Starter for Ten (novel)
Front cover
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| Author | David Nicholls |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | University Challenge |
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Publication date
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2003 |
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Published in English
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2003 |
| Pages | 480 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 56442695 |
| Preceded by | None (debut novel) |
| Followed by | The Understudy |
Starter for Ten by David Nicholls is a novel first published in 2003 about the character Brian Jackson and his first year of university (1985–6), his attempts to get on the Granada Television quiz show University Challenge, and his tentative attempts at romance with Alice Harbinson, another member of the University Challenge team. The title is taken from an opening question to a round on the quiz show worth ten points, known as the teams' 'starter for ten.' Because this reference might be lost on American readers, it was originally released as A Question of Attraction when it was published in the United States.
It was adapted in 2006 as the film Starter for 10.
The story, told in first-person narrative, is set in 1985 and chronicles the misadventures of student Brian Jackson in his first year at an unnamed university. A somewhat obsessive collector of general knowledge, Brian has been a fan since childhood of the television quiz show University Challenge which he used to watch with his late father, and on arriving at university, he seizes upon the opportunity to join its University Challenge team. He is initially unsuccessful, but is selected after one of the other team members is forced to drop out because of ill health. The TV show's famous catchphrase — "Your starter for 10" — gives the book its title.
Brian promptly falls for his glamorous teammate, Alice Harbinson, although the attraction is not mutual, and he may have more in common with a counterculturalist chum, Rebecca Epstein. Additionally, Brian finds himself caught between his new life, amongst the middle-class university set, and his old, with his working-class family and friends in the seaside town of Southend, Essex.
One of the major themes in Starter for Ten is social class. Brian Jackson is a working-class teenager from a one-parent family. His mother works in the chain-store Woolworths. On attending the prestigious University, Brian is aware that his state school background and working class roots make him stand out. In an interview in The Guardian, the novel's writer David Nicholls expands on this theme.
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