Cobblers season ticket holder Gareth Kingston appeared on Mastermind on Friday June 12th. Here is his diary of his visits to the famous black chair; Continued from yesterday...
14th July
After breakfast I had one final run through the questions on my MP3 player whilst re-reading the last section of "A Season in the Sun".
At 2.45 I was in the studio. I was briefed, made-up and miked up and before I knew it I was on set.
Rule 1 of TV Mastermind: It really is much easier when you are sat at home
Rule 2 of TV Mastermind: You always think that your opponents get easier questions than you
Rule 3 of TV Mastermind: If you are not careful you can turn into a gibbering buffoon.
I was the third person to sit in the black chair for my specialist subject. 2 months of hard work came down to this. The first two contestants had each scored 17. That is a fantastic score so I knew the bar had been set high.
The next 2 minutes were a blur. There were only 2 questions that stumped me. The nationality of a player I had never heard of, and an early cup shock. Of the two, I should really have got the cup shock right, but my brain froze. I nearly tripped up on another question. Very early into a question being asked you have a pretty good idea of what the question is and whether you know the answer. Perhaps I misheard but I was pretty sure at one point I was being asked about when we beat Huddersfield in the FA Cup in the 1933/4 season. Just as I started answering I registered the fact that John Humphrys had mentioned 1990 in his last breath. So my answer was "Hudd..err Coventry". In truth I was lucky to be allowed it but I'm not complaining.
At the end of my 2 minutes I had scored 16 points with no passes. The chap after me who was appearing in his third semi-final scored 12. So I was in touch with the leaders but I knew that I would need to perform very well on General Knowledge to have a chance of winning.
I went up to the chair for my second round and had a chat with John Humphrys about the Cobblers. We talked about the 60s, and I tried to accentuate the positive. We talked about Walter Tull and we talked about the formation of the Trust. I really wanted to do my best to paint the club in a good light.
And so to General Knowledge. It was all a bit of a blur really. It started off ok, but luck wasn't with me. On a number of occasions I had 2 answers in my head to choose between, and opted for the wrong one. Curse you Rayon, Puccini and Raphael! On at least two occasions I was asked questions that I knew the answer to but couldn't fish out. Begone Antonine Wall and Solway Firth! I finished with 25 points. I knew it could and probably should have been more. But when you are in the chair, aware of being in the spotlight and against the clock all you can do is give it your best shot.
The winner scored 28 and he was a worthy winner. I have no complaints and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I reached the semi finals of Mastermind, maybe in a few years I can go one better!
