November 2001. I enter UCL’s selection process to pick the team for legendary quiz show University Challenge. Despite having been at the university for 5 years and always having been excessively sure of my phenomenal recall of pointless trivia, this is the first time I’ve got around to entering. Unfortunately, after I get through the first selection round, they tell me the second round will take place while I’ll be on holiday in Australia. Given the choice between a shot at TV fame and three weeks in the Australian summer, I head south. While in Australia, I spend an extremely memorable four days travelling along the Great Ocean Road. This will be crucial three years later.

November 2002. Let’s have another go at this. This year, I manage to stay in the country through all the university selection rounds, and by the time the prospective contestants are whittled down to four, I am among them. Now to take on Granada, who give every team entering a quiz and an interview to see if they are a) clever enough and b) charismatic enough to look good on the show. Who knows whether we failed on a) or b), but either way, all UCL has to show for its efforts this year is a big fat rejection letter from Granada.

November 2003. The old ‘third time lucky’ trick. Once more into the breach, for three rounds of 100 questions, against UCL’s finest trivia bores. An information-sponge for a brain and a sense of television destiny carry me through to the final four for a second time. So who were the fine brains who also made the cut?