Inspiring Alumni | 7
This year , 2022 , marks the 50th anniversary of two very different things , the launch of a new , rather ‘ high-brow ’ quiz , Mastermind , and , totally coincidentally of course , my arrival as a lecturer in Russian at Keele .
I watched MM from the start , and my wife Barbara and I are regular viewers . For a while Barbara had been saying : ‘ Go on , Joe , apply to Mastermind , I think you ’ d do well !’ And so I did , and was thrilled to be selected , especially when I learned the numbers involved : about 3,000 people apply every year ; 500 are auditioned for the approximately 100 contender places ( yes , on MM you ’ re a contender , not a mere contestant !); 24 get to the semi-finals , and so on .
And so it was that in July this year , I walked into the BBC studio in Belfast alongside the three other contenders for my heat , prepared to face the Black Chair , the music , the spotlight and Clive Myrie . That all sounds quite dramatic , and in some ways it is . That said , all the production team , the people who fit the microphones , the make-up team , everyone involved are all really friendly , welcoming and approachable . So , yes , it is exciting to get up and walk to the chair , and then answer two rounds of questions , but it ’ s not terrifying , not even intimidating .
My choice of specialist subject was the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison . This proved to be an excellent choice ! She is an intrinsically fascinating subject . My wife , Barbara ’ s grandmother was a suffragette , who was active at almost exactly the same time as Emily , and they may well have known each other . So , Barbara already knew an immense amount about the period and the people involved , and she was a huge help in my preparations .
Indeed , as in so many other education-related parts of life , the key to doing well is preparation . I researched and learned Emily as thoroughly as I could , and there were no surprise or trick questions , so that went well . In a sense , it recalled revising for A-levels all those years ago - except that I was the only candidate , and there were no past papers ! General knowledge is harder to revise for , of course . Here the key is having an educated guess , even if you don ’ t know the answer .
What comes next ? Well , I ’ m sworn to secrecy , so readers will have to wait to find out how my ‘ journey ’ went on , and was concluded . Because there are 24 first-round heats , the semi-finals won ’ t be on air until March , maybe even April .
I would really like to stress what a positive experience this has been . I learned a great deal , had a thoroughly exciting experience , and met some very nice people . Remarkably , indeed , one of my fellow contestants was Jack , a recent Keele graduate !
Joe won his heat , with the score of 28 .