MONO MONDAY 179: 15 MINUTES OF FAME

Ten years ago I was doing a part time degree at Durham, and by various happy accidents found myself captain of the Durham team for University Challenge. We did quite well and I really enjoyed myself, getting through two rounds of trouncing other universities until Manchester trounced us in the semi-final, before they were duly trounced in the final. Then there was a minor media fuss about "old contestants". I was in my mid-50s at the time, though the rest of my fabulous team were all 19 or 20 and didn't deserve to have their photo next to this headline in the Telegraph, bless 'em! I have to say that Jeremy P. (who was charming and kind off-camera) publicly defended older contestants. I'm so glad that Facebook and Twitter had only just started and social media hadn't really taken off at the time! My godmother still calls me "Durham Walker" to this day.

Thanks to Dollykgray for hosting the challenge.