Anne Ashurst

A writer of romantic fiction who will go down in history as being the last ever Mastermind (until the programme is re-launched!). She won her heat with 'Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset' but came second in her semi-final with 'The Regency Novels of Georgette Heyer'. However, Anne still reached the final as the highest-scoring semi-finalist, the only time in the programme's history that the rules permitted this.

In the final, held in St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney, Anne was in the lead at the halfway stage with 'Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland' and went on to win. Anne answered the very last question asked on Mastermind, correctly identifying Guernica as the Basque town raided by German bombers which inspired Picasso's painting. Some diehard Mastermind viewers must have been amazed that this so closely mirrored the very first question posed to Alan Whitehead in 1972. In fact it was not a coincidence at all - Magnus 'rigged' it so that this would be the final question, as long as it would not be crucial to the contest's result.