Going for Gold
In the final, every question was worth between four and one points depending on how quickly they were answered. However only one player at a time was allowed to buzz in, as indicated by a timer graphic running down the centre of the screen. if a player gave an incorrect answer, their section of the time was passed over to their opponent and the time (and question) continued.
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Progression to the Finals
The first player to reach nine points in this round won the daily game, and went through to the end of week final, from where the winner progressed to the later stages of the series. The losing players all came back the next day, starting with the same pool of players each weekday, minus the winner of the week's earlier shows.
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Other Versions
The programme has been adapted in France, where it became a very famous game: Questions pour un champion, which still airs today.
Turkey has a version of Bilir Bilmez on TRT 1 in 1996. Hüseyin Köroğlu hosted.
The five quiz One To Win was a half-hour show whose format was effectively based on the latter three rounds of Going for Gold, repackaged and with a different host (initially Paul Roseby, then later Robin Houston, better known as the 'voice of the computer' on another five quiz show, 100%). Unlike Going for Gold but like 100%, One To Win featured low cash prizes for the winner - just £200 per episode but with a bonus for five consecutive wins - and offered its champions the option to return on the next edition of the show.
NBC tried their hand at a pilot for a US version of the show with Bill Rafferty, called Run for the Money, in 1987. It was shot on the BBC set. The pilot did not sell.
ATV in Austria has just launched a version of the show this year, called Quiz Champion.
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Theme tune and opening sequence
Going for Gold had a memorable theme tune, which was composed by Hans Zimmer, a German composer who has since carved a successful career in Hollywood, and Sandy McClelland. During the opening sequence, the theme tune would be sung (by McClelland), whilst the contestants would appear one by one on the screen and would wave, smile or gesture in various ways to introduce themselves to the audience.
The theme tune was a europop soft rock tune. The lyrics are as follows and were sung by Sandy McClelland
- The heat is on, the time is right,
- It's time for you, for you to play the game.
- 'Cause people are coming, everyone's trying,
- Trying to be the best that they can,
- When they're going for... going for... Gold.
Only the first verse was ever used at the end of the show, but there were further verses to the song. The only time these lyrics were used was during a clips compilation in the grand final of series 2.
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Past Winners
The winners of the series included:
- 1987-1988 - Daphne Fowler (England)
- 1988-1989 - Erik Matteson (Norway)
- 1989-1990 - Howard Atkinson (England)
- 1990-1991 - Luc Sucholtz (Belgium)
- 1991-1992 - Soren Bergman (Denmark)
- 1992 - Christine Coslett (Wales)
- 1993 - Jan Ronnberg (Belgium)
- 1994 - Mieke Poelman (The Netherlands)
- 1995 - Sven Goll (Norway)
- 1996 - Mike Ramsden (England, representing the county of Kent)
The prizes were always related in some way to gold. The prize in the first season were tickets for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul (i.e. Gold Medals). A prize in a later year was a gold-mining trip to Australia.
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Transmissions
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 October 1987 | 1988 | |
| 2 | 1988 | 1989 | |
| 3 | 1989 | 1990 | |
| 4 | 1990 | 1991 | |
| 5 | 1991 | 1992 | |
| 6 | 1992 | 1992 | |
| 7 | 1993 | 12 November 1993 | |
| 8 | 1994 | 25 September 1994 | |
| 9 | 1995 | 5 July 1995 | 75 |
| 10 | 1996 | 9 July 1996 |
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External links
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