MAM
BBC to introduce ‘Junior Mastermind’ in the UK
MUMBAI: The BBC has announced that it will adapt its game show Mastermind for children in the UK. Junior Mastermind starts at the end of the month on BBC One.
In India, Synergy produces Mastermind India. The show is hosted by Siddhartha Basu. In the UK, Mastermind went on air in 1972 when part-time lecturer Nancy Wilkinson became the first-ever champion.
Now on BBC One, children will face questions from quizmaster John Humphrys to see who will be the first Junior Mastermind champion.The show will work in the same way as the adult version. The children, who are 10 or 11 years old, will answer questions on their specialist subject, followed by two minutes of general knowledge questions.
The contestants surprised John with their choice of subjects and the standard of the questions. He added, “The range of subjects was extraordinary. I thought they would all want to choose Harry Potter but actually only one person did. The subjects range from Queen Victoria to frogs to James Bond villains to Van Gogh, every bit as challenging and varied as the adult choices.
“What it showed was the extraordinarily wide range of interests 11 year olds have and how much they read, far more that I would have thought. When I was asked to do the series I had expected all sorts of problems. When I first saw the questions I thought they were far too hard and it would be embarrassing because the children wouldn’t be able to answer them.
“I thought we should make the questions easier but the production told me I was talking nonsense and they were, as usual, right. Right from the very first set of questions I could see how wrong I was, the kids were brilliant.”
Over 250 schools from all corners of the UK had applied for information on Junior Mastermind and the children who made it through to the heats come from a variety of schools around the country and from a wide range of backgrounds.
Brands
LTTS CDO Narayanan Ramanathan steps down
Resignation effective 19 February, company cites personal reasons
CHENNAI: L&T Technology Services Limited announced the resignation of its chief delivery officer and senior management personnel Narayanan Ramanathan, marking a key leadership exit at the engineering services firm.
Ramanathan stepped down from his role, effective at the close of business on 19 February 2026, citing personal reasons. The company accepted the resignation the same day and duly filed all regulatory disclosures related to his cessation.
Based in Chennai, Ramanathan led LTTS’s Digital Products and Manufacturing Services (DPMS) business as a P&L head, overseeing multi-million-dollar operations and large-scale digital transformation programmes. His mandate covered Industry X.0, the Internet of Things, operational technology cybersecurity, robotics, cobots, digital twins, analytics and artificial intelligence.
He joined LTTS in 2018 and spent nearly eight years at the firm, holding several leadership roles before becoming chief delivery officer in November 2024. During his tenure, he worked closely with global capability centres to execute engineering-led digital strategies for international clients.
A technology industry veteran with over 27 years of experience, Ramanathan previously held senior leadership roles at Tech Mahindra, where he served as vice president and global head for connected engineering and analytics, and earlier led integrated engineering solutions across APAC and MEAI markets.
Ramanathan is also the first recipient of the International Galileo Master Award from the European Space Agency. LTTS said there is no additional information to disclose regarding board relationships following his resignation.
