Kevin Ashman | |
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| Born | 2 November 1959 |
| Known for | |
Kevin Clifford Ashman[1] (born 2 November 1959)[2] is an English quiz player. He is considered one of the greatest quizzers in the world[3] and has been a professional quizzer since 2002; 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]
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]
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.
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.
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.
| Medal record | ||
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| Quizzing | ||
| Representing England | ||
| British Quiz Association | ||
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1999 | Singles |
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2000 | Singles |
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2002 | Singles |
| British Championships | ||
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2004 Old Trafford | Singles |
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2005 Altrincham | Singles |
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2006 Shrewsbury | Singles |
 |
2007 Staveley | Singles |
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2008 Staveley | Singles |
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2008 Staveley | Pairs |
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2009 Derby | Singles |
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2010 Derby | Singles |
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2011 Lichfield | Singles |
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2012 Lichfield | Singles |
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2013 Hilton | Singles |
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2013 Hilton | Pairs |
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2014 Rothwell | Singles |
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2015 Newark | Singles |
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2016 Coventry | Singles |
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2017 Coventry | Singles |
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2017 Coventry | Pairs |
| World Championships | ||
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2004 Old Trafford | Singles |
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2005 Silverstone | Singles |
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2006 Newport | Singles |
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2007 Irthlingborough | Singles |
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2009 Ludlow | Singles |
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2010 Peterborough | Singles |
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2011 Lichfield | Singles |
 |
2013 Masham | Singles |
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2014 Surrey | Singles |
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2015 Burton upon Trent | Singles |
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2016 Northampton | Singles |
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2017 Northampton | Singles |
| European Championships | ||
|
2004 Ghent | Singles |
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2004 Ghent | National Team |
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2005 Tallinn | Singles |
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2005 Tallinn | National Team |
|
2006 Paris | Singles |
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2006 Paris | Pairs |
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2006 Paris | National Team |
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2006 Paris | Club |
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2007 Blackpool | National Team |
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2008 Oslo | Singles |
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2008 Oslo | Pairs |
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2008 Oslo | National Team |
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2009 Dordrecht | Singles |
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2009 Dordrecht | Pairs |
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2009 Dordrecht | National Team |
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2010 Derby | Pairs |
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2010 Derby | National Team |
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2011 Bruges | Singles |
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2011 Bruges | Pairs |
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2012 Tartu | Pairs |
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2012 Tartu | National Team |
|
2013 Liverpool | Pairs |
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2013 Liverpool | Club |
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2013 Liverpool | National Team |
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2014 Bucharest | Singles |
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2014 Bucharest | Pairs |
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2014 Bucharest | National Team |
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2015 Rotterdam | Pairs |
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2015 Rotterdam | National Team |
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2016 Athens | Singles |
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2016 Athens | Pairs |
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2016 Athens | National Team |
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2016 Athens | Club |
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2017 Zagreb | Singles |
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2017 Zagreb | Pairs |
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2017 Zagreb | National Team |
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2018 Venice | Pairs |
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2018 Venice | National Team |
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2019 Sofia | Singles |
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2019 Sofia | Pairs |
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2019 Sofia | National Team |
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2019 Sofia | Club |
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.
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.
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.[citation needed]