Mastermind, the BBC television contest, has subjected more than 1,400 would-be Brains of Britain to its rapid-fire interrogation. But after 25 years, the program was broadcast on television for the last time in September 1997. Its winners—taxi drivers, diplomats and teachers—became national celebrities and the program spawned an obsession with general knowledge, from Trivial Pursuit to pub quizzes. Its success has been due to a simple formula, the consistency of its standards and in large measure to the gravitas, courtesy, and humor of its Icelandic-born question-master, Magnus Magnusson. His book of behind-the-scenes or in-the-chair anecdotes is a valedictory celebration of a much-loved program.