 19.

So, here we go.

What was the surname of the American outlaw brothers Jesse and Frank?

James.

In golf, who won his first major in over 70 starts when he won

the 2017 US Masters after he beat Justin Rose on the first extra hole?

-Stenson.

-Garcia.

What bodily feature do amphibians of the order Anura,

comprising frogs and toads, lack?

The Greek origin of the order's name explains what's missing.

-Nerves.

-Tails.

In which present-day country did the Aztec civilisation

flourish before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores?

Mexico.

The source of the River Churn at Seven Springs near Cheltenham

is also believed by some to be the true source of which major river?

The Thames.

Which battle of the First World War fought in France between November

and December 1917 has been described as the first great tank battle?

Cambrai.

Dawes Point and Milsons Point are at either end of a famous

Australian bridge completed in 1932

that spans the natural harbour of Port Jackson. What bridge?

Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The name of which famous art museum in Madrid means meadow

or grassy field in Spanish?

Prado.

Whose unhappy days as a schoolmaster provided him with the

material for his successful first novel Decline And Fall in 1928?

Evelyn Waugh.

What is the name of Eddie Grundy's long-suffering wife

in the radio soap opera The Archers?

Clarrie.

What name is given to the stage of development of an unborn animal

immediately before it is called a foetus?

Pass.

Which philosopher who shaped western philosophy,

although he left no writings of his own,

is lampooned by Aristophanes in his play The Clouds?

Socrates.

The British mountaineer Edward Whymper was the leader

of the party that made the first ascent of an alpine peak in 1865.

Which peak?

Matterhorn.

What punctuation mark is used in writing to separate different

parts of a sentence or to indicate a pause?

It is called a point-virgule in French.

Semicolon.

What name is given to the Chinese green tea in which each leaf

has been rolled into a small pellet that resembles an explosive?

-Lapsang souchong.

-Gunpowder tea.

De heretico comburendo was a statute passed by Parliament

under King Henry IV of England in 1401

that advocated an extreme method of punishing heretics.

BEEP What was it?

-Burning.

-Burning at the stake, indeed it was.

Can't get more extreme than that. One pass - you'll be cross.

-The stage of the foetus before it's a foetus is the embryo.

-Yes.

There we go. Didn't matter because, Brian, you have 23 points.

APPLAUSE

Well, a very clear winner there. Let's have a look at all the scores.

In fifth place, 15 points, Jonathan Wright.

Fourth place, 16 points, Claire.

Third place, 17 points, Christine.

Second place, 19 points, Jonathan Frere.

First place, 23 points, Brian.

APPLAUSE

Which means, of course, that Brian goes through to the grand final.

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...

And do join us again next time for more Mastermind.

Thanks for watching. Goodbye.