INTELLIGENT
70 YEARS BBC Radio 4’s quiz show, Brain of Britain, is 70 this year. Margaret Brecknell remembers competing
FIRST aired on the BBC Light Programme in August 1953, Brain of Britain originally started life as part of What Do You Know?, another quiz-based show. The other features were gradually dropped to make more time for Brain of Britain, as this proved the most popular. Eventually, in 1967, the segment was given its own series.
In each programme, four contestants compete to answer the most correct questions, with the winner of each of the 12 heats plus the four highestscoring runners-up going into four semi-finals before being whittled down to the four finalists. The winner secures a silver platter and the immense honour of being the acknowledged Brain of Britain.
One other popular feature of What Do You Know? remains to this day. Listeners are given the chance to send in two questions that they believe will baffle the panel of contestants. Should they successfully “beat the brains”, they are awarded a book token.
Brain of Britain’s original host was Franklin Engelmann. He also presented two more long-running programmes, Down Your Way and Gardeners’ Question Time, until his untimely death, aged 63, in 1972.
Robert Robinson became Brain of Britain’s next permanent question master. Like Engelmann, Robinson was already a household name. Robinson remains the name most associated with the show. He presented the quiz for over 30 years in his inimitable style. Contestants were addressed formally, but Robinson was adept at putting them at ease. He became famous for the phrase, “Ah, would that it were”, when they gave a wrong, but entertaining, answer.
In 2010, the broadcasting veteran was finally compelled to retire because of ill-health. Russell Davies became Brain of Britain’s new quizmaster and remains in the role today. Like his predecessors, he is a skilful and experienced presenter.
One early winner, Ian Gillies, later became the show’s question-setter and would be present at recordings. When Robinson consulted Gillies because he was unsure about a contestant’s answer, he used to refer to him as “Mycroft”, in reference to Sherlock Holmes’ smarter, older brother.
Following Gillies’s death in April 2002, he was replaced by another former Brain of Britain winner, Kevin Ashman, who still holds the record for the highest ever individual score in one episode. Christened “Jorkins” by Robinson (in reference to a character in David Copperfield), Ashman left in 2007 to focus on another famous quiz show, TV’s Eggheads.
Ashman isn’t the only former Brain of Britain champion to appear regularly on Eggheads.
The 1997 winner, Daphne Fowler, used to make frequent appearances on the show and three current members of the panel, Chris Hughes, Pat Gibson and Barry Simmons, have also all won Brain of Britain.
Today, questions are set by a team of experienced professional quiz writers. The show remains a test worthy of the greatest quizzers in the land. As it approaches its 71st year, it still attracts many loyal listeners.