Wick’s ‘Mastermind’ Denis has made his last trophy after 55 years
A Caithness artist who has created a masterpiece a year to be awarded to the winner of the Mastermind TV show has made his last trophy.
Denis Mann created the famous engraved glass bowl prize for the first series in 1972, and has gone on to produce one for each year over the last 55 series of the quiz show.
He crafts the exquisite piece of glass artwork, based around the Nine Muses of Greek mythology, the goddesses of science, literature and the arts, at his workshop in Wick.
But now – at 90 years of age – he says the time is right to pass on the job to somebody else.
“Yes, I’ve done it for a long time,” he told the John O’Groat Journal. “I’m 90 now and my hands get a bit shaky so I’m not doing any more.
“It’s feels very strange really, I didn’t realise when I did the first one that I was going to be doing them for such a long time.
“There’s quite a lot of work involved in it and it takes a long time to do it. I’m not really doing any engraving now – maybe just for the pleasure of doing it, but it just gets hard work and I’ve got a shaky left hand, which doesn’t help.”
Denis began engraving the famous glass bowl when he worked at Caithness Glass in 1971, and continued after he left the firm in 1990.
Speaking to the Groat in 2022 during the show’s 50th anniversary year, he explained how the design process involves producing multiple sketches and smaller-size drawings before the engraving itself. Wheel engraving is an ancient technique and Denis described it as slow and demanding – but he said no other method is as crisp and sculptural.
• Wick glass artist reflects on 50 years of Mastermind designs
“The last one that was done [for the 2025 series], I did the drawings and Wilma MacKenzie did the engraving. There comes a point when it’s enough.”
That meant for the first time the bowl was not actually engraved in Caithness this year, and it is expected that Wilma will continue the process for the show, which is produce by Hat Trick in Belfast.
The 2025 series was won by Birmingham-based English teacher John Robinson, who received his glass bowl after the final, shown on BBC television on Monday this week.
Denis’s wife Trudi said they watch all the shows and keep them on video tape
“It was a bit sad seeing that was the last one. But when you think he’s now 90 he’s done really well,” she said.
“I think he’s made a good shot of it because he kept saying ‘oh, I’ll retire now’ but really last year – because it’s always done the year before – it was a case of, I can do the drawing but the engraving is more difficult because the bowl is quite heavy. They said that’s fine, by that time you’ll be 90 and it’s a good point to stop.
“It’s a pity that it won’t still be made in Caithness, but he is now known as Mastermind!”
Wilma, who is based in Tarbet, Argyll, will continue to engrave the bowls for the show using the same copper wheel process, and with Denis’s blessing and guidance.
A spokeswoman for Hat Trick said: “Every Mastermind glass bowl designed and crafted by Denis since the show started in 1972 was a beautiful work of art that all Mastermind champions cherish and consider priceless.”