Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news ?
1) Matthew James
2) Monica Kancyk
3) The Adonis Kebab House
4) Lambok
5) Keegan Bradley
6) Jason Dufner
7) David Starkey
8) Tom Condliff
9) Damian Raszowski
10) Mavj Halai
11) The Judgement
12) Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan
13) Nancy Atkinson – Turner
14) Julia High
15) Cranbrook
16) Paul ‘Doug’ Peters
17) Exponent
18) Jeggings – sexting – mankini
19) Ahla Arbid
20) Mungo
21) Simon Richardson
22) Alex James
23) Frederic Piquianne
24) Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino
25) Christine O’Donnell
26) James Desborough
27) Bob Frost
28) Jamie Henderson
29) Ursula Nevin
30) Nayyar Robinson
31) Paul and Jacqueline Charles
32) Yvonne
In Other News
1) Which politician won last week’s straw poll in Iowa ?
2) Who won the Olympic test cycle race last week ?
3) In which London station did the fair fares demo take place ?
4) Which board released A Level results a week early by mistake ?
5) Why did the Bluebird electric car fail to break the record ?
6) Which company announced that it will not show adverts which show scenes that look like rioting ?
7) Why was the Worthing Birdman competition held back for a day or two ?
8) Which player suffered a suspected broken arm in the Wales v. England rugby match at Cardiff ?
9) Who won the Olympic test regatta event in the Finn class at Weymouth ?
10) Which teams new to the Premier league were beaten by Bolton, and Man City respectively ?
11) What is the name of Kate Hudson’s baby son ?
12) What did Gordon Ramsay call Prince William on Jay Leno’s show ?
13) Which racing trainer was ordered to pay compensation to a sacked stable girl last week ?
14) Which actress complained last week of roles going to reality TV stars ?
15) What is going to be reduced by 4 or 5 inches ?
16) Which football manager was banned from driving for 18 months for drink driving ?
17) Who announced that she is resuming her recording career at the age of 87 ?
18) Britain’s longest lasting student sit in is to end at which University ?
19) What finally went online and received 22 million hits in one day ?
20) Who was banned from driving when he made a joke to the police when he was caught speeding?
21) What was set up by pranksters on the roof of the barn of Carla Lane’s animal sanctuary ?
22) The Harbour Bookstore in Dartmouth is to close after 60 years. By whom was it founded ?
23) David Miliband has revealed that he has been mocked for taking his family where on holiday ?
24) Which is the top selling celebrity scent ?
25) Which book is celebrating its 100th anniversary ?
26) Dartford in Kent are playing classical music in certain places to deter graffiti artists. Which composer’s music do they say is the most effective deterrent ?
27) Pensioner Graham Smith foiled an armed robbery by William Hayton in Speelhurst, Kent, by hitting him with a carrier bag containing what ?
28) Which film star urinated on the floor during a flight from Paris to Dublin ?
29) Holiday makers were warned not to swim with dolphins off the coast of Cornwall. Why ?
30) The Pope’s visit to Spain is part of which festival ?
31) Stages collapsed in two events last week – the state fair in which state of the US, and the Pukkelpop festival in which country ?
32) Which spanish chain are being investigated over claims of using child labour in Brazil ?
33) Builders have begun work on a memorial to Bomber Command – where ?
34) Which clubs were played in the Europa league by Spurs – Fulham – Stoke – Birmingham ?
35) In the 4th test, how many runs were scored in a massive 3rd wicket partnership between Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen ?
36) Hewlett Packard announced that they are scrapping their rival to the ipad – what is it called ?
37) On which island was Ian Redmond tragically killed in a shark attack while on honeymoon ?
38) Police in mid Wales issued warnings when big cats were seen near which Welsh town ?
39) What was the percentage of passes in this year’s A Levels ?
40) Vince Wilkins in the USA is currently suing for the rights to which disco classic ?
41) Who is suing Noel Gallagher for libel ?
42) Which Johnny Depp film has been put on hold by Disney because costs are rising too much ?
Answers
Who or what
1) He offered advertising space to Mercedes on his prosthetic arm. They bought the latest state of the art limb for him as a reward for his enterprise in writing to them.
2) The polish lady photographed jumping from her blazing building during the Croydon riot
3) Restaurant at the centre of the Cardiff E coli outbreak
4) Furniture chain which has gone into administration
5) Winner of the USPGA at first attempt at major
6) Lost USPGA in play off
7) Criticised for racist comments, saying that the riots have proven Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech right.
8) He won his court case for NHS surgery to fit a gastric band
9) Labourer who has been accused of carrying out the knife murders on st. Helier
10) Jailed last week for faking a robbery at his post office
11) Rembrandt drawing snatched from LA Ritz Carlton hotel
12) Both were jailed for 4 years for inciting riots on Facebook – there has been outcry in some circles regarding the severity of the sentences
13) Her blog post on being wrongly accused of stealing a bottle of shampoo from Tesco on Hayling island has become an internet hit
14) Her house was invaded by Romanian gypsies while she was away for the night at the Proms.
15) Officially the worst place in Britain for internet broadband speed
16) Accused over the Madeleine Pulver neck collar bomb hoax
17) Company BBC has sold many of its publications, including the Radio Times to
18) All have been included in the OED for the first time
19) She claimed her former boyfriend’s new wife was carrying a bomb into the UK
20) Ship which ran aground, blocking the entrance to Littlehampton harbor
21) Paralympic Gold Medal cyclist from Porthcawl knocked off bike by hit and run driver, and now seriously ill in hospital
22) Former member of Blur, now making and selling cheese to Asda
23) West Ham footballer caught flytipping
24) Reality TV star from Jersey Shore who has been offered money by Abercrombie and Fitch not to wear their clothes
25) US Politician who stormed off Piers Morgan’s TV show when she claimed he was being rude
26) Former News of the World US editor who has been arrested last week
27) Tory councilor in Dover suspended for calling rioters ‘jungle bunnies’ on Facebook
28) Headteacher struck off for watching porn on his school laptop
29) First rioter to have a jail sentence reduced to community service on appeal
30) Struck off for changing hospital records to cover up failure to call a doctor for a dying stroke patient
31) Tragic couple who died when their car went off Culver Cliff on the Isle of Wight
32) A german cow who has become a celebrity in Germany after going missing from her farm.
In Other News
1) Michelle Bachmann
2) Mark Cavendish
3) Waterloo Station
4) Edexcel
5) Its suspension was smashed by a pothole on Pendine Sands
6) Levi
7) It was too windy
8) Gavin Henson
9) Ben Ainslie
10) QPR - Swansea
11) Bingham
12) A ‘little bastard’
13) John Gosden
14) Amanda Redman
15) Beecher’s Brook in Aintree racecourse
16) Steve Kean
17) Doris Day
18) Glasgow University
19) Pottermore
20) Jim Davidson
21) A Big McDonald’s M
22) Christopher Robin Milne
23) Centre Parcs in Provence
24) Beyonce – Heat
25) The Oxford English Dictionary
26) Gustav Mahler
27) An Iceberg lettuce
28) Gerard Depardieu
29) Because they have potentially harmful Brucella Ceti bacteria
30) World Youth Day
31) Indiana – Belgium
32) Zara
33) Green Park
34) Hearts – Dnipro – FC Thun – Nacional
35) 350
36) HP Touchpad
37) Praslin Island in the Seychelles
38) Hay on Wye
39) 97.8%
40) YMCA
41) Liam Gallagher
42) The Lone Ranger
There you go. I've been away for the last ten days or so, and its going to take me a while to catch up on all the news since I've been away, so it might be a week or so before I post any more questions. Don't panic, though, it will be back.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Only Connect - Round One - Match 3
The Analysts v. The Editors
OC has no trouble attracting some serious quiz muscle to compete in each series. Last week we saw Mastermind and RBQ champion David Edwards make his OC debut. This week an exceptionally talented team, The Analysts, made theirs. William de’Ath, LAM regular, Mastermind 2011 finalist and Brain of Britain 2009 runner up Paul Steeples, and captain David Lea are all extremely good and nationally respected quizzers. My heart went out to the Editors sitting opposite. Wendy Toole, Rod Cuff and Ali Turnbull are not people I knew either by reputation or in person, but as we always say – there are no mugs on Only Connect. So lets get cracking.
Round One – What’s The Connection ?
The analysts won the toss, and made a comfortable start. Behind Lion they found Ho – Beetlejuice – and I divorce you. I suspect that they probably had it after the first two, but the third confirmed that these were all things said three times. Twisted flax gave the Editors the music set . They seemed to struggle a bit, with captain Ali stopping the clock, then rather stumbling round her answer. When she clarified it , though, as consecutive numbers, she was right. 1234, Len Barry’s 1 – 2 – 3, Steps’ 5, 6, 7, 8 and Manfred Mann’s 5 – 4- 3 – 2 – 1 . Great little set that . Two Reeds gave the Analysts Sarah Good, Ethel Rosenberg and my relative by marriage, Edith Cavell. I might have been tempted for a pop at this after the first two. As it was the Analysts made no mistake here with women who were executed. Viper gave the Editors a set of pictures here, and they showed their class by identifying a soft 17 from blackjack, a soft pedal from a piano, and a soft boiled egg. Easy when you know how, but I was floundering on this one. Good shout. Water gave the Analysts shell game, Queen’s 12th cake, and Referee’s whistle, and they knew that all of these had peas inside them. A good first round for the Analysts, who had solved all three of their sets without needing all 4 clues. Eye of Horus gave the Editors Tiresias to start. Immediately Rod said “The blind seer” from greek mythology. Unfortunately when the Weird Sisters, and Alice Cullen followed they chose to go down a blind alley , by suggesting they were all blind. As the Analysts knew, they were all prophets, as was Fiver in Watership Down. A slight blemish on an otherwise high quality round, which saw the Analysts lead by 7 to 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?
I fell into the trap that the Analysts found behind Water. They were given a set of pictures, the first showing blood, and the second showing a chap in a garden with his top off. They , as did I , thought that this would be sweat. Ah - Churchill’s famous speech. So they plumped for tears to end the sequence. Incorrect. The next picture was tears. The Editors couldn’t take a bonus. The key to it was that picture two represented toil, and so the last would be sweat. Often misquoted, the sequence is actually blood, toil, tears and sweat. Absolutely right – damn good set. I wouldn’t have had the set that the Editors found behind Flax either. Denise, Theo , Vanessa. Neither team knew that these were the kids in the Cosby show in the order of age, the next down being Rudy. Isn’t it funny how some shows stand the test of time, and others don’t ? Cosby was massive twenty plus years ago, but nobody remembers it that much now. A tricky set awaited the Analysts behind Lion. Category 4 professional – Category 3 – Display – Category 2 Garden left both teams floundering. I did briefly wonder if we were talking prisoners categories here – an absurd suggestion. They haven’t had garden prisoners for at least 10 years. No, it was fireworks, with the last being category 1 indoors. Finally the Editors got a gentler set behind Eye of Horus, with Dewar, McLeish and McConnell. I was shouting Salmond , and much relieved that I had at last got one right in this round, as did the Editors. Two reeds gave the Analysts Strong – Electro Magnetic. By this time William had worked out that the last would be gravity, but they played safe and took the third – weak to be certain. They are the four fundamental forces of physics , and yes, I would have got it after three myself . Finally a great little set for the Editors – T H R E E – S E V E N – E I G H T . I had the idea that what was needed was the next number up which would be written with five letters, but Ali had which one it would be a lot quicker than I did, with F O R T Y . Great shout , and a good round for the Editors, who had pegged back the score so that they only trailed by 7 to 9. As I said, no mugs on this show.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Editors plumped for Lion. Early doors they identified that there was a set of battles in there, but never unraveled them before the time was up. They did manage to untangle nox – lumos – avis and reducto, without realizing that they are actually spells in Harry Potter, going instead for their latin roots. Hard lines there. Also they found Alamo – Enterprise – Hertz and Budget , a set of car hire companies. That was as far as they got before time ran out, though. When resolved, they managed to idenfity Gettysburg- The Wilderness – Shiloh and Helena as a set of US Civil War Battles. However Hijack – Stupefy – Deface and Tuvalu escaped them . They all begin with 3 consecutive letters.
As for the Analysts, with their water wall they gave something of a masterclass in making a wall look easy. They achieved the rare feat of not making a single mistake. One by one, and very quickly, they identified a set, and resolved it, never once assigning anything to a wrong set. Victoria was hugely impressed, and quite rightly too. The sets were Barber of Seville – Cinderella – William Tell and Othello – which were all Rossini operas. Victoria mischievously insisted that they say they were by Rossini. Jung – Euler – Chevrolet – Spyri were all famous Swiss people. Running – Omega – Invisible and Third are all film titles when sandwiched between ‘the’ and ‘man’. The last set I would have struggled on , but they knew that cow – glacier – elephant and leg all have calves. Boys, that was impressive. It gave them a commanding lead as well, of 19 to 11.
Round Four – Missing Vowels.
Well, we’ve seen underdogs come back strongly in this round before, so nobody was taking anything for granted. A set on routine medical tests went two apiece. Art Tools and materials proved very much to the Editors’ liking , and fell to them 3 – 1. On the other hand sporting controversies were very much the Analysts’ , and tit for tat they took these 3 – 1. We only had time for one more set, Sci Fi characters and their home planets. The Analysts took two. Neither team fancied Doctor Zoidberg and Decapod Ten. I did have Zoidberg, but wasn’t even close to Decapod Ten. William had a great buzz on the last one, knowing that we had a Skywalker and Tatooine, but plumping for Luke rather than Anakin. Didn’t matter. The final score was a win for the Analysts by 26 over 17.
Well done guys ! A very impressive performance, which for me marks them out as potential champions. I only say potential as we’ve only seen 3 matches so far, and I didn’t do Paul any favours by tipping him in the Mastermind final. So I shan’t do it now – not yet , anyway. And well done to the Editors. A strong performance against a top notch team. Nothing to be ashamed of.
OC has no trouble attracting some serious quiz muscle to compete in each series. Last week we saw Mastermind and RBQ champion David Edwards make his OC debut. This week an exceptionally talented team, The Analysts, made theirs. William de’Ath, LAM regular, Mastermind 2011 finalist and Brain of Britain 2009 runner up Paul Steeples, and captain David Lea are all extremely good and nationally respected quizzers. My heart went out to the Editors sitting opposite. Wendy Toole, Rod Cuff and Ali Turnbull are not people I knew either by reputation or in person, but as we always say – there are no mugs on Only Connect. So lets get cracking.
Round One – What’s The Connection ?
