Tuesday 20 September 2022 01:38 AM CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: From war reporter to quiz host, Clive Myrie is a true ... trends now
Mastermind
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Only Connect
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University Challenge
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Clive Myrie must have more different hats than Harrods' millinery department. The 58-year-old journalist has been an ever-present on the BBC this year, notably reporting from Kyiv at the start of the war in Ukraine.
All this week, he's been to the fore as a newsreader, maintaining a difficult balance in the wake of the Queen's death, careful to appear sombre without seeming mawkish or melodramatic.
In a completely different role, he's the host as Mastermind (BBC2) returns — the inquisitor with a twinkle. If you stopped by the BBC canteen at lunchtime, it wouldn't be surprising to discover that Clive makes the sandwiches. Given his talents, he probably does the best cheese-and-pickle-on-granary at Broadcasting House.
Mastermind is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the gameshow flagship was a suitable choice to mark the tentative return to normality for TV schedules, after the upheavals of the past 12 days.
Monday night on BBC2 is traditionally quiz night, and 90 minutes of brainteasers — entertaining without being frivolous — felt like an appropriate diversion from national mourning.
All this week, Clive Myrie's been to the fore as a newsreader, maintaining a difficult balance in the wake of the Queen's death, careful to appear sombre without seeming mawkish or melodramatic
Mastermind categories are less rigorous than they once were, though. The first contestant, Ruth, was old-fashioned, and her choice of subject, the life and works of Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, would have won the approval of original host Magnus Magnusson.
But the other specialist choices were quirkier, including the novels
