Yesterday evening’s edition of Mastermind, the long-running British television quiz show in which contestants answer questions on a chosen specialist subject before tackling a round of general knowledge, included the topics Transport for London moquette, the films of Paul Newman, the Tintin books of Hergé and Iron Maiden.
Investment adviser Fernanda Partridge chose Iron Maiden, the Heavy Metal band formed in London in 1975, as her specialist subject and faced a round that reached considerably deeper than the band’s albums and best-known songs.
Partridge began strongly, correctly naming Paul Di’Anno as the singer on the 1979 EP The Soundhouse Tapes. She also identified Margaret Thatcher as the politician depicted alongside Eddie on the artwork for the early singles Sanctuary and Women In Uniform.
Her knowledge extended across several eras of Maiden history. She knew that The Trooper was partly inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem The Charge Of The Light Brigade, and that Iron Maiden supported Kiss on their first tour of mainland Europe in 1980.
She also correctly named The Sheriff Of Huddersfield, the affectionate send-up of manager Rod Smallwood released as a B-side to the 12-inch version of Wasted Years, and remembered the band’s 1982 appearance on the children’s television programme Tiswas.
More recent Maiden history was represented by En Vivo!, the 2012 live album recorded at Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chile, during the previous year’s Final Frontier World Tour.
One of the more difficult questions concerned the inspiration behind The Clairvoyant. Steve Harris began writing the song after reading about the death of spiritualist and professional medium Doris Stokes. Partridge answered Aleister Crowley.
She was also caught out by a missing phrase from the lyrics to the 1995 single Man On The Edge, answering “chemical state” rather than “carnival state”.
Partridge recovered to identify Fear Of The Dark as the album whose artwork depicts Eddie fused with a tree. Released in 1992, it was the first Iron Maiden studio album not to feature cover artwork by Derek Riggs.
Her final correct answer was New Frontier, from the 2003 album Dance Of Death. The track is unusually co-written by drummer Nicko McBrain and reflects his concerns about human cloning.
The only question Partridge passed asked for the false name Iron Maiden used for a series of secret warm-up concerts in 1988, including a show at Queen Mary College in London. The answer was Charlotte And The Harlots.
Partridge scored nine points in his specialist-subject round. After the general-knowledge round, she finished second with 19 points, just one behind winner Donald, who progressed to the semi-final with 20.
For most Iron Maiden fans watching at home, of course, only one question really mattered. How many would you have answered correctly?