The analysts won the toss, and made a comfortable start. Behind Lion they found Ho – Beetlejuice – and I divorce you. I suspect that they probably had it after the first two, but the third confirmed that these were all things said three times. Twisted flax gave the Editors the music set . They seemed to struggle a bit, with captain Ali stopping the clock, then rather stumbling round her answer. When she clarified it , though, as consecutive numbers, she was right. 1234, Len Barry’s 1 – 2 – 3, Steps’ 5, 6, 7, 8 and Manfred Mann’s 5 – 4- 3 – 2 – 1 . Great little set that . Two Reeds gave the Analysts Sarah Good, Ethel Rosenberg and my relative by marriage, Edith Cavell. I might have been tempted for a pop at this after the first two. As it was the Analysts made no mistake here with women who were executed. Viper gave the Editors a set of pictures here, and they showed their class by identifying a soft 17 from blackjack, a soft pedal from a piano, and a soft boiled egg. Easy when you know how, but I was floundering on this one. Good shout. Water gave the Analysts shell game, Queen’s 12th cake, and Referee’s whistle, and they knew that all of these had peas inside them. A good first round for the Analysts, who had solved all three of their sets without needing all 4 clues. Eye of Horus gave the Editors Tiresias to start. Immediately Rod said “The blind seer” from greek mythology. Unfortunately when the Weird Sisters, and Alice Cullen followed they chose to go down a blind alley , by suggesting they were all blind. As the Analysts knew, they were all prophets, as was Fiver in Watership Down. A slight blemish on an otherwise high quality round, which saw the Analysts lead by 7 to 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?
I fell into the trap that the Analysts found behind Water. They were given a set of pictures, the first showing blood, and the second showing a chap in a garden with his top off. They , as did I , thought that this would be sweat. Ah - Churchill’s famous speech. So they plumped for tears to end the sequence. Incorrect. The next picture was tears. The Editors couldn’t take a bonus. The key to it was that picture two represented toil, and so the last would be sweat. Often misquoted, the sequence is actually blood, toil, tears and sweat. Absolutely right – damn good set. I wouldn’t have had the set that the Editors found behind Flax either. Denise, Theo , Vanessa. Neither team knew that these were the kids in the Cosby show in the order of age, the next down being Rudy. Isn’t it funny how some shows stand the test of time, and others don’t ? Cosby was massive twenty plus years ago, but nobody remembers it that much now. A tricky set awaited the Analysts behind Lion. Category 4 professional – Category 3 – Display – Category 2 Garden left both teams floundering. I did briefly wonder if we were talking prisoners categories here – an absurd suggestion. They haven’t had garden prisoners for at least 10 years. No, it was fireworks, with the last being category 1 indoors. Finally the Editors got a gentler set behind Eye of Horus, with Dewar, McLeish and McConnell. I was shouting Salmond , and much relieved that I had at last got one right in this round, as did the Editors. Two reeds gave the Analysts Strong – Electro Magnetic. By this time William had worked out that the last would be gravity, but they played safe and took the third – weak to be certain. They are the four fundamental forces of physics , and yes, I would have got it after three myself . Finally a great little set for the Editors – T H R E E – S E V E N – E I G H T . I had the idea that what was needed was the next number up which would be written with five letters, but Ali had which one it would be a lot quicker than I did, with F O R T Y . Great shout , and a good round for the Editors, who had pegged back the score so that they only trailed by 7 to 9. As I said, no mugs on this show.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Editors plumped for Lion. Early doors they identified that there was a set of battles in there, but never unraveled them before the time was up. They did manage to untangle nox – lumos – avis and reducto, without realizing that they are actually spells in Harry Potter, going instead for their latin roots. Hard lines there. Also they found Alamo – Enterprise – Hertz and Budget , a set of car hire companies. That was as far as they got before time ran out, though. When resolved, they managed to idenfity Gettysburg- The Wilderness – Shiloh and Helena as a set of US Civil War Battles. However Hijack – Stupefy – Deface and Tuvalu escaped them . They all begin with 3 consecutive letters.
As for the Analysts, with their water wall they gave something of a masterclass in making a wall look easy. They achieved the rare feat of not making a single mistake. One by one, and very quickly, they identified a set, and resolved it, never once assigning anything to a wrong set. Victoria was hugely impressed, and quite rightly too. The sets were Barber of Seville – Cinderella – William Tell and Othello – which were all Rossini operas. Victoria mischievously insisted that they say they were by Rossini. Jung – Euler – Chevrolet – Spyri were all famous Swiss people. Running – Omega – Invisible and Third are all film titles when sandwiched between ‘the’ and ‘man’. The last set I would have struggled on , but they knew that cow – glacier – elephant and leg all have calves. Boys, that was impressive. It gave them a commanding lead as well, of 19 to 11.
Round Four – Missing Vowels.
Well, we’ve seen underdogs come back strongly in this round before, so nobody was taking anything for granted. A set on routine medical tests went two apiece. Art Tools and materials proved very much to the Editors’ liking , and fell to them 3 – 1. On the other hand sporting controversies were very much the Analysts’ , and tit for tat they took these 3 – 1. We only had time for one more set, Sci Fi characters and their home planets. The Analysts took two. Neither team fancied Doctor Zoidberg and Decapod Ten. I did have Zoidberg, but wasn’t even close to Decapod Ten. William had a great buzz on the last one, knowing that we had a Skywalker and Tatooine, but plumping for Luke rather than Anakin. Didn’t matter. The final score was a win for the Analysts by 26 over 17.
Well done guys ! A very impressive performance, which for me marks them out as potential champions. I only say potential as we’ve only seen 3 matches so far, and I didn’t do Paul any favours by tipping him in the Mastermind final. So I shan’t do it now – not yet , anyway. And well done to the Editors. A strong performance against a top notch team. Nothing to be ashamed of.
University Challenge - Round One - Match 9
Manchester v. Selwyn,Cambridge
JP started off by paying tribute to Manchester’s excellent record in recent years – many semi-final appearences, and championships in 2006 and 2009. The team consisted of Luke Kelly, Michael McKenna, Paul Joyce and captain Tristan Burke. Selwyn College , he told us, have a very small number of students, and are one of the younger teams in the competition, with an average age of 19. They were Daniel Bental, Jack Oxley, Joseph Steadman and captain Samuel Cook.
Manchester, in the shape of Michael McKenna struck first, as he recognized a series of clues all connected to the word - fort. This brought them two bonuses on cafes. Jack Oxley chanced his arm on the next question, with an answer of eau de toilette. Eau dear. What was required, was eau de cologne, supplied by Paul Joyce, bringing up 2 bonuses on caves. The next question , about birds, was taken by neither team, but unfortunately Selwyn leapt in early, and paid the price , losing 5 points. Paul Joyce took his second starter identifying a particular type of police record as fingerprinting. My favourite Police record was Ghost in the Machine, although Regatta de Blanc was good too. Sorry. After bonuses on plays within Shakespeare’s plays – a very nice set , incidentally - the next starter saw captain Samuel Cook jumping in early , incorrectly identifying a poet as Spenser. Another 5 points gone. His opposite number, Tristan Burke correctly answered that it was John Donne. A very good three bonuses on the cardiac cycle were taken by Michael McKenna. The impressive Paul Joyce took his third starter of the opening minutes when he correctly identified a diagram of a formula one motor racing circuit as Monaco. I knew that one, but I didn’t get any of the other circuits which followed as bonuses. Piling on the agony for Selwyn, Tristan Burke took the next starter on bracken, and a pair of bonuses on Wilkie Collins took the scores to 120 for Manchester, and minus 10 for Selwyn. Looking at Manchester’s performance so far, they seemed likely to break the 300 barrier at this stage, if they could maintain the same form.
Joseph Steadman stopped the rot with the next starter, correctly identifying the planet Neptune. This brought up a good set of UC specials on pairs of place names, for example Liberia and Siberia. This put Selwyn into credit on the scoreboard for the first time, and they were never to go back into the red. Tristan Burke took the next , identifying a set of words which ended with the letters – gm. Then Joseph Steadman undid some of his earlier good work by buzzing early on a question about the proper name of a credence table in church. This was a question which had handle with care written all over it, and Manchester failed to get it either. The next, another UC special , gave a series of clues to words which obviously rhymed - torque being one of them. Jack Oxley leapt in, and gave the actual words, thus losing 5, for the question had a swerve to it. When Manchester were given the rest of the question, it turned out that it wanted the name of a city in Northern England which rhymed with the other words as well, hence York. I don’t think Jack Oxley can be blamed for this. Selwyn were still in there fighting, and if I had been in his seat, I’d definitely have done the same. Still, Michael McKenna’s correct answer brought up bonuses on physics. Neither team could take the music starter that followed, when a less familiar snatch from the score of the film Jaws was played. Neither team managed to answer how long it takes an aircraft flying at Mach 2.3 to cover one mile. Not surprised. Finally Jack Oxley correctly answered that the UK and the Czech Republic are the only members of the EU whose official name has two words. This brought the full set of music bonuses on scores to Spielberg films. Tristan Burke correctly supplied the name of Rene Descartes, and earned a tricky old set on the area of Scotland. Then another 2 starters escaped both teams, on Einstein’s theories, and then fluid mechanics. Paul Joyce recognized characters from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers , and earned bonuses on 20th century operas. At the 20 minute mark Manchester’s pace had slowed somewhat, but their lead was increased. With 180 to Selwyn’s 25 the show was already over as a contest.
Neither team knew that the spinning wheel was the gadget which came to Europe from China in the middle ages. As JP mentioned the names Mahut and Isner Michael McKenna was first to the buzzer, knowing that the two played out the longest ever professional tennis match at Wimbledon in 2010. A set on rivers of the Midlands proved a little tricky for them. Neither team managed to identify a picture of Jane Seymour. Paul Joyce, who top scored on starters, took another with Gamma radiation to earn the picture bonuses on Henry VIII’s wives. With Manchester’s buzzer fingers just starting to show signs of fatigue Selwyn now found that they could show a little form, as Samuel Cook correctly identified Hannah as the mother of the prophet Samuel. One bonus followed on food hygiene and safety. Daniel Bental took the next starter, identifying the word – combe in English placenames. A bonus was taken on the human skeleton. Neither team managed to answer how many o’s there are in Scarborough, Middlesbrough and Edinburgh . A great starter followed, though, when Paul Joyce identified St. Cyril and 2 other saints as the originators of alphabets. 2 bonuses were taken on monarchs who were on the throne when specific paintings were painted. Samuel Cook took the next starter on Moore’s Law, to earn a bonus on love triangles in literature. Paul Joyce then took the last starter of the show, correctly identifying a linking word as Julian.
The final score was a win for Manchester by 255 to 70. I’m glad that Selwyn pulled themselves up to respectability in the last few minutes. I would always far rather see a team chance their collective arm, than meekly surrender to a faster team. They could have easily gone into their shells for the whole of the rest of the show after that first few minutes. But well done Manchester. A score that certainly marks them out as one of the teams to watch for the second round, albeit that they didn’t break the 300 barrier which they had seemed so likely to do after the first ten minutes of the show.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
This was better. Just after the first ten minutes, Joseph Steadman’s first correct answer for Selwyn was greeted with a chuckle and,
“I was going to say that you’re off the mark, but you’re not. “ Then he put the tin hat on it by saying the ominous words “Masses of time left. “ I’m very sorry, but when JP says something like this to you, then you know that you’re in trouble.
When given the supersonic aircraft question, neither team fancied it that much, and he responded with a tetchy ,” It’s no good sitting there shrugging your shoulders. “
Finally , on the Edinburgh – Scarborough – Middlesbrough question, when offered first 6 and then 5 letter o’s his eyebrows shot towards the ceiling, and his voice sounded incredulous when he informed them, “No ! its THREE ! Edinburgh hasn’t got any. “
Interesting Fact Of The Week That I Didn’t Already Know
The spinning wheel originated in China
JP started off by paying tribute to Manchester’s excellent record in recent years – many semi-final appearences, and championships in 2006 and 2009. The team consisted of Luke Kelly, Michael McKenna, Paul Joyce and captain Tristan Burke. Selwyn College , he told us, have a very small number of students, and are one of the younger teams in the competition, with an average age of 19. They were Daniel Bental, Jack Oxley, Joseph Steadman and captain Samuel Cook.
Manchester, in the shape of Michael McKenna struck first, as he recognized a series of clues all connected to the word - fort. This brought them two bonuses on cafes. Jack Oxley chanced his arm on the next question, with an answer of eau de toilette. Eau dear. What was required, was eau de cologne, supplied by Paul Joyce, bringing up 2 bonuses on caves. The next question , about birds, was taken by neither team, but unfortunately Selwyn leapt in early, and paid the price , losing 5 points. Paul Joyce took his second starter identifying a particular type of police record as fingerprinting. My favourite Police record was Ghost in the Machine, although Regatta de Blanc was good too. Sorry. After bonuses on plays within Shakespeare’s plays – a very nice set , incidentally - the next starter saw captain Samuel Cook jumping in early , incorrectly identifying a poet as Spenser. Another 5 points gone. His opposite number, Tristan Burke correctly answered that it was John Donne. A very good three bonuses on the cardiac cycle were taken by Michael McKenna. The impressive Paul Joyce took his third starter of the opening minutes when he correctly identified a diagram of a formula one motor racing circuit as Monaco. I knew that one, but I didn’t get any of the other circuits which followed as bonuses. Piling on the agony for Selwyn, Tristan Burke took the next starter on bracken, and a pair of bonuses on Wilkie Collins took the scores to 120 for Manchester, and minus 10 for Selwyn. Looking at Manchester’s performance so far, they seemed likely to break the 300 barrier at this stage, if they could maintain the same form.
Joseph Steadman stopped the rot with the next starter, correctly identifying the planet Neptune. This brought up a good set of UC specials on pairs of place names, for example Liberia and Siberia. This put Selwyn into credit on the scoreboard for the first time, and they were never to go back into the red. Tristan Burke took the next , identifying a set of words which ended with the letters – gm. Then Joseph Steadman undid some of his earlier good work by buzzing early on a question about the proper name of a credence table in church. This was a question which had handle with care written all over it, and Manchester failed to get it either. The next, another UC special , gave a series of clues to words which obviously rhymed - torque being one of them. Jack Oxley leapt in, and gave the actual words, thus losing 5, for the question had a swerve to it. When Manchester were given the rest of the question, it turned out that it wanted the name of a city in Northern England which rhymed with the other words as well, hence York. I don’t think Jack Oxley can be blamed for this. Selwyn were still in there fighting, and if I had been in his seat, I’d definitely have done the same. Still, Michael McKenna’s correct answer brought up bonuses on physics. Neither team could take the music starter that followed, when a less familiar snatch from the score of the film Jaws was played. Neither team managed to answer how long it takes an aircraft flying at Mach 2.3 to cover one mile. Not surprised. Finally Jack Oxley correctly answered that the UK and the Czech Republic are the only members of the EU whose official name has two words. This brought the full set of music bonuses on scores to Spielberg films. Tristan Burke correctly supplied the name of Rene Descartes, and earned a tricky old set on the area of Scotland. Then another 2 starters escaped both teams, on Einstein’s theories, and then fluid mechanics. Paul Joyce recognized characters from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers , and earned bonuses on 20th century operas. At the 20 minute mark Manchester’s pace had slowed somewhat, but their lead was increased. With 180 to Selwyn’s 25 the show was already over as a contest.
