Female quizzer blows the men away to reach Mastermind semi-finals

Madeleine Grant, 25, won the opening round of the show with a score of 15 points in her specialist subject, the Harry Potter books.

She then scored 10 points in the more difficult general knowledge round. Her total score of 25 was enough to beat her opponents and progress to the semi-finals, where her specialist subject will be Jane Austen and her works.

Madeleine discovered her talent for quizzing first as a pupil at Arnold Lodge School in Leamington and later at King Edward VI High School for Girls in Edgbaston.

She is now one of the only women participating in the highly competitive London Quiz League.

Despite this, Madeleine did not think she was going to win. She said: “I was very surprised to win my round, as it was so close and very nerve-wracking.

“I really enjoyed preparing for Mastermind, as I’ve been a big fan of quizzing since my time at school, and it was a great excuse to dip back into the Harry Potter books.”

This was Madeline’s second outing on Mastermind. Back in 2014, aged only 21, she became one of the youngest ever female contestants and came second in her heat, just one mark behind the winner.

She scored highly on her specialist subject, the novels of EM Forster.

Madeleine even entered the record books as one half of the only mother-daughter combination ever to take part in the same Mastermind series.

She outperformed her mother Sally Jones, herself a former semi-finalist.

She also appeared on University Challenge as the captain of St Hilda’s College Oxford in 2013.