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I’ve started, so I’ll panic: what it’s really like to go on Mastermind (on The Guardian)

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When Mastermind comes on TV, Clair and I always enjoy competing against each other to see who’s most intelligent / least stupid and always jokingly say we’d fancy our chances in real life (although we really wouldn’t). So I enjoyed Sirin Kale’s amusing memoir on what it’s really like to get in the famous black chair!

It is spotlit, well worn, imposing. Its leather has been burnished by the arses of minds far greater than mine, minds capable of retaining all manner of trivia while staying cool under pressure and not panic-sweating profusely via their bum cheeks on to the seat; cellulite-free grey matter, crammed full of general knowledge like a suitcase you have to sit on to close. My mind, by comparison, is a duffel bag containing a single pair of socks.

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