“Only a call away!” He smiled and the lights flashed red and orange all around the studio.

One more question and the prize pot could be mine. I look at the graphic of the giant bag of gold coins.

“Next subject” he says and looks me all serious in the eye, then a warm smile “What would you like it to be?” He looks like my friend and I trust him.

“Anything but Geography, I always get muddled up” and I’m thinking please let it be history, please let it be films, please let it be politics - anything really except bloody geography.

The phone rings shrilly and we all jump. All that stands between me and that lovely pot of money is just one little question.

A disembodied computer voice rings out “To the nearest 100 miles what is the distance between Shanghai and New York?’