Before I start, it is worth mentioning that this post contains Spoilers
about yesterdays episode of Brain of Britain. If you want to listen to the
episode you will find it
HERE
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Five years ago, I made my first appearance on Brain of Britain. It was
shortly after I had taken steps towards competing in more competitive quizzes
and I was full of enthusiasm and trying to enter as many broadcast shows as
possible. Things didn't go to plan and I ended up bottom of my heat with 3
points. I was determined to come back 5 years later (the necessary waiting
period for re-application) and do myself more justice.
The show you heard yesterday, was only recorded last Monday (16
th
April) at the BBC Radio Theatre in London. During the audition process I had
stated I was happy to travel to either venue (Salford being the other) and
having been to Salford for the recording in 2013, it was nice to go somewhere
different. The Radio Theatre itself is a fantastic venue, and as always with
these recordings, was full to the brim.
My main ambition going into the heat was to better my performance from 5 years
ago. In that time I have done a heck of a lot of quizzing and improved my
scores in the GP’s dramatically from where I started (although still highly
inconsistent). Despite nerves getting the better of me at a recent TV
recording, I felt quite relaxed, until the theme music hit. I wasn’t as nervous
this time around, but still had the “blank mind” issue that has plagued me
before.
I must admit, the first priority was to score a point. I think the “fear of
zero” needed wiped out, so was happy to pick up the Sampdoria question on a
bonus. I made a couple of schoolboy errors…..When asked for a character for the
Lolita questions, I somehow managed to get in my head they were looking for a
historical figure and when it came to the Dennis Meanace questions, I was completely
down the wrong tracks looking for a cartoon-duo for some reason!
The annoying questions were the Right Said Fred/Taylor Swift question which
I only recently read but couldn’t recall in the time, and the Great
Expectations question which just didn’t come to mind. Salt N Peppa too is
something I will have answered right before, but by that point in the show I
think even if they asked me my own name I would have passed!
Even on my best day, I would still have been nowhere near to Mark Coopers
commanding score. The way Brain of Britain works, it helps if you haven’t got
other keen and experienced quizzers in your heat, and Mark gave a masterclass.
Anthony Fish too, I later found out, is a keen GP attendee and regular quizzer
which explains his stellar comeback towards the end of the episode.
However, I have no complaints and again the whole experience was fun, meeting
great people and taking part in one of my favourite broadcast quizzes. I will
still be under 40 the next time I am eligible to re-apply which will hopefully
work in my favour, and I would love to have another stab at doing my self-justice.
Somehow I need to master quizzing under pressure, and despite leaving Brain of
Britain terribly disappointed I didn’t do myself justice (especially with
recent GP scores), it certainly hasn’t put me off!