Neither team knew that the spinning wheel was the gadget which came to Europe from China in the middle ages. As JP mentioned the names Mahut and Isner Michael McKenna was first to the buzzer, knowing that the two played out the longest ever professional tennis match at Wimbledon in 2010. A set on rivers of the Midlands proved a little tricky for them. Neither team managed to identify a picture of Jane Seymour. Paul Joyce, who top scored on starters, took another with Gamma radiation to earn the picture bonuses on Henry VIII’s wives. With Manchester’s buzzer fingers just starting to show signs of fatigue Selwyn now found that they could show a little form, as Samuel Cook correctly identified Hannah as the mother of the prophet Samuel. One bonus followed on food hygiene and safety. Daniel Bental took the next starter, identifying the word – combe in English placenames. A bonus was taken on the human skeleton. Neither team managed to answer how many o’s there are in Scarborough, Middlesbrough and Edinburgh . A great starter followed, though, when Paul Joyce identified St. Cyril and 2 other saints as the originators of alphabets. 2 bonuses were taken on monarchs who were on the throne when specific paintings were painted. Samuel Cook took the next starter on Moore’s Law, to earn a bonus on love triangles in literature. Paul Joyce then took the last starter of the show, correctly identifying a linking word as Julian.
The final score was a win for Manchester by 255 to 70. I’m glad that Selwyn pulled themselves up to respectability in the last few minutes. I would always far rather see a team chance their collective arm, than meekly surrender to a faster team. They could have easily gone into their shells for the whole of the rest of the show after that first few minutes. But well done Manchester. A score that certainly marks them out as one of the teams to watch for the second round, albeit that they didn’t break the 300 barrier which they had seemed so likely to do after the first ten minutes of the show.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
This was better. Just after the first ten minutes, Joseph Steadman’s first correct answer for Selwyn was greeted with a chuckle and,
“I was going to say that you’re off the mark, but you’re not. “ Then he put the tin hat on it by saying the ominous words “Masses of time left. “ I’m very sorry, but when JP says something like this to you, then you know that you’re in trouble.
When given the supersonic aircraft question, neither team fancied it that much, and he responded with a tetchy ,” It’s no good sitting there shrugging your shoulders. “
Finally , on the Edinburgh – Scarborough – Middlesbrough question, when offered first 6 and then 5 letter o’s his eyebrows shot towards the ceiling, and his voice sounded incredulous when he informed them, “No ! its THREE ! Edinburgh hasn’t got any. “
Interesting Fact Of The Week That I Didn’t Already Know
The spinning wheel originated in China
Monday, 29 August 2011
Only Connect - Round One - Match 2
Edwards Family v. Inorganic Chemists
For some reason we couldn’t pick up BBC4 at the Casa Me Duck ( don’t ask ) last week, and so I didn’t actually get to see this one until back in Wales. Still, it was well worth waiting for. The Edwards Family consisted of David Edwards, his daughter-in-law Charlotte Martyn, and her husband and David’s son, Richard Edwards, their captain. If you were wondering, would that be 1990 Mastermind champion, Are You An Egghead finalist, Round Britain Quiz winning David Edwards , then the answer is, yes, indeed it would. So I’m afraid that the Edwards were to be weighted down with the burden of support from the Clark sofa in this show. Their opposition was a team called The Inorganic Chemists. Saul Moorhouse, Henry Fisher and captain Charles Markland I haven’t met before, but that, as we know, means nothing in Only Connect. What do we always say – all together now – there are no mugs on this show. Lets go .
Round One – What’s the Connection ?
We saw fireworks right from the start in this first round. The Edwards kicked off with Twisted Flax. From French Nuclear tests, and then Kieslowski film trilogy they confidently extrapolated red, white and blue. Really good shout from two clues there. One would have forgiven the Chemists for being daunted by this, but they hit straight back with Horned Viper, which gave them A Treasure Island, and A Hike Together. OK, I had this on 2 myself, but I can personally vouch for the fact that it is a lot easier at home than it is in the studio. The Chemists knew we were dealing with the Famous Five. Good shout, and a lovely answer to Victoria, who wondered how they knew , never having read them. ‘ Ah, knowledge.' they mused,' Where does it come from ? ‘ Wonderful. Equally entertaining was David’s response to Victoria that Noddy is one of the most disturbing pieces in the whole of literature, still, I digress. The Edwards took Lion and found pictures of Rudolf Hess, Walter Raleigh and the Kray Twins. They kicked a couple of ideas around here – including the possibility that they all died in prison. Well, I’m certain that ‘nutty Walt’ as Bob Newhart called him, was executed. In brilliant lateral thinking, they put Rudolf Hess who died in Spandau and the Kray Twins, played on film by the Kemp’s from Spandau ballet together. Wrongly so, since it was simpler than that. As the Chemists knew or guessed, they were all incarcerated in the Tower of London at one time or another. I may be wrong, but I fancy that the Krays may have been imprisoned there after going AWOL from National Service. A fiendish set lay in wait behind Eye of Horus for the Chemists. Commander, Colonel , Caretaker and Dashing escaped both them and the Edwards. And me. The answer was, of course, staring all of us in the face. Each word begins with a punctuation mark – Colon – Comma etc. Just in case any of us were in danger of forgetting why we love this show so much. It was back to form for the Edwards with Water. Black and White Liqueur and MSP for Glasgow brought a confident answer of Sheridan. I don’t know that I would have gambled myself – I knew the liqueur, but not the MSP. Still , they were right. Once again, though, a display of virtuosity from the Edwards did nothing to upset the Chemists, who took the music set , and correctly derived Berlin from David Hasselhof’s song about Freedom, White Christmas, and Take my Breath Away. So after a high quality first round the Edwards led by 6 to 5.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?
Richard overruled David when the Edwards found a set of pictures behind Two reeds. Clint Mansell, a hill, and Geoff Hamilton clearly made you think of formula 1 world champs. David was all for going for the current one, Sebastian Vettel, but Richard knew it was British world champs specifically, and this led him to give the correct answer of Button. Behind twisted Flax the Chemists found Peat , and lignite. They knew what these were, and where it was going, but made the mistake of not being specific enough. They answered coal, which just was not enough. I suspect that the Edwards would have had anthracite coal anyway even if they hadn’t been shown the next – bituminous coal. They capitalized on this with their next set – 01 and 071 were recognized as dialing codes for Central London, They knew that the 4th would be 0207. The Chemists took water, and were rather understandably treading water when they found S. America or Australia = 2, Africa = 3, Europe or N. America =5. I think both teams guessed correctly that we were dealing with the game of Risk here – as did I – but couldn’t get the specific answer, which is Asia = 7. Its all to do with how many extra armies you can earn if you control the whole continent. Fair enough. Behind the Eye of Horus the Edwards uncovered Mercury and Gemini. They had the connection – NASA manned space missions, and knew that Apollo would be next. However they plumped for the space shuttle next, incorrectly. The chemists couldn’t take a bonus, and thus the correct answer, Skylab, went begging. Easily done when you’re under pressure. A nice cryptic set followed for the Chemists. They impressed hugely by knowing that the capital of Laconia was Sparta. The next – strong grass, passed both them and me by. However Box with a partner being spar it seemed a fair bet that the grass would be spart. So, as the Chemists said, the next would be a bath, or anything which qualified as a spa. Very good round, and the Edwards had pulled further ahead with 12 to the Chemist’s 7.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Chemists plumped for the water wall, and quickly unraveled sets of Disney films – Tangled, Mulan, Cinderella and Fantasia, and then a great set with Level, Maroon, Sham and Heaven. If you put the right number after each of them , then you get names of bands. I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t have got any further with this particular wall myself, and the Chemists were locked out just before time up. The third line, consisting of Po Nana, Fabric, Gatecrasher and Tiger Tiger they did identify as nightclubs. However they didn’t see that Bolt – Cream – Mark and Test can all be preceded by – eye. Tough line, that one, I thought.
The Edwards quickly uncovered Wing, Prop, Hooker and Number 8 , being rugby positions. Charlotte was very on the ball , I thought, spotting asparagus, felt , rubbish and filter as a set of things with tips. She had also spotted that there were a set of kitchen utensils there too, but they were unable to untangle them all without locking out the wall. The set which were left were whisk – box – promenade and lock. I have to admit that I didn’t get it either, although I did recognize it when Victoria explained that these are all steps in ballroom dancing. So the gap between the teams remained the same, even though the scores had increased to 17 and 12 .
Round Four – Missing Vowels
5 points is not a huge lead to take into the missing vowels round. So it was still all to play for. The first set , non alcoholic drinks, saw both teams get two right, and both teams make one mistake. Café latte has 2 T’s , which café au lait doesn’t, and lemonade has an n, which limeade doesn’t. A full set of fictional vehicles were taken by the Edwards, and the game looked won. Fair play to the chemists, they took three of the world cities and major rivers, but the Edwards then took three back on Techniques in Art. By the end of the round, the Edwards had won comfortably with 27 to the Chemist’s 15.
Well done David, Charlotte and Richard. This is a performance made all the more impressive by the fact that the chances are they will do better than this on the wall in rounds to come. Spare a thought for the Chemists, too. The margin of victory might be significant, but they were by no means outclassed by a very good team. Well played both.
For some reason we couldn’t pick up BBC4 at the Casa Me Duck ( don’t ask ) last week, and so I didn’t actually get to see this one until back in Wales. Still, it was well worth waiting for. The Edwards Family consisted of David Edwards, his daughter-in-law Charlotte Martyn, and her husband and David’s son, Richard Edwards, their captain. If you were wondering, would that be 1990 Mastermind champion, Are You An Egghead finalist, Round Britain Quiz winning David Edwards , then the answer is, yes, indeed it would. So I’m afraid that the Edwards were to be weighted down with the burden of support from the Clark sofa in this show. Their opposition was a team called The Inorganic Chemists. Saul Moorhouse, Henry Fisher and captain Charles Markland I haven’t met before, but that, as we know, means nothing in Only Connect. What do we always say – all together now – there are no mugs on this show. Lets go .
Round One – What’s the Connection ?
We saw fireworks right from the start in this first round. The Edwards kicked off with Twisted Flax. From French Nuclear tests, and then Kieslowski film trilogy they confidently extrapolated red, white and blue. Really good shout from two clues there. One would have forgiven the Chemists for being daunted by this, but they hit straight back with Horned Viper, which gave them A Treasure Island, and A Hike Together. OK, I had this on 2 myself, but I can personally vouch for the fact that it is a lot easier at home than it is in the studio. The Chemists knew we were dealing with the Famous Five. Good shout, and a lovely answer to Victoria, who wondered how they knew , never having read them. ‘ Ah, knowledge.' they mused,' Where does it come from ? ‘ Wonderful. Equally entertaining was David’s response to Victoria that Noddy is one of the most disturbing pieces in the whole of literature, still, I digress. The Edwards took Lion and found pictures of Rudolf Hess, Walter Raleigh and the Kray Twins. They kicked a couple of ideas around here – including the possibility that they all died in prison. Well, I’m certain that ‘nutty Walt’ as Bob Newhart called him, was executed. In brilliant lateral thinking, they put Rudolf Hess who died in Spandau and the Kray Twins, played on film by the Kemp’s from Spandau ballet together. Wrongly so, since it was simpler than that. As the Chemists knew or guessed, they were all incarcerated in the Tower of London at one time or another. I may be wrong, but I fancy that the Krays may have been imprisoned there after going AWOL from National Service. A fiendish set lay in wait behind Eye of Horus for the Chemists. Commander, Colonel , Caretaker and Dashing escaped both them and the Edwards. And me. The answer was, of course, staring all of us in the face. Each word begins with a punctuation mark – Colon – Comma etc. Just in case any of us were in danger of forgetting why we love this show so much. It was back to form for the Edwards with Water. Black and White Liqueur and MSP for Glasgow brought a confident answer of Sheridan. I don’t know that I would have gambled myself – I knew the liqueur, but not the MSP. Still , they were right. Once again, though, a display of virtuosity from the Edwards did nothing to upset the Chemists, who took the music set , and correctly derived Berlin from David Hasselhof’s song about Freedom, White Christmas, and Take my Breath Away. So after a high quality first round the Edwards led by 6 to 5.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?
Richard overruled David when the Edwards found a set of pictures behind Two reeds. Clint Mansell, a hill, and Geoff Hamilton clearly made you think of formula 1 world champs. David was all for going for the current one, Sebastian Vettel, but Richard knew it was British world champs specifically, and this led him to give the correct answer of Button. Behind twisted Flax the Chemists found Peat , and lignite. They knew what these were, and where it was going, but made the mistake of not being specific enough. They answered coal, which just was not enough. I suspect that the Edwards would have had anthracite coal anyway even if they hadn’t been shown the next – bituminous coal. They capitalized on this with their next set – 01 and 071 were recognized as dialing codes for Central London, They knew that the 4th would be 0207. The Chemists took water, and were rather understandably treading water when they found S. America or Australia = 2, Africa = 3, Europe or N. America =5. I think both teams guessed correctly that we were dealing with the game of Risk here – as did I – but couldn’t get the specific answer, which is Asia = 7. Its all to do with how many extra armies you can earn if you control the whole continent. Fair enough. Behind the Eye of Horus the Edwards uncovered Mercury and Gemini. They had the connection – NASA manned space missions, and knew that Apollo would be next. However they plumped for the space shuttle next, incorrectly. The chemists couldn’t take a bonus, and thus the correct answer, Skylab, went begging. Easily done when you’re under pressure. A nice cryptic set followed for the Chemists. They impressed hugely by knowing that the capital of Laconia was Sparta. The next – strong grass, passed both them and me by. However Box with a partner being spar it seemed a fair bet that the grass would be spart. So, as the Chemists said, the next would be a bath, or anything which qualified as a spa. Very good round, and the Edwards had pulled further ahead with 12 to the Chemist’s 7.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Chemists plumped for the water wall, and quickly unraveled sets of Disney films – Tangled, Mulan, Cinderella and Fantasia, and then a great set with Level, Maroon, Sham and Heaven. If you put the right number after each of them , then you get names of bands. I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t have got any further with this particular wall myself, and the Chemists were locked out just before time up. The third line, consisting of Po Nana, Fabric, Gatecrasher and Tiger Tiger they did identify as nightclubs. However they didn’t see that Bolt – Cream – Mark and Test can all be preceded by – eye. Tough line, that one, I thought.
