Tonight Mastermind enters its second decade and during the coming weeks 48 new contestants will be competing to win television's most prestigious quiz title.

They come from every part of Britain, their ages range from 22 to 65 and their occupations include a naval officer, a tube train driver, a doctor, a brewery clerk, a bank manager and a vet.

The first four contenders pit their wits against each other at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

Geraldine Gregg-Smith, Education welfare officer - Novels of Evelyn Waugh

Christopher Price, Civil servant - Novels of the Bronte Sisters

Kathryn Tyson, Civil servant - Shakespeare's tragic heroes

Diggory Seacome, Schoolmaster - Percussion playing from 1700

The Royal Agricultural College in the Cotswolds market town of Cirencester is the venue for the second heat of Mastermind 1983.

Anne Adams (part-time teacher): Bayeux Tapestry

Nicholas Rennison (bookshop assistant): 'The Music of Time' novels of Anthony Powell

Edward Towne (schoolmaster): Reign of Edward III

Simon Willbourn (pilot): The American manned space programme

Four contestants from Scotland and Northern Ireland face Magnus in a place he knows well-the school in which he was educated - .the Edinburgh Academy.

Patrick Doherty (schoolmaster): Films of John Wayne

Euan Fairbairn (naval officer): Career of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower

Frederick Pegg (teacher): American Presidents from F. D. Roosevelt

Kalph Roney (writer): Richard Hannay's novels of John Buchan

'Education is the mother of wisdom and virtue' is the translation of the classical Greek motto of the Edinburgh Academy, where tonight four more contestants pit their wits against each other in the quest to become Mastermind 1983.

George Beggs (retired customs official): American Civil War

Brian Cooklin (schoolteacher): Women in Thomas Hardy 's novels Alan Shearer (veterinary surgeon): Zulu War 1879

John Wheeler (schoolteacher): British birds

Three women contestants challenge one man in the fifth heat of Mastermind 1983 at Loughborough University of Technology.

Peter Major (schoolteacher): Life and works of Richard Wagner Linda Paxton (housewife): Children of Queen Victoria Mary Schofield (housewife): British Social and Economic History 1760-1860

Sian Thomas (solicitor): Life and works of Colette Director

with Magnus Magnusson from the Froebel Institute College, Roehampton, south west London. Barbara Barrett (sales assistant): The ' Rougon-Macquart' novels of Emile Zola

Kenneth Hedley (brewery clerk): Life and works of Sir Edward Elgar

Nell Marshall (schoolteacher): Life of Tipu Sultan

Robert Moggridgc (schoolteacher): The cathedrals of England

Froebel Institute College bears the name of the German educator and philosopher Freiderich Froebel, the father of the kindergarten movement. Tonight another four contenders for the Mastermind 1983 title meet at the college in Roehampton.

Paul Campion (department store executive): Life and recordings of Caruso

Christopher Hughes: (London Underground train driver) British steam locomotives (1900-1968)

Karen Stringer (university secretary): Life of T. E. Lawrence

Alex Yeats (charity worker): Slavery and the slave trade

Tonight from one of Britain's newest universities, Loughborough University of Technology.

Hilary Aslett (schoolteacher): History of New South Wales 1788-1850

Paul Brighton (research student): Life of W. E. Gladstone

Tom Chitty (bank manager): Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

Isabelle Heward (schoolteacher): British and American cinema since 1927

Two men and two women confront each other at Loughborough University of Technology in this tenth heat of Mastermind 1983. Pauline Buffham (housewife): Life of George III Gwen Kingsley (crystal works tour guide): Life and times of Cosimo de Medici 1389-1464

Alan Mole (civil servant): German history 1870-1945

Ralph Richardson (headmaster): Monumental brasses 1300-1700

Christchurch College, Canterbury, is the setting as four more contenders do battle for a semi-final plam in Mastermind 1983.

CVertne de Vito (schoolteacher): Works of Christopher Isherwood

John Edmond (computer systems project manager): Life of Margaret of Anjou

Patricia Erridge (civil servant): Opera

Robert Peters (minister of religion): Life and Times of Archbishop William Temple

Last of the 12 heats. Magnus Magusson introduces competitors whose subjects are: the life of Baden-Powell, the life of Richard III, the history of Albania, and the life and music of Vivaldi

First semi-final, with the lone female contender going for the novels of Jane Austen, the others opting for the Cairngorm Mountains, Lord Liverpool, and the English Civil War

Another finalist in Mastermind 1983 is chosen tonight as four more winners from the first round pit their wits against each other at Winchester College.

Christopher Hughes (London Underground train driver) - The 'Flashman' novels of George MacDonald Fraser

Frederick Pegg (schoolteacher) - The life and career of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, 1887-1976

Nicholas Rennison (bookshop assistant) - Scott's expeditions to the Antarctic

Sian Thomas (solicitor) - The Thirty Years War, 1618-1648

Four winners from the first round programmes meet at Sheffield Polytechnic and compete for a place in the Final of Mastermind 1983.

John Edmond (computer systems project manager): The history of Italy, 1815-1929

Gwen Kingsley (crystal works tour guide): The life, times and death of Tutankhamun

Margaret Peat (school science technician): The life of Alexander the Great

Robert Woodcock (driver's mate): British political history from 1945

Sheffield Polytechnic is host as the four ' highest scoring losers' in the first round compete for the last place in next week's final of Mastermind 1983. Paul Campion (department store executive): Life of Kathleen Ferrier

Peter Major (schoolteacher): The Roman Empire, AD 284-337 Ralph Roney (writer): Classic cars, 1930-1950

Alex Yeats (charity worker): The history of South Africa and South West Africa (Namibia) since 1948

Forty-eight contenders started in January and tonight four are in at the 'finish' of the 1983 series. Middle Temple Hall in London is the setting for the final as two men and two women do battle for the title of Mastermind 1983.

The winner will receive the engraved Caithness Glass trophy from the Chairman of the BBC, George Howard, and an invitation to represent the United Kingdom in Mastermind International later this year.

Contestants:

Christopher Hughes (London underground train driver): British steam locomotives 1900-68

Margaret Peat (school science technician): Life of Richard III

Kathryn Tyson (civil servant): Shakespeare's tragic heroes

Alex Yates (charity worker): Slavery and the slave trade