Mastermind winner takes up rapping

He is a successful criminal barrister and has just been crowned the first black champion of Mastermind.

But after more than 20 years of law, Shaun Wallace has decided on a change of career - as a rapper. The 44-year-old, who answered Mastermind questions on FA Cup finals since 1970, said he had dreamed of being a singer since he was a teenager.

"I'll probably be the oldest rapper around but it's something that I've always wanted to do," he said today at his home in Wembley. "I'm deadly serious. I knew I would win Mastermind and I know I'll be a rapper - it's as simple as that. I feel I've taken being a barrister as far as it can go. I haven't been called to take silk and be a QC so it's time to move on."

When he was nine, Mr Wallace moved to England from Jamaica with his parents. The family lived in a terrace house in Wembley. His mother Millicent, 74, was a nurse and his father Linford, 76, worked in a Heinz factory for more than 30 years. His parents told him always to work hard but his teachers said he would never amount to anything.

"When I told them I wanted to be a lawyer they just laughed," he said. "I wasn't bad or disruptive, they just didn't think very much of me. So I wrote to the Inner Temple asking for advice. I said I wanted to be a lawyer as I wanted to help people and that's the ethos I've stuck to ever since."

Mr Wallace, who is single, read law at North London Polytechnic before qualifying as a barrister in 1984. He had "countless" failed applications for pupilages before serving his apprenticeship in socalled "ghetto" chambers - set up for black lawyers rejected by white chambers.

Despite this, Mr Wallace said that he has never experienced any overt racism in British courts - despite a somewhat unusual appearance. He said: "I'm a maverick in court, I used to wear a diamond earring and lots of rings so I stood out and I've got a razor haircut. But all the judge cares about is that you argue your case well and you know the law."

Along with a potential career as a rap star Mr Wallace plans to carry on coaching two amateur football teams and lecturing in law and history at a local college.

He has no illusions about his fame as Mastermind champion. He said: "At the moment I'm in demand, people want to talk to me and I'm in the newspapers. But I know full well that tomorrow it could all be over.

"Whatever I do, I'll give it my best shot."