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Kevin Ashman

Kevin Ashman
Kevin Ashman at the European Quizzing Championship 2011 in Bruges, Belgium
Born (1959-11-02) 2 November 1959 (age 65)
Winchester, Hampshire, England
OccupationQuiz player
Known for

Kevin Clifford Ashman[1] (born 2 November 1959)[2] is an English quiz player. He is considered one of the greatest quizzers in the world,[3] has been a professional quizzer since 2002 and he has appeared on Eggheads since 2003 and is the only Egghead to appear in every series of the show as of April 2023. He has won most of the top-level quiz tournaments in which he has taken part, among them several World and European Championships.[4]

Early life

Ashman is from Winchester, Hampshire, He attended St Bede's Primary School and Peter Symonds Grammar School/College. He then graduated from the University of Southampton with a BA degree in Modern History.[5] Ashman taught himself to read when he was three years old.[6]

Career

Ashman had his first major television quiz success on Fifteen to One, winning Series 3 in 1989, and returned to win the special 'Millennium Edition' between past champions in 1999. In 1995, he won Mastermind, scoring a record 41 points with no passes in his heat. His specialist subject on that occasion was the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. He later became the champion after winning the final with the subject Zulu War and, in 2006, appeared on the final of the Junior version encouraging a young contestant who also chose Zulu Wars as his final subject. In 1996, the year following his Mastermind victory, he won Brain of Britain, scoring 38 in his semi final, which remains the highest individual score ever made on the show. He then went on to win Brain of Brains (contested between the previous three years' Brains of Britain) and Top Brain (contested every nine years between the previous three Brain of Brains). Ashman also twice won Master Brain, a radio competition for winners and runners-up of Mastermind and Brain of Britain.

He also won Sale of the Century, Screen Test, Quiz Night, Trivial Pursuit and The Great British Quiz.

Professional

Question-setter for Brain of Britain

Between 2002 and 2006, Ashman was the question-setter and arbiter on the Radio 4 quiz show Brain of Britain, working under the pen-name of 'Jorkins' (a name taken from David Copperfield). He was appointed to the position on the death of Ian Gillies, who worked under the pen-name 'Mycroft'. He left when production moved to Manchester.

Eggheads

From 2003 until April 2023, he has competed on the British quiz show Eggheads, teamed up with other quiz champions, in which members of the public pit their wits against them in order to win a cash prize.

Alongside his Egghead teammates, he also took part in the spin-off show Are You an Egghead?, a competition to find further members of the Egghead team, resulting in the addition of Barry Simmons in 2008 and Pat Gibson in the second series in 2009.

For 10 years, Ashman had never incorrectly answered a history category question, this happened for the first time on 6 January 2014 which caused him to miss out on the final round of that day.

Ashman is known as 'The Grandmaster' on Eggheads.

National and international quizzing championships

Kevin Ashman
Medal record
Quizzing
Representing England
British Quiz Association
Gold medal – first place 1999 Singles
Gold medal – first place 2000 Singles
Gold medal – first place 2002 Singles
British Championships
Gold medal – first place 2004 Old Trafford Singles
Gold medal – first place 2005 Altrincham Singles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Shrewsbury Singles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Staveley Singles
Silver medal – second place 2008 Staveley Singles
Silver medal – second place 2008 Staveley Pairs
Silver medal – second place 2009 Derby Singles
Silver medal – second place 2010 Derby Singles
Gold medal – first place 2011 Lichfield Singles
Silver medal – second place 2012 Lichfield Singles
Gold medal – first place 2013 Hilton Singles
Gold medal – first place 2013 Hilton Pairs
Silver medal – second place 2014 Rothwell Singles
Silver medal – second place 2015 Newark Singles
Silver medal – second place 2016 Coventry Singles
Gold medal – first place 2017 Coventry Singles
Gold medal – first place 2017 Coventry Pairs
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2004 Old Trafford Singles
Gold medal – first place 2005 Silverstone Singles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Newport Singles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Irthlingborough Singles
Gold medal – first place 2009 Ludlow Singles
Silver medal – second place 2010 Peterborough Singles
Silver medal – second place 2011 Lichfield Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Masham Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Surrey Singles
Silver medal – second place 2015 Burton upon Trent Singles
Gold medal – first place 2016 Northampton Singles
Gold medal – first place 2017 Northampton Singles
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2004 Ghent Singles
Gold medal – first place 2004 Ghent National Team
Gold medal – first place 2005 Tallinn Singles
Silver medal – second place 2005 Tallinn National Team
Gold medal – first place 2006 Paris Singles
Silver medal – second place 2006 Paris Pairs
Silver medal – second place 2006 Paris National Team
Gold medal – first place 2006 Paris Club
Gold medal – first place 2007 Blackpool National Team
Gold medal – first place 2008 Oslo Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Oslo Pairs
Silver medal – second place 2008 Oslo National Team
Gold medal – first place 2009 Dordrecht Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Dordrecht Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2009 Dordrecht National Team
Gold medal – first place 2010 Derby Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2010 Derby National Team
Gold medal – first place 2011 Bruges Singles
Gold medal – first place 2011 Bruges Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2012 Tartu Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2012 Tartu National Team
Gold medal – first place 2013 Liverpool Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2013 Liverpool Club
Gold medal – first place 2013 Liverpool National Team
Silver medal – second place 2014 Bucharest Singles
Silver medal – second place 2014 Bucharest Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2014 Bucharest National Team
Gold medal – first place 2015 Rotterdam Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2015 Rotterdam National Team
Silver medal – second place 2016 Athens Singles
Gold medal – first place 2016 Athens Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2016 Athens National Team
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Athens Club
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Zagreb Singles
Gold medal – first place 2017 Zagreb Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2017 Zagreb National Team
Silver medal – second place 2018 Venice Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Venice National Team
Silver medal – second place 2019 Sofia Singles
Gold medal – first place 2019 Sofia Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2019 Sofia National Team
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Sofia Club

