Pop Master, the mid-morning quiz that forms part of Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 show, has been mentioned many times on this Blog, including this lengthy piece from last summer (“600 Round of Pop Master”). As you will know if you are one of the 7.5 million people who tune in to that part of the show every day, the strongest contestants during the year go forward to compete in “Champions League Pop Master” in the weeks before Christmas. These are the contestants who scored either a maximum of 39 points, or 36 points and then completed the “3 in 10” challenge successfully. Champions League Pop Master is a totally different challenge from the regular quiz. I have managed to score 36 or more in over half of the last 900 rounds of regular Pop Master but would be at the bottom of the leader-board in the “Champions League” format.

During many of the “Champions League” rounds last month there were questions about the less well-known hits by artists such as Freda Payne and Babylon Zoo, both of whom made it to #1 here in the UK. “Band of Gold” in 1970 and “Spaceman” in 1996 were their respective chart-toppers, but can you name any of their other UK hits? I couldn’t, not for them or for acts such as Pussycat and Charles & Eddie who also had UK #1s (“Mississippi” and “Would I Lie To You?” respectively).

Below is a selection of questions that followed this format during 2018’s Champions League Pop Master, and a few more from the regular quiz. Most of them have been paraphrased: they have not been directly transcribed from the show. I have included the date for each question, and indicated whether it was from regular Pop Master (PM) or Champions League Pop Master (CLPM). The last of these questions was from earlier today. This is by far the hardest set of questions that I have posted on this site so far. If you can answer all 15 correctly you are The Pop Master.

The answers appear at the end of this post.

The Questions

1. The biggest hit by the Waterboys was “Whole of the moon”. Name any of their three other hits. (CLPM 12-Dec-2018)
2.  “Walking on sunshine” and “Love shine a light” were the first and last of three hits for Katrina and the Waves hits. Name their 1986 hit, which came in between those two. (CLPM 13-Dec-2018)
3. Babylon Zoo had a UK #1 with “Spaceman” in 1996. Name either of their two other top 40 hits. (CLPM 13-Dec-2018)
4.  “Never Knew Love Like This Before” was a top 5 in 1980 for Stephanie Mills. What was the title of her other UK hit, from 1984? (CLPM 14-Dec-2018)
5. Pussycat reached #1 in 1976 with “Mississippi”. What was the title of their only other top 40 hit? (CLPM 14-Dec-2018)
6. Charles & Eddie had a 1992 #1 with “Would I lie to you?” Name any of their three other hits. (CLPM 18-Dec-2018)
7. The 1970 #1 “Band of Gold” was not Freda Payne’s only UK chart hit. What was her other one? (CLPM 18-Dec-2018)
8. The Firm had a 1987 #1 with “Star Trekkin’” but what  was the name of their earlier hit, from 1982? (CLPM 19-Dec-2018)
9. The 1970 Top 5 “That same old feeling” was the first of three hits for Pickettywitch. Name either of the others. (CLPM 19-Dec-2018)
10. Following their 1974 #1 “Sad Sweet Dreamer”, Sweet Sensation had one further hit the following year. What was it called? (CLPM 19-Dec-2018)
11. In addition to “Groovy Train” and “All Together Now” the Farm had a 1992 hit with a cover of which 1981 #1? (CLPM 20-Dec-2018)
12. Donna Lewis had a UK top 5 in 1996 with “I love you always forever”. What was her other Top 40 hit? (CLPM 21-Dec-2018)
13. After her 1996 #1 “Ooh Aah … Just A Little Bit” Gina G had four further top 40 hits. Name any of them. (PM 4-Jan-2019)
14. After their 1979 #1 “Video Killed The Radio Star”, Buggles had two further hits, both of them in 1980. Name either of them. (PM 21-Jan-2019)
15. Stephen “Tin Tin” Duffy had a hit in 1985 with “Kiss Me”. What was his only other UK solo hit? (PM 31-Jan-2019)

The Answers

1. The Waterboys: “Fisherman’s Blues”, “The Return Of Pan”, “Glastonbury Song”.
2. Katrina and the Waves: “Sun Street”.
3. Babylon Zoo: “Animal Army” and “The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes”.
4. Stephanie Mills: “The Medicine Song”.
5. Pussycat: “Smile”.
6. Charles & Eddie: “NYC (Can You Believe This City)”, “House Is Not a Home”, “24-7-365”.
7. Freda Payne: “Deeper and Deeper”.
8. The Firm: “Arthur Daley (E’s Alright)”.
9. Pickettywitch: “Baby I Won’t Let You Down”, “(It’s Like a) Sad Old Kinda Movie”.
10. Sweet Sensation: “Purely by coincidence”.
11. The Farm: “Don’t You Want Me”.
12. Donna Lewis: “Without Love”.
13. Gina G: “I belong to you”, “Fresh!”, “Ti Amo”, “Gimme some love”.
14. Buggles: “The Plastic Age”, “Clean Clean”.
15. Stephen “Tin Tin” Duffy: “Icing On The Cake”.