On New Year’s Day, Iron Maiden frontman and aviation buff Bruce Dickinson, will be one of the contestants on the BBC’s University Challenge Christmas special.
He’ll be joined by broadcaster Adrian Chiles, TV chef Ching He Huang and science writer Marcus Chown from his old university, Queen Mary College London. Together they will pit their intellects against the Cardiff University team featuring BBC news presenter Laura Trevelyan and former cycling world champion Nicole Cooke.
The University Challenge Christmas specials see more than 50 prominent alumni from 14 universities and colleges compete against one another in a series of seven first-round matches. The four teams with the highest winning scores will face each other in two semi-finals, before the winners of these ties compete for the title of series champions in the final.
Starting on Christmas Eve at 8pm, the first-round is between Durham and Keble, Oxford. You can see how Bruce and the rest of the team perform at 8.30pm on BBC2 on New Year’s Day.
With contestants featuring director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson, Springwatch presenter Martin Hughes-Games, comedian Katy Brand, footballer Eniola Aluko, anthropologist Anna Machin and gardening broadcaster Pippa Greenwood we can expect to see some high scores from each team.
But which round will Bruce be best at? As a man famously regarded as a polymath for his achievements in everything he turns his hand to, whether that’s music, flying, business, writing, fencing or brewing, we could see Bruce answering more than his fair share of questions across the board.
Tune in to the BBC on New Year’s Day to find out, or catch up on the series on iPlayer.