The Edwards quickly uncovered Wing, Prop, Hooker and Number 8 , being rugby positions. Charlotte was very on the ball , I thought, spotting asparagus, felt , rubbish and filter as a set of things with tips. She had also spotted that there were a set of kitchen utensils there too, but they were unable to untangle them all without locking out the wall. The set which were left were whisk – box – promenade and lock. I have to admit that I didn’t get it either, although I did recognize it when Victoria explained that these are all steps in ballroom dancing. So the gap between the teams remained the same, even though the scores had increased to 17 and 12 .
Round Four – Missing Vowels
5 points is not a huge lead to take into the missing vowels round. So it was still all to play for. The first set , non alcoholic drinks, saw both teams get two right, and both teams make one mistake. Café latte has 2 T’s , which café au lait doesn’t, and lemonade has an n, which limeade doesn’t. A full set of fictional vehicles were taken by the Edwards, and the game looked won. Fair play to the chemists, they took three of the world cities and major rivers, but the Edwards then took three back on Techniques in Art. By the end of the round, the Edwards had won comfortably with 27 to the Chemist’s 15.
Well done David, Charlotte and Richard. This is a performance made all the more impressive by the fact that the chances are they will do better than this on the wall in rounds to come. Spare a thought for the Chemists, too. The margin of victory might be significant, but they were by no means outclassed by a very good team. Well played both.
University Challenge - Round One - Match 8
St. Andrews v. Merton, Oxford
Well, I did actually manage to watch this one as it happened, thanks to the wonders of satellite technology. I enjoy all UC matches as it is, but I have to say that when I sat down to watch this one I was hoping that we’d see a much closer one than the previous two. The teams involved, then, were St. Andrews’ and Merton, Oxford. Both teams have quite a distinguished pedigree in the competition, and both have been champions during the Bamber era. St. Andrews’ were represented by Thomas Volker, Thomas Lazarides, Dustin Frazier, and captain Doug Kennedy. Merton’s team consisted of Bill Hellier, Dennis Dillon, Cosmo Grant and the skipper, Tim Smith-Laing.
First was drawn by Merton when Dennis Dillon correctly answered that the word which linked a colour of uniform worn by GIs and a hill outside Jerusalem, among others, was olive. With three bonuses taken on founder members of royal organisations it was fairly clear that Merton meant business. Mind you, so did St. Andrews when skipper Doug Kennedy took a good starter on Angel Falls in Venezuela. 2 bonuses followed on the British Royal family. A good starter followed from his opposite number, Adam Smith – Laing, on Project Guttenberg , although the bonuses on pigments were a tough set and yielded but little for them. Cosmo Grant made an excellent early buzz on the next starter on a mathematics quotation, which brought up, for me at least, a set of rather more friendly Shakespeare bonuses. This brought us to the first picture starter. The picture showed us, and asked us to identify, the logo of the US Republican party. Dustin Frazier played with fire by buzzing and then hesitating, but his answer was right. I was hoping for at least one logo I might recognize in the bonuses, but the best I could do with them was to identify two of the countries and none of the parties correctly. St. Andrews had all of the countries, but only one of the parties. Not daunted by the Wrath of Paxman, Dustin Frazier also answered the next starter, realizing that a quote given referred to life. One of a set on mathematical conjectures was taken. Neither team recognized the next quotation from Thomas Hardy, concerning the Titanic. Doug Kennedy surrendered 5 by buzzing in a touch too early, and with the teams so evenly balanced at the ten minute mark, this gave Merton a slight lead of 50 to 45.
Dennis Dillon took his second starter, knowing that if it’s a flying machine that flies like a bird, then it is an ornithopter. A lovely set of bonuses on dear old the late Sir Norman Wisdom followed. Warming to his work, Dennis Dillon then took a double by answering the next starter on Rousseau. A full set on philosophy increased Merton’s lead. Maintaining their advantage Merton also took the next starter, with captain Tim Smith-Laing knowing that middle was the word which linked middle English , middle distance etc. A good set of old quiz chestnuts on shipping forecast areas followed – sadly for Merton they didn’t have either a sailor, or a middle aged quizzer on board, and so missed out. Cue the music starter – none other than a snatch of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. We’re a cultured lot here, and so before the end of the first couple of bars both Mrs. C. and I chimed in with “’E were a great baker were our Dad !” in homage to the iconic Hovis adverts (via the Grumbleweeds Radio show of years gone by ) . Funnily enough this didn’t help either team, and so the bonuses, on other well-known pieces of classical music were tagged on to the next starter. St. Andrews knew that the deputy PM during most of the Second World War was Clement Attlee. We were in danger of being a little becalmed at this stage of the competition, when neither team could take a starter on the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace. Still, a good UC special on bridle and bridal got us moving again. Cosmo Grant took the next starter, knowing that the stage of an insect’s life which shares its name with a spirit from Greek mythology is nymph. The set of Booker prize winners passed Merton by completely, I’m afraid. Still, they were winning the buzzer race at this stage. Dennis Dillon knew that Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper, and this brought up a couple of bonuses on cotton. Thomas Volcker took his first starter for St. Andrews knowing that film director Duncan Jones is the son of David Bowie. A full set of bonuses on Whistler made a significant inroad into what had, a couple of minutes ago, been a considerable gap, but Merton still led by 130 to 105 at the 20 minute mark.
So did this mean that St. Andrews were going to hit top form and power past Merton and through the tape ? Well, it looked possible for a while. Doug Kennedy took another starter when he recognized a photograph of Roman Abramovitch. They could only manage one of the bonuses with photos of other owners of premier league football clubs. Neither team could solve a problem referring to the acceleration of a car, but Thomas Lazarides picked a good time to answer his first starter with the nest, recognizing the latin prefix – ex. 2 bonuses on poets’ graves put St. Andrews into the lead, and our wishes for a closer competition had been granted. Tim Smith Laing hit straight back with a good answer on the term closet drama. 1 bonus on cetaceans followed. With the benefit of hindsight the next starter proved to be very significant. Given several words, including matter, and asked for the word which could precede all of them , Thomas Lazarides gambled and went early with ‘anti’. Wrongly , as it turned out, and not only did this give away five points, it also allowed Tim Smith-Laing a free run at the question, which he correctly answered with ‘dark’. This brought up a full set on film scores. Sometimes a finely balanced match will hinge on one or two crucial questions. No reflection on Thomas Lazarides , who I think was right to have a go – when it comes to the buzzer if you snooze, you usually lose. Not that the match was over yet, but the skipper of Merton had the bit well and truly between his teeth when he took the next starter, knowing that a list of horses from Fujiyama Crest to Wall Street were all ridden to wins on the same carefree afternoon in Ascot by Lanfranco Dettori. Once again, a full set of 3 bonuses followed, this time on the planet Neptune, and its satellites. With only a couple of minutes left the game was effectively over, but there was time for St. Andrews to take a couple of starters. Thomas Volcker knew that the style of writing called boustrophedon is meant to be read each line in alternated directions. Dustin Frazier also knew she walks in beauty like the night – and you never know, it may be that starter which puts St. Andrews into the repechage round. Merton, who are automatically into the second round, won with 195 to 165. St. Andrews’ score of 165 is borderline – it may be enough. Watch this space.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
There was an old fashioned – do that again and I’ll do you, sonny – moment when Dustin Frazier buzzed in on the first picture starter, and then as JP turned his baleful gaze upon him seemed like a rabbit caught in the headlights. JP even wagged a finger at him as he administered a wigging. However that was almost it for the show.
With regards to the music bonuses JP didn’t seem the least bit perturbed that neither team could recognize the New World Symphony. He’s worrying me, is our JP. Time was that this would have received some kind of barb. Still, he redeemed himself slightly when he described the use of classical music in adverts as ‘irritating’.
Interesting Fact Of The Week That I Didn’t Already Know
Apparently there was a possibly Wikipedia derived urban myth that Sir Norman Wisdom wrote the lyrics to ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’. I didn’t know that it had ever been said that he did – nor did I know that the song and lyrics were actually written by Walter Kent and Nat Burton
Well, I did actually manage to watch this one as it happened, thanks to the wonders of satellite technology. I enjoy all UC matches as it is, but I have to say that when I sat down to watch this one I was hoping that we’d see a much closer one than the previous two. The teams involved, then, were St. Andrews’ and Merton, Oxford. Both teams have quite a distinguished pedigree in the competition, and both have been champions during the Bamber era. St. Andrews’ were represented by Thomas Volker, Thomas Lazarides, Dustin Frazier, and captain Doug Kennedy. Merton’s team consisted of Bill Hellier, Dennis Dillon, Cosmo Grant and the skipper, Tim Smith-Laing.
First was drawn by Merton when Dennis Dillon correctly answered that the word which linked a colour of uniform worn by GIs and a hill outside Jerusalem, among others, was olive. With three bonuses taken on founder members of royal organisations it was fairly clear that Merton meant business. Mind you, so did St. Andrews when skipper Doug Kennedy took a good starter on Angel Falls in Venezuela. 2 bonuses followed on the British Royal family. A good starter followed from his opposite number, Adam Smith – Laing, on Project Guttenberg , although the bonuses on pigments were a tough set and yielded but little for them. Cosmo Grant made an excellent early buzz on the next starter on a mathematics quotation, which brought up, for me at least, a set of rather more friendly Shakespeare bonuses. This brought us to the first picture starter. The picture showed us, and asked us to identify, the logo of the US Republican party. Dustin Frazier played with fire by buzzing and then hesitating, but his answer was right. I was hoping for at least one logo I might recognize in the bonuses, but the best I could do with them was to identify two of the countries and none of the parties correctly. St. Andrews had all of the countries, but only one of the parties. Not daunted by the Wrath of Paxman, Dustin Frazier also answered the next starter, realizing that a quote given referred to life. One of a set on mathematical conjectures was taken. Neither team recognized the next quotation from Thomas Hardy, concerning the Titanic. Doug Kennedy surrendered 5 by buzzing in a touch too early, and with the teams so evenly balanced at the ten minute mark, this gave Merton a slight lead of 50 to 45.
Dennis Dillon took his second starter, knowing that if it’s a flying machine that flies like a bird, then it is an ornithopter. A lovely set of bonuses on dear old the late Sir Norman Wisdom followed. Warming to his work, Dennis Dillon then took a double by answering the next starter on Rousseau. A full set on philosophy increased Merton’s lead. Maintaining their advantage Merton also took the next starter, with captain Tim Smith-Laing knowing that middle was the word which linked middle English , middle distance etc. A good set of old quiz chestnuts on shipping forecast areas followed – sadly for Merton they didn’t have either a sailor, or a middle aged quizzer on board, and so missed out. Cue the music starter – none other than a snatch of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. We’re a cultured lot here, and so before the end of the first couple of bars both Mrs. C. and I chimed in with “’E were a great baker were our Dad !” in homage to the iconic Hovis adverts (via the Grumbleweeds Radio show of years gone by ) . Funnily enough this didn’t help either team, and so the bonuses, on other well-known pieces of classical music were tagged on to the next starter. St. Andrews knew that the deputy PM during most of the Second World War was Clement Attlee. We were in danger of being a little becalmed at this stage of the competition, when neither team could take a starter on the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace. Still, a good UC special on bridle and bridal got us moving again. Cosmo Grant took the next starter, knowing that the stage of an insect’s life which shares its name with a spirit from Greek mythology is nymph. The set of Booker prize winners passed Merton by completely, I’m afraid. Still, they were winning the buzzer race at this stage. Dennis Dillon knew that Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper, and this brought up a couple of bonuses on cotton. Thomas Volcker took his first starter for St. Andrews knowing that film director Duncan Jones is the son of David Bowie. A full set of bonuses on Whistler made a significant inroad into what had, a couple of minutes ago, been a considerable gap, but Merton still led by 130 to 105 at the 20 minute mark.
So did this mean that St. Andrews were going to hit top form and power past Merton and through the tape ? Well, it looked possible for a while. Doug Kennedy took another starter when he recognized a photograph of Roman Abramovitch. They could only manage one of the bonuses with photos of other owners of premier league football clubs. Neither team could solve a problem referring to the acceleration of a car, but Thomas Lazarides picked a good time to answer his first starter with the nest, recognizing the latin prefix – ex. 2 bonuses on poets’ graves put St. Andrews into the lead, and our wishes for a closer competition had been granted. Tim Smith Laing hit straight back with a good answer on the term closet drama. 1 bonus on cetaceans followed. With the benefit of hindsight the next starter proved to be very significant. Given several words, including matter, and asked for the word which could precede all of them , Thomas Lazarides gambled and went early with ‘anti’. Wrongly , as it turned out, and not only did this give away five points, it also allowed Tim Smith-Laing a free run at the question, which he correctly answered with ‘dark’. This brought up a full set on film scores. Sometimes a finely balanced match will hinge on one or two crucial questions. No reflection on Thomas Lazarides , who I think was right to have a go – when it comes to the buzzer if you snooze, you usually lose. Not that the match was over yet, but the skipper of Merton had the bit well and truly between his teeth when he took the next starter, knowing that a list of horses from Fujiyama Crest to Wall Street were all ridden to wins on the same carefree afternoon in Ascot by Lanfranco Dettori. Once again, a full set of 3 bonuses followed, this time on the planet Neptune, and its satellites. With only a couple of minutes left the game was effectively over, but there was time for St. Andrews to take a couple of starters. Thomas Volcker knew that the style of writing called boustrophedon is meant to be read each line in alternated directions. Dustin Frazier also knew she walks in beauty like the night – and you never know, it may be that starter which puts St. Andrews into the repechage round. Merton, who are automatically into the second round, won with 195 to 165. St. Andrews’ score of 165 is borderline – it may be enough. Watch this space.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
There was an old fashioned – do that again and I’ll do you, sonny – moment when Dustin Frazier buzzed in on the first picture starter, and then as JP turned his baleful gaze upon him seemed like a rabbit caught in the headlights. JP even wagged a finger at him as he administered a wigging. However that was almost it for the show.
With regards to the music bonuses JP didn’t seem the least bit perturbed that neither team could recognize the New World Symphony. He’s worrying me, is our JP. Time was that this would have received some kind of barb. Still, he redeemed himself slightly when he described the use of classical music in adverts as ‘irritating’.
Interesting Fact Of The Week That I Didn’t Already Know
Apparently there was a possibly Wikipedia derived urban myth that Sir Norman Wisdom wrote the lyrics to ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’. I didn’t know that it had ever been said that he did – nor did I know that the song and lyrics were actually written by Walter Kent and Nat Burton
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Ofcom
Buenos dias , senores. I didn't actually plan to post at all while I'm in sunny Spain, but checking in to check my emails this afternoon on Yahoo I noticed a tag for a story that caught my eye.
Back in January David walliams - of Little Britain fame - presented a programme on Channel 4 I believe called something like Awfully Good. On the show he ridiculed Simon Curtis for his Mastermind speciaist round on Jim Carrey. Simon complained to Ofcom saying, understandably, that the show had made him out to be a person of low intelligence - which he is most definitely not, and poured scorn and derision on him. I'll come clean, I never saw the show, but the verbatim reports of David Walliams' voiceover seem to show that this is no exaggeration.
