Then earlier this year I found the Mastermind website which contained a selection of quizzes, which I tried and found that I was in the top [n]% of the population, where [n] is a reassuringly small number. There was also a link to follow if you wanted to apply to take part - so I followed it, filled in the form, and then forgot all about it.
Several weeks ago I had a call out of the blue from the production team: an invitation to meet up so that they could ask me some questions. I think I answered quite well, as within a week I had another call offering me a place on the programme. There were some further exchanges while we hammered out the detail of my specialist subject choices, but eventually we finalised a list of three subjects that were OK.
For the first round my subject is the novels of Jasper Fforde:
http://www.jasperfforde.com/
I follow this with the life of HH Asquith:
And for the final I've chosen Doctor Who (2005 to the present):
And now the hard work begins as I'm slowly realising what I've committed myself to: as a first step I'm currently re-reading all of Jasper Fforde's novels (always a great pleasure) and listening to as many of them as I can find as audio books while I'm driving.
In addition there are two biographies of Asquith on my desk, even as I write this, but I've decided not to start re-watching Doctor Who until nearer the time.
The likely timescales for filming are September, October and November but with no indication yet as to broadcast dates.
This is an ongoing project, so watch out for further updates.