Currently ranked World/European number 1,[7] Ashman has 17 gold, 13 silver and 3 bronze medals from the British, European and World Championships, and has been capped 10 times for the England team, with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses. In addition he has won the British Quiz Championship seven times, as well as many other tournaments. In 2004 he won the World Quizzing Championships individual competition, a tournament organised by the newly formed International Quizzing Association (IQA), as well as the European Quizzing Championships (organised by the same group) both individually and for nations, in Gent, Belgium. He followed this up by winning the World Quizzing Championships again in July 2005. He is the first person to retain this title and, for a second year running, he finished ahead of Pat Gibson of Ireland and Nico Pattyn of Belgium. In November 2005 he retained his individual title at the European Quizzing Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. At this event he again captained the England quiz team, this time losing to Belgium in the final. In July 2006 he won the World Quizzing Championships for the third year in succession and followed this in December by again winning the European Quizzing Championships (held near Paris, France). He also won the team title with his team Milhous Warriors, but the English quiz team was once again beaten by the Belgians. In 2007 Ashman lost his World title to Pat Gibson, who narrowly beat him into runner-up spot (a position Gibson himself had occupied for four years). He also lost his European title to Nico Pattyn of Belgium, but he took revenge by regaining the title with the England national team, beating the Belgians in the final at Blackpool. In 2008, in Oslo, this situation was reversed with him being runner-up in the team competition but regaining his singles title. In 2009 he regained the World title, the first player ever to do so, when winning for the 4th time. In 2009 he narrowly missed the British title, losing by a point in a tie-break, to 2008 World Champion Mark Bytheway.

Domestic competition/Quiz leagues

Ashman is a committed quizzer and has three main teams (excluding the Eggheads team on TV). In the QLL he competes with the Allsorts (alongside former Mastermind winner Gavin Fuller) and has won the league on numerous occasions, in the Winchester Quiz League, organised by Peter Byford, he plays for the King Alfred and in national events he plays for the Milhous Warriors. The Milhous Warriors, most of whom are based in Swindon, England, have often emerged victorious in the team elements of events run by Quizzing.co.uk, becoming National Champions at Old Trafford football stadium in 2004 and Silverstone in 2005 as part of those years' UK leg of the World Quizzing Championship event. In 2006 they became the first British team to win the European Team Championship, doing so in Paris. In 2008 they were winners in the final of the Clubs and Institutes (CIU) IDC Freeclaim sponsored national championships.

Personal life

A keen traveller, he lives in Winnall, Winchester in Hampshire. It was revealed on Eggheads on 5 October 2009 that Ashman supports Tottenham Hotspur. He also has an interest in folk music and is a keen theatregoer. He was Peter Kay and Paddy McGuinness' Phone-A-Friend for their appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on 12 January 2008.[citation needed]

In April 2024, it was revealed that Ashman is an avid watcher of the BBC Two programme University Challenge.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Series 20, Episode 53". Eggheads. BBC2. 7 February 2019.
  2. ^ QuizPlayers.com – Kevin Ashman Archived 10 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Spencer Brown. "Quizzing with Kevin Ashman". Financial Times. London. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  4. ^ International Quizzing Association, results WQC and EQC 2004–2007 Archived 20 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine,
  5. ^ Kevin Ashman (10 October 2013). The Ultimate Eggheads Quiz Book. Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN 978-1471131554.
  6. ^ "Egghead champion, Kevin Ashman, says the fame game is not for him". 5 January 2009.
  7. ^ International Quizzing Association, Rankings Archived 20 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine,
  8. ^ "Eggheads quiz champion guests at Hampshire Women's Institute meeting". 23 April 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.Wik.ipedia.Pro.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Ashman&oldid=1257725069"

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