YORK'S most controversial former Lord Mayor will take his place in the famous black chair on Mastermind tonight.

Railway King George Hudson who, his supporters say, transformed York from a stagnant agricultural backwater into a thriving tourist metropolis, is the specialist subject of one of the contestants.

Biographer of Hudson and former Evening Press journalist Robert Beaumont was contacted by Mastermind's researchers back in March.

"They didn't ask me to set the questions, but they did ask for all the salient points of Hudson's life," said Robert, who lives in Minskip near Boroughbridge.

That briefing allowed quizmaster John Humphrys - who had never previously heard of Hudson - to chat to contestant Susan Leng about her chosen subject.

Susan lives in Colchester but is a former resident of, and a Freeman of, York. She used Robert's book as her primary reference source while revising for the show.

Although Hudson died in 1871 his life still causes controversy. After bringing the railways to the city, he fell from grace over dodgy financial dealings.

More recently the Victorian tycoon's reputation has been rehabilitated. But Susan's father was one of those who disapproved of the decision to rename Railway Street George Hudson Street.

Robert is the Railway King's chief cheerleader. When his book was published in February 2002, he attracted headlines by launching a campaign to raise a statue of Hudson in York.

How's it going? "Oh god. It needs a bit of a push," confessed Robert.

Mastermind is on BBC2 at 8pm. Susan wasn't allowed to tell Robert how she got on.

"I suspect because she's written to me she's done rather well. If she had been a disaster she'd probably have kept it under her little hat."

A THOUGHT. If residents of Olympian Court, a development off Heworth Green, banded together, they could call themselves the Olympian Residents' Association.

HAVING never read one of his God-fearing fantasies, we cannot comment on Scarborough vicar-turned-author Graham Taylor's literary ability. But his talent for self-publicity is second to none. Hardly had the embers gone out after he had accidentally burned the original manuscript for his bestseller Shadowmancer than he had sent an email to half the newsdesks in the country chronicling the mishap.

Sure enough the story turned up in both the Daily Telegraph and the Independent the next day, taking as gospel Graham's own suggestion that a collector had valued the paper bundle at £100,000.

LAST week we mentioned the new book Far From Dull, which contains photographs of signs to the most bizarrely named places in Britain.

This prompted an email from the photographer himself, Dominic Greyer. "Thanks for including that piece on my book Far From Dull," he writes. "I thought I'd mention that York is a special place for me as I studied at St John's College for three years from 91-94!"

Reader David Bryant got in touch too. "Regarding the list of daft Yorkshire place names in the Diary, the most significant omission must surely be Wetwang."

He's right. Dominic would have to travel a long way to better a Wetwang.

Updated: 09:31 Monday, October 18, 2004