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Editorial
This is a watershed year for the Mastermind Club. In the last issue of PASS members were urged to give careful thought to the future of the Club. In this
issue Club President, Tony Dart, sets out some of the alternatives, and two members of the Committee explore a couple of them Two other Club members have sent in their views about the implications for the Club of the demise of the programme (77ze Great Debate, pages 9-11).
The Club is going from strength to strength and this year’s Mastermind series is producing a welcome harvest of new members {Membership News, page 5) Members are taking an increasingly active interest in the Club, reinforced by the growth of regional meetings In addition to the long-standing London wine bar and the more recent Manchester pub meetings, Keith Scott (1987, 1995) organised a get-together in Tynemouth on 19 March, and Margery Elliott (1973) is doing the same for Birmingham. For further details contact Keith at 4 Poplar Grove, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3JD (01642 611071) and Margery at 58 Oakham Road, Harbome, Birmingham B17 9DG(0121 684 4344).
The Annual Function 1998
Next year’s Annual Function will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Club, which was founded in 1978 by the late Charles Key (1973), the
first President Where should it be held? Several suggestions for venues are aired every year and some members feel aggrieved if their preferred locations are not selected. The committee welcomes any ideas for new venues, but it is essential that members present researched details about the places they put forward: information about availableaccommodation in the area, public transport, parking space, facilities for people with disabilities, other places of interest - and above all a venue large enough to accommodate up to 100 people for dinner, with a suitable room for the Magnum Final That kind of information, in writing, is vital before any location can be considered
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This is the first issue of PASS to have a full- colour cover and, since it costs no more to have the back cover in colour too, your
committee members are blazoned there in full colour for the first time We hope this will help you to identify us at Harrow
This issue also sees the start of three commissioned feature series on other quiz programmes, on new members and on specialised subjects revisited Ian (Mycroft) Gillies writes about Brain of Britain, in the first of a series about other quiz programmes (page 4). Artist Leo Stevenson (1997) writes about his career as a fine-art restorer (page 6). And Keith Scott revisits Cragside, the home of the Victorian industrialist Lord Armstrong, whom he took as his specialised subject two years ago (page 7).
Christine Moorcroft, Editor
Contents
Editorial 2Club News 3Club Insignia 3Brain of Brian 4Membership News 5Portrait of the Artist 6Lord who? 7
The Great DebateTony Dart 9Phillida Grantham 9Peter Chitty 10Andrew Grealey 10Arfor Wyn Hughes 11
Letters - 1 11Letters - 2 12Obituary Phyllis Hartnoll 13A Fiendish Music Quiz 14Crossword 15The Committee 16
My thanks to:
• Ray Ward (1978), ‘Nitpicker-n-Chief, for proof-reading,
• Glenys Davies (1993), for keying in some of the texts;
• Magnus Magnusson, for the photograph of the Black Chair for the front cover;
• all the contributors for their willing co-operation.
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Club News
The Annual Function
It looks as if there will be a terrific turnoutfor the Annual Function at Harrow (Friday4 - Sunday 6 April). This year, as well asthe traditional dinner and Magnum Final on the
Saturday evening and the AGM on the Sundaymorning, there will be a wine party at 6.30 onthe Friday evening. It is being hosted byMagnus Magnusson as a thank-you to the Clubfor all the help members gave him while he wasresearching for his book, I've Started, So I'llFinish (publication date 5 September).Everybody welcome1
The Final Final
No fewer than fifty Masterminders areplanning expeditions to Orkney for thelast Mastermind Final in St MagnusCathedral (where else?) on 14 May. Members
are making their own travel and accommodationarrangements - anything from youth hostels andB & B to hotels and hostelries Club Secretary,Phillida Grantham, plans to make the bar of herhotel, the Albert, the rallying point for ourscattered band
Today ’s the Day
Geoff Thomas (1994) won the GrandFinal of BBC2’s Today ’s the Day witha colleague, Ian Pickering, their prizeswere ‘round-the-world air tickets’. Members
will recall that in 1995 Geoff also wonCounterpoint on Radio 4
The telephone number for application forms forToday's the Day is 0990 700900.
Sponsored Cycle Ride
Chris Pelly (1980) intends to cycle fromParis to Venice in June this year; he willfollow the exact route taken by a relativein 1883 whose account of this ride was featured
in the Sunday Telegraph Chris plans to raisemoney for the Hopes and Homes for Childrencharity which was established in 1994 during theBosnian war Anyone interested in sponsoringhim can buttonhole him for further details at theAnnual Function, or write to him
Club Insignia
We have splendid new T-shirts onofferf They are printed with theMastermind catchphrases we havecome to know so well: ‘I’ve started, so I’ll
finish’ on the front and ‘It’s only a bloodygame’ on the back.
Other new items on order are sweatshirts invibrant red
Patricia Owen has also arranged for theproduction of special 25th anniversarycommemorative mugs. These can only bebought at the Annual Function
Patricia can’t attend this year’s Function, alasChristine Moorcroft will be in charge of theinsignia stall
For postal purchases (except mugs) send yourcheque, payable to ‘The Mastermind Club’, toPatricia.
