BEATEN BY OUISTITI

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 893, 14 September 1956, Page 11

BEATEN BY OUISTITI

J. W.

GOODWIN

tells the

odd story of Antony Carr

F you know what to do with an ouistiti, you are better than the Brain of Britain; that is, if you also know the answers to a number of other simple questions such as the site of thé first English cricket club and the design on a £1 postage stamp. The Brain of Britain, in the tetms of Twenty Questions, is animal, human, and living at present. It is not one of the much-publicised mechanical brains such as Ernie, which will pick the witning numbers in the British premium bonds scheme-national lottery if you prefer it. Ernie’s full name is Eléctronic Random Number Indicator Equipment; but the name of the Brain of Britain is Antony Carr. He was picked by the BBC after three yeats of ‘one of its most popular quiz programmes, What Do You Know? After fouf contests he became the "Brain of 1956," and was then pitted against the winners in 1954 and 1955.

Antony is an 18-year-old student who | earns 10/- a week on a newspaper round in Wales while waiting to go to university, but both his adversaries wete schoolmasters. Unfair? Yes, most unfair-but to the teachets. The stiident gained 24 marks, the masters 12 and five. Among the questions and some of Tony’s cofrect answers were: What is the difference between a gazelle and a gabelle?-One is a stall African antelope and the other was a tax, especially a salt tax. What are Whites, Boodles and Brooks’s?-London clubs. Whete was the first cricket club in England founded? — Broadhalfpeniny Down, Hambleden.

What unit is the Queen’s bodyguard for Scotland? The Royal Company of Archers. What picture is on a £1 Uhited Kingdom postage stamp?-Wind-sof Castle. How old was Shelley when he died? -One month under 30. What is meant by flash point?--The lowest temperature at which the vapour from an oil or spirit will ignite. After receiving £5 and a diploma from the |. BBC, Antony Carr was asked why he didn’t try for some of the £1000-and-more prizes in commercial television quizzes, but the boy brain replied: "I think I'd be too nervous-and after all, I’m a bit young." Not old enough yet to know what to do with afi ouistiti. He might use it to turn a key from the olitside of a locked door when the key was on the inside, Or he might cage it, becatise it is a type of marmoset, or small American monkey.