The story on Yahoo was that Ofcom have rejected the complaint. According to the report , the complaint was rejected because viewers would realise that anyone smart enough to get on the programme in the first place was obviously very intelligent.
Hmm. Would that it were so.Let me give you an example. How much of a spalsh did it make last year when Jesse Honey produced a magnificent record setting specialist round of 23 ? Compare this, then, with the amount of column inches, and the tone of the comments in the media, and no doubt the comments which many of you will have heard from various people at the time, which were generated when Kajen Thuraaisingham set the lowest score to date. Precious few people were crediting him with the obvious ability and intelligence he has in order to have got onto the show in the frst place. Yes, we take vicarious pleasure in others' achievements in this country, but nothing like as much as the schadenfreude we derive from others' small misfortunes.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn't see David Walliams' show, so I don't know, but somehow I doubt very much that he mentioned it was a semi final , and that Simon had already performed extremely well winning his first round show.
OK, I do know that there is another side to the coin. I do know that you might well say - well, nobody forces me, or Simon, or anyone else to go on these shows, and so if you do so, then you have to take what's coming to you, and in a way I do know where you're coming from. I've had plenty of people, in the nicest possible way, point out how dire my own performance on Millionaire was all those years ago. Quite right too - I put my hands up to that one, and can't argue. However if anyone uses that one performance to suggest that I am a terrible quizzer, or , heaven help us, stupid , uneducated, unintelligent - choose your own adjective here - based on that one performance, then that is something I will take issue with.
So Simon, you have my sympathy. I do understand why you launched your complaint. I admit that I only have the sentence or so that the Yahoo report devoted to the ruling to go on, but I think its a shame that Ofcom didn't at least say that while they could not uphold your complaint, they could understand the genuine point behind it.
Back in January David walliams - of Little Britain fame - presented a programme on Channel 4 I believe called something like Awfully Good. On the show he ridiculed Simon Curtis for his Mastermind speciaist round on Jim Carrey. Simon complained to Ofcom saying, understandably, that the show had made him out to be a person of low intelligence - which he is most definitely not, and poured scorn and derision on him. I'll come clean, I never saw the show, but the verbatim reports of David Walliams' voiceover seem to show that this is no exaggeration.
The story on Yahoo was that Ofcom have rejected the complaint. According to the report , the complaint was rejected because viewers would realise that anyone smart enough to get on the programme in the first place was obviously very intelligent.
Hmm. Would that it were so.Let me give you an example. How much of a spalsh did it make last year when Jesse Honey produced a magnificent record setting specialist round of 23 ? Compare this, then, with the amount of column inches, and the tone of the comments in the media, and no doubt the comments which many of you will have heard from various people at the time, which were generated when Kajen Thuraaisingham set the lowest score to date. Precious few people were crediting him with the obvious ability and intelligence he has in order to have got onto the show in the frst place. Yes, we take vicarious pleasure in others' achievements in this country, but nothing like as much as the schadenfreude we derive from others' small misfortunes.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn't see David Walliams' show, so I don't know, but somehow I doubt very much that he mentioned it was a semi final , and that Simon had already performed extremely well winning his first round show.
OK, I do know that there is another side to the coin. I do know that you might well say - well, nobody forces me, or Simon, or anyone else to go on these shows, and so if you do so, then you have to take what's coming to you, and in a way I do know where you're coming from. I've had plenty of people, in the nicest possible way, point out how dire my own performance on Millionaire was all those years ago. Quite right too - I put my hands up to that one, and can't argue. However if anyone uses that one performance to suggest that I am a terrible quizzer, or , heaven help us, stupid , uneducated, unintelligent - choose your own adjective here - based on that one performance, then that is something I will take issue with.
So Simon, you have my sympathy. I do understand why you launched your complaint. I admit that I only have the sentence or so that the Yahoo report devoted to the ruling to go on, but I think its a shame that Ofcom didn't at least say that while they could not uphold your complaint, they could understand the genuine point behind it.
Saturday, 20 August 2011
News Questions
Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news ?
1) Matthew James
2) Monica Kancyk
3) The Adonis Kebab House
4) Lambok
5) Keegan Bradley
6) Jason Dufner
7) David Starkey
8) Tom Condliff
9) Damian Raszowski
10) Mavj Halai
11) The Judgement
12) Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan
13) Nancy Atkinson – Turner
14) Julia High
15) Cranbrook
16) Paul ‘Doug’ Peters
17) Exponent
18) Jeggings – sexting – mankini
19) Ahla Arbid
20) Mungo
21) Simon Richardson
22) Alex James
23) Frederic Piquianne
24) Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino
25) Christine O’Donnell
26) James Desborough
27) Bob Frost
28) Jamie Henderson
29) Ursula Nevin
30) Nayyar Robinson
31) Paul and Jacqueline Charles
32) Yvonne
In Other News
1) Which politician won last week’s straw poll in Iowa ?
2) Who won the Olympic test cycle race last week ?
3) In which London station did the fair fares demo take place ?
4) Which board released A Level results a week early by mistake ?
5) Why did the Bluebird electric car fail to break the record ?
6) Which company announced that it will not show adverts which show scenes that look like rioting ?
7) Why was the Worthing Birdman competition held back for a day or two ?
8) Which player suffered a suspected broken arm in the Wales v. England rugby match at Cardiff ?
9) Who won the Olympic test regatta event in the Finn class at Weymouth ?
10) Which teams new to the Premier league were beaten by Bolton, and Man City respectively ?
11) What is the name of Kate Hudson’s baby son ?
12) What did Gordon Ramsay call Prince William on Jay Leno’s show ?
13) Which racing trainer was ordered to pay compensation to a sacked stable girl last week ?
14) Which actress complained last week of roles going to reality TV stars ?
15) What is going to be reduced by 4 or 5 inches ?
16) Which football manager was banned from driving for 18 months for drink driving ?
17) Who announced that she is resuming her recording career at the age of 87 ?
18) Britain’s longest lasting student sit in is to end at which University ?
19) What finally went online and received 22 million hits in one day ?
20) Who was banned from driving when he made a joke to the police when he was caught speeding?
21) What was set up by pranksters on the roof of the barn of Carla Lane’s animal sanctuary ?
22) The Harbour Bookstore in Dartmouth is to close after 60 years. By whom was it founded ?
23) David Miliband has revealed that he has been mocked for taking his family where on holiday ?
24) Which is the top selling celebrity scent ?
25) Which book is celebrating its 100th anniversary ?
26) Dartford in Kent are playing classical music in certain places to deter graffiti artists. Which composer’s music do they say is the most effective deterrent ?
27) Pensioner Graham Smith foiled an armed robbery by William Hayton in Speelhurst, Kent, by hitting him with a carrier bag containing what ?
28) Which film star urinated on the floor during a flight from Paris to Dublin ?
29) Holiday makers were warned not to swim with dolphins off the coast of Cornwall. Why ?
30) The Pope’s visit to Spain is part of which festival ?
31) Stages collapsed in two events last week – the state fair in which state of the US, and the Pukkelpop festival in which country ?
32) Which spanish chain are being investigated over claims of using child labour in Brazil ?
33) Builders have begun work on a memorial to Bomber Command – where ?
34) Which clubs were played in the Europa league by Spurs – Fulham – Stoke – Birmingham ?
35) In the 4th test, how many runs were scored in a massive 3rd wicket partnership between Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen ?
36) Hewlett Packard announced that they are scrapping their rival to the ipad – what is it called ?
37) On which island was Ian Redmond tragically killed in a shark attack while on honeymoon ?
38) Police in mid Wales issued warnings when big cats were seen near which Welsh town ?
39) What was the percentage of passes in this year’s A Levels ?
40) Vince Wilkins in the USA is currently suing for the rights to which disco classic ?
41) Who is suing Noel Gallagher for libel ?
42) Which Johnny Depp film has been put on hold by Disney because costs are rising too much ?
1) Matthew James
2) Monica Kancyk
3) The Adonis Kebab House
4) Lambok
5) Keegan Bradley
6) Jason Dufner
7) David Starkey
8) Tom Condliff
9) Damian Raszowski
10) Mavj Halai
11) The Judgement
12) Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan
13) Nancy Atkinson – Turner
14) Julia High
15) Cranbrook
16) Paul ‘Doug’ Peters
17) Exponent
18) Jeggings – sexting – mankini
19) Ahla Arbid
20) Mungo
21) Simon Richardson
22) Alex James
23) Frederic Piquianne
24) Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino
25) Christine O’Donnell
26) James Desborough
27) Bob Frost
28) Jamie Henderson
29) Ursula Nevin
30) Nayyar Robinson
31) Paul and Jacqueline Charles
32) Yvonne
In Other News
1) Which politician won last week’s straw poll in Iowa ?
2) Who won the Olympic test cycle race last week ?
3) In which London station did the fair fares demo take place ?
4) Which board released A Level results a week early by mistake ?
5) Why did the Bluebird electric car fail to break the record ?
6) Which company announced that it will not show adverts which show scenes that look like rioting ?
7) Why was the Worthing Birdman competition held back for a day or two ?
8) Which player suffered a suspected broken arm in the Wales v. England rugby match at Cardiff ?
9) Who won the Olympic test regatta event in the Finn class at Weymouth ?
10) Which teams new to the Premier league were beaten by Bolton, and Man City respectively ?
11) What is the name of Kate Hudson’s baby son ?
12) What did Gordon Ramsay call Prince William on Jay Leno’s show ?
13) Which racing trainer was ordered to pay compensation to a sacked stable girl last week ?
14) Which actress complained last week of roles going to reality TV stars ?
15) What is going to be reduced by 4 or 5 inches ?
16) Which football manager was banned from driving for 18 months for drink driving ?
17) Who announced that she is resuming her recording career at the age of 87 ?
18) Britain’s longest lasting student sit in is to end at which University ?
19) What finally went online and received 22 million hits in one day ?
20) Who was banned from driving when he made a joke to the police when he was caught speeding?
21) What was set up by pranksters on the roof of the barn of Carla Lane’s animal sanctuary ?
22) The Harbour Bookstore in Dartmouth is to close after 60 years. By whom was it founded ?
23) David Miliband has revealed that he has been mocked for taking his family where on holiday ?
24) Which is the top selling celebrity scent ?
25) Which book is celebrating its 100th anniversary ?
26) Dartford in Kent are playing classical music in certain places to deter graffiti artists. Which composer’s music do they say is the most effective deterrent ?
27) Pensioner Graham Smith foiled an armed robbery by William Hayton in Speelhurst, Kent, by hitting him with a carrier bag containing what ?
28) Which film star urinated on the floor during a flight from Paris to Dublin ?
29) Holiday makers were warned not to swim with dolphins off the coast of Cornwall. Why ?
30) The Pope’s visit to Spain is part of which festival ?
31) Stages collapsed in two events last week – the state fair in which state of the US, and the Pukkelpop festival in which country ?
32) Which spanish chain are being investigated over claims of using child labour in Brazil ?
33) Builders have begun work on a memorial to Bomber Command – where ?
34) Which clubs were played in the Europa league by Spurs – Fulham – Stoke – Birmingham ?
35) In the 4th test, how many runs were scored in a massive 3rd wicket partnership between Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen ?
36) Hewlett Packard announced that they are scrapping their rival to the ipad – what is it called ?
37) On which island was Ian Redmond tragically killed in a shark attack while on honeymoon ?
38) Police in mid Wales issued warnings when big cats were seen near which Welsh town ?
39) What was the percentage of passes in this year’s A Levels ?
40) Vince Wilkins in the USA is currently suing for the rights to which disco classic ?
41) Who is suing Noel Gallagher for libel ?
42) Which Johnny Depp film has been put on hold by Disney because costs are rising too much ?
Answers to News Questions
Who or what are the following, and why were they in the news ?
1) Diana Nyad
2) Adam Scott
3) Lt. Cdr Sarah West
4) S and P ( Standard and Poor )
5) Lobsang Sangay
6) Shereka Leigh
7) Warren Jeffs
8) Kevin Anderson
9) Yamile Aldama
10) Mustafa Abdel Jalil
11) Howard Riddle
12) Azyraf Mossli
13) Monica Kancyk
14) Ghazanfar Ali
15) Alexis Bailey
16) Laura Johnson
17) Bay House School, Gosport
18) HTV-2 Falcon
19) Red necked phalarope
20) Shara Nelson
21) Geraldine Lynton Edwards
22) Charla Nash
23) Howard Johnson
24) Suzanne Harrison
25) Stephen Hopson
26) Aaron Bibner
27) Jonathan Knowle
28) Elijah McDermott
29) Liam Bretherton
30) Pretty Green
31) Steve Mullings
32) Dr. Jane Horsey
33) Tony Osborne
34) Rhiannon Brookesbank Jones
35) Don Wales
Answers
1) Attempting to swim between Cuba and USA without a shark cage
2) Golfer who won WGC Invitational, using Tiger Woods’ sacked caddie, Steve Williams
3) 1st woman to command a Royal Navy warship – HMS Portland
4) The ratings agency which downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA+
5) Took over the leadership of the Tibetan government in exile from the Dalai Lama
6) Woman filmed trying on looted shoes in Tottenham
7) American religious leader jailed for abusing girls
8) He beat Murray 6 – 3 , 6 – 1 in Canadian Masters
9) Which former Cuban triple jumper was selected for GB in the world athletic championships
10) Leader of the Libyan rebels
11) Judge who ruled Shrien Dewani can be extradited to South Africa
12) Malaysian student beaten and mugged when riding his bike
13) Woman from Poland who jumped from her burning first floor flat in Croydon
14) Man whose two sons were deliberately mown down by a hit and run driver in front of their mosque
15) Teaching assistant accused of looting in riots
16) Millionaire’s daughter accused of looting in riots
17) School which was hacked into and details of thousands of students and parents were stolen .
18) US hypersonic plane lost during test
19) Britain’s most endangered bird
20) Received court order after harassing DJ Pete Tong
21) She has become engaged to Michael Winner
22) Lady who received a face transplant after an attack by a chimp
23) Horseracing trainer who received a 4 year ban , who will now retire
24) Teacher who admitted sexual offences with student
25) London dentist who allegedly treated Gadaffi’s daughter Hana, years after she was believed killed
26) 89 year old whose barber shop was destroyed during the Tottenham riots
27) Jailed for 7 years for causing death by dangerous driving
28) Arrested in connection with the murder of Richard Mannington Bowes
29) Soldier accused of stealing a Les Paul guitar during the riots
30) Liam Gallagher’s clothes store raided during Manchester Riots
31) Jamaican no 3 sprinter who failed a drug test
32) GP to be struck off for biting a police officer
33) Solicitor crushed to death when his horse fell on top of him during a hunt
34) Had her tongue surgically lengthened to enable her to pronounce Korean more correctly
35) Grandson of Malcolm Campbell, attempting to break British land speed record for an electric car
In Other News
1) Whose government report says kids should all study maths until they are 18 ?