Ties £Light navy or silver grey, singlelogo
6.00
SweatshirtsOatmeal (M, XL) 12.00Navy (ML L, XL) 1200White (L, XL) 12.00T-shirtsOatmeal (L, XL) 9.00JewelleryBrooches 5.00Cufflinks 10 00Key rings 5.00Pendants 5.00Stick pins 5.00Pens (one only) 2.50Pens (two or more) 2.00
Spring 1997 3
Brain of BrianIan Gillies, question-setter and adjudicator ofBwwwx of Britain, recalls the making of Mycroft
All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience.
Thus Sherlock Holmes described his even cleverer elder brother, Mycroft, and it sprang to Robert Robinson’s humourseeking mind on his arrival as presenter of
Brain of Britain - ‘Brian’, as we have affectionately called it ever since he was sent a contract for ‘Brian of Britain’
How did I achieve this alleged omniscience9 I have never consciously set out to acquire knowledge, except for occasional stock quiz subjects such as the names of the Greek Fates or United States capitals, but I do have a retentive memory, efficient recall and, most importantly, a very wide range of interests. I had chaired Brain of Britain for the last nine programmes of the 1972 series, following the death of question-master Franklin Engelmann (‘Jingle’), but the BBC decided that a programme featuring unknown contestants needed a ‘name’ as chairman. Happily I was retained as question-setter and referee.
The programme was the brain-child of the late John P Wynn. It had started in 1953 as part of a series called What do you know? (under the title Ask me Another), and my career with it originated from my appearance as a contestant in the 1964 series. I went on to win Brain of Brains in 1965, and then Top Brain in 1971. During this time I had become a ‘professional’ quiz competitor, taking part in Pick a Box (1966) on Australian TV and, with Irene Thomas, as the British team on Radio 2’s World Quiz versus Australia and New Zealand.
My greater involvement with Brain of Britain had come at an opportune moment: in 1974, the year of two General Elections and the three-day week, the advertising agency for which I was working in account management was forced to reduce its staffing and asked me ‘to look around’, as the euphemism goes. I shared the question-setting with John P Wynn until his death in 1979, and then continued the task alone, setting about 1300 questions for each series
Where do I get the questions from? About a quarter of them are from everyday reading of
newspapers, books and magazines, watching television and listening to the radio; others just spring to mind. For the rest I refer to specialist works on the subjects, which I divide into twelve areas comprising five major ones (geography, history, literature, science and technology, and miscellaneous) and seven minor ones (current affairs and politics, flags and heraldry, music, the other performing arts, religion and mythology, the visual arts, and sport).
What is my own ‘specialised’ subject? I read modem history at Jesus College, Oxford, where my last year overlapped with Magnus Magnusson’s first, our rooms were on the same staircase for one term. Robert Robinson was across ‘the Turl’ at Exeter College, as Ned Sherrin (Counterpoint) was to be later. Oxford seems to have been a breeding ground for media quiz presenters!
How do I put together the questions for each programme? I set seventy five questions for each half-hour quiz: nine or ten from each of the major categories and two to four from the minor ones. I write them on index cards which I spread out as if playing Patience. The first twenty five are fairly easy, in order to build up the contestants’ confidence. The hardest questions are the next twenty, between the two music inserts, and then they become easier, so that the programme ends with the animation of success, rather than on an anti-climax of ‘I don’t knows’.
Do I make mistakes? It is impossible to avoid mistakes all the time. We have to rely to a certain extent on reference books, which can be out of date and which tend to perpetuate each other’s errors. I remember one question very well: “Which is the only English cathedral to have its bells in a separate bell-tower?” The stock answer is always “Chichester”, but a bell- tower was built at Chester Cathedral during the 1970s - although later reference books still cite only Chichester.
The real nightmare for a question-setter is ‘the alternative correct answer’; I well remember the contestant who was asked “Which is the only freshwater member of the cod family?” and answered “The eelpout”. The answer I had put on the card was “The burbot”. It was only
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afterwards that we realised that eelpout isanother name for burbot. To make up for ourerror the contestant was invited to take part inthe next series without an audition.
The style of the quiz encourages humour; welove it when contestants give witty replieswhen they don’t know the answers. Onecontestant answered the question, “Who in theBible had no parents?”, with. “I don’t know,unless it was Joshua, son of Nun!” Hedeserved a point for sheer ingenuity!
Brain of Britain led to further work on quizprogrammes: setting the questions for Townand Country Quiz (Radio 2), Take it or Leaveit (BBC World Service), Loose Ends (Radio4), About Face (Harlech TV), and of courseCounterpoint, for which I now adjudicate. NedSherrin began by calling me ‘Musical Mycroft’,but Bob Robinson insisted that his use of
‘Mycroft’ should be exclusive to Brain ofBritain. So Ned coined the nickname ‘Grove’,of Dictionary ofMusic and Musicians
Many Brain of Britain contestants have alsotaken part in Mastermind, and we always enjoythe annual joust between the top two in Brainof Britain and the top two in Mastermind onMasterbrain. We have even shared twochampions. Kevin Ashman (Mastermind in1995 and Brain Of Britain in 1996), and RogerPritchard (Brain of Britain in 1974 and Mastermind in 1976). I almost appeared on Mastermind myself (not a lot of people knowthat!): in 1974 I applied to take part and wasduly auditioned by Bill Wright. I wasaccepted, but Bill felt on reflection thatbecause my name was by then appearing in thecredits for Brain of Britain, it would beinappropriate for me to appear on Mastermind.Too late now!
