Last grilling from master interrogator John Humphrys who took no prisoners
Now he’ll finish: Master interrogator John Humphrys delivers his final Mastermind grilling as student becomes youngest champ at 24 – so how many of his General Knowledge posers would YOU have known?
As IF the thunderous music and scorching spotlight were not intimidating enough, the sight of John Humphrys in the inquisitor’s chair is enough to instil panic in the boldest soul.
Even before the questions begin on Mastermind, there’s a flicker of sadistic relish in the Welshman’s gaze.
Over the past 18 years he has taken the most confrontational show on TV and made it even more ferocious, even less forgiving, than it was under its original presenter, Magnus Magnusson. Humphrys is no po-faced examiner. He shows flashes of wit and humour that are doubly disconcerting, because they do not signify a kindly disposition.
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Mastermind was based on the experience of wartime interrogation by the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police. The show’s creator, Bill Wright, was a former RAF gunner who had been captured and subjected to intense questioning
When he smiles at a nervous arrival, there’s a hint of the great white shark flashing its teeth.
It is irresistible viewing. Shielded from the lethal barrage of questions by the safety of our living rooms, we can enjoy the sight of a brave quizzer surviving the onslaught… or being eaten alive.
Indeed, the most unwavering of all TV quizzes, Mastermind was based on the experience of wartime interrogation by the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police.
The show’s creator, Bill Wright, was a former RAF gunner who had been captured and subjected to intense questioning. That inspired the studio set, with a lone seat trapped in a beam of light, isolated and vulnerable. This is quizzing as naked torture.
The 24 year old student from Glasgow won by four points in the Grand Final – scoring a perfect 11/11 in his specialist subject on comedy song writing duo Flanders and Swann
It’s hard to imagine Mastermind without the implacable Obergruppenfuhrer Humphrys firing questions like 9mm rounds from a Luger pistol.
But after last night’s grand final – which saw him demanding answers on specialist subjects from the life of President Carter to the songs of Flanders and Swann – he is laying down the question cards. As he wrote in his Mail column in February, ‘I started 18 years ago. Now, after more than 750 shows, it really is time to finish.’
Even to take on the role was a controversial move. Mastermind had been off BBC television’s airwaves for six years by then, following Magnusson’s retirement. But his predecessor, though stern and a stickler for the rules, was always more schoolmaster than scrutineer. Humphrys seemed to embody the original vision, injecting a note of intellectual arrogance that left some contestants quaking.
In 2008, he introduced a round of questions on ‘the Gospels of the New Testament’ by telling the nervous quizzer, a devout Christian named Kathryn Price, that he doubted the Bible’s veracity.
‘If you read all four Gospels, you’ll get different versions, won’t you?’ he remarked. ‘Which are we meant to believe?’
That stirred quite a kerfuffle. The Christian Institute accused the BBC of promoting religious intolerance, adding: ‘It is inconceivable that a Muslim contestant answering questions on the Koran would be treated the same way.’
Humphrys was unrepentant – just as he was when in 2015 he declared the quiz to be no true test of intelligence: ‘You couldn’t argue that it’s a great intellectual challenge. You’ve got to be able to take the pressure, sitting in that bloody chair, but it’s a challenge of memory and that’s it.’
Even before the questions begin on Mastermind, there’s a flicker of sadistic relish in the Welshman’s gaze
All this, of course, reflects his standing as the most merciless quizmaster on television. Compared to Hard-Hearted Humphrys, Jeremy Paxman is a kindly old don, Victoria Coren Mitchell is mumsy and Jeremy Clarkson is a pal from your local pub.
Former foreign correspondent and news anchorman Clive Myrie takes over as head of interrogation in July, when Mastermind will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
No doubt he will bring rigour and brains to the role.
If he wants the approval of the great Herr Humphrys, however, he’d better not try anything that smacks of compassion.
