Name? Mark Eaden. Occupation? Maths teacher. Specialist subject? UEFA Champions League finals. And then what should have been the next question: “What’s a Portsmouth fan doing answering questions about Champions League finals?”
Fortunately, this contestant’s knowledge of the competition extends beyond Pompey’s efforts on the European stage – “The closest we’ve got is a UEFA Cup game against AC Milan back in 2008,” he says. That titbit alone is indicative of his ability to retain facts and figures, something he further proved on UK quiz show Mastermind by answering 11 of the 12 questions he was asked on his chosen topic. Which club beat AC Milan 1-0 in May 1993? Marseille. Which club reached their second Champions League final in 2013? Dortmund. And so on.
The prep work was informed by Eaden’s day job. “I used quite a lot of techniques that I use with the kids at school when I’m teaching them how to revise, like making flashcards,” he says. “I also got a PDF from the UEFA website, about 20 pages, that had all the data you could want. Then I made a notebook of all the finals and tested myself.”
To be fair, it wasn’t like he was learning from scratch. “I had a fairly good base of knowledge,” he says. “Before the show I could’ve named all the winners of the Champions League and the scorelines. But I did quite a lot of research on things like red cards and making sure I knew all the notable substitutions – one of them being Harry Kewell coming off in the first half of the 2005 final and being replaced by Vladimír Šmicer, which ended up being a question on the show.”
Then there’s the question of how he dealt with the pressure. “I did feel like I was lining up for a Champions League game; the nerves in the build-up were the main issue,” he says. “But I suppose it’s like when you play football: once I was out there, I felt fine.”
Name? Mark Eaden. Occupation? Maths teacher. Specialist subject? UEFA Champions League finals. And then what should have been the next question: “What’s a Portsmouth fan doing answering questions about Champions League finals?”
Fortunately, this contestant’s knowledge of the competition extends beyond Pompey’s efforts on the European stage – “The closest we’ve got is a UEFA Cup game against AC Milan back in 2008,” he says. That titbit alone is indicative of his ability to retain facts and figures, something he further proved on UK quiz show Mastermind by answering 11 of the 12 questions he was asked on his chosen topic. Which club beat AC Milan 1-0 in May 1993? Marseille. Which club reached their second Champions League final in 2013? Dortmund. And so on.
The prep work was informed by Eaden’s day job. “I used quite a lot of techniques that I use with the kids at school when I’m teaching them how to revise, like making flashcards,” he says. “I also got a PDF from the UEFA website, about 20 pages, that had all the data you could want. Then I made a notebook of all the finals and tested myself.”
To be fair, it wasn’t like he was learning from scratch. “I had a fairly good base of knowledge,” he says. “Before the show I could’ve named all the winners of the Champions League and the scorelines. But I did quite a lot of research on things like red cards and making sure I knew all the notable substitutions – one of them being Harry Kewell coming off in the first half of the 2005 final and being replaced by Vladimír Šmicer, which ended up being a question on the show.”
Then there’s the question of how he dealt with the pressure. “I did feel like I was lining up for a Champions League game; the nerves in the build-up were the main issue,” he says. “But I suppose it’s like when you play football: once I was out there, I felt fine.”
Name? Mark Eaden. Occupation? Maths teacher. Specialist subject? UEFA Champions League finals. And then what should have been the next question: “What’s a Portsmouth fan doing answering questions about Champions League finals?”
Fortunately, this contestant’s knowledge of the competition extends beyond Pompey’s efforts on the European stage – “The closest we’ve got is a UEFA Cup game against AC Milan back in 2008,” he says. That titbit alone is indicative of his ability to retain facts and figures, something he further proved on UK quiz show Mastermind by answering 11 of the 12 questions he was asked on his chosen topic. Which club beat AC Milan 1-0 in May 1993? Marseille. Which club reached their second Champions League final in 2013? Dortmund. And so on.
The prep work was informed by Eaden’s day job. “I used quite a lot of techniques that I use with the kids at school when I’m teaching them how to revise, like making flashcards,” he says. “I also got a PDF from the UEFA website, about 20 pages, that had all the data you could want. Then I made a notebook of all the finals and tested myself.”
To be fair, it wasn’t like he was learning from scratch. “I had a fairly good base of knowledge,” he says. “Before the show I could’ve named all the winners of the Champions League and the scorelines. But I did quite a lot of research on things like red cards and making sure I knew all the notable substitutions – one of them being Harry Kewell coming off in the first half of the 2005 final and being replaced by Vladimír Šmicer, which ended up being a question on the show.”
Then there’s the question of how he dealt with the pressure. “I did feel like I was lining up for a Champions League game; the nerves in the build-up were the main issue,” he says. “But I suppose it’s like when you play football: once I was out there, I felt fine.”
