Four top brokers to fight it out in quiz final

Knightsure managing director Tony Knight in the hotseat

Four talented brokers have seen off competition to secure themselves places under the spotlight in the final of Brokermind, Insurance Times’ quiz to find the best mind in UK broking.  

At the event held at Skinner’s Hall last week, contestants were quizzed on a specialist subject of their choice, followed by a round of questions on UK general insurance.

Four winners emerged who will have to contend with quizmaster John Humphrys at an event at the May Fair Hotel on the 18th of October. The winner will be crowned the best mind in broking.

The finalists are: Marsh client advisor Owen Jenkins, whose specialist subject was Friends the TV show; Sutton Winson claims executive Lyn Langton, who was questioned on Maine Coon cats; Lockyers’ principal Jon Newall was quizzed on legendary Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna and Knightsure managing director Tony Knight answered questions on the life and times of comedian Tony Hancock.

“It all began to sink in when I saw the chair and the spotlights,” said Knight. “I thought what am I doing here? But I thoroughly enjoyed it, perhaps because of the result, so I’m looking forward to the next round. I’m going to be keeping up with the news for the general insurance questions.”

Lyn Langton’s esoteric Maine Coon cat round added something more unusual to the quiz, and her depth of knowledge saw her move beyond the competition to secure a place in the final. She said: “The competition’s quite strong, and the four of us who got through made it because we chose narrower subjects than the others. In the final we’re going to be looking a bit harder at our subjects, so it could all come down to the general insurance questions.”

Owen Jenkins scored the most points in the specialist subject round, with his encyclopaedic knowledge of Friends. He said: “I had a really good time. I’m hoping to do a bit better on the insurance questions next time, it was typical luck, I knew loads of the other guys’ questions, but I made it through. Sitting in the chair, with the spotlight on you, you have to block out everything else, it was great. I’m very much looking forward to facing John Humphrys, but I imagine he could be a bit intimidating. Overall I thought people would be a bit stronger on their specialist subjects, so I fancy my chances for the win.”

He’s going to have stiff competition from Lockyers’ Jon Newall though, who said: “I only entered for a laugh, but I was quite surprised at how hard some of the questions were. I was even more surprised when I came out on top. Now I’m in it to win. I enjoyed the specialist subject most, I did a fair bit of revision about Ayrton Senna and was panicking the night before, so I got a friend round and the missus gave us a mini Ayrton Senna quiz. Some of the questions came up, so it turned out to be a good idea.”

The Brokermind final is being held at the May Fair Hotel on Thursday October 18. Brokermind sponsor Zurich have offered the winner two hospitality tickets at one top UK sporting event of the winners choice, plus a free business leadership consultancy session with Performance Associates.