Kevin Ashman
Kevin Ashman at the European Quizzing Championship 2011 in Bruges, Belgium
Born (1959-11-02) 2 November 1959
Winchester, Hampshire, England
Known for

Kevin Clifford Ashman[1] (born 2 November 1959)[2] is an English quiz player. He is often considered one of the greatest quizzers in the world,[3] and since 2002 has been a professional quizzer; he has been 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.[4]

Early life

Ashman is from Winchester, Hampshire, He attended St Bede's Primary School and Peter Symonds Grammar School/College. He then graduated from the University of Southampton with a BA degree in Modern History.[5] He became interested in quizzes in his mid-twenties when he resolved to improve his knowledge of the sciences whilst working as a civil servant in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Career

Ashman had his first major television quiz success on Fifteen to One, winning Series 3 in 1989, and returned to win the special 'Millennium Edition' between past champions in 1999. In 1995, he won Mastermind, scoring a record 41 points with no passes in his heat. His specialist subject on that occasion was the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. He later became the champion after winning the final with the subject Zulu War and, in 2006, appeared on the final of the Junior version encouraging a young contestant who also chose Zulu Wars as his final subject. In 1996, the year following his Mastermind victory, he won Brain of Britain, 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.

He also won Sale of the Century, Screen Test, Quiz Night, Trivial Pursuit and The Great British Quiz.

Professional

Question-setter for Brain of Britain

Between 2002 and 2006, Ashman was the question-setter and arbiter on the Radio 4 quiz show Brain of Britain, working under the pen-name of 'Jorkins' (a name taken from David Copperfield). He was appointed to the position on the death of Ian Gillies, who worked under the pen-name 'Mycroft'. He left when production moved to Manchester.

Eggheads

Since 2003, he has competed 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 teammates, he also took part in the spin-off show Are You an Egghead?, a competition to find further members of the Egghead team, resulting in the addition of Barry Simmons in 2008 and Pat Gibson in the second series in 2009. For ten years, Ashman had never incorrectly answered a history category question. This happened for the first time on 6 January 2014.

National and international quizzing championships

Kevin Ashman
Medal record
Quizzing
Representing England
British Quiz Association
Gold medal – first place1999Singles
Gold medal – first place2000Singles
Gold medal – first place2002Singles
British Championships
Gold medal – first place2004 Old TraffordSingles
Gold medal – first place2005 AltrinchamSingles
Gold medal – first place2006 ShrewsburySingles
Silver medal – second place2007 StaveleySingles
Silver medal – second place2008 StaveleySingles
Silver medal – second place2008 StaveleyPairs
Silver medal – second place2009 DerbySingles
Silver medal – second place2010 DerbySingles
Gold medal – first place2011 LichfieldSingles
Silver medal – second place2012 LichfieldSingles
Gold medal – first place2013 HiltonSingles
Gold medal – first place2013 HiltonPairs
Silver medal – second place2014 RothwellSingles
Silver medal – second place2015 NewarkSingles
Silver medal – second place2016 CoventrySingles
Gold medal – first place2017 CoventrySingles
Gold medal – first place2017 CoventryPairs
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2004 Old TraffordSingles
Gold medal – first place2005 SilverstoneSingles
Gold medal – first place2006 NewportSingles
Silver medal – second place2007 IrthlingboroughSingles
Gold medal – first place2009 LudlowSingles
Silver medal – second place2010 PeterboroughSingles
Silver medal – second place2011 LichfieldSingles
Bronze medal – third place2013 MashamSingles
Bronze medal – third place2014 SurreySingles
Silver medal – second place2015 Burton upon TrentSingles
Gold medal – first place2016 NorthamptonSingles
Gold medal – first place2017 NorthamptonSingles
European Championships
Gold medal – first place2004 GhentSingles
Gold medal – first place2004 GhentNational Team
Gold medal – first place2005 TallinnSingles
Silver medal – second place2005 TallinnNational Team
Gold medal – first place2006 ParisSingles
Silver medal – second place2006 ParisPairs
Silver medal – second place2006 ParisNational Team
Gold medal – first place2006 ParisClub
Gold medal – first place2007 BlackpoolNational Team
Gold medal – first place2008 OsloSingles
Bronze medal – third place2008 OsloPairs
Silver medal – second place2008 OsloNational Team
Gold medal – first place2009 DordrechtSingles
Bronze medal – third place2009 DordrechtPairs
Gold medal – first place2009 DordrechtNational Team
Gold medal – first place2010 DerbyPairs
Gold medal – first place2010 DerbyNational Team
Gold medal – first place2011 BrugesSingles
Gold medal – first place2011 BrugesPairs
Gold medal – first place2012 TartuPairs
Gold medal – first place2012 TartuNational Team
Gold medal – first place2013 LiverpoolPairs
Gold medal – first place2013 LiverpoolClub
Gold medal – first place2013 LiverpoolNational Team
Silver medal – second place2014 BucharestSingles
Silver medal – second place2014 BucharestPairs
Gold medal – first place2014 BucharestNational Team
Gold medal – first place2015 RotterdamPairs
Gold medal – first place2015 RotterdamNational Team
Silver medal – second place2016 AthensSingles
Gold medal – first place2016 AthensPairs
Gold medal – first place2016 AthensNational Team
Bronze medal – third place2016 AthensClub
Bronze medal – third place2017 ZagrebSingles
Gold medal – first place2017 ZagrebPairs
Gold medal – first place2017 ZagrebNational Team
Silver medal – second place2018 VenicePairs
Bronze medal – third place2018 VeniceNational Team
Silver medal – second place2019 SofiaSingles
Gold medal – first place2019 SofiaPairs
Gold medal – first place2019 SofiaNational Team
Bronze medal – third place2019 SofiaClub

Currently ranked World/European number 1,[6] Ashman has 17 gold, 13 silver and 3 bronze medals from the British, European and World Championships, and 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 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 (organised by the same group) both individually and for nations, in Gent, Belgium. 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 of Ireland and Nico Pattyn of Belgium. In November 2005 he retained his individual title at the European Quizzing Championships in Tallinn, 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, 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, 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 of Belgium, but he took revenge by regaining the title with the England national team, beating the Belgians in the final at Blackpool. 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.

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, England, have often emerged victorious in the team elements of events run by Quizzing.co.uk, becoming National Champions at Old Trafford football stadium in 2004 and Silverstone in 2005 as part of those years' UK leg of the World Quizzing Championship event. In 2006 they became the first British team to win the European Team Championship, doing so in Paris. In 2008 they were winners in the final of the Clubs and Institutes (CIU) IDC Freeclaim sponsored national championships.

Personal life

A keen traveller, he lives in Winnall, Winchester in Hampshire. It was revealed on Eggheads on 5 October 2009 that Ashman supports Tottenham Hotspur. He also has an interest in folk music and is a keen theatregoer. He was Peter Kay and Paddy McGuinness' Phone-A-Friend for their appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on 12 January 2008.

References

  1. ↑ "Series 20, Episode 53". Eggheads. BBC2. 7 February 2019.
  2. ↑ QuizPlayers.com – Kevin Ashman Archived 10 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Spencer Brown. "Quizzing with Kevin Ashman". Financial Times. London. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  4. ↑ International Quizzing Association, results WQC and EQC 2004–2007 Archived 20 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine,
  5. ↑ Kevin Ashman (10 October 2013). The Ultimate Eggheads Quiz Book. Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN 1471131556.
  6. ↑ International Quizzing Association, Rankings Archived 20 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine,
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