BRAINBOX Joseph Hand faced some tough questioning in the famous black chair when he took part in Junior Mastermind.

The 11-year-old answered two minutes of quick-fire questions on his specialist subject the Famous Five Books by Enid Blyton and also tackled the demanding general knowledge round.

The programme will be shown on BBC1 on Wednesday May 18 when Joseph, from Salisbury, goes head-to-head with three other bright sparks as they compete for a place in the Junior Mastermind Final on Saturday May 21.

Joseph, is a very fast reader and can read up to three books in an hour, but he said he had to slow down when preparing for the show.

"I revised by reading the books," he said. "The whole family has been testing me and my dad has read every single Famous Five book.

"Five goes to Smuggler's Top was the first book I ever read.

"When I was revising I read it twice and tried to read it slowly."

Joseph, who goes to La Retraite Swan school and wants to be a vet, said he wasn't nervous about sitting in the hot seat and felt well prepared for the challenge.

"All my friends have been very supportive and my teachers and school mates have been testing me," he said.

"You can't revise for general knowledge because you don't know what you're going to be asked, but I've been reading the paper and watching the news. I'm most looking forward to seeing my mum's face when she sees herself on TV."

The junior version of the programme follows the same format as Mastermind with the ominous theme tune and rapid questions from presenter John Humphrys.

Mr Humphrys, who is also used to grilling politicians on the Today Programme, said he was impressed with the performance of the 10 and 11-year-old contestants.

"The range of specialist subjects was extraordinary," he said. "These children really understand their subjects and are genuinely interested in them.

"The also seem remarkably cool under pressure."