Latest news with #BBCMidlands
BBC News
06-08-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Together - they were Villa'
The two lads saw the microphone and wandered moved slowly, physically tired from their journey, but with their faces lit up by what was happening around them. They were trying to take it all were in a side street outside a bar which, rumour had it, was about to open specifically for Aston Villa supporters. I was with BBC Midlands colleagues and asking fans to sum up their feelings at being in Paris, hours before a Champions League emerged that, like quite a few we had met already, they had travelled without tickets and with no serious hope of getting any. Unlike most of the others, they said it was their first European trip, but they had heard the stories from friends and those who sit around them at home games and decided this time they would go. After a succession of long coach rides, they had I asked, had they gone to all that trouble - and expense - for a game that they knew they would not be able to see, and could have watched at home or in the pub?"I don't know. We just had to be here, didn't we?" said one."Yes," his friend replied. "It's the Villa, you know?"And I did Villa's return to Europe over the past two seasons, I have spoken to dozens of fans who might have said the same. Many of them had travelled knowing they were unlikely to get into the stadium. But it demonstrated that, for so many supporters, supporting a football club is about much more than 90 minutes, twice a of those following the team around Europe were from Birmingham, many from the wider Villa-supporting diaspora. They came from all classes and levels of society - some able to travel in style, others content to get there by any means available. They saw the sights and sampled the local food and what seemed to make it matter most - why those two lads felt they just had to be there - did not seem to be the city, the match, the quality of the opposition, or even the status of the competition. It was the sense of belonging to something, of being they were the conversation and tell your story about why you love Villa
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mastermind winner finds romance with rival finalist
Becoming the BBC's Mastermind champion is something even the most ardent quiz fanatic can only dream of. But the man who won this year's final walked away from the competition with a lot more than the coveted trophy - after he and the woman he pipped to the post became an item. Love blossomed on set for John Robinson and Claire Reynolds, both from Birmingham, as the pair bonded over their shared love of quizzes. "They say opposites attract," said Mr Robinson. "But I think in this case, very similar personalities are attracted." Mr Robinson, an English teacher in Kings Heath who previously took home £500,000 following an appearance on ITV's Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, won with a total of 30 points - just one more than Ms Reynolds' total of 29. "I have forgiven him now, just about," said Ms Reynolds, who is originally from Kingstanding but now lives in Stratford-upon-Avon. During the final, though, Mr Robinson's thoughts were anywhere but love. "It is very nerve-wracking indeed," he told BBC Midlands today. "Especially with the studio lights, and pitch black around you, and the spotlight, it can be quite intimidating. "But I thought, I'm just going to stare straight ahead at Clive [Myrie, the presenter], focus on him, and and try and block out everything else around me. "And somehow it worked." In fact, it was only after the finalists were able to put all thought of specialist subjects - for Mr Robinson, the Empire State Building; for Ms Reynolds, the early 20th century German mathematician Emmy Noether - out of their minds, that romance had a chance to bloom. "During the actual filming of the final [in Belfast], there's not an awful lot of time to actually talk," said Ms Reynolds. "We did have a little chat, we said hello and said good luck. "But we spent more time chatting on the flight back to Birmingham afterwards." Despite only missing out on first place by a single point, Ms Reynolds is adamant that the trophy is not for them to share: "No, no. I didn't win it so absolutely not." "You can reapply to go back on a future series," added Mr Robinson. "So it might be that she goes back on in a few years and gets one of her own." Now back home, surely the Mastermind champion and runner-up are destined to become the pub quiz power couple of the West Midlands? "We've been to a couple," said Mr Robinson, "but before anyone knew about our Mastermind experience. They went... rather well, shall we say? "But I'm not sure we can go back to any now." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. English teacher inspires pupils with Mastermind win Millionaire teacher is 'school sensation' Mastermind
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mastermind winner finds romance with rival finalist
Becoming the BBC's Mastermind champion is something even the most ardent quiz fanatic can only dream of. But the man who won this year's final walked away from the competition with a lot more than the coveted trophy - after he and the woman he pipped to the post became an item. Love blossomed on set for John Robinson and Claire Reynolds, both from Birmingham, as the pair bonded over their shared love of quizzes. "They say opposites attract," said Mr Robinson. "But I think in this case, very similar personalities are attracted." Mr Robinson, an English teacher in Kings Heath who previously took home £500,000 following an appearance on ITV's Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, won with a total of 30 points - just one more than Ms Reynolds' total of 29. "I have forgiven him now, just about," said Ms Reynolds, who is originally from Kingstanding but now lives in Stratford-upon-Avon. During the final, though, Mr Robinson's thoughts were anywhere but love. "It is very nerve-wracking indeed," he told BBC Midlands today. "Especially with the studio lights, and pitch black around you, and the spotlight, it can be quite intimidating. "But I thought, I'm just going to stare straight ahead at Clive [Myrie, the presenter], focus on him, and and try and block out everything else around me. "And somehow it worked." In fact, it was only after the finalists were able to put all thought of specialist subjects - for Mr Robinson, the Empire State Building; for Ms Reynolds, the early 20th century German mathematician Emmy Noether - out of their minds, that romance had a chance to bloom. "During the actual filming of the final [in Belfast], there's not an awful lot of time to actually talk," said Ms Reynolds. "We did have a little chat, we said hello and said good luck. "But we spent more time chatting on the flight back to Birmingham afterwards." Despite only missing out on first place by a single point, Ms Reynolds is adamant that the trophy is not for them to share: "No, no. I didn't win it so absolutely not." "You can reapply to go back on a future series," added Mr Robinson. "So it might be that she goes back on in a few years and gets one of her own." Now back home, surely the Mastermind champion and runner-up are destined to become the pub quiz power couple of the West Midlands? "We've been to a couple," said Mr Robinson, "but before anyone knew about our Mastermind experience. They went... rather well, shall we say? "But I'm not sure we can go back to any now." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. English teacher inspires pupils with Mastermind win Millionaire teacher is 'school sensation' Mastermind
