Here I am presenting Max Vidal with his £100 prize for winning our Guardian Pick The Score League for 2010. Max ran away with the league with 325 points which was some 45 ahead of Jenny who scooped our £50 second prize whilst I took third with 276. Max's performance was quite outstanding and he finished 8th overall in the country out of many thousands of entrants. Well done Max. Would you like to give me some betting tips next season? Spare a thought for last year's winner Tony Lowe. Tony's fantastic record of predicting took a tumble when his own team Burnley somehow found themselves in the Premiership. Being a true clarets fan Tony let his heart rule his head and his persistence in predicting Burnley wins cost his dearly.
Which leads me very neatly to the hidden gem that is Burnley's Towneley Hall. This lovely old building set in parkland on the outskirts of the town is the setting for the BBC's forthcoming new antiques show Antiques Master which is currently in production. 32 contestants are battling it out to be the most knowledgeable amateur antiques enthusiast in the country and win the coveted title of Antiques Master. Unfortunately for me I was the 33rd contestant and I agreed to go to the hall every day for the last four days (that's why there's been no blog - nothing to do with my negotiations with Nick Clegg) just in case one of the chosen few had travel problems or fell ill. Happily (for them) everything went smoothly and they all turned up safe and well although when one young lady arrived with a fourteen week old baby who was being breast fed I thought that my time might have come.
Being used to the self imposed solitary confinement that I have been putting myself through for the last few weeks, the waiting alone was not a big problem although the runners forgot to bring the promised daily newspapers twice leaving me crawling up the walls a couple of times. I had to arrive at 8am and didn't leave until the first round of the show was in the can so it was a ten hour wait on three of the four days. However the assistant producer Nicola kindly agreed to let me sit in the studio for the filming of the final show and that made up for the days of pacing backwards and forwards. It was fascinating to watch the show in production and I think that it will be a big success.
I can't tell you about it as it would spoil things but it has two great presenters in Sandi Toksvig and Eric Knowles. Whilst neither will be blogging about meeting me, both were kind enough to make me extremely welcome and I enjoyed sitting next to Sandi and discussing the political situation with her. I imagine that this week's News Quiz on Friday on Radio 4 at 6.30pm will be quite hilarious. She was truly charming and was kind enough to thank me for my four day sojourn. Eric promised me that I would get on the next series but I suspect that the show will be a big success and there will be thousands more applicants next time and I won't hold him to it. Do watch it when it comes on. I have met all the contestants and there is a great mix of ages,characters and knowledge. And do visit Towneley Hall if you get the chance. It is a superb place run by the local council and houses a fabulous collection that (unfortunately) I didn't get the opportunity to see.
And finally on the subject, a word of praise for the production crew who were, without exception, extremely hospitable. I got to talk to a number of the runners, the make up artist, wardrobe manager, the floor manger and the assistant floor manager and they were all a credit. Mind you, it is an extremely pleasant working environment and a great way to make a living.
Which is how our son Paul earns his money. Paul's show A League Of Their Own is approaching the end of the current series on Sky 1 on Thursday at 9pm. Starring James Corden, the show has been great and Paul emailed me to say that you can now play the game yourself on the Sky website. Give it a try by clicking
here. and see if you can beat my score of 78%.
I'll finish today with a final take on politics. Nice bloke that Alistair Campbell eh.
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