My hand hovering over the buzzer, I paid close attention to the quizmaster’s question. It was April 2004, and I was appearing on In It To Win It, a general knowledge quiz show with huge cash prizes. I had spent every spare moment over the last few weeks with my nose in practice quiz books, and after correctly answering that a spinnaker was a type of sail on a boat, I went home with £18,500 and knew it had all been worth it. That winning feeling – there’s nothing quite like it.
I’ve always had a competitive streak. At school, I relished being in the netball and hockey teams and got a thrill out of beating my classmates in our spelling tests. I spent my days reading book after book, eager to build my knowledge about the world around me.
In 1984, when I was 23, I spotted an advertisement in the newspaper for a new show, The Zodiac Game, a general knowledge quiz show, with a large focus on astrology. ‘What do you think?’ I asked my mum Hazel, then 54.
Mum was an avid reader too and with her encouragement, I applied.
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