Membership News: Peter Chitty
For the first time since I became MembershipSecretary in 1992, the Club has recruited alleight contestants from one recording venue(Cambridge, 25 November). In addition sixcontestants from the four programmesrecorded at Blenheim Palace have joined. Weextend a warm welcome to them and hope
New members
869 Susan Leng
870 Christine Warman
871 Patricia � � � �
872 Maureen Hichens
873 Gareth S Ribbon
874 Shafi Ahmed
875 Clare Ockwell
876 Peter Bolt
877 Timothy L T Robey,
878 Andrea Weston
they will have a long and happy associationwith the Club.
I am writing to every contestant since 1992who has not joined the Club or whosemembership has lapsed, with a renewedinvitation to join.
879 Judith Falcon
880 Alicia Mary Cash
881 Sheila Altree
882 Michael Settle
Changes of address
61 Pauline Wells
396 Lt Comdr Barrie Brown
403 Janet Williams
607 David. J. Henderson
822 John O’Donnell
Spring 1997 5
Portrait of the Artist...Two minutes on the life and work of Leo Stevenson (1997), starting now
My headed paper says that I am an artist; it is a vague enough term to encompass most of what I do. I am both a painter and a sculptor, which is unusual, but handy, since it is the variety and range of my work which not only pay the bills but keep me sane. The thought of doing just one or the other could never satisfy my grasshopper mind.
I do two main types of painting: firstly copies of existing works of art, and secondly pastiches: inventions in the style of well-known artists, not based on existing originals but following the artist’s subject matter and technique. These are the ones which worry some people in the art world. Since I take a great deal of time and trouble to use authentic materials and techniques (even grinding and mixing my own paints), one of my ‘fake’ paintings in the wrong hands could create a lot of trouble.
I work in many styles. Most of my work is done to commission, so I don’t always get to do what I want to do: seventeenth century Dutch art (my specialised subject on Mastermind}. Popular demand keeps me busy with ‘Impressionist’ paintings. The ‘Old Masters’ usually take longer to paint than later styles; many require hundreds of hours of work. Generally speaking, the older the painters, the more difficult and time consuming it is to recreate accurately their technique and ‘spirit’. Some of the most difficult painters to do include Vermeer, Van Dyck, and Holbein; some of the easier ones include Monet, Van Gogh and 20th century artists like Matisse and Mondriaan.
Exact copies of existing paintings are wanted for many reasons: for instance, to replace an original which has been lost, stolen or sold; to fulfil a personal fantasy; to create the ideal ambience in a period interior; or to add a touch of class to a modem house or office. Galleries may want a copy to replace a painting on long term loan, or to complete a set or series. Owners may want one in place of an original because it is much cheaper to insure. Copies can be very time consuming to paint, depending on the degree of accuracy required and on where the original is -1 always prefer to work with the original if possible.
I learned my craft by studying all the old treatises very carefully, by lots of ‘hands on’ experience, and by working for several years as an art restorer. I worked in the British Museum for six years, and then did three years at Plowden and Smith Ltd, the restorers to the Queen. Gradually my skills in creating rather than restoring became more and more important.
Doing the research takes a great deal of time, but it is essential in order to get into the soul of the painter you are ‘doing’. Anachronisms have to be avoided, and all the characteristics and techniques have to be learned and assimilated; it’s just like an actor playing a role. In this role one can inhabit the mind of someone long dead and wander around his or her world, exploring it on canvas, seeing it with the artist’s eyes.
Pastiches are painting by proxy, in a sense. Generally they are not done for the same mundane reasons as copies, and are usually sold to people who want them for decorative purposes (in the best sense of the word). Since they don’t copy any one painting, but imitate the whole style and genre of an artist’s work, they can be far more inventive, creative and intellectually challenging than copies, and so they are more fun to do. There is a definite thrill in doing pastiches - perhaps the same frisson felt by forgers?
I have been called a forger or a faker in my time. This is what most people think of me, but it isn’t a description I would want to have on my passport! In the world of fine art, particularly at the top end of the market, demand for really good quality works of art exceeds supply. It is an obvious fact that the demise of Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Monet et al exactly coincided with their work ceasing to be produced! Someone needs to supply the continuing demand for their works, so it might as well be me. I’m sure they would have wanted this. A forger does it illegally; I do it legally.
The difference between doing it legally and illegally? One of the standard tests for assessing whether or not a painting is genuine is to x-ray it; this shows up the various types of paint, and the layers of ‘underpainting’ and preliminary work. A genuine painting by Vermeer, say,
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would show signs of his characteristic paint layer build up, and expose the presence of pigments special to him. At the moment I have two paintings which look just like real Vermeers - until you x-ray them Then a respectable 17th century lady is exposed in her 20th century underwear, and a lutenist’s extravagant costume reveals the slogan ‘Elvis lives’.
