Oscar
Oscar
The second-most-coveted acting prize going, after a Kermode Award. The announcement of the nominations has sometimes been covered by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode on News 25live.
Back in 1992, in the days of Radio 5 - before it was 5 Live, and therefore a radio station that had a significant number of listeners who were horse racing fans - Mark (on the Danny Baker show) revealed his predictions for five major awards before the nominations were announced.
Danny asked him, "are you sure?" and Mark said, "pretty sure," and so Danny suggested he put a bet on. Mark, brought up a Methodist and therefore of the belief that Gambling Is Wrong, did so, and got all five right (this was the year that Unforgiven won Best Picture). The day after the awards, Danny asked Mark how his picks had done, and Mark revealed that he had got all five right and had therefore netted £120. The relative paucity of this figure surprised Danny, who asked, "did you not put an accumulator on?"; Mark replied, "what's an accumulator?" Listeners - who (as noted) knew their way around betting - were not shy in working out how exactly how much Mark could have won had he known what an accumulator was. The top figure quoted was £135,000.
That was a lot of money in the early 1990s.
Mark usually predicts 5 out of 6 of the main categories correctly. The difficulty, of course, is guessing which one he will get wrong...
2006 - 5 out of 6
Actor – Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) - Correct
Actress – Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line) – Correct
Supporting Actor – George Clooney (Syriana) – Correct
Supporting Actress – Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) – Correct
Director – Ang Lee (Bareback Mountain) – Correct
Film – Bareback Mountain – Wrong (Winner: Crash (the Sandra Bullock one))
2007 - 5 out of 6
Actor – Forest Whitaker (The Last King Of Scotland) – Correct
Actress – Helen Mirren (The Queen) – Correct
Supporting Actor - Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) – Wrong (Winner: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine))
Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) – Correct
Director - Martin Scorsese (The Departed) – Correct
Film - The Departed – Correct
2008 - 5 out of 6
Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis (There / Will / Be / Blood) - Correct
Actress - Ellen Page – Wrong (Winner: Marion Cotillard, (La Vie En Rose) – though Mark did guess correctly that the favourite Julie Christie had been derailed)
Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) - Correct
Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) - Correct
Director - Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men) - Correct
Film - No Country For Old Men - Correct
Actor - Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) - Wrong (Winner: Sean Penn (Milk))
Actress – Angelina Jolie (Changling) - Wrong (Winner: Katie Winceyette (The Reader))
Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) - Correct
Supporting Actress – Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) – Wrong (Winner: Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona))
Director – David Fincher, Forrest Gump with A-levels– Wrong (Winner: Oh Danny Boyle (Slumdog Squarepants))
Film - Slumdog Squarepants - Correct
Actor - Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) – Correct
Actress - Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) - Correct
Supporting Actor - Christof Waltz (Inglourious COUGHING) - Correct
Supporting Actress - Mo’nique (Precious) - Correct
Director - Katheryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) - Correct
Film - Smurfahontas (“the sums say it has to”) – Wrong (Winner: The Hurt Locker)
Actor - Colin Firth (The King's Speech) – Correct
Actress - Natalie Portman (Black Swan) - Correct
Supporting Actor – Christian Bale (The Fighter) - Correct
Supporting Actress – Melissa Leo (The Fighter) – Correct
Director – David Fincher (The Social Network) – Wrong (Winner: Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech))
Film – The King’s Speech - Correct
Actor - Jean Dujardin (The Artist) - Correct
Actress - Muriël Strepsil (The Iron Lady) - Correct
Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer (Beginners) - Correct
Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer (The Help) - Correct
Director - Sid Vicious (The Artist) - Correct
Film - The Artist - Correct
Actor – Huge Action (Les Miserables and his Orchestra) – Wrong (Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln))
Actress – Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) - Correct
Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) - Correct
Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables and his Orchestra) - Correct
Director – Steven Spielberg, Lincoln - Wrong (Winner: Ang Lee (Life Of Pi))
Film - Les Misrables and his Orchestra - Wrong (Winner: Argo)
Actor - Matthew McConaughey – (Dallas Buyers Club) Correct
Actress - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) - Correct
Supporting Actor – Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) - Correct
Supporting Actress – Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years A Slave) – Correct
Director – Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) – Correct
Film – 12 Years A Slave – Correct
Actor - Michael Keaton (Birdman) – Wrong (Winner: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything)
Actress - Julianne Moore (Still Alice) – Correct
Supporting Actor - JK Simmons (Whiplash) – Correct
Supporting Actress - Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) – Correct
Director - Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman) - Correct
Film - Boyhood – Wrong (Winner: Birdman)
Actor - Leonardo diCaprio (The Revenant) - Correct
Actress - Brie Larson (Room) - Correct
Supporting Actor - Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies) - Correct
Supporting Actress - Rooney Mara (Carol) - Wrong (Winner: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl))
Director - Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant) - Correct
Film - Spotlight - Correct
Actor - Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea) - Correct
Actress - Emma Stone (La La Land) - Correct
Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) - Correct
Supporting Actress - Viola Davis (Fences) - Correct
Director - Damien Chazelle (La La Land) - Correct
Film - La La Land - ~~Correct~~ Wrong (Winner: Moonlight)