![]() ![]() “Repetition, of course, is good for learning,” she says, “but for me it was like, ‘You said that last year!’” She and her siblings all attended a state school, although Imafidon remembers that she was “bouncing off the walls and driving my teachers crazy”. Who likes small talk, though? I also hate small talk.” Robinson is famously no-nonsense, though, isn’t she? “I don’t want to ruin or improve or change Anne’s standing in any way. “There was no ‘We’re at war with Anne, so don’t talk to her’,” she laughs. In case of a mental block, “Rachel was like, just say, ‘Leave it with me,’ then they can cut to the ads…”ĭid Riley give her any tips for dealing with Anne Robinson? There were reports last year that Robinson had turned off Riley’s microphone after becoming infuriated by her small talk. There is a failsafe in that it’s pre-recorded, she adds. So it stretched my brain in a different direction.” “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done, because it’s literally six things happening at once, like having to remember to smile, plus my hair mustn’t cover the numbers when I work out the calculations – and I’ve got big hair – and if you’ve ever counted things while someone else shouts numbers at you, you’ll know what that’s like. ![]() You don’t do any of it against the clock in 30 seconds with cameras in front of you. Also, academic maths, classical algebra, all of that stuff, is very slow. For four years, you don’t see any numbers, you just go straight to letters – and omicron features a fair amount. So as much as people think they’re related… you don’t do any arithmetic. “Seventy-five-times tables are not part of the syllabus of a Master’s in Maths and Computer Science. ![]() That doesn’t mean that the show isn’t a challenge, Imafidon says. They have been dubbed “Britain’s brainiest family”. Her younger sisters Christiana and Samantha, plus twins Peter and Paula, have all broken records for age-related attainment, with the twins both passing AS Maths at the age of seven. She was admitted to Oxford University at 15, although she didn’t start her degree in Maths and Computer Science until 17, as it would have meant her family having to move.Īs the eldest child, Imafidon blazed a trail for her siblings to follow. She’s a former child prodigy, who passed GCSE Maths at 10, then AS Maths and A-level Computing at 11, and an abridged Maths degree over one summer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA at the age of 13. It was the outpouring of support which was overwhelming for me.” So I’m not surprised that I might be trolled. I’ve been disrespected in social settings… and we’ve all heard of social media, we know what the game is. “I’ve been disrespected before… I’ve been disrespected in professional settings. “I’ve been black for 30 years, so a lot of these things aren’t new to me at all,” she says. Imafidon was prepared for negative comments on social media, she tells me, when we catch up by video call, such as accusations of tokenism. With her distinctive grey hair extensions (which have the essential seal of approval of her grandmother), she makes numbers dance and those who criticised her appointment look foolish. The 32-year-old east Londoner, co-founder of STEMettes – an organisation to encourage young women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – has, since December, been standing in as maternity cover for Rachel Riley. Anyone who has turned on the TV to watch Countdown on Channel 4 recently will not have failed to notice that alongside its defanged quizmaster Anne Robinson, in the role of glamorous arithmetician and co-host, stands the vivacious, trainer-wearing maths whiz Anne-Marie Imafidon. ![]()
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