Honesty is expensive. If one of my ‘fakes’ were to be sold as genuine I could make a lot of money; I know it goes on, and I’ve even met some of the very wealthy people who do this for a living. The reason I don’t is because, despite the glamour of forgery as seen in the media, it’s a very nasty world; as with any other valuable illegal commodity, like drugs or guns, people can get seriously hurt.
Why do I do it? Why not ‘do my own paintings’? Well, would you ask an actor to write his own plays? The art of the copyist and pasticheur has a long and distinguished history, and was once a highly respected profession. These are my paintings; they are parts of my life, yet they are like children: mine and yet independent of me. What they represent is also a part of everyone’s life.
In my career to date I have had some wonderful and strange experiences, and I’m very lucky to do what I do for a living. My work has taken me to some bizarre places and I have met a wider range of people in the last ten years or so than most people meet in their whole lives. It has taken me to the White
House in Washington, to the vaults of the Bank of England (where I had to make copies of the gold bars), to the Doge’s palace in Venice, and even to the Town Hall in Islington (where I worked on a bust of Lenin!).
I have also worked for most of the major museums and galleries in the UK, on both sculpture and paintings. I was asked by Jimmy Savile to ‘Fix it’ for a woman who wrote to him asking for a portrait of her daughter in the style of an Old Master. One of the strangest jobs I ever did was to play the part of the painter Alfred Sisley in a film which coincided with the 1992 major exhibition of his work. The director of the film insisted that the actor playing Sisley had to produce the paintings convincingly in front of the camera. They couldn’t find an actor who could paint, so they had to find a painter who could act. I was the closest they could get and spent a bizarre time swanning around the parts of France where Sisley used to paint, and being aged, with the aid of make-up, from 26 to 59 (when he died). I won’t say which was easier! Strangely enough I do look quite a lot like the real man and in Moret-sur-Loing, the town with which he is mostly associated, everyone knows what Sisley looked like; there’s even his statue in the town square. So imagine me dressed as Sisley, walking down the main street with canvas and paint box under my arm - I’m sure that many of the good citizens of Moret-sur-Loing turned teetotal!
It’s a matter of creating the right illusion, in the right place and for the right reasons.
Lord who?Keith Scott (1987, 1995) describes the Victorian scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist who inspired his choice of specialised subject
w66 'T'T That’s your specialised subject?’people would ask me, before my ‘recidivist’ appearance on
Mastermind. My heart would sink as I muttered “Lord Armstrong” and waited for the inevitable blank look. “William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900)?” The mention of Cragside struck the occasional spark, then I found that a reference to Vickers Armstrong would bring a sigh of recognition, although the Vickers merger did not take place until 27 years after Armstrong’s death.
The only strong reaction came from a native of Rothbury who railed in an inimitable Northumbrian burr against the death and destruction wrought by the guns produced by the local hero Rothbury is the village near which Armstrong built Cragside.
It is strange that a man who achieved so much should be so comprehensively forgotten, even in his native north east. He was bom in Newcastle Upon Tyne, the son of a com merchant, and trained for the law, but his early fascination with science and technology led him to explore and to contribute to new
Spring 1997 7
developments in electricity and hydraulics. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 36, with Faraday as one of his sponsors, and during the same year, 1846, he and five partners formed a company to produce hydraulic power systems for cranes.
After some years of successful trading, during which the company made hydraulic systems for a variety of machines including dock-gates, colliery engines, printing presses and bridges, he read alarming accounts of the obsolescence of British artillery in the Crimea, and promptly designed a better gun, winning an exclusive Government armaments contract.
Thereafter, although the engines for Tower Bridge (1894) and a train-ferry steamer for Lake Baikal (1896) would be made there, the manufacture of guns and then warships outstripped that of hydraulic systems at Elswick, Armstrong’s factory on the Tyne, which was immortalised in the song Blaydon Races. A Guinness Book of Records for 1876 would have credited Elswick with the biggest guns, the biggest cranes and the biggest swing- bridge (over the Tyne) in the world.
By the time Armstrong died the company, now Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd, employed some 20,000 people. Eight of the Japanese warships which destroyed the Russian fleet at Tsushima in 1905 were Elswick-built. Armstrong had endowed Newcastle with parks, museums, extensions to hospitals and the beginnings of the University; and he had built schools for his factory workers’ children and almshouses for retired estate workers at Rothbury. He had successfully lobbied the Royal Navy to use Tyneside rather than Welsh coal, advocated the use of solar power, bought Bamburgh Castle, stood (unsuccessfully) for Parliament in his 70s, experimented with electricity in his lab at Cragside, made business deals in his 80s and, in short, led one of those archetypal Victorian lives of industry and service which is enough to make anyone feel tired and inadequate.
A biographer has suggested that Armstrong might have been more famous if there had been just a hint of scandal in his life, but his marriage to Margaret Ramshaw, a Bishop Auckland blacksmith’s daughter, was long and happy, though childless. He mixed easily with royalty and skated on the Cragside lakes with the Rothbury children. Everyone seems to have
liked him, and his lifelong passion for fishing earned him the nickname ‘the kingfisher’. Cragside, a National Trust property since 1979, is a worthy memorial to Lord Armstrong. He had it built in 1863 as a modest holiday retreat, and it was extended over the years to become a great house perched halfway up Cragend Hill and overlooking a romantic gorge. The Armstrongs surrounded it with trees, shrubs and plants; the rhododendrons alone now attract coach-loads of visitors.
