Ian Bayley is a UK quiz player who, despite his youth when compared with other leading players (he is in his early thirties),[1] won several medals in quizzing, both in singles and as a member of a team. He is largely known as a strong team player winning the European Championships three times straight from 2007 to 2009 with "Broken Hearts" (ft. Olav Bjortomt, David Stainer and Mark Grant) and the English national team in 2004. With his double partner Pat Gibson he also won the European pair championships in 2005 and the British Championships (IQA) in 2006 (there are no world championships for teams and pairs, just individuals, so this is the highest possible title). In individual competitions he has thus far won just one title, the British Championship in 2001. As such his name appears on the Mark Bytheway trophy, being the trophy awarded by the British Quiz Association to its champions.
In addition, he has represented the University of Oxford in the Intercollegiate Championship Tournament run by NAQT, one of the world's foremost buzzer competitions. His scores compared respectably alongside some of the leading American buzzer quiz players. He also made an appearance on Who Wants to be a Millionaire as a "phone a friend".
In 2010 he won the final of the BBC Radio 4 quiz Brain of Britain, scoring more points than the other three contestants put together. In April 2011 he was crowned BBC Mastermind after his win in the show's 2011 series final (actually recorded in October 2010).
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quizzing | ||
| Competitor for England | ||
| BQC/IQA British Championships | ||
| Gold | 2001 Oxford | Singles |
| Bronze | 2004 Old Trafford | Singles |
| Gold | 2006 Shrewsbury | Pairs |
| Bronze | 2011 Lichfield | Singles |
| Gold | 2011 Lichfield | Pairs |
| IQA European Championships | ||
| Gold | 2004 Ghent | Team |
| Gold | 2005 Tallinn | Pairs |
| Silver | 2006 Paris | Team |
| Bronze | 2006 Paris | Club |
| Gold | 2007 Blackpool | Club |
| Gold | 2008 Oslo | Club |
| Gold | 2009 Dordrecht | Club |
| Silver | 2009 Dordrecht | Pairs |
| Silver | 2011 Bruges | Club |
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He was part of the England side that won the 2004 European Quiz Championships, won the 2005 European Pairs Quiz with Pat Gibson and the Club competition in 2007 to 2009 with his club "Broken Hearts" (that also play QLL). He is ranked seventh in the World/Europe.[2]
Bayley took part in the 2008-9 series of Mastermind and got to the final where he scored 28 points, but was beaten into second place by Nancy Dickmann (30 points), the first female winner for twelve years. His specialist subjects were Tchaikovsky, Doctor Who in the 1970s, and American Presidents of the 19th century. He attempted Mastermind again in 2011, and this time won the final on Friday 15th April 2011, beating Peter Reilly to win the title. In the final, he answered questions on paintings in the National Gallery.
Ian Bayley attended Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby near Liverpool. He studied computing at Imperial College London and then the University of Oxford, where he studied at Balliol College to earn a DPhil in computing. He represented both universities on University Challenge - Imperial in the 1996-7 series and Balliol in the 2000-01 series. He is currently a lecturer in computer science at Oxford Brookes University having previously lectured in the School of Design, Engineering & Computing at Bournemouth University between 2002 and 2004.[3]
As a result of a mispronunciation in Tallinn during the 2005 European Quizzing Championships, he is often known by the nickname of "Iron" Bayley.