2) Where did the world’s longest guided busway open ?
3) What is being used as a temporary art gallery in Llafrynach, near Brecon ?
4) Abbotsbury swannery using what to keep out foxes ?
5) Most common foreign language needed for jobs in Britain ?
6) Soldiers from which regiment accused of cutting fingers from dead Taliban fighters as trophies
7) Whose flagship was found off the coast of Panama
8) Which 69 year old TV chef died ?
9) Who came in the third test for the injured Jonathan Trott ?
10) Which 74 year old racehorse trainer retired ?
11) Which journalist was beaten on his way home from reporting on the riots ?
12) An extra edition of which TV show was shown on August 11th
13) What did Connie Fisher announce ?
14) What washed up on the beach in Lynmouth ?
15) Flights were briefly grounded when a grenade was found near which airport ?
16) Newsweek courted controversy by featuring a cover photo with whom showing ‘staring eyes ‘ ?
17) Which anniversary did the Mr. Men have this week – who was the first Mr. Man ?
18) A test event in which sport took place in Horseguards Parade ?
19) Who performed a citizen’s arrest on a looter outside his Notting Hill home ?
20) Which celebrity chef was threatened at knife point in his own Manchester restaurant ?
21) Inmates in California jails have been banned from ?
22) Claimed on a spoof BBC news page ?
23) Who accused Cameron of violent repression of peaceful protestors ?
24) Which company announced that it will not show its latest advert which did feature scenes of rioting ?
25) Wales football team lost friendly to ?
26) Which welsh walk is number 3 in a list of the world’s top 10 walks ?
27) Which country launched their first ever aircraft carrier ?
28) Who was bowled in the first ball of the third test ?
29) Who shot a record equaling round of 63 in the first round of the USPGA ?
30) Who were the first Mr. Man and Little Miss ? The Mr. Men are 40 years old, and the little Misses 20.
31) Which landmark closes for restoration in October ?
32) What was the final total of Alastair Cook’s innings in the third test ?
33) Where will author Tony Parsons be taking up a week’s position as writer in residence ?
34) Which anniversary is being marked in Germany this weekend ?
35) In which state will prospective republican presidential candidates be taking part in a straw pole this weekend ?
38) Which 2 giant Japanese corporations are set to merge ?
39) Who announced plans for a free wi – fi network ?
40) Which MP made a gaffe by asking why rioting children and teenagers weren’t in school ?
41) Which Tottenham’s league fixture against whom was postponed due to the riots ?
42) Which magazine apologized after slimming down a photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge ?
43) Which 10 year old BBC drama is to come to an end ?
44) Which part of Rory McIlroy’s body did he injure in the first round of the USPGA ?
45) Spain has won the right to stop any more workers from which country entering Spain ?
Answers
1) Carol Vorderman
2) Huntingdon to Trumpington ( Cambridgeshire ) 13 . 3 miles
3) Red phone box
4) Playing radio 4 very loud
5) German
6) Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
7) Henry Morgan
8) Michael Barry (Bukht)
9) Ravi Bopara
10)Barry Hills
11)Andrew Gilligan
12)Question Time
13)She can no longer sing Sound of Music because of a voice condition
14)A 40 ft fin whale
15)Gatwick
16)Michelle Bachman
17)Forty years – Mr. Tickle
18)Beach Volleyball
19)Dan snow
20)Simon Rimmer
21)Using Facebook
22)Gordon Brown had an affair with Ann Widdecombe
23)Colonel Gaddaffi
24)Levis
25)Australia
26)Pembrokeshire Coast Path
27)China
28)Verinder Sehwag
29)Steve Stricker
30)Mr. Tickle – Little Miss Bossy
31)The Statue of Liberty
32)294
33)Heathrow Airport
34)The building of the Berlin Wall
35)Iowa
38)Hitachi and Mitsubishi
39)Virgin
40)Hazel Blears
41)Everton
42)Grazia
43)Spooks
44)His wrist
45)Romania
1) Diana Nyad
2) Adam Scott
3) Lt. Cdr Sarah West
4) S and P ( Standard and Poor )
5) Lobsang Sangay
6) Shereka Leigh
7) Warren Jeffs
8) Kevin Anderson
9) Yamile Aldama
10) Mustafa Abdel Jalil
11) Howard Riddle
12) Azyraf Mossli
13) Monica Kancyk
14) Ghazanfar Ali
15) Alexis Bailey
16) Laura Johnson
17) Bay House School, Gosport
18) HTV-2 Falcon
19) Red necked phalarope
20) Shara Nelson
21) Geraldine Lynton Edwards
22) Charla Nash
23) Howard Johnson
24) Suzanne Harrison
25) Stephen Hopson
26) Aaron Bibner
27) Jonathan Knowle
28) Elijah McDermott
29) Liam Bretherton
30) Pretty Green
31) Steve Mullings
32) Dr. Jane Horsey
33) Tony Osborne
34) Rhiannon Brookesbank Jones
35) Don Wales
Answers
1) Attempting to swim between Cuba and USA without a shark cage
2) Golfer who won WGC Invitational, using Tiger Woods’ sacked caddie, Steve Williams
3) 1st woman to command a Royal Navy warship – HMS Portland
4) The ratings agency which downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA+
5) Took over the leadership of the Tibetan government in exile from the Dalai Lama
6) Woman filmed trying on looted shoes in Tottenham
7) American religious leader jailed for abusing girls
8) He beat Murray 6 – 3 , 6 – 1 in Canadian Masters
9) Which former Cuban triple jumper was selected for GB in the world athletic championships
10) Leader of the Libyan rebels
11) Judge who ruled Shrien Dewani can be extradited to South Africa
12) Malaysian student beaten and mugged when riding his bike
13) Woman from Poland who jumped from her burning first floor flat in Croydon
14) Man whose two sons were deliberately mown down by a hit and run driver in front of their mosque
15) Teaching assistant accused of looting in riots
16) Millionaire’s daughter accused of looting in riots
17) School which was hacked into and details of thousands of students and parents were stolen .
18) US hypersonic plane lost during test
19) Britain’s most endangered bird
20) Received court order after harassing DJ Pete Tong
21) She has become engaged to Michael Winner
22) Lady who received a face transplant after an attack by a chimp
23) Horseracing trainer who received a 4 year ban , who will now retire
24) Teacher who admitted sexual offences with student
25) London dentist who allegedly treated Gadaffi’s daughter Hana, years after she was believed killed
26) 89 year old whose barber shop was destroyed during the Tottenham riots
27) Jailed for 7 years for causing death by dangerous driving
28) Arrested in connection with the murder of Richard Mannington Bowes
29) Soldier accused of stealing a Les Paul guitar during the riots
30) Liam Gallagher’s clothes store raided during Manchester Riots
31) Jamaican no 3 sprinter who failed a drug test
32) GP to be struck off for biting a police officer
33) Solicitor crushed to death when his horse fell on top of him during a hunt
34) Had her tongue surgically lengthened to enable her to pronounce Korean more correctly
35) Grandson of Malcolm Campbell, attempting to break British land speed record for an electric car
In Other News
1) Whose government report says kids should all study maths until they are 18 ?
2) Where did the world’s longest guided busway open ?
3) What is being used as a temporary art gallery in Llafrynach, near Brecon ?
4) Abbotsbury swannery using what to keep out foxes ?
5) Most common foreign language needed for jobs in Britain ?
6) Soldiers from which regiment accused of cutting fingers from dead Taliban fighters as trophies
7) Whose flagship was found off the coast of Panama
8) Which 69 year old TV chef died ?
9) Who came in the third test for the injured Jonathan Trott ?
10) Which 74 year old racehorse trainer retired ?
11) Which journalist was beaten on his way home from reporting on the riots ?
12) An extra edition of which TV show was shown on August 11th
13) What did Connie Fisher announce ?
14) What washed up on the beach in Lynmouth ?
15) Flights were briefly grounded when a grenade was found near which airport ?
16) Newsweek courted controversy by featuring a cover photo with whom showing ‘staring eyes ‘ ?
17) Which anniversary did the Mr. Men have this week – who was the first Mr. Man ?
18) A test event in which sport took place in Horseguards Parade ?
19) Who performed a citizen’s arrest on a looter outside his Notting Hill home ?
20) Which celebrity chef was threatened at knife point in his own Manchester restaurant ?
21) Inmates in California jails have been banned from ?
22) Claimed on a spoof BBC news page ?
23) Who accused Cameron of violent repression of peaceful protestors ?
24) Which company announced that it will not show its latest advert which did feature scenes of rioting ?
25) Wales football team lost friendly to ?
26) Which welsh walk is number 3 in a list of the world’s top 10 walks ?
27) Which country launched their first ever aircraft carrier ?
28) Who was bowled in the first ball of the third test ?
29) Who shot a record equaling round of 63 in the first round of the USPGA ?
30) Who were the first Mr. Man and Little Miss ? The Mr. Men are 40 years old, and the little Misses 20.
31) Which landmark closes for restoration in October ?
32) What was the final total of Alastair Cook’s innings in the third test ?
33) Where will author Tony Parsons be taking up a week’s position as writer in residence ?
34) Which anniversary is being marked in Germany this weekend ?
35) In which state will prospective republican presidential candidates be taking part in a straw pole this weekend ?
38) Which 2 giant Japanese corporations are set to merge ?
39) Who announced plans for a free wi – fi network ?
40) Which MP made a gaffe by asking why rioting children and teenagers weren’t in school ?
41) Which Tottenham’s league fixture against whom was postponed due to the riots ?
42) Which magazine apologized after slimming down a photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge ?
43) Which 10 year old BBC drama is to come to an end ?
44) Which part of Rory McIlroy’s body did he injure in the first round of the USPGA ?
45) Spain has won the right to stop any more workers from which country entering Spain ?
Answers
1) Carol Vorderman
2) Huntingdon to Trumpington ( Cambridgeshire ) 13 . 3 miles
3) Red phone box
4) Playing radio 4 very loud
5) German
6) Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
7) Henry Morgan
8) Michael Barry (Bukht)
9) Ravi Bopara
10)Barry Hills
11)Andrew Gilligan
12)Question Time
13)She can no longer sing Sound of Music because of a voice condition
14)A 40 ft fin whale
15)Gatwick
16)Michelle Bachman
17)Forty years – Mr. Tickle
18)Beach Volleyball
19)Dan snow
20)Simon Rimmer
21)Using Facebook
22)Gordon Brown had an affair with Ann Widdecombe
23)Colonel Gaddaffi
24)Levis
25)Australia
26)Pembrokeshire Coast Path
27)China
28)Verinder Sehwag
29)Steve Stricker
30)Mr. Tickle – Little Miss Bossy
31)The Statue of Liberty
32)294
33)Heathrow Airport
34)The building of the Berlin Wall
35)Iowa
38)Hitachi and Mitsubishi
39)Virgin
40)Hazel Blears
41)Everton
42)Grazia
43)Spooks
44)His wrist
45)Romania
Friday, 19 August 2011
Last Quiz before Spain
I was the question master in the rugby club last night for the second week in a row. I wouldn’t normally take two turns in a row like this, but on Sunday we’re off for the annual dose of Spanish sunshine, so I won’t be around next Thursday. The Thursday after that will be the evening before I start back at work , and to be perfectly honest I don’t really fancy doing it that night. I have a quiz pretty much ready – well , several actually, bar the insertion of a few suitable in the news questions, but I’d rather leave it until I’ve been back for a week or so. So that means that unless anyone else volunteers, then Brian will have to do a two week stint himself.
I’ll be honest, I was quite enjoying myself last night, and then I asked the question,
“Which railway line is coloured pink on the London Underground map ?”
To which I added the rider : -
“And please don’t look in your diaries – if I see anyone doing it, then they will get a zero score in the round. “ All well and good, and taken in good part. Thus emboldened the inner demon, never that far from the surface when I’m in a quiz, prompted me to add : -
“And if I see anyone using their phone, then they’ll have a zero score for the whole quiz. Phones ruin quizzes ! “ etc. etc. Cue much nodding of heads, and murmurs of “here , here.”
Why I had to mention it I’m not really sure. After all, since my last outburst , quite a few months ago, none of the results have been at all suspicious, and I certainly haven’t seen anyone using a phone. I suppose that if it keeps the issue out in the open, and makes anyone think twice about that kind of cheating, then that’s all well and good. Yet what gets me is that two teams who I have actually seen in the quiz using phones themselves in the past actually sat there nodding and murmuring their approval. Likewise the lady who sits there in another team with a book in her lap. So were they just nodding when I said it to shut me up so that I’d get on with the questions ? Maybe so. Or do they think that its only cheating when other teams do it ? Or are they able to completely dissociate what they do in one quiz with what they do in another one ? Beats me, but there we are, if it keeps the phones out of the quiz, then I’m happy.
I’d like to share an answer with you which I heard last night, before I go. Not, actually, to one of the questions which I asked. After the quiz I was having a chat with some of the players, and I was told this cracker. I don’t know whether its true, or not, but its still worth sharing. One of the guys was at a quiz on Wednesday night, when this question was asked : -
Steven Georgiou, was born in 1948. He has been known by two other names since. A point for each of them.
Apparently one of the opposing teams leaned over in the break between rounds and asked – “ We know that the Georgiou bloke is Cat Stevens, but we’re arguing about what his muslim name is. Can you settle an argument for us ? It is Abu Hamza, isn’t it ? “
Even if he made it up, its still a good’un.
I’ll be honest, I was quite enjoying myself last night, and then I asked the question,
“Which railway line is coloured pink on the London Underground map ?”
To which I added the rider : -
“And please don’t look in your diaries – if I see anyone doing it, then they will get a zero score in the round. “ All well and good, and taken in good part. Thus emboldened the inner demon, never that far from the surface when I’m in a quiz, prompted me to add : -
“And if I see anyone using their phone, then they’ll have a zero score for the whole quiz. Phones ruin quizzes ! “ etc. etc. Cue much nodding of heads, and murmurs of “here , here.”
Why I had to mention it I’m not really sure. After all, since my last outburst , quite a few months ago, none of the results have been at all suspicious, and I certainly haven’t seen anyone using a phone. I suppose that if it keeps the issue out in the open, and makes anyone think twice about that kind of cheating, then that’s all well and good. Yet what gets me is that two teams who I have actually seen in the quiz using phones themselves in the past actually sat there nodding and murmuring their approval. Likewise the lady who sits there in another team with a book in her lap. So were they just nodding when I said it to shut me up so that I’d get on with the questions ? Maybe so. Or do they think that its only cheating when other teams do it ? Or are they able to completely dissociate what they do in one quiz with what they do in another one ? Beats me, but there we are, if it keeps the phones out of the quiz, then I’m happy.