Armstrong made full use of the terrain to create five artificial lakes at different levels; these provided the water-power for the state- of-the-art electricity supply for the house. The lifts, the rotating spits in the kitchens and, above all, the electric lighting must have entranced such visitors as the Prince and Princess of Wales (1884), the King of Siam, the Shah of Persia, the Emir of Afghanistan and the Japanese entrepreneurs who were even then scouring the world for the latest and best technology.
Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit by electricity produced by water power; it had arc lamps in 1878, followed by the incandescent lamps of Armstrong’s friend, Joseph Swan, in 1880. The house, which was largely the work of Richard Norman Shaw whom Armstrong had commissioned to design the extensions, is a strange but attractive mishmash of styles: rugged Border, half-timbered Elizabethan, lofty Gothic and intricate Pre- Raphaelite, combining to give the illusion which for which Armstrong had striven - of a house which had evolved over the centuries.
While I was studying the life of Lord Armstrong for Mastermind, I reckoned there could be a number of questions on Cragside, so I tried to learn all about it: the names of the lakes (Tumbleton, Nelly’s Moss, etc), the makers of the turbines, the mysteries of hydroelectric power, the Morris & Co wallpaper, the stained glass by Rossetti and Burne-Jones, the paintings by Millais, and so on.
In the event, Mastermind being what it is, the only question on Cragside which came up (“What did Armstrong call his country house?”) was so blindingly obvious that I nearly got it wrong. A good half of my studies had been to no avail, but it had been a pleasure to learn about the Xanadu of an amazing man who had the rare combination of creative genius and keen business acumen .
8 PASS
The Great Debate
Club President Tony Dart outlines the options for the future of the Mastermind Club
When I became Treasurer of the Club in 1983, the question of its survival post-Mastermind was never a senous issue - the Club was in such dire straits
that nobody thought we would last that long! It all looks very different in 1997. The Club now has more than 450 paid-up members (145 then) and assets of over £10,000 (approximately minus £50 then) and could fairly be described as flourishing. There is provision in the Constitution for a closure procedure, but I don’t see that as a real issue now.
We should, however, carefully consider at the 1997 AGM all our options for the future. As I see them, these are
• close the Club down;• keep going, but allow in contestants from
other ‘respectable’ quiz shows;• keep going as we are
Close the Club downNobody has suggested doing this. In fact, the Club’s role in maintaining the bond of shared experience becomes, if anything, more important with the demise of the programme. Still, if a majority of members voted for it, the Club’s assets could be redistributed. You might get £20 each after expenses
Allow in contestants from other quizzes The existing membership isn’t quite as homogenous as it seems. We have quite a number of honorary members and others, such as Bamber Gascoigne, who have been enthusiastically invited to join despite a fairly tangential connection with the Black Chair So there is a precedent, but:
• the only suitable programmes are Brain of Britain (all contestants) and Fifteen-to-One (winners only, because they have so many contestants in each series),
• there would be an overlap of membership;• as there would be no new Mastermind
contestants, the Club would within a few years have changed out of recognition, Masterminders having been swamped by ‘others’
This option would certainly expand membership and keep the Club going, but it needs careful consideration of the implications for the Club’s essential character
Keep going as we areThe Club could continue with its present membership for quite a few years, but inevitably would face a gradual decline. However, there is still one untapped source of new members ..
Even at 450, the Club’s membership represents only between a third and a half of its potential. We know from the researches carried out by Magnus for his forthcoming book that past contenders, when traced, often like to join the Club. I suggest we take the opportunity of the transmission of this 25th and final series to publicise the Club, perhaps via a feature in Radio Times, and set ourselves a target to see how many former contestants we can recruit to the fold during 1997. It is not the final answer, but would help to reinforce and prolong the future of the Club in its present form.
Our Club is at a real watershed now. We need to think very hard and very carefully about its future
Club Secretary Phillida Grantham supports the status quo
I am against extending the membership of the Mastermind Club. It is a unique association and should remain exclusive to those who sat in the Black Chair. We all know
people who could have appeared in the programme -1 certainly do - people who could have done as well as or better than we did, but they did not apply When urged to do so,
they always had an excuse: “I haven’t got three specialised subjects” or “I’m too busy at work this year”, and so on. We know that Mastermind is not so much about intellect as about courage, and the reward for that is the opportunity of membership of the Mastermind Club.
Spring 1997 9
Has anyone thought what message would be sent to outsiders by the proposal to open the doors to non-Mast erminders? Would it be the image of a fading institution striving desperately to stay alive artificially? Nothing is further from the truth The active members are more enthusiastic than ever, and we should strive to make the ‘sleeping’ members more aware of the exciting social activities which
they are missing Rather than extending the membership to other quiz shows, we should concentrate on involving quiescent members and on the recruitment of earlier contestants who did not join, or joined and let their memberships lapse In this way, I feel confident that we can ensure many years of life for the Club.
Membership Secretary Peter Chitty contemplates the inclusion of members from other quizzes
Following the news that Mastermind is to end after the 1997 series, members were invited to think about the future of the Club (PASS Winter 1996/97). As we know,
there will be no new intake of members from the programme after 1997; this will mean that membership of the club will inevitably begin to decline But need it do so?
