Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson to appear on BBC's Christmas University Challenge

Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson (Image credit: Getty)

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has been revealed as one of the contestants on the BBC’s University Challenge Christmas special.

Dickinson will be part of the Queen Mary College team which will also feature broadcaster Adrian Chiles, science writer and journalist Marcus Chown and TV chef and food writer Ching He Huang.

They’ll be up against the Cardiff University team featuring BBC news presenter Laura Trevelyan and former cycling world champion Nicole Cooke.

The battle of wits will be broadcast on BBC2 at 8.30pm GMT on New Year’s Day, with the questions asked by regular presenter Jeremy Paxman.

Dickinson recently released his autobiography What Does This Button Do? via Harper Collins and will be with Iron Maiden for their 2018 Legacy Of The Beast UK and European tour.

Find a full list of tour dates below.

Iron Maiden Legacy Of The Beast 2018 UK and European tour dates

May 26: Tallinn Saku Arena,Estonia
May 28: Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland
Jun 01: Stockholm Tele2 Arena, Sweden
Jun 03: Trondheim Rocks Dahls Arena, Norway
Jun 05: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Jun 07: Solvesborg Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden
Jun 09: Munich Rockavaria, Königsplatz, Germany
Jun 10: Hannover Expo Plaza, Germany
Jun 13: Berlin Waldbuhne, Germany
Jun 16: Florence Firenze Rocks, Italy
Jun 17: Nickelsdorf Novarock Festival, Austria
Jun 20: Prague Letnany Airport, Czech Republic
Jun 22: Dessel Graspop, Belgium
Jun 24: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jun 26: Geneva Arena, Switzerland
Jun 28: Sopron Volt Festival, Hungary
Jun 30: Freiburg Messegelaende, Germany
Jul 01: Arnhem Gelredome, Netherlands
Jul 05: Paris AccorsHotel Arena, France
Jul 09: Milan San Siro Ippodromo, Italy
Jul 10: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Jul 13: Lisbon Altice Arena, Portugal
Jul 14: Madrid Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Spain
Jul 17: Trieste Piazza Della Unita D’Italia, Italy
Jul 20: Athens Rockwave Festival, Greece
Jul 22: Plovdiv Hills Of Rock, Bulgaria
Jul 24: Zagreb Arena, Croatia
Jul 27: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
Jul 31: Newcastle Radio Arena, UK
Aug 02: Belfast SSE Arena, UK
Aug 04: Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre, UK
Aug 06: Manchester Arena, UK
Aug 07: Birmingham Genting Arena, UK
Aug 10: London O2 Arena, UK

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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.