Who had Monty Panesar’s Mastermind calamity on their pre-Ashes bingo card? Me neither.
But the former England spinner has found himself at the heart of the build-up to Friday’s highly-anticipated first Test.
Panesar encouraged England to revive the sandpaper shame of Steve Smith and Australia in a bid to ramp up the mind games and find an edge in the first match of the tour on Australian soil.
When asked about it at a press conference, Smith was prepared and armed with his rebuke, discrediting Panesar through his infamous BBC Celebrity Mastermind appearance in 2019.
So, what exactly happened to English cricket’s cult hero under pressure in the black leather chair. He managed to rack up a creditable six points on the specialist subject round of Sikh religion and its history before it all unravelled in the general knowledge section, with presenter John Humphreys asking the questions.
Here, we run through the appearance Panesar himself described to Daily Mail Sport as ‘like the Titanic ramming the Hindenburg’.
JH: We got six points so far. General knowledge, two minutes, here we go…
How many pockets are there on a full size snooker table?
MP: Six. (Correct)
JH: Which sign of the zodiac is represented by a crab?
MP: Sagittar- Scorpion.
JH: Cancer.
JH: What is the title of A.A. Milne’s stage adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s children’s novel, The Wind in the Willow?
MP: Harry Potter.
JH: Toad of Toad Hall.
Steve Smith brought up Monty Panesar’s infamous 2019 Celebrity Mastermind appearance
JH: Henry VIII had three wives called Catherine, two called Anne and another who died shortly after she gave birth to the future Edward VI. What was her name?
MP: Elizabeth.
JH: Jane.
JH: What is the standard international unit of absolute temperature? It is indicated by the letter K.
MP: Oh gosh… pass. (Kelvin)
JH: Which Asian island city state is served by Changi International Airport.
MP: Shanghai.
JH: Singapore.
JH: Birds described as ‘pelagic’ spend most of their lives flying over what?
MP: The sky.
JH: The sea.
JH: In what ’97 film do a group of unemployed men in Sheffield become strippers for a night in their local Working Men’s Club?
MP: The Dream Boys.
JH: The Full Monty.
JH: In which city is the Olympiastadion, built for the 1972 Olympics and where Germany’s national football team played international matches until 2001?
MP: Oh gosh, Athens?
JH: Munich.
JH: What is the title of the first volume of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia to be published? Chronologically, it follows The Magician’s Nephew.
MP: C.J. Lewis.
JH: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
JH: Kimberlite and igneous rock, named after the South African city of Kimberley, is a rich source of what very precious stones?
MP: Tar… pass. (Diamonds)
JH: What were the five guys named in the title of the hit musical that was a tribute to the jazz bluesman Louis Jordan?
MP: Pass.
(Five Guys Named Moe)
JH: In an 1819 poem, what season of the year does Keats describe as ‘a season of mist and mellow fruitfulness’?
MP: Oliver Twist.
JH: Autumn.
JH: In which city is the television comedy series, Cheers, set?
MP: America.
JH: Boston.
JH: What national survey has been held in Britain every 10 years since 1801, except for 1941 because of the Second World War?
MP: …
JH: National survey.
MP: Pffff…
JH: I’ll give it to you, shall I? Census.
MP: Okay.
JH: Monty, you have seven points.