I’d like to share an answer with you which I heard last night, before I go. Not, actually, to one of the questions which I asked. After the quiz I was having a chat with some of the players, and I was told this cracker. I don’t know whether its true, or not, but its still worth sharing. One of the guys was at a quiz on Wednesday night, when this question was asked : -
Steven Georgiou, was born in 1948. He has been known by two other names since. A point for each of them.
Apparently one of the opposing teams leaned over in the break between rounds and asked – “ We know that the Georgiou bloke is Cat Stevens, but we’re arguing about what his muslim name is. Can you settle an argument for us ? It is Abu Hamza, isn’t it ? “
Even if he made it up, its still a good’un.
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Updated OC Walls
Have you been over to the Only Connect site recently ? The link is in my recommended links. The walls have been updated , and they're addictive. I idly went over to try out just a couple, and two hours later I was still there, and had to drag myself away to watch J.K. Rowling's Who Do You Think You Are ?
You can also submit your own walls for potential inclusion on the site - I may be wrong, but I think this is a new feature. Good fun, and well worth a look.
You can also submit your own walls for potential inclusion on the site - I may be wrong, but I think this is a new feature. Good fun, and well worth a look.
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Only Connect - Round One - Match 1
The Social Networkers v. The Vegetarians
Once again our Mondays have developed into a very cornucopia of quizzing. At lunchtime we have the RBQ – and when this is over we’ll have Brain of Britain again, and then in the evening the now traditional powerhouse hour of UC followed by OC. Our cup runneth over.
Right then, tonight’s teams, given the honour of kicking off series five to find out who will succeed the brilliant Epicureans, were the Social Networkers – Roger Pratley, Sean Carey and Beth Webster the skipper – and the Vegetarians – John Larkin, Cathryn Lloyd and Dave Lloyd. My sources inform me that the Social Networkers particularly have quiz pedigree, but as we’ve seen more than once, this doesn’t necessarily count for everything in OC.
Round One – What’s the Connection ?
The Social Networkers – hereafter referred to as the Socials – kicked off with twisted Flax. This brought up the pictures. I didn’t recognize the symbol of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , or ABC, nor did I recognize Mr. Mos Def. Crackerjack’s Stu Francis I knew, and also KLM, so about the same time that Sean worked out that we were dealing with consecutive letters, so did I. Good set, and a good shout to work it out. The Vegetarians – hereafter referred to as the Vegetarians – took Eye of Horus, for the music starter. Well, I couldn’t hardly hear the first piece, but they obviously did, and the second, which gave them fairground rides off 2 clues. A brilliant , confident shout, which proved that the Vegetarians certainly weren’t just there to make up the numbers. The Socials took Horned viper to reveal Barghest of Yorkshire, which I am honest enough to admit meant nothing to me. I am ashamed to admit that I do know that the Mail on Sunday’s Political Column is called black dog, which was confirmed as the connection when Winston Churchill’s depression followed. Beth said the answer then and there, but they took the last clue – Gnasher to be sure. Better safe than sorry. Again, the Vegetarians didn’t need all the clues for their next set. Behind Two reeds were Debits – Ant McPartlin – and a bride in a Christian wedding. This was enough to give them that these were all things which go on the left – a good shout again. The Socials took Lion for their next set, and were given Prost to start. Immediately they had two possibilities – the formula One driver, and words for cheers. Kia Ora seemed to confirm the latter, but they took skal on the next to be sure. Again, playing safe is no bad strategy to adopt at all. Finally the vegetarians struggled with their last set. Virtues including Prudence and Justice, the numbers 1 to 4, Cormac Murphy O’Connor and North , East South and West stumped them completely. The Socials knew we were dealing with cardinals. At the end of the round the scores were square at 5 points apiece.
Round Two – What comes fourth ?
Often this proves to be the hardest round of the four. Certainly it seemed that way, when the Socials uncovered Delirious – Incredible and Superficial behind the eye of Horus. They knew, as did the Vegetarians – even I knew it at home – that we were dealing with Ottawan’s timeless classic D.I.S.C.O. But what was she on C ? Not cutie, and not cool. It was complicated. I’m sorry to say I didn’t get it either. The vegetarians knew that Keating and Howard were successive Australian PMs – as was Rudd. Yet they couldn’t quite remember the next. They had a brave stab at it with Gilligan, but it fell to Beth to give the correct answer of Gillard. Poor Victoria was tickled by Gilligan, then had to apologise profusely for laughing. You don’t get that from Jeremy Paxman. We saw more than a touch of class from the Socials with the next set. Given 12th November 2010 they did not leap straight in and offer 9th August 2007, which I might have been tempted to do. The second date being 9th August 2007 a little clever calculation gave them the correct answer of 3rd Feb 2001. Good play, and a vindication of the safety first approach. That was the high water mark of the round really, as neither team managed any of the three remaining sets. The vegetarians uncovered Gathering – White Tiger – Wolf Hall. It was a set where they all knew the connection, I think, Booker Prize winning novels, but nobody knew the next winner – the Finkler Question. Given Sub – Trans – Super the Socials had the connection – progression of speeds combined with the word – sonic – but neither team knew that it was hyper, rather than ultra or supra which followed. Finally a terrific picture set. Old Trafford – New South Wales, and a still from the Borrowers gave something Old, Something New – well , you get it , I’m sure. Super set that. So this , then was a round in which the Socials edged ahead, and they now led by 9 points to 5.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Vegetarians chose the Lion wall. They identified a set of flies – Fire – May – Horse and Butter very quickly, but it was a while before they isolated the second – characters in Shrek – with dragon – Fiona – puss in boots and Harold. They knew that there was a set of jackets in there, but couldn’t find them all before the time ran out. The jackets were smoking – Norfolk – donkey and bomber. Left with flower – wind – bamboo – season they knew that these are mah jongg tiles. So this brought them 6 points and raised their score to 11.
The water wall yielded two of its lines to the Socials very quickly. They pulled out Sutton – Enfield – Merton – Brent very quickly, being boroughs of London. Then Beth impressed me with the next. I knew that Leech – Fluke and Tick were all parasites, but I don’t think I’ve heard of a chigger. Beth had. It took them a while, but they then untangled Random – Space – Lambeth and Nature, as a set of walks, but couldn’t say that Bow – Drogue – Plough and Hook were all anchors. I didn’t know that either. Still 7 points increased their lead, and took their score to 16.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
We all know by now what a difference the missing vowels round can make. So everything was still very much to play for. This was a high quality round too, with no incorrect answers, and no words unidentified by either team. The first set of Alkaline substances was shared, 2 points apiece, as was the second, things on which you can sleep and also the third, all words or terms that mean quickly. The Vegetarians took three of the styles of type, as opposed to types of style, which narrowed the gap to three points. However the Socials, maintaining admirable sang froid, took three of the wine producing areas, and that, as they say was that. In the end a good win for the Social Networkers, by 26 points to 22.
Good show. Two very good teams, and questions as great as ever. Well played !
Once again our Mondays have developed into a very cornucopia of quizzing. At lunchtime we have the RBQ – and when this is over we’ll have Brain of Britain again, and then in the evening the now traditional powerhouse hour of UC followed by OC. Our cup runneth over.
Right then, tonight’s teams, given the honour of kicking off series five to find out who will succeed the brilliant Epicureans, were the Social Networkers – Roger Pratley, Sean Carey and Beth Webster the skipper – and the Vegetarians – John Larkin, Cathryn Lloyd and Dave Lloyd. My sources inform me that the Social Networkers particularly have quiz pedigree, but as we’ve seen more than once, this doesn’t necessarily count for everything in OC.
Round One – What’s the Connection ?
The Social Networkers – hereafter referred to as the Socials – kicked off with twisted Flax. This brought up the pictures. I didn’t recognize the symbol of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , or ABC, nor did I recognize Mr. Mos Def. Crackerjack’s Stu Francis I knew, and also KLM, so about the same time that Sean worked out that we were dealing with consecutive letters, so did I. Good set, and a good shout to work it out. The Vegetarians – hereafter referred to as the Vegetarians – took Eye of Horus, for the music starter. Well, I couldn’t hardly hear the first piece, but they obviously did, and the second, which gave them fairground rides off 2 clues. A brilliant , confident shout, which proved that the Vegetarians certainly weren’t just there to make up the numbers. The Socials took Horned viper to reveal Barghest of Yorkshire, which I am honest enough to admit meant nothing to me. I am ashamed to admit that I do know that the Mail on Sunday’s Political Column is called black dog, which was confirmed as the connection when Winston Churchill’s depression followed. Beth said the answer then and there, but they took the last clue – Gnasher to be sure. Better safe than sorry. Again, the Vegetarians didn’t need all the clues for their next set. Behind Two reeds were Debits – Ant McPartlin – and a bride in a Christian wedding. This was enough to give them that these were all things which go on the left – a good shout again. The Socials took Lion for their next set, and were given Prost to start. Immediately they had two possibilities – the formula One driver, and words for cheers. Kia Ora seemed to confirm the latter, but they took skal on the next to be sure. Again, playing safe is no bad strategy to adopt at all. Finally the vegetarians struggled with their last set. Virtues including Prudence and Justice, the numbers 1 to 4, Cormac Murphy O’Connor and North , East South and West stumped them completely. The Socials knew we were dealing with cardinals. At the end of the round the scores were square at 5 points apiece.
Round Two – What comes fourth ?
Often this proves to be the hardest round of the four. Certainly it seemed that way, when the Socials uncovered Delirious – Incredible and Superficial behind the eye of Horus. They knew, as did the Vegetarians – even I knew it at home – that we were dealing with Ottawan’s timeless classic D.I.S.C.O. But what was she on C ? Not cutie, and not cool. It was complicated. I’m sorry to say I didn’t get it either. The vegetarians knew that Keating and Howard were successive Australian PMs – as was Rudd. Yet they couldn’t quite remember the next. They had a brave stab at it with Gilligan, but it fell to Beth to give the correct answer of Gillard. Poor Victoria was tickled by Gilligan, then had to apologise profusely for laughing. You don’t get that from Jeremy Paxman. We saw more than a touch of class from the Socials with the next set. Given 12th November 2010 they did not leap straight in and offer 9th August 2007, which I might have been tempted to do. The second date being 9th August 2007 a little clever calculation gave them the correct answer of 3rd Feb 2001. Good play, and a vindication of the safety first approach. That was the high water mark of the round really, as neither team managed any of the three remaining sets. The vegetarians uncovered Gathering – White Tiger – Wolf Hall. It was a set where they all knew the connection, I think, Booker Prize winning novels, but nobody knew the next winner – the Finkler Question. Given Sub – Trans – Super the Socials had the connection – progression of speeds combined with the word – sonic – but neither team knew that it was hyper, rather than ultra or supra which followed. Finally a terrific picture set. Old Trafford – New South Wales, and a still from the Borrowers gave something Old, Something New – well , you get it , I’m sure. Super set that. So this , then was a round in which the Socials edged ahead, and they now led by 9 points to 5.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Vegetarians chose the Lion wall. They identified a set of flies – Fire – May – Horse and Butter very quickly, but it was a while before they isolated the second – characters in Shrek – with dragon – Fiona – puss in boots and Harold. They knew that there was a set of jackets in there, but couldn’t find them all before the time ran out. The jackets were smoking – Norfolk – donkey and bomber. Left with flower – wind – bamboo – season they knew that these are mah jongg tiles. So this brought them 6 points and raised their score to 11.
The water wall yielded two of its lines to the Socials very quickly. They pulled out Sutton – Enfield – Merton – Brent very quickly, being boroughs of London. Then Beth impressed me with the next. I knew that Leech – Fluke and Tick were all parasites, but I don’t think I’ve heard of a chigger. Beth had. It took them a while, but they then untangled Random – Space – Lambeth and Nature, as a set of walks, but couldn’t say that Bow – Drogue – Plough and Hook were all anchors. I didn’t know that either. Still 7 points increased their lead, and took their score to 16.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
We all know by now what a difference the missing vowels round can make. So everything was still very much to play for. This was a high quality round too, with no incorrect answers, and no words unidentified by either team. The first set of Alkaline substances was shared, 2 points apiece, as was the second, things on which you can sleep and also the third, all words or terms that mean quickly. The Vegetarians took three of the styles of type, as opposed to types of style, which narrowed the gap to three points. However the Socials, maintaining admirable sang froid, took three of the wine producing areas, and that, as they say was that. In the end a good win for the Social Networkers, by 26 points to 22.
Good show. Two very good teams, and questions as great as ever. Well played !
University Challenge - Round One - Match 7
Plymouth v. Durham
Plymouth, which became a university in 1992, is one of the largest in terms of student population in Britain. Apparently it has some 30,000 students. Representing Plymouth were Rachel Remnant, Laura Donaghy, Rebecca Emmett, and captain Peter Lord. Durham on the other hand came into being in 1832, and have won the series twice since JP took over. Their team consisted of Mark Rodgers, Adam Robertson, James France and skipper George Twigg.
For the first starter captain George Twigg recognized several different definitions all pertaining to the word code. This brought them bonuses on children’s rhymes. James France stretched Durham’s lead with the second starter, knowing that it was Franklin Roosevelt who signed Lease Lend into being. This brought up another two bonuses on old names for Scotland. James France couldn’t make it a double, when he answered the question – which French city takes its name from the roman name of Gratianopolis. Given a clear run at the question Laura Donaghy correctly answered Grenoble. Unfortunately Plymouth failed to convert any of the bonuses on eponymous spacecraft. The first starter to elude both teams concerned a Skinner Box. No, me neither. A good answer followed from Adam Robertson, who either knew or guessed that Croydon takes its name from crow’s valley. This brought Durham a full set of bonuses on Greek mythological creatures. Flexing their muscles they took a full set of picture bonuses as well, after James France had identified the chemical structure of morphine from a diagram. This time he did manage to make it a double, as the next starter called for 2 of the 3 central American capital cities, which have the word – city – as part of their name, offering Mexico and Panama cities. 2 bonuses on fermented foods brought their score to 110 at the halfway mark. Considering that Plymouth up to this time had scored only 10, the signs were ominous.
