Not so academic

I've noted the death of Andrew Harwood at Showbritz, so I'll use this blog to tell the story of Mitchelton State High School's mid-1970s It's Academic debacle. During their appearance in a semi-final, the Mitchie team was asked: "Who wrote the Biggles books?" Before they could answer, there was a technical hitch and host Harwood said: "I'm going to have to ask another question, but all the questions on It's Academic are equal." When the cameras started rolling again, he asked: "Who wrote the novel Gone with the Wind?" Of course, the team of three 15-year-old boys were all fans of Captain W.E. Johns, but not one of them had heard of Margaret Mitchell. That was the turning point of the episode, and the end of our team's grand-final ambitions.