Michael Penrice

The 2002 Mastermind champion was a teacher from Wigton in Cumbria whose forte was first demonstrated on another prestigious TV quiz show, Fifteen-to-One. He reached seven grand finals, winning the top of the finals board trophy twice, and he also appeared on the Millennium edition broadcast on Christmas Day 1999. Curiously, he was never champion of Fifteen-to-One.

Turning his attention to Mastermind, Michael applied in 1997 only to be told that the programme was being taken off the air. However, his application was kept on file, and he received an audition for the Discovery Channel version of Mastermind. Initially the subjects offered by Michael were 'The History of the First World War' and 'The History of Professional Boxing to 1980'. Boxing was fine, but the First World War was rejected as someone else was due to do that subject. Michael therefore had to find another subject quickly, and he offered a total of nine other subjects, all of which the researchers considered to be unsuitable, before they accepted 'English History 1603-1714'.

Michael initially found the new version of Mastermind to be a very different prospect than he had imagined - it was filmed in a studio and there was no live audience until the semis. The questions, posed by Clive Anderson, took up a reduced time, and Michael's original impression was that the show was not as good as the original. However, as time went on, Michael came to the opinion that it was a 'worthy, tough competition'. Magnus Magnusson made a surprise appearance to present the trohy, further endorsing Michael's opinion that this was not a pale shadow of the original Mastermind but the real thing.

Apparently the show did not impress the viewers as much as it did Michael - after only one season Discovery Mastermind was axed before the old familiar format made a welcome return to BBC Television. Nevertheless, Michael Penrice, with his trademark bow-tie, remains a worthy Mastermind champion and will go down in history as the only winner of Discovery Mastermind.