Kevin Ashman
Encyclopedia
Kevin Ashman from Winchester, Hampshire in England is one of the world's most successful quiz
Quiz
A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly. In some countries, a quiz is also a brief assessment used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills.Quizzes are usually scored in points and many...

 players and since 2002 a professional quizzer, an Egghead since 2003. He has won most of the top-level quiz tournaments in which he has taken part, among them several World and European Championships.

Candidate on TV and radio shows

Ashman's first major success was on Fifteen to One
Fifteen to One
Fifteen to One was a popular general knowledge quiz show broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. It ran from 4 January 1988 to 19 December 2003, and had a reputation for being one of the toughest quizzes on TV. Throughout the show's run it was presented and produced by William G. Stewart...

, winning series three in 1989, and returned to win the special 'Millennium Edition' between past champions on New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...

 1999.
In 1995 he won a Mastermind-show, scoring 41 with 0 passes in his heat, which remains a record to this day. His specialist subject on that occasion was the life and work of Martin Luther King. He later also won the yearly final.
The following year he won Brain of Britain
Brain of Britain
Brain of Britain is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.-History:It began as a slot in What Do You Know? in 1953 before becoming a programme in its own right in 1967. It was chaired by Franklin Engelmann until his death in 1972.-Format:The format of the quiz is simple...

, 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.

And he won Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century is a television game show format that has been screened in several countries in various incarnations since 1969. The show found its biggest success in Australia, where it aired weeknights from 1980 to 2001...

, Screen Test, Quiz Night, Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit (UK game show)
Trivial Pursuit was a game show loosely based on the board game of the same name. The show first aired on BBC1 from 4 September to 18 December 1990 hosted by Rory McGrath. It was revived on The Family Channel from 1993 to 1994 hosted by Tony Slattery. Questions were written by the UK Trivial...

and The Great British Quiz.

Question-setter for Brain of Britain

Between 2002 and 2006 he was the question-setter and arbiter on the Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 quiz show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...

 Brain of Britain, working under the pen-name of 'Jorkins' (a name taken from David Copperfield
David Copperfield (novel)
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial...

). He was appointed to the position on the death of Ian Gillies
Ian Gillies
Ian Gillies , known to many simply as Mycroft from BBC Radio 4's Brain of Britain, was an accomplished quiz player and question setter in the United Kingdom...

, who worked under the pen-name 'Mycroft'. He left when the team was moved to Manchester.

Eggheads

Since 2003 he competes 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 team mates he also took part in the spin-off show Are You an Egghead?
Are You an Egghead?
Are You an Egghead? was a BBC quiz show presented by Dermot Murnaghan. It is a spin off from the quiz show Eggheads, with its goal to find a further Egghead to complement the existing team. The first series was aired weekdays from 20 October to 2 December 2008 and was won by Barry Simmons...

a competition to find further members of the Egghead team resulting in the addition of Barry Simmons
Barry Simmons
Barry Simmons was the winner of the BBC Two show Are You an Egghead? and as a result became the sixth Egghead, joining Kevin Ashman, C. J...

 in 2008 and Pat Gibson
Pat Gibson
Pat Gibson is an Irish multiple quiz show winner and a panellist on Eggheads.He was born and educated in Ireland but has lived in the United Kingdom for many years, and has represented England in the European Quizzing Championships since 2005.- Early life and education :Pat was born in Galway in...

 in the second series in 2009. He is widely regarded as the strongest of the Eggheads, and has never answered a question incorrectly in the History category. However, the Food & Drink category is known to be a weakness for him.

National and international titles

Currently ranked World/European number 1, Ashman has 16 gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

, 10 silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 and 2 bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 medals from the British, European and World Championships, he 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
British Quiz Championship
The British Quiz Championship, also termed the British Quizzing Championship, commonly abbreviated BQC is the United Kingdom's most prestigious quiz competition. The current competition are organised since 2004 by Chris Jones' and IQA-CEO Jane Allen's company Quizzing Ltd...

 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
European Quizzing Championships
The European Quizzing Championships are an annual multi-disciplinary quiz event, in which representatives from various countries compete as individuals, teams and pairs. The last championships took place in Bruges, Belgium 4-6 November 2011...

 (organised by the same group) both individually and for nations, in Gent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. 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
Pat Gibson
Pat Gibson is an Irish multiple quiz show winner and a panellist on Eggheads.He was born and educated in Ireland but has lived in the United Kingdom for many years, and has represented England in the European Quizzing Championships since 2005.- Early life and education :Pat was born in Galway in...

 of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 and Nico Pattyn
Nico Pattyn
Nico Pattyn is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. He became European Quizzing Champion in November 2007, claiming the title in Blackpool. He was the first to beat English quiz legend, Kevin Ashman at the European championships individuals...

 of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. In November 2005 he retained his individual title at the European Quizzing Championships in Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

 (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
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan 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
Pat Gibson
Pat Gibson is an Irish multiple quiz show winner and a panellist on Eggheads.He was born and educated in Ireland but has lived in the United Kingdom for many years, and has represented England in the European Quizzing Championships since 2005.- Early life and education :Pat was born in Galway in...

 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
Nico Pattyn
Nico Pattyn is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. He became European Quizzing Champion in November 2007, claiming the title in Blackpool. He was the first to beat English quiz legend, Kevin Ashman at the European championships individuals...

 of Belgium, but he took revenge by reconquering the title with the English national team, beating the Belgians in the final at Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

. 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
Mark Bytheway
Mark Bytheway was an England International Quiz player best known for becoming Quizzing World Champion in 2008 and winning the Top Brain competition of Brain of Britain.-Brain of Britain:...

.

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
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...

, England, have often emerged victorious in the team elements of events run by Quizzing.co.uk, becoming National Champions at Old Trafford
Old Trafford
Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...

 football stadium in 2004 and Silverstone
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Banbury...

 in 2005 as part of those years' UK leg of the World Quizzing Championship
World Quizzing Championship
The World Quizzing Championship is an individual quiz contest organised by the International Quizzing Association...

 event. In 2006 they became the first British team to win the European Team Championship
European Quizzing Championships
The European Quizzing Championships are an annual multi-disciplinary quiz event, in which representatives from various countries compete as individuals, teams and pairs. The last championships took place in Bruges, Belgium 4-6 November 2011...

, doing so in Paris. In 2008 they were winners in the final of the Clubs and Institutes (CIU
Working Men's Club and Institute Union
The Working Men's Club and Institute Union is a voluntary association of private members' clubs in Great Britain & Northern Ireland, with about 3,000 associate clubs. One club in the Republic of Ireland, the City of Dublin Working Men's Club is also affiliated. Most social clubs are affiliated to...

) IDC Freeclaim sponsored national championships.

Personal life

Ashman became interested in quizzes in his mid-twenties when, having graduated from the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...

 with a degree in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, he resolved to improve his knowledge of the sciences.

Before working in radio and TV he worked as a civil servant in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....

.

A keen traveller, he lives in Winchester in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. It was revealed on Eggheads on 5 October 2009 that Ashman supports Tottenham Hotspur. He is also a keen theatre goer. He was Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...

 and Patrick McGuinness
Patrick McGuinness
Patrick Joseph "Paddy" McGuinness is an English stand-up comedian, comedy actor, television personality and presenter. Born in Farnworth, Bolton, he is best known for his performances alongside comedian Peter Kay, and as the host of dating programme Take Me Out.-Early life:He attended Mount St....

's Phone-A-Friend on 12 January 2008 UK edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...

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