Gwen Kingsley

A common complaint among Masterminders is that they never seem to get on quiz shows offering big prizes as a reward. However, Gwen Kingsley is the exception to the rule - in the course of her TV quiz career she won two cars and prizes totalling over 5,000 pounds in value.

At the time of her first appearance on Mastermind in 1983, Gwen was a Crystal Works guide and assistant museum curator. She won her heat with 'The Life and Times of Cosimo de Medici' and took 'The Life, Times and Death of Tutankhamun' in the semi-final but lost this narrowly on passes. In 1996, now described as a trained librarian, she returned to the programme and swept through her heat with 'The Life and Literature of Lewis Carroll' and the semi-final with 'The Life and Works of Donatello'. For the final she chose 'The Life and Work of Florence Nightingale', and this put her in joint first place with Richard Sturch at the halfway stage with 19 points; however, Richard Sturch had one pass whereas Gwen had none. In the second round Richard Sturch struggled to reach 32, and it seemed certain that Gwen would overtake him, but she foundered to finish on 30 in joint second place.

Gwen has also appeared on Fifteen-to-One five times and reached the grand final twice. She is currently a professional genealogist.