Eric Kilby

A statistician from Swindon, Eric first appeared on Mastermind in 1995, offering 'Magna Graecia' as his subject. He scored 10 on this and 12 on general knowledge to finish in fourth place, losing to eventual finalist Robert Jones. In 1998 he entered the radio version of Mastermind and scored 16 on 'Alexander the Great' and 13 on general knowledge to win his heat. In the semi-final he scored 14 on 'The American Civil War' and 12 on general knowledge, but this was only enough to put him in a three-way tie, one point behind the leader Miriam Collard. In 2001 he went on to appear in the third incarnation of the programme, Discovery Mastermind. His subject were now 'Hannibal' and 'Ulysses S. Grant' and this time he reached the final. Ahead at the halfway stage, he ultimately lost to Michael Penrice but was glad to have maintained a continuous improvement!

Alas, the improvement was not to be maintained when Eric went on to appear in the re-launched programme in 2003 - taking 'The House of Godwin 1000-1066 AD - he finished, with 23 points, in second place in his heat behind Sally Wilson. However, Eric Kilby holds a special place in Mastermind history by being the only contestant apart from Helena Rogers to appear in all four versions of the programme facing a different quizmaster each time.