There are other quiz programmes, on both television and radio, which demand the same intellectual rigour as Mastermind has always done The most notable is Brain of Britain, in fact it is so similar that many of its contestants have also appeared on Mastermind But it does not have an ex-contestants’ club of its own
To invite new Brain of Britain contestants to join the Club would offer several benefits. It would
• continue the recruitment of new members who would be likely to have shared interests with Masterminders;
• give the club an additional focus, now that we no longer have Mastermind,
• perpetuate the club’s life and prevent stagnation;
• maintain our links with the BBC;• give the Club an assured future
For Brain of Britain contestants the attraction of the Club would be that it is already established Early members will recall the difficulties which were encountered in launching the Club, despite the optimism, interest and commitment of the founder members. It took someone with the drive and imagination of Charles Key to inspire a dedicated committee and to secure the support of key people from the BBC: Bill Wright, Mary Craig and, of course, Magnus himself.
The Club has changed greatly since its inaugural meeting, and we have to be prepared to consider further change if we want it to continue. Any organisation which tries to remain static while all around it changes is bound to perish An open-minded approach to any opportunities which could benefit the Club will ensure its survival as a thriving haven for quizzers both - past and present
Andrew Grealey (1992) wonders what if the programme comes back7
If Mastermind has to end (and despite the fine words in David Mitchell’s article in the Winter edition of PASS, the viewing figures were surely not as high as in years gone by),
then so be it. But I for one remain sanguine that the programme could still have a future.
David made much of the comparison with Bamber Gascoigne and University Challenge It, too, was a much-loved and challenging quiz
show with a different idea (featuring undergraduates), which seemed to have come to the end of its natural life Then, some years after it was buried (pace Lance Haward), it was resurrected
Who is to say that the same will not happen to our programme, too9
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Arfor Wyn Hughes (1990) wants to fight
Do not go gentle into that good night Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Thus Dylan Thomas, a fellow countryman of mine, wrote in his poem Do not go gentle into that good night, but a great wall of silence has filled the national press since
the announcement of the demise of Mastermind I have not seen one letter of complaint since November, we all seem to have rolled over on our backs with our feet in the air and died quietly.
Radio Wales asked me to take part in a Welsh language programme to discuss the passing of Mastermind Could it really be past its sell-by date when, put against Coronation Street, it still attracted five million viewers9 I gladly accepted and, during the course of the
programme, I accused the controllers of the BBC of ger-ymnulltuoliathder (anti-elitism) If Mastermind had shapely young ladies in glittering leotards giving away cars and houses, I suggested, the show would still go on but, because it featured men in leather- patched sports jackets and women in frocks battling for a glass bowl, it must only appeal to a minority
Few of those taking part in the discussion had heard of the Welsh word for anti-elitism, and I had to explain it to them. They did, however, agree with my point of view.
Everyone to whom I have spoken about Mastermind agrees that the world will be a smaller, colder place for its passing. Let us not allow it to fade away without a fight “Rage, rage against the dying ..
Letters -1
How do you deal with the media? It is something which many Masterminders have had to face Miriam Collard, a semi-finalist in 1996, reports one such skirmish — and a much more pleasant encounter.
In 1996 my first round subject, Owam Glyndwr, aroused the keen and well- intentioned interest of the local press. But when it came to the demise of Mastermind the Western Mails coverage made me cringe; the news was said in a headline to have “drawn an angry response” from me, yet I was quoted as having said, “I was saddened”. I did consider making a visit to the offending journalist, punching him on the nose and then bursting into tears, to demonstrate the difference between an angry response and a sad one.
The Radio Times, however, had provided a very different experience David Gillard contacted me to arrange an interview, and I ventured to ask if I might write something for him to publish “If you like,” he said. “You
could fax me something and I’ll use it as the basis for the interview.”
I wrote throughout the night, faxed a tremendously over-long piece to him, and when I met him the next evening he asked only a few extra questions The photographer was professional and sensitive, and managed not to upset the management of the factory where I worked As I had expected, David cut a lot of my original text but what little he added was quite acceptable. The finished article, A/y kind of day, was wonderful; it sounded just like me! I was so pleased that I earned the Radio Times around for weeks, showing it to everyone.
When I was interviewed for a teaching post in London I was still brandishing the article - and it worked I am a teacher once again! Mastermind did wonders for my battered selfesteem; I don’t know how much the article helped my application, but clearly it did no harm. David Gillard is proof that ‘gentlemen of the press’ still exist
Spring 1997 11
Letters - 2
Glenys Davies’s letter (PASS, Winter 1996/97) mourned the press coverage of the controversial 1993 semi-final which suffered from lengthy technical breakdowns. John Colverson, one of the other semi-finalists, responds..
I was most surprised to see Glenys Davies’ letter in the Winter issue of PASS.
As the contestant who was, wrongly, accused by the press of charging Ms Davies with cheating, may I be allowed to set the record straight?
