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A veteran quizzer won the most recent series of Mastermind today after achieving a perfect score in her specialist subject.
Alice Walker, 67, a retired IT consultant from Derbyshire, scored a total of 33 points – six points ahead of her nearest rival and the highest score of the whole series.
She answered 14 out of 14 questions correctly on her specialist subject of the Peak District National Park and scored a further 19 out of 22 on the general knowledge round despite ‘not preparing’.
Mrs Walker, whose victory marks the 50th anniversary of the show, appeared on The Chase, Eggheads and Fifteen To One before plucking up the courage to compete in Mastermind.

Champion: Alice Walker, 67, pictured, a retired IT consultant from Derbyshire, scored a total of 33 points – six points ahead of her nearest rival and the highest score of the whole series
‘The Chase was an absolute disaster from start to finish, it was just really bad but it didn’t put me off from competing in Mastermind,’ she said.
‘Eggheads wasn’t too bad, we still didn’t win, I was left on my own after all my team-mates got knocked out. I thought about doing Mastermind for a long time.
‘I think originally I thought you had to know a lot about your specialist subject before you applied and I used to think I don’t know enough about anything, but then I realised people just picked a subject that they’re interested in and learn up about it, so that’s what I did.’
The quizzer said getting to the final ‘completely exceeded’ her expectations and exclaimed ‘oh my god’ when she realised she had won.

Quiz veteran: Mrs Walker appeared on The Chase, Eggheads (pictured) and Fifteen To One before plucking up the courage to compete in Mastermind
‘It’s amazing. I wanted to apply before I got any older because as you get older your mind doesn’t work so quickly, but I feel that I am still quite sharp with my mind,’ she said.
‘Somebody I know reached the semi-final last year and I just thought let’s just go for it, bite the bullet and apply, I never for one moment expected to win.’
On the show, her partner Haydn said: ‘Alice is very focused with her quizzing, she spends hours reading all the books on her specialist subject, making notes and testing herself. I have tried testing her from her notes but she just knows it all so it’s a bit pointless really.’
Similarly, her daughter Laura said her mother had ‘waited a long time’ to appear on the show and it was ‘her time’ to win.

Keeping her cool: Mrs Walker answered 14 out of 14 questions correctly on her specialist subject of the Peak District National Park and scored a further 19 on the general knowledge round despite ‘not preparing’
Ms Walker’s other specialist subjects throughout the competition were Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in the heat and Julia Margaret Cameron in the semi-final, in which she received a perfect score.
The final marked BBC news journalist Clive Myrie’s first series as host of the long-running quiz show.
He replaced veteran journalist John Humphrys who stepped down last year after 18 years in the role.
Source: Daily Mail