A business reporter is braving the famous black chair next month as he bids to become this year’s Mastermind.

Tom Scotney, left, of the Birmingham Post is taking heavy metal band Iron Maiden as his specialist subject in the BBC quiz which is now in its 35th year.

Tom, who describes himself as a “seasoned pub quiz fan – though probably more pub then quiz,” applied for the show after an application form found its way into the Post’s Fort Dunlop offices.

His heat will be filmed in Manchester on 15 July and broadcast sometime in the autumn.

Tom told HTFP that to get on the programme he first had to answer a general knowledge quiz over the phone, then attend the BBC studios in Birmingham to talk about his specialist subject.

However he disclosed that although he has been following Iron Maiden since their 2001 comeback tour and has seen the band six times – including three nights in a row when he was a student – they were not his first choice of specialist subject.

“My first three would have been The Simpsons, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Flashman novels,” he said.

However all these had either been taken or been used by another contestants in the past three series.

Added Tom: “I’ve known that it was happening for a while and I’ve been revising hard. I’ve read lots of thick biographies – pretty heavy going stuff.

“I am more than happy to be bombarded with trivia. And I am looking forward to sitting in the famous black chair.”

Comments

Isaac (29/06/2010 08:51:02)
Holy smoke! Good luck to you, Tom.

Martin Warrillow (30/06/2010 08:54:27)
Go for it, Tom! If you need to know anything about Maiden’s younger days before you were born, just give me a shout….