I most strongly object to the phrase “poisonous letters”. My complaint, as I explained in the only letter which I wrote to the press at the time, was against the BBC authorities for accepting Glenys Davies’ challenge to an answer being judged incorrect several minutes after it was given. The rules in 1993 clearly stated that any challenge should be made immediately, and it was this condition which was waived in her favour. The BBC have never explained the reason for this decision.
The press interest was started by a letter to the BBC from my son, which, when it was unanswered, he passed to the local press. It was then taken up by the national press, most of which, including The Sun, did not contact me to ascertain the facts.
In view of allegations of “sour grapes” which were also made at the time, may I make it clear that in my son’s letter, in my verbal comments (not printed) to the national papers which contacted me, and in a letter which I sent to Penelope Cowell Doe when the storm in a teacup had subsided, we both clearly denied that I thought I had been deprived of victory by the incident. We did, however, feel that another semi-finalist deserved to win and would probably have done so had the rules been scrupulously observed.
PASS asked Magnus Magnusson if he had could throw further light on this unfortunate episode. He writes:
I am delighted to have the opportunity to clarify what happened during the nightmare semi-final recording in the Assembly Rooms at Bath in 1993. In order to ensure that I
could be confident of what really happened I consulted the unedited sound-tape of the recording, which preserved all the off-air exchanges as well as the programme material itself.
What the newspaper reports at the time overlooked was that Glenys Davies had no chance to exercise her right to make a challenge on the spot; her answer had not been ‘judged incorrect’ - she had passed on the question. It was only at the end of her session, when I read out the answers to her three Pass questions, that the disputable wording of the question came to light - and by then she was being waved from the Black Chair!
There was no recording break between the rounds and the first opportunity she had to query the question came when she returned to the Chair immediately as the lowest scorer at the half-way stage. She inquired, courteously, if she might be allowed to raise a problem about one of her questions, and I saw no reason to decline since we had not started the General Knowledge round proper. It was when we tried to do the necessary retake and adjust the scoreboard that a 20-minute camera breakdown occurred; and it was during this hiatus that another semi-finalist (printer John Burke) took the opportunity to query one of his questions, too. It was agreed that a mistake had also been made in his round, so his first- round score was adjusted, too.
It is hardly surprising that tempers got a bit frayed: any recording is rather a tense affair, but this one was positively diabolical. The cause was the appalling and repeated technical breakdowns during the programme, not the actions of individual contenders.
As a grace-note to the story let me add that Stuart Johnson, the runner-up, preserved a dignified silence throughout; in response to a direct query he confirmed that he does not, nor ever did, believe that the incident had a detrimental effect on his own performance.
That’s typical of the great sportsmanship displayed by the overwhelming majority of Masterminders over the years. After all, “it’s only a bloody game” - wasn’t it?
12 PASS
Obituary
Phyllis Hartnoll (1973)
Phyllis Hartnoli, who died in January at the age of 90, was one of the most eminent of the early Mastemnnders in her own right. She took part in Heat 7 of the 1973 series,
offering ‘The History of the Theatre’ as her specialised subject She did well on this - not surprisingly, because she was editor of The Orford Companion to the Theatre, but she came a cropper in the General Knowledge round (“a humbling experience which no doubt did me a lot of good”, as she wrote in PASS in 1982). The winner of her heat was the founder and first president of the Mastermind Club, Charles Key
When the Club was formed in 1978, Phyllis was one of the first to join She was a regular attender at the Annual Functions and won the Magnum in 1983, defeating Phillida Grantham in the head-to-head Final
Sheila Ramsden (1977, editor of PASS 1981- 1988) writes
Phyllis was a wonderful friend to have - intelligent, amusing and cultured, a fun companion with a great sense of humour And what a fascinating life she had led: poet, writer, scholar and editor At Oxford she won the Newdigate Prize for English Verse (the first woman to do so); she also won the Oxford Prize for Sacred Verse (twice), and the Gold Medal of the Poetry Society She was the original editor of the Oxford Companion to the Theatre (1951) and several later editions She had worked on Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. She edited Shakespeare in Music in 1964 and assisted Leonide Massine with his autobiography in 1968. She also helped to found the Society for Theatre Research and the International Federation for Theatre Research And she wrote a sheaf of books of her own including two collections of poetry, The Maid’s Song (1938) and Quiet War (1940), and a book on Plays and Players in 1984
Phyllis was a proficient linguist, she could speak French, German, Italian, Swedish, Hebrew and Arabic, and during the Second World War, because of her fluent French, she was asked to debrief French refugees, to whom she offered hospitality in her home in the Cotswolds.
