The Mirror  Thursday 18th March 1999

Win sum, lose sum was the headline about how celebrities fared when faced with a simple times table question.

Education secretary David Blunkett took a painful 14 seconds to answer the question ' what is 12 x 9? = 108'
Mr. Blunkett is reported to have been put to the test on the day the government joined forces with Carol Vordman (Countdown) to launch Maths 2000, a campaign to make maths trendy.

The Mirror put celebrities to the test, see how our soap stars did.

'Johnny Briggs took a whopping 62 seconds to answer - a million miles from the sharp business brain of Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street.  "Twelve nines? Well, 10 nines are 90. Ten twelves, 120, what did you say ten nines?  No, twelve nines. Well, 10 nines are 90, 11 nines are 99 and 12 nines are 108."' (phew)

'Steve McFadden, who plays Phil Mitchell in EE didn't even try to answer. "I got CSE grade 5 in Maths and times takes aren't really my thing."'

'Barbara Windsor managed a correct answer in nine seconds, beating the Education Secretary by five seconds. Babs, who plays Peggy Mitchell in EE then reeled off the entire nine times table.  "I'm not bad at maths - we had to do tables at school. Mr Blunkett should have done his homework," she said '


Also, our Matthew Wright says 'EastEnders Boss Matthew Robinson could be receiving a late-night visit from the Mitchell brothers.'  Apparently, Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden, are unhappy about their lack of storylines as Grant and Phil.  The pair feel that Robinson, who has axed 23 characters since he took over last March, only has eyes for new boy Martin Kemp who plays club manager Steve Owen.  An insider says: "Matthew believes the Mitchells have had their fair share and it's time that others were allowed to shine."

Article rating 7/10

Quote of the day: It is a profitable thing, if one is wise to seem foolish. AESCHYLUS c. 478 B.C. tr. David Grene