Joke entrant surprised himself

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 14

Joke entrant surprised himself

For someone who failed University Entrance the first time around and did not pass anything well enough to get a bursary in his seventh form year, Grant Hughes has not done too badly.

The 23-year-old bank teller from Rotorua, whose subject was World Cup soccer finals 19301982, last night became New Zealand Mastermind 1986.

Grant Hughes says he entered “Mastermind” as a joke and never thought he would get on to the programme.

“If you had told me 12 months ago that this idiot could be “Mastermind” I would have said "what an indictment on this country.” But he admits that he has been studying his subject “non stop” for the last five months, since learrning he had been accepted for “Mastermind.” It meant getting up at 6 a.m. and working until 10 o’clock every night.

Soccer has been a consuming interest since he started playing at the age of seven. He played in the first team for his school, Rotorua Lakes High, and ’has been playing for Rotorua Suburbs for the

past six years. He hopes to play as goalkeeper next season when the team becomes a first division side.

He has an extensive library of soccer books and magazines built up over the years, swelled by presents from relatives, and he keeps up with overseas events by having magazines airmailed to him.

When he was 16, he watched a “Mastermind” contestant with the same topic and found that he could beat the contestant. But now he knows what it is like under the lights.

“It’s nerve wracking! I’m very glad I went first,” he says.

The "Mastermind” appearances are not the only television appearances that Grant Hughes has made recently.

After meeting Kevin Adshead at a sportsman evening in Rotorua, he was invited to appear on the panel for the televised opening ceremony of the 1986 World Cup. That brought him to the Auckland television studios at 5 a.m., and in the afternoon of the same day he was back again for the “Mastermind” semi-finals.