Barry Simmons

Barry Lawrence Simmons[1] (born 24 November 1948) is a Scottish-born quiz show contestant, the winner of the first BBC Two TV show Are You an Egghead?, and of Brain of Britain 2013. Simmons was born in Edinburgh[2] and now lives in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

For the football coach, see Barry Simmonds.
Barry Simmons
Simmons in 2013
Born
Barry Lawrence Simmons

(1948-11-24) 24 November 1948
Edinburgh, Scotland
OccupationGame show contestant
Spouse
Janet Simmons
​
(m. 1976)​
Children2

Career

Before becoming an 'Egghead', Simmons won £64,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, broadcast on 5 February 2005 (Series 17, Episode 6). He reached the hot seat on his 3rd attempt, having appeared as a fastest finger first contestant on two occasions during Series 15 in early 2004. One of these failed appearances (on 24 April 2004) featured Pat Gibson becoming the 4th UK winner of the £1,000,000 jackpot. Gibson would later join Simmons on Eggheads in 2009.

Alongside teammates and fellow former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? contestants Diane Hallagan and Lee Warburton, Simmons won the final series of Radio 4 quiz Masterteam in 2005/06.

He was a semi-finalist on Mastermind and also reached the final of the 2008/09 series of the radio programme Brain of Britain, but was defeated by Geoff Thomas.

Simmons has been a researcher at text question and answer service AQA 63336 since 2006.[3] He was part of an AQA team that appeared on Eggheads; he won his own round but the team was defeated in the final round.

He returned to compete individually on spin-off show Are You an Egghead? in 2008, where he won Series 1, defeating fellow future Egghead David Rainford in the semi-final and Shaun Wallace in the final. As a result he earned the right to appear as the 6th Egghead on the regular programme, joining Kevin Ashman, CJ de Mooi, Daphne Fowler, Christopher Hughes and Judith Keppel on the regular show in December 2008. He was the first person to appear on Eggheads as part of both the Eggheads, and a 'challengers' team.

About being an Egghead, he told The Jewish Chronicle, "It’s the best job in British quizzing and to get paid for doing something you love is just the icing on the cake. But I have to admit I hate losing."[4]

In the 2012/3 season, Simmons reached the final of Brain of Britain and won the competition in 2013. Before the final, some controversy was caused as he was thought of as "a professional quizzer". As reported by the BBC website, "There is no rule banning Eggheads from appearing on Brain of Britain – the only rule is that former champions are not allowed to return."[5]

In 2013 he was ranked number three quizzer in the world.[2] He also appeared on Only Connect in 2013.

Personal life

Simmons is Jewish and is a member of the Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue.[6] On 4 July 1976 he married Janet Simmons. They have two children.

References
  1. "Series 20, Episode 53". Eggheads. BBC2. 7 February 2019.
  2. Pendreigh, Brian (2 April 2013). "World's best quizzers swot up for city event". The Herald. Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  3. "The answer to everything, from AQA 63336 via Leeds". Global AQA Pty Ltd. 27 March 2007. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  4. Krieger, Candice (8 January 2009). "Barry Simmons goes from technology head to Egghead". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  5. "BBC defends Egghead Brain of Britain competitor". BBC News. 10 March 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  6. Krieger, Candice (8 January 2009). "Barry Simmons goes from technology head to Egghead". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
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