A member of the Macclesfield and Stockport quiz league has been crowned the 2022 Mastermind Champion after a perfect performance on her specialist subject, The Peak District National Park.
Alice Walker, 66, a retired IT consultant living in Derbyshire, won the grand final of the BBC Two quiz show on Monday night, April 11. She's been part of the Macclesfield and Stockport quiz league since the 1980s, and applied for the show after considering it for years.
Partner Haydn watched on with granddaughter Evelyn, and daughter Laura who called her mum the "cleverest grandma in the country", whilst Alice's dance group, the Poynton Jemmers North West Morris Dancers, featured in a clip on the show to cheer Alice on. Alice prepared by reading lots of guidebooks, looking at maps, and reading up on all the historic sites around the park before walking round it with her dog Leo to cement the knowledge into her brain.
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The work certainly paid off as Alice was able to correctly answer 33 questions asked by journalist Clive Myrie, 14 about her specialist subject and a whopping 19 correct answers in the general knowledge round. Two other contestants from Greater Manchester were fighting it out for the title, Ian Wang, an auditor from Manchester, chose the works of Sir Steve McQueen as his specialist subject and scored 25 points overall, placing him fifth.
Sarah Trevarthen, an environment and safety consultant from Bury, picked Dame Barbara Hepworth as her chosen subject, wracking up 27 points to put her in joint-second, a title she shared with Patrick Buckingham, a solicitor from London, who chose to answer questions about the early 20th century Hollywood star Carole Lombard.
Anthony Fish, a community safety officer from South Wales, placed fourth in the show after scoring 26 points between his questions about Open All Hours and the general knowledge round, whilst solicitor and editor Eleanor Ayres from Cambridgeshire, who chose mediaeval Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine as her specialist subject, placed last on the show with 22 points.
The Peak District National Park (answers below)
1. Traditional almond and jam pudding is named after which town known as the unofficial capital of the Peak District?
2. In the mid-18th century which landscape architect was commissioned to redesign the gardens at Chatsworth House?
3. In the late-1920s in which former lead mining village near Eyam did the writer Lawrence du Garde Peach form what later became a highly regarded amateur dramatic troupe?
4. What name is given to the jagged gritstone outcrops north of Leek in the Staffordshire Peak District which form an escarpment with a nearby Ramshaw Rocks and Hen Cloud?
5. In 1941 an errant German bomb caused significant damage to St Michael and All Angels church in which village near Buxton?
6. What Neolithic stone circle located on moorland near Monyash is sometimes referred to as the Stonehenge of the North?
7. In his work Fors Clavigera the writer John Ruskin harshly criticised the construction of the headstone railway viaduct in which peak district valley?
8. What was the full name of the British designer and manufacturer who established a cutlery factory and design museum in the village of Hathersage?
9. Which peak, the second highest point in Derbyshire, has been described as one of Britain’s only true deserts because of its expanse of virtually featureless moorland?
10. What was the name of the fort constructed by the Romans near the modern day village of Brough in the Hope Valley?
11. Which village between Leek and Buxton claims to be the highest in Britain at more than 1500 feet above sea level?
12. The ruined castle that stands above the town of Castleton is named after which Norman knight and keeper of the Royal forest?
13. What was the name of the temporary village of corrugated iron shacks nicknamed Tin Town that was built to house the workers and their families when the Howden and Derwent dams were constructed in the early 1900s?
14. The designer and architect Sir Joseph Paxton and John F Kennedy’s sister Kathleen are among those buried at the St Peter’s Churchyard in which village in the Chatsworth Estate?
Answers:
1. Bakewell
2. Lancelot "Capability" Brown
3. Great Hucklow
4. The Roaches
5. Earl Sterndale
6. Arbor Low
7. Monsal Dale
8. David Miller
9. Bleaklow
10. Navio
11. Flash
12. William Peverel
13. Birchinlee
14. Edensor
General Knowledge
1. The numbers used to complete a standard Sudoku grid range from 1 to what number?
2. Oman is the capital city of which middle Easter country?
3. Nacktschnecke which translates literally as naked snail is the German word for what creature?
4. The Loganberry is thought to have been created by crossing blackberries with what other fruit?
5. Which tennis player won a record equalling 20 grand slam men’s single title by beating Matteo Berrettini in the final of the 2021 Wimbledon Championship?
6. Ping, pang and pong are characters in which opera by Pucchini, premiered in 1926?
7. Who became the ruler of Russia in 1762 after her husband Peter III was forced to abdicate?
8. What was the first name of Fred Astair’s older sister, who was his professional dancing partner in several Broadway stage shows from 1917 until 1931?
9. In terms of population which is the largest city on the south island of New Zealand?*
10. A competition called The 100 involving teams such as Oval Invincibles, Welsh Fire, and Northern Superchargers was launched in 2021 in which sport?
11. The 2017 book My Life Our Times is a memoir by which former UK Prime Minister?
12. Who became the lead singer of the British pop and soul band Simply Red when it was formed in Manchester in the 1980s?
13. Which small city near Cambridge is known for its cathedral, sometimes called the ship of the fens which has a central structure known as the octagon?
14. What word follows rough, smooth, bearded, and border, in the names of four dog breeds?
15. A cup-sshaped structure called a bowman’s capsule is a feature of which pair of organs in the human body?
16. Tencent, BeiDou, and Alibaba are major technology companies headquartered in which Asian country?*
17. In the Avengers films released between 2011 and 2019 which British actor plays the character Loki, the God of mischief?
18. What Japanese word meaning harbour wave is used in English for a swiftly travelling destructive wave often caused by an underwater earthquake?
19. The abbreviation ESP for the supposed ability to be aware of things without using the basic senses stands for Extra Sensory what?
20. Which clockmaker born in Yorkshire in 1693 is credited with the invention of the Marine Chronometer, a device that allows for accurate timekeeping while at sea?
21. In the late-1930s which Spanish artist created a sofa modelled on the lips of the actress May West in collaboration with his patron Edward James?
22. The legendary North American creature often called Big Foot is also known by what other name, a Salishan word meaning Man of the Woods?
*These two questions were answered incorrectly by Alice.
Answers:
1. Nine
2.Jordan
3.Slug
4.Raspberry
5.Novak Djovovich
6.Turandot
7.Catherine the Great
8.Adele
9.Christchurch
10.Cricket
11.Gordon Brown
12.Mick Hucknall
13.Ely
14.Collie
15.Kidneys
16.China
17. Tom Hiddleston
18.Tsunami
19.Perception
20.John Harrison
21.Salvador Dali
22.Sasquatch
