Teacher gets to final of ‘Pointless’ BBC quiz

For many knowing useless bits of information never really amounts to anything, however, for two friends it got them to the final round of a BBC One quiz show.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Mar 2013, 20:30 BST
Pointless contestant, Graham Panton (holding trophy) and student Alex Strange who made him apply for show.Pointless contestant, Graham Panton (holding trophy) and student Alex Strange who made him apply for show.
Pointless contestant, Graham Panton (holding trophy) and student Alex Strange who made him apply for show.

Matt Roberts and Graham Panton made it to the last stage of the show ‘Pointless’.

Matt and Graham met through the Ariel Company Theatre, based in Burgess Hill.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Graham said: “Many of our friends, and even Matt’s daughters, had pointed out regularly that we both have a lot of useless information stored in our brains so we decided to put it to use.”

Hosted by Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman, a former Warden Park student, the aim of Pointless is for contestants to try to score as few points as possible by coming up with the answers no-one else can think of.

Graham works at St Paul’s Catholic College in Burgess Hill as a media and film teacher.

He said: “The students reacted really well. One student Alex Strange took it upon himself to start a Twitter hashtag #PantonOnPointless and was happy to report the next day that it was trending in up to 50-60 tweets that night.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I was very overwhelmed by the support. I only teach from Year 10 to Year 13 in the school but it has been really rewarding for so many students, who don’t necessarily get taught by me, to come up and congratulate me on doing well and asking me if it was definitely me on screen.”

He added that both Richard and Alexander were extremely welcoming and good humoured through the entire filming process.

Graham said: “A few students have been really proud of the Mid Sussex banter between Richard and ourselves, but I feel it has been great to get Mid Sussex mentioned on BBC TV.”

Matt and Graham failed to get their hands on the jackpot, which was over £20,000. In the last round they were unsuccessful in naming three ‘pointless’ Robert Downey Jnr films.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Graham said: “I’ve had a few jokes pointed my way from colleagues and students alike, quite a few asking if I knew any Robert Downey Jnr movies they could watch this weekend.”

He added: “I was quite nervous on the day and I now see that my eyebrow was a particular star of the show – I am not sure I could even do that now if you asked me.

“The experience was really good and I am extremely proud of getting to the final of the show.”

Related topics:BBC OneBurgess Hill