Name? Mark Eaden. Occupation? Maths teacher. Specialist subject? UEFA Champions League finals. And then what should have been the next question: “What’s a Portsmouth fan doing answering questions about Champions League finals?”
Fortunately, this contestant’s knowledge of the competition extends beyond Pompey’s efforts on the European stage – “The closest we’ve got is a UEFA Cup game against AC Milan back in 2008,” he says. That titbit alone is indicative of his ability to retain facts and figures, something he further proved on UK quiz show Mastermind by answering 11 of the 12 questions he was asked on his chosen topic. Which club beat AC Milan 1-0 in May 1993? Marseille. Which club reached their second Champions League final in 2013? Dortmund. And so on.
The prep work was informed by Eaden’s day job. “I used quite a lot of techniques that I use with the kids at school when I’m teaching them how to revise, like making flashcards,” he says. “I also got a PDF from the UEFA website, about 20 pages, that had all the data you could want. Then I made a notebook of all the finals and tested myself.”
To be fair, it wasn’t like he was learning from scratch. “I had a fairly good base of knowledge,” he says. “Before the show I could’ve named all the winners of the Champions League and the scorelines. But I did quite a lot of research on things like red cards and making sure I knew all the notable substitutions – one of them being Harry Kewell coming off in the first half of the 2005 final and being replaced by Vladimír Šmicer, which ended up being a question on the show.”
Then there’s the question of how he dealt with the pressure. “I did feel like I was lining up for a Champions League game; the nerves in the build-up were the main issue,” he says. “But I suppose it’s like when you play football: once I was out there, I felt fine.”
Name? Mark Eaden. Occupation? Maths teacher. Specialist subject? UEFA Champions League finals. And then what should have been the next question: “What’s a Portsmouth fan doing answering questions about Champions League finals?”
Fortunately, this contestant’s knowledge of the competition extends beyond Pompey’s efforts on the European stage – “The closest we’ve got is a UEFA Cup game against AC Milan back in 2008,” he says. That titbit alone is indicative of his ability to retain facts and figures, something he further proved on UK quiz show Mastermind by answering 11 of the 12 questions he was asked on his chosen topic. Which club beat AC Milan 1-0 in May 1993? Marseille. Which club reached their second Champions League final in 2013? Dortmund. And so on.
The prep work was informed by Eaden’s day job. “I used quite a lot of techniques that I use with the kids at school when I’m teaching them how to revise, like making flashcards,” he says. “I also got a PDF from the UEFA website, about 20 pages, that had all the data you could want. Then I made a notebook of all the finals and tested myself.”
To be fair, it wasn’t like he was learning from scratch. “I had a fairly good base of knowledge,” he says. “Before the show I could’ve named all the winners of the Champions League and the scorelines. But I did quite a lot of research on things like red cards and making sure I knew all the notable substitutions – one of them being Harry Kewell coming off in the first half of the 2005 final and being replaced by Vladimír Šmicer, which ended up being a question on the show.”
Then there’s the question of how he dealt with the pressure. “I did feel like I was lining up for a Champions League game; the nerves in the build-up were the main issue,” he says. “But I suppose it’s like when you play football: once I was out there, I felt fine.”
Name? Mark Eaden. Occupation? Maths teacher. Specialist subject? UEFA Champions League finals. And then what should have been the next question: “What’s a Portsmouth fan doing answering questions about Champions League finals?”
Fortunately, this contestant’s knowledge of the competition extends beyond Pompey’s efforts on the European stage – “The closest we’ve got is a UEFA Cup game against AC Milan back in 2008,” he says. That titbit alone is indicative of his ability to retain facts and figures, something he further proved on UK quiz show Mastermind by answering 11 of the 12 questions he was asked on his chosen topic. Which club beat AC Milan 1-0 in May 1993? Marseille. Which club reached their second Champions League final in 2013? Dortmund. And so on.
The prep work was informed by Eaden’s day job. “I used quite a lot of techniques that I use with the kids at school when I’m teaching them how to revise, like making flashcards,” he says. “I also got a PDF from the UEFA website, about 20 pages, that had all the data you could want. Then I made a notebook of all the finals and tested myself.”
To be fair, it wasn’t like he was learning from scratch. “I had a fairly good base of knowledge,” he says. “Before the show I could’ve named all the winners of the Champions League and the scorelines. But I did quite a lot of research on things like red cards and making sure I knew all the notable substitutions – one of them being Harry Kewell coming off in the first half of the 2005 final and being replaced by Vladimír Šmicer, which ended up being a question on the show.”
Then there’s the question of how he dealt with the pressure. “I did feel like I was lining up for a Champions League game; the nerves in the build-up were the main issue,” he says. “But I suppose it’s like when you play football: once I was out there, I felt fine.”
