Some observers felt that since Barry had been a television Egghead (the sixth) since 2008, he was no longer the kind of “civilian” that Brain of Britain should be featuring. Paul Bajoria was called upon to defend the programme’s position, and did so eloquently in a BBC blog: “When we saw that Barry Simmons had applied for Brain of Britain 2013,” he wrote,
we discussed whether he should be allowed to compete, and we realised almost immediately that there’s no sensible reason why not. Barry’s an experienced quiz player who reached the Final of Brain of Britain in 2008 – though, as it happens, he came last. Since then, he has built up his quiz CV to the point where he was invited to apply for, and won, a place on the resident team on BBC2’s Eggheads quiz. Many of his fellow Eggheads are former Brain of Britain or Mastermind champions, or both. Small wonder that, after the requisite five-year gap, Barry was determined to go for the prize! When we offered him a place, we had a conversation to ensure that he realised a poor performance in the programme might harm his reputation. Barry was happy to take the risk, which is a mark of the man. Brain of Britain is no walkover: you get, on average, about twelve utterly unpredictable questions of your own, plus a chance to score bonuses on other people’s if your trigger finger is quick enough. As soon as you get one wrong, your turn ends. Many an accomplished quizzer has crashed and burned.
Barry is still a welcome visitor – in fact he was present for the wine and nibbles after this year’s Final, at the BBC Radio Theatre in April 2017. The Theatre is certainly our most elegant home, but we have others – at BBC Maida Vale, in the studio where Bing Crosby made his last recording, and in Salford, where the programme team is now headquartered.
So how do you become a Brain of Britain? Can it be done simply by memorising things, list by list, from works of reference – I don’t think so. Yes, there are certainly things everyone mugs up on: Kings and Queens of England (and elsewhere), the Periodic Table perhaps, the night sky, the works of some obviously great writers. But there is also a quizzing temperament, and my theory is that it has less to do with remembering things than with being unable to forget anything. It’s almost more like an affliction than a talent – anything that presents itself as a FACT is grabbed by the brain and not allowed to escape. If you’re a sufferer from a cranial overcrowding of that kind, you should probably be having a go at this quiz lark. Remember, there is no more majestic title to aim for than Brain of Britain, and you receive it engraved, as it should be, on a silver salver.
Brain of Britain: A Note on the Questions
Most of the questions in this book are drawn from Brain of Britain contests broadcast during the last ten years. There are always questions left over from every contest, and although most of those are recycled, it may be that a few here were never actually broadcast. A few more have been added for topicality’s sake, or because, having popped up, they seemed too good to leave out.
Clearly whole classes of question which we can use in the radio programme don’t suit the printed page at all – “How do you spell eczema?”, for example, falls a bit flat. We have also had to say goodbye to music questions where the sound of the music itself is vital to the search for an answer, and to questions which follow on deliberately from the answer to the previous question (thus giving it away).
From the remaining huge pile of possibilities, it’s actually not hard for a question-master (as we used to be called) to choose the good stuff. By its very nature Brain of Britain tends to eschew the kind of question which can easily be answered by that breed of quiz player (and there are such people) who spends large amounts of leisure time rote-learning reference books. We’ve never been very interested in robotic answers about capital cities, the colours on a particular country’s flag, or the world champion in a particular sport in a particular year. One actually looks forward to asking a good question, for the pleasure either of hearing the correct answer given, or of revealing the answer because it is useful, surprising, entertaining, or downright odd. Some of the answers here, you’ll quickly notice, are a lot longer than the questions – which is as it should be. There would be nothing more frustrating than giving an answer which merely left the reader (or listener) thinking, “I wonder what the story behind that is…?”
RD
The first ten quizzes are entry-level and are designed to warm up your grey cells before you tackle the steeper slopes!
1. Pesto, a staple sauce of Italian cooking, combines pine-kernels, parmesan cheese and olive oil with which herb?
2. In the Caribbean, what is a ‘duppy’?
3. Barbara Millicent Roberts is the full name of which iconic figure of the 20th century, first introduced to the public by Ruth Handler in 1959 at the New York Toy Fair?
4. On the label of a bottle of wine, the letters ‘DOCG’ are an indication that it has been granted a stamp of particular quality. In which country will it have been produced?
5. In the world of antiques, the names of William Cookworthy, Samuel Gilbody and Benjamin Lund are associated with high-quality 18th century examples in what field of craftsmanship?
6. ‘Lackland’ and ‘Softsword’ are among the nicknames given to which English King, the father of Henry III?
7. In the so-called ‘Easter Rising’ of 1916, which building in Dublin’s Sackville Street was occupied and used as a headquarters by Irish nationalists, until they abandoned it when it caught fire as a result of being shelled by the British?
8. Which of the territories of Canada has the city of Yellowknife as its capital?
9. Ada, Countess of Lovelace, best known for having written the first description of Charles Babbage’s mechanical computer, was the daughter of which English poet?
10. Sabrina, The Apartment and Some Like It Hot are among the films of which multiple-Oscar winning director who died in 2002?
11. Which type of wheat, with a name derived from the Latin for ‘hard’, is cultivated mainly to make pasta, couscous and macaroni?
12. Which fictional detective made his final appearance in a novel called Curtain, published in 1975 – and was the first fictional character ever to be honoured with an obituary on the front page of the New York Times?
13. Which Swiss sculptor, born in 1901, is best known for his works in bronze depicting rough-textured free-standing human figures with extremely thin and elongated limbs?
14. Which island group in the Indian Ocean, a popular tourist destination, has the city of Victoria as its capital?
15. Now considered a classic of cookery writing, the 1984 book An Omelette and a Glass of Wine is a collection of articles by which food writer?
16. Which British rock group, formed in the late 1960s, was named after an agriculturalist of the 18th century whose principal work was entitled Horse-Hoeing Husbandry?
17. Which Dublin-born actor played the role of Philip E. Marlow in Dennis Potter’s television serial The Singing Detective?
18. Which organisation had its origins in Pulaski, Tennessee, founded there by Confederate Army veterans in the late 1860s?
19. Vanessa and Jesse, the children of Lorna Luft, are the grandchildren of which singer and actress who died in 1969?
20. In 1911, the American politician, explorer