Barry Lee (L) on ‘Sale of the Century’ in 1986, with the show’s host Tony Barber (R).
Hello, and welcome to the antepenultimate instalment of Barry’s seven-part series on his quiz show adventures. You join us this week in the early 80s, after Barry’s triumph on Ford Superquiz, but before his winning run on Sale of the Century…
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= Great Temptation Lives Again =
After what seemed like a very long five years, Great Temptation returned in practically identical form as Sale of the Century in June 1980. The “mad minute” had yet to be invented, so the relatively limited number of questions meant that scores of more than about $80 were very respectable – as had been the case with Great Temptation. One sad change was that George Black had passed away in 1978 and was replaced, for the first few years, by Reg Barry as question writer and Professor Sam Ball as the in-studio adjudicator – roles eventually taken on by the redoubtable Fran Powell. Watching that very first episode, which is currently out there on YouTube, is a reminder of just how much questions have changed in the intervening years – a fair number on British history and even one about the Hanseatic League (the ‘what’ league?) Those older style questions were part of the quiz world I had grown up in, so I didn’t waste time in getting myself to an audition – just in case the reborn show, like its predecessor, fell foul in the ratings to a popular soap opera.
The audition was the usual thing – a fairly large group of hopefuls gathered early evening in a community hall, each with a sheet of paper with space for answers to 40 questions. Only two or three scored over 30, and my mid-30s score was the highest on the night. The months rolled on and I heard nothing, but in the meantime I had been through the same process for Ford Superquiz and that had come good for me with the call in the latter part of 1981. After the success with the Ford show, I felt my chances of getting on Sale were limited. Even though they were on the same network and from the same production house (Grundy’s), there had been a rivalry of sorts between the two shows, and my strong association with the Ford show, along with what I guessed would be a spirit of wanting to give other competitors a sporting chance, probably meant that I was moved to the back of the queue. Whatever the score on all of that, the call finally came in early 1986. It was all very last minute and rushed. I was on holidays interstate, staying with friends when Grundy’s called my workplace after a contestant who had been lined up for the following Sunday’s recording pulled out at very short notice. Happily, the call was taken by a colleague who knew where I was and how to get in touch. It was straight into it on that Sunday!
I was on the first of the five shows recorded that day and managed my best score – $161, after spending $9 on a fob watch. I’ve read the comments from David Poltorak and others here about the dangers of the second night. The close shave for me came later – on my second last night. By the end of those first five shows I had scored enough for all of the prizes other than the cash jackpot. As with Ford Superquiz, Sale became an exercise in delayed gratification, although not as drawn out. My appearances bookended the 1986 Ashes series between Australia and England which ran for three weeks, so it was a four week gap between my first and last recording days.
Things were going well in the first show of my last recording day – my sixth episode – but not so well that I thought I could have scored the $139 needed to get the 700 Sale dollars required for the cash jackpot and other prizes. With that thought, I was tempted by an offer of a piano and $2500 in cash in return for 16 Sale dollars. That took me back from $80 to $64… at which point another contestant, who’d been ambling along 40 or more behind, sprung into life and by the time we started the “mad minute”, was very close on my heels. After the first seven questions in the “mad minute” I was behind $74 to $80, with the challenger on a roll, and I could see my game show life flashing before my eyes with about 30 seconds to go. The exhilarating prospect of an upset win seemed to get the better of the challenger, who then gave three wrong answers. There was time for three correct answers from me, which was enough for an $89 to $65 win – phew! The final show went more comfortably ($100 to $70) and a journey on- and off-camera with the Great Temptation / Sale of the Century format, which had started 15 years earlier, came to a very happy end.
Barry on ‘Sale of the Century’ in 1986, with the show’s host Tony Barber.
My final episode aired on ANZAC Day, which made it doubly memorable. The cash jackpot had gone off a few weeks before I started, but was still a very welcome boost to the finances and there was some other nice stuff including, as Kath & Kim would say, a Specific Cruise with a classy Scandinavian line.
Aside from the very happy outcome, one aspect of the Sale experience which I found particularly interesting is what it showed me about the way that memory works. In the four years between Superquiz and Sale, I had watched Sale as often as I could and was still interested in general knowledge quizzing, but with other things to get on with, and with the odds of hearing from Sale seemingly dwindling as time marched on, when the call finally came I was conscious of being out of practice and having forgotten a lot of what I formerly had at my fingertips. In the few days I had to prepare before the first recording session, I dug out my old note pad from Superquiz days and a few pithy single-volume reference works. There was nowhere near enough time to get through all of them, but as I quickly got back into it, I found that whole slabs of memory started coming back, triggered by reading the most salient bits. I wouldn’t pretend that everything came back to me, but enough to get me through Sale reasonably safely. The key to it seemed to have been a relatively systematic approach, with the information I had earlier memorised grouped fairly logically and coherently – working through series of random questions might be good for practise and filling in gaps, but not the best use of time when time is at a premium. The only other advice I would offer from the Superquiz and Sale experiences is about meals: For the late morning/afternoon recording sessions I started the day with a solid breakfast and then had a very light lunch – just grapes and apple juice, so that as little blood as possible was diverted from the brain to the digestive bits. At the end of the day, a hamburger with the lot and a milkshake at the airport was something to look forward to.
Once it was all over, I fairly quickly decided that Sale of the Century would be my last quiz show. I wanted to get on with other things, so I passed on the chance to return for Sale championships and have not pursued any other shows in the many years since – which is why I have absolutely no qualms in sharing here anything and everything I know (still remember) that might be useful to quiz show hopefuls.
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And I’m so glad you ARE sharing it all, Barry – again, thank you! Join us here again next Tuesday when Barry goes deeper into his studying and revision techniques. Insider training tips from a two-time quiz show champion? You won’t want to miss that!
Oh, and if you’re in Melbourne, my Comedy Festival show For The Term of His Natural Lies now has only SIX PERFORMANCES LEFT! From tonight until April 20, at 8:45 PM. Tickets for these last few remaining performances are available RIGHT HERE:
Don’t miss out!
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