Phyllis May Hartnoll was bom on 22 September 1906, the daughter of an English army officer and a teacher serving in Egypt, where she spent her early childhood, until she contracted typhoid and was sent to recuperate in the care of her grandmother in the West Country. She was educated at St Mary’s Church of England Convent College in Wantage and then Cheltenham Ladies’ College; at the age of 16 she went to Lyons where she gave private English tuition and took a first year examination in French Literature at the University During a spell as an au pair in Algiers she finished her licenciee es lettres (the equivalent of a BA). In 1926 she won a scholarship to St Hugh’s College, Oxford, where she gained an honours degree in modem languages
Phyllis’ first job was as a journalist for The Countryman, and her subsequent posts included working in the Foreign Department of Blackwell’s bookshop, teaching at a school in Jerusalem and then, in 1934, joining Macmillan as a junior literary adviser She spotted the qualities of Barbara Pym’s first novel (Some Tame Gazelle), although her advice was rejected and the book remained unpublished until 1950. She retired from Macmillan in 1969, but continued to revise The Oxford Companion to the Theatre and The Concise Orford Companion to the Theatre She wrote for newspapers and loved trying to do The Times Crossword before breakfast
Phyllis spent the last few years of her life at Pinhay House Residential Home in Lyme Regis with her companion and former housekeeper, Winifred Kimberley. No longer able to read because of her failing eyesight, but with a mind which was as active as ever, she listened to talking books and would complete jigsaw puzzles against the clock
Her obituary in The Times (28 January 1997) noted that her “exceptional energies were directed mainly towards literature, especially that of music and the theatre”. But no less important was her poetry, both sacred and secular, and I shall always be pleased that I had the privilege of publishing many of my friend’s shorter poems in PASS in the 1980s.
Spring 1997 13
A Fiendish Music QuizBrian Bovington (1992) contributes a quiz which defies attempts to get byon reference books alone
There are two lists of operas, operettas or similar works. In List 1 each work ispreceded by the initial letter of the composer’s name; in List 2 each work is precededby the last letter of the composer’s name. Who are they?
Bnan offers a prize of a £10 record token for the first all-correct entry to be opened. Allentries will be opened on 30 April In the event of no all-correct entry being received theprize will be awarded for the greatest number of correct answers. Send your entries directto: Brian Bovington
List 1 List 2
A Britannia a Russian and LudmillaB Fidelio b Der Letzte RufC Lodoiska c Dialogues des CarmelitesD Anna Bolena d MireilleE The Postbag e The Bohemian GirlF The Vagabond King f Die KlugeG Echo et Narcisse g WozzeckH Radamisto h Die Prinzessin auf der ErbeI Angelique i L’Amico FritzJ Jenufa J Der Herr ProfessorK Hary Janos k Die MarketenderinL Frasquita 1 L’Heure EspagnoleM Idomeneo m CagliostroN Masquerade n Ivanhoe0 Madame Favart 0 ZazaP Il Tabarro P The Circassian BndeQ Julia q Le Docteur MiracleR Tancredi r OberonS Alfonso und Estrella s LakmeT Old Chelsea t NumaU Der Muller von Sanssouci u Castor et PolluxV Luisa Miller V Le Coq d’OrW Rienzi w L’OmbreX O Ypopsifios Vouleftis X Mme SherryY Peter the Miner y KhovanstchinaZ Conchita z Le Roi Candaule
The conductor’s judgement is final - no discord will be countenanced!
14 PASS
CrosswordClub Treasurer Paul Henderson (1987), a member of the crossword- setting team of The Independent, compiles a special anniversary teaser
verbs and adjectives. 11 answers are the names of such champions; the corresponding entries in the grid are 11 other champions. Which are the two missing surnames? For the solution see the next issue of PASS.
Across
I Poet - he's after an embrace (6)5 Inexperienced artist's first piece of work (3)10 A girl rejected by US film-maker (5)II Second year not needed for extremely influential person (5)12 Heading off hooligan is not feasible (3)13 Some nasty objectionable lout (3)15 Look for German, taking a little time (4)16 Intrusion well into hair (8)18 A deficiency, unfortunately (5)21 Popular month in which to see native American, commonly (5)24 Clubs a fool tucking into cheeses (8)28 New joke about toilet? On the contrary - it's historical (4,3)29 Means of identifying children's game (3)30 Most of bath existed (3)31 Soul of a bird returning (5)32 Man or woman receiving a gross upset from such an entertainer? (9)34 Move ostentatiously, perhaps, around tree (6)35 Anglo-American writer gets stuck about English (5)
Down
1 Show deference to Chinese - their way of cooking is brought back to West (6)2 Part of church brings in foremost of London Society (including many famous people) (3-4)3 The Furies in Ireland? Certainly (7)4 German river indicated in English manuscript (3)6 Japanese meal, cooked meat, not entirely unadulterated internally (7)7 I arrive upset in part of France (7)8 More replete cloth-worker (6)9 Fan with energy (that sun is terrible) (10)14 Unacceptable to support grey mortar (5)17 Community concern given the bird? (3)19 It's presented by some amiable islanders (3)20 Live with American sect in museum village (7)22 Catcalls about activity in fields (7)23 Waterfall once more upset artist (7)25 Italians rising drunkenly to embrace love (7)26 Chap's restricting arrival for one of three boatmen (6)27 Deer got by first of hunters with skill (4)33 Expanse of water with energy in it? (3)
Spring 1997 15
Tony Dart Gerald MacKenzie Phillida Grantham
Paul Henderson Peter Chitty
Patricia Owen Mike O’Sullivan Craig Scott
Club CommitteePresident Tony Dart
Hon Vice-President Dr K Gerald Powell-MacKenzie
Secretary Phillida GranthamTreasurer Paul Henderson
Membership Secretary Peter ChittyEditor of PASS Christine Moorcroft
Alan D BlackburnMike O’Sullivan
Patricia OwenCraig Scott
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