Mastermind

The chap in the green jumper is my friend Dan. As is the chap in the red shirt on the telly. Having previously appeared (and won) on Eggheads as part of a team, Dan was now flying solo on Mastermind. He hadn’t disclosed when he was going to be on the telly, what his specialised subject was or how he got on.
But about three weeks ago he let several of us know that his programme would be shown on the 29th January and a local pub had agreed to show it for all those who wanted to come down and see how he got on. Looking in the TV listings I had worked out what his specialist subject would be - The Life of Alfred Wainwright - but still didn’t have a clue how he got on.
About twenty people turned up to cheer Dan on, and it was quite nail biting for those of us watching as he gave nothing away.
After the two rounds he had scored 26 points - a score that would have easily won most of the other heats. Unfortunately, he was up against a man who only dropped one point throughout the quiz and won the heat with a score of 29 points.
After the show, Dan let us know that over all the heats, only one person had bettered his score. It does seem very bad luck for that person to have been in the same heat!
It was a shame Dan didn’t win as I’m sure he could have got a lot further in the competition. But he was positive about the experience and will have another go in the future. The rules are that you have to leave it a year before applying again, so we’ve all agreed to meet up in this pub again in two years time.