Still Laura Donaghy managed to double Plymouth’s total with the very next starter. She knew that it was Ursula LeGuin who wrote The Earthsea Trilogy. This time they managed a bonus on 20th century history. For the next few minutes, though, it was all Durham. A great early buzz on a description of a cloud followed from Mark Rodgers, earning bonuses on trigonometry. He had all three of those as well. George Twigg knew that the smallest nation to qualify for the 2010 world cup was Slovenia. However animals in the works of Dickens stumped them. Neither of the teams could recognize La Isla Bonita by Madonna, and so it was James France who earned the music bonuses for recognizing platinum on the next starter. I bet they wished they hadn’t. The bonuses were on songs picked by coalition ministers on Desert Island discs. They had to identify both song and castaway. They nearly managed it with Ernie, the Fastest Milkman in the West, chosen by David Cameron, but didn’t know Benny Hill, for which they earned opprobrium from JP. I’d love to see JP trying to do a Fred Scuttle impression, but I digress. A UC special starter followed, with several answers, all with one different vowel in the middle followed. George Twigg leapt in with Ball – bell – bill – boll – bull, and was rewarded with a full set on Leipzig. Funnily enough neither team knew about the world custard pie throwing championships. Not to worry, for James France knew that the Latin name given for a land crustacean referred to a woodlouse. One bonus on illustrators followed. Mark Rodgers leapt in with an answer to the next starter – recognizing that Eleven Plus two is an anagram of twelve plus one, both of which have the same answer. This hugely impressed JP. SO barring that first starter, this mid-section of the contest had been a virtual shut out, and Durham now lead by 210 to 25.
Working on the fact that JP tends to speed up throughout the last few minutes a score of 300 or more looked on the cards for Durham. Adam Robertson did his bit to make this a reality by buzzing in on the second picture starter to identify a painting by Vermeer, and the team between them took a full set on more of the same. Neither team knew that Thor Heyerdahl’s raft launched from Callao in Peru was called Kon Tiki – a little surprising that, although they may have been led up a blind alley by the preamble. Captain Rebecca Emmett buzzed in early to identify the weight linking horseracing and boxing as featherweight. A good buzz that, which confirmed one's suspicions that Plymouth were capable enough, but just not quick enough on the buzzer for the majority of the time. This brought two bonuses on the Indian Ocean. George Twigg identified the Miramax film company for the next, and a nice set of bonuses on pairs of words – where one word was created by adding a t to the start of the other – e.g. rash and trash. The irrepressible James France correctly identified ultra violet radiation for the next starter, and earned 2 bonuses for the team on plants. I loved the next starter, which asked the teams to identify the novel, the title of which is an anagram of the Tasty Beggar ! The Great Gatsby , of course, which George Twigg was the first to buzz in with. 2 bonuses on barometers were taken. Neither team could manage a starter on prime numbers – not surprised. Still, when asked which creatures produced apitoxins my guess that it would be bees was confirmed by Adam Robertson, and two bonuses were taken on regencies. Neither team could identify one of the two reigns during which Nicholas Hilliard painted some rather exquisite miniatures. However Durham had already passed the 300 barrier, to which further gilding was added as James France took the final starter, identifying the inert gas argon. The final result was a win for Durham by 325 to 45.
Very well done, Durham. A score which has to be taken seriously, by a very good team, who seem to cover a great deal of ground between them. First round form can be a little unreliable as an indication, but you have to say that they could go on to do very well this series.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
For the first time this series JP gave just a little bit more than a glimpse of what he is capable of giving us. I liked his reply to James France’s early buzz for the second starter. When offered what I though was a perfectly acceptable answer – FDR – he replied – “Yeah – bit more ? “ Not necessarily the kindest comment he might have made to Plymouth came on their second bonus, when he said ,
“Secondly for five points . . . if you can get them. “
There was just a touch of the belligerence of years gone by when James France hesitated over the answers to the capital city question, and he told him off for being ‘cheeky’ in no uncertain terms. Way to go Jezza.
For the second week in a row he rubbed it in that a team was struggling at the halfway point by saying
“Plymouth, there’s still plenty of time to go, we’re about halfway through. “ I mean, I know he’s only probably trying to be helpful, but, as skipper Adam Melling – Smith said of last week’s show, you know you’re really in trouble when he says it.
I did like the way that he acknowledged James France , though. In answer to the name of Dora Spenlow’s dog in David Copperfield, he took a speculative punt with ‘Toto’. Then , for the following question, the La Isla Bonita one, laughing, he buzzed in with the same answer – Toto. Very clever , considering that the song didn’t sound that unlike the mid-80s group. JP acknowledged this with a chuckle, and a half surprised, “ Quite witty.” Damn with faint praise, as it were.
Interesting Fact Of The Week That I Didn’t Already Know
The title “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest “ is the second line of a nursery rhyme which begins – Three geese in a flock, one flew east, and one flew west, and . . .
Plymouth, which became a university in 1992, is one of the largest in terms of student population in Britain. Apparently it has some 30,000 students. Representing Plymouth were Rachel Remnant, Laura Donaghy, Rebecca Emmett, and captain Peter Lord. Durham on the other hand came into being in 1832, and have won the series twice since JP took over. Their team consisted of Mark Rodgers, Adam Robertson, James France and skipper George Twigg.
For the first starter captain George Twigg recognized several different definitions all pertaining to the word code. This brought them bonuses on children’s rhymes. James France stretched Durham’s lead with the second starter, knowing that it was Franklin Roosevelt who signed Lease Lend into being. This brought up another two bonuses on old names for Scotland. James France couldn’t make it a double, when he answered the question – which French city takes its name from the roman name of Gratianopolis. Given a clear run at the question Laura Donaghy correctly answered Grenoble. Unfortunately Plymouth failed to convert any of the bonuses on eponymous spacecraft. The first starter to elude both teams concerned a Skinner Box. No, me neither. A good answer followed from Adam Robertson, who either knew or guessed that Croydon takes its name from crow’s valley. This brought Durham a full set of bonuses on Greek mythological creatures. Flexing their muscles they took a full set of picture bonuses as well, after James France had identified the chemical structure of morphine from a diagram. This time he did manage to make it a double, as the next starter called for 2 of the 3 central American capital cities, which have the word – city – as part of their name, offering Mexico and Panama cities. 2 bonuses on fermented foods brought their score to 110 at the halfway mark. Considering that Plymouth up to this time had scored only 10, the signs were ominous.
Still Laura Donaghy managed to double Plymouth’s total with the very next starter. She knew that it was Ursula LeGuin who wrote The Earthsea Trilogy. This time they managed a bonus on 20th century history. For the next few minutes, though, it was all Durham. A great early buzz on a description of a cloud followed from Mark Rodgers, earning bonuses on trigonometry. He had all three of those as well. George Twigg knew that the smallest nation to qualify for the 2010 world cup was Slovenia. However animals in the works of Dickens stumped them. Neither of the teams could recognize La Isla Bonita by Madonna, and so it was James France who earned the music bonuses for recognizing platinum on the next starter. I bet they wished they hadn’t. The bonuses were on songs picked by coalition ministers on Desert Island discs. They had to identify both song and castaway. They nearly managed it with Ernie, the Fastest Milkman in the West, chosen by David Cameron, but didn’t know Benny Hill, for which they earned opprobrium from JP. I’d love to see JP trying to do a Fred Scuttle impression, but I digress. A UC special starter followed, with several answers, all with one different vowel in the middle followed. George Twigg leapt in with Ball – bell – bill – boll – bull, and was rewarded with a full set on Leipzig. Funnily enough neither team knew about the world custard pie throwing championships. Not to worry, for James France knew that the Latin name given for a land crustacean referred to a woodlouse. One bonus on illustrators followed. Mark Rodgers leapt in with an answer to the next starter – recognizing that Eleven Plus two is an anagram of twelve plus one, both of which have the same answer. This hugely impressed JP. SO barring that first starter, this mid-section of the contest had been a virtual shut out, and Durham now lead by 210 to 25.
Working on the fact that JP tends to speed up throughout the last few minutes a score of 300 or more looked on the cards for Durham. Adam Robertson did his bit to make this a reality by buzzing in on the second picture starter to identify a painting by Vermeer, and the team between them took a full set on more of the same. Neither team knew that Thor Heyerdahl’s raft launched from Callao in Peru was called Kon Tiki – a little surprising that, although they may have been led up a blind alley by the preamble. Captain Rebecca Emmett buzzed in early to identify the weight linking horseracing and boxing as featherweight. A good buzz that, which confirmed one's suspicions that Plymouth were capable enough, but just not quick enough on the buzzer for the majority of the time. This brought two bonuses on the Indian Ocean. George Twigg identified the Miramax film company for the next, and a nice set of bonuses on pairs of words – where one word was created by adding a t to the start of the other – e.g. rash and trash. The irrepressible James France correctly identified ultra violet radiation for the next starter, and earned 2 bonuses for the team on plants. I loved the next starter, which asked the teams to identify the novel, the title of which is an anagram of the Tasty Beggar ! The Great Gatsby , of course, which George Twigg was the first to buzz in with. 2 bonuses on barometers were taken. Neither team could manage a starter on prime numbers – not surprised. Still, when asked which creatures produced apitoxins my guess that it would be bees was confirmed by Adam Robertson, and two bonuses were taken on regencies. Neither team could identify one of the two reigns during which Nicholas Hilliard painted some rather exquisite miniatures. However Durham had already passed the 300 barrier, to which further gilding was added as James France took the final starter, identifying the inert gas argon. The final result was a win for Durham by 325 to 45.
Very well done, Durham. A score which has to be taken seriously, by a very good team, who seem to cover a great deal of ground between them. First round form can be a little unreliable as an indication, but you have to say that they could go on to do very well this series.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
For the first time this series JP gave just a little bit more than a glimpse of what he is capable of giving us. I liked his reply to James France’s early buzz for the second starter. When offered what I though was a perfectly acceptable answer – FDR – he replied – “Yeah – bit more ? “ Not necessarily the kindest comment he might have made to Plymouth came on their second bonus, when he said ,
“Secondly for five points . . . if you can get them. “
There was just a touch of the belligerence of years gone by when James France hesitated over the answers to the capital city question, and he told him off for being ‘cheeky’ in no uncertain terms. Way to go Jezza.
For the second week in a row he rubbed it in that a team was struggling at the halfway point by saying
“Plymouth, there’s still plenty of time to go, we’re about halfway through. “ I mean, I know he’s only probably trying to be helpful, but, as skipper Adam Melling – Smith said of last week’s show, you know you’re really in trouble when he says it.
I did like the way that he acknowledged James France , though. In answer to the name of Dora Spenlow’s dog in David Copperfield, he took a speculative punt with ‘Toto’. Then , for the following question, the La Isla Bonita one, laughing, he buzzed in with the same answer – Toto. Very clever , considering that the song didn’t sound that unlike the mid-80s group. JP acknowledged this with a chuckle, and a half surprised, “ Quite witty.” Damn with faint praise, as it were.
Interesting Fact Of The Week That I Didn’t Already Know
The title “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest “ is the second line of a nursery rhyme which begins – Three geese in a flock, one flew east, and one flew west, and . . .
Monday, 15 August 2011
RBQ
A quick question for you. Which is thre longest running broadcast quiz in Britain ? The title of this post should give it to you - its Round Britain Quiz, first broadcast in 1947.
One of the great pleasures of being on holiday from school is being able to listen to the first round of this year’s Round Britain Quiz as it was broadcast at lunchtime today on Radio 4. If you’ve never listened to it before, well, it’s the sort of thing you might well enjoy.
In common with Only Connect , knowledge alone is not enough in RBQ. Each show pits 2 out of 6 regional teams against each other, with the most successful team being crowned champions. It is with some pride I can say that Wales, with my friend David Edwards, are reigning champions. Both teams are asked 4 cryptic questions, which need to be deciphered, and each part of the answer needs to be explained. This can earn the teams a number of points for each question, depending on how well they untangle it.
In the first show, host Tom Sutcliffe introduced the South, represented by Marcel Berlins and Fred Housego, who played against the North , represented by Jim Coulson and Diana Collecott. All the questions from each show can be found on the Radio 4 website. Here they are : -
Question One: -
What, or rather who, is the missing link between:
The phone number of a hotel in New York;
A small earthen receptacle;
A streetcar interchange with the name of a dinner jacket; and
A vigilant group of G.I.’s?
This one went to Fred Housego and Marcel Berlins for the South. Playing at home I knew that the dinner jacket is a tuxedo – the interchange makes it Tuxedo Junction – the receptacle is a little brown jug – the phone number is Pennsylvania 65000 .All three of these are songs/tunes made famous by Glenn Miller. Like the team, I didn’t know Glenn Miller’s song American Patrol for the vigilant group of GIs, but still had the connection.
Question Two was : -
An encounter that leads nowhere; a creature of limited versatility; a settlement without much excitement; Brando’s only movie (in one sense); and a machine that will almost certainly rob you. What do they add up to?
The number one was the connection I had from the start. I knew that Brando’s only movie as director was One Eyed Jacks – A one armed bandit robs you – a one trick pony has limited versatility – a one horse town has little excitement – one night stand was my answer to the encounter – which all adds up to 5. I did rather better than Jim Coulson and Diana Collecott here. I had the lot, but they missed out on two.
Question 3 was a music question – we were played three sound clips, and asked which of the three was the greatest . I recognized Adam Faith’s wish you wanted my love ( baby! ) – I didn’t recognize the second, which wasn’t music at all, but rather a monologue from Gerald Hoffnung – and the third was The Rhythm of Life . That comes from Sweet Charity , which gave me faith hope and charity. As for the connection, the greatest of these is charity. So I lost out on the second , and the South team pulled ahead of me.
Question four played Nothing Sweet About Me – by Gabriella Chilmi – then asked -
Why could an athlete at the centre of a gender controversy, a boxer who was an all-time knockout, and one of George and Martha’s dinner guests, all contradict the words of this song?
Sweet , and boxer, made me think Sugar Ray Robinson( or Leonard. Since the team only suggested Robinson this possibility wasn’t explored. Would the answer Sugar Ray Leonard – or Sugar Ramos even – have been acceptable I wonder ? ) – the athlete was surely South African Caster Semanya – the dinner guests thing made me think of Whose Afraid of Virgina Woolf. I’ve never seen it, so missed out on the fact that one of the guests was called Honey. The team had that, but missed out on Caster Semanya, so honours even there.
For question five we left the music behind again.
Which mighty warrior, never crowned but married twice, once to a man of twenty-eight and then to a boy of fifteen, calls to mind a dancing bag and a little girl who was much cleverer than her headmistress?
Right away I thought of Matilda, since the song Waltzing Matilda is actually addressed by the jolly swagman to his bag and Matilda, eponymous heroine of Roald Dahl’s novel, was much smarter than Miss Trunchbull, her headteacher. I was struggling with the warrior, though. Then I got it – Mathilda, daughter of Henry Ist – never crowned queen, though married first to the Holy Roman Emperor, and then Geoffrey Plantagenet. I didn’t know that Matilda derives from the German for Mighty warrior. I think I didn’t deserve full points, but did better than the team.
Question Six seemed to me the most difficult of all the sets today.
Who are these non-Marxists?
A comic bear and the organ he graced, the top banana at 17 syllables, Professor Edwards’ scholastic war-cry, and the purveyor of the ‘Pluto Platter’ which became a bestseller after a change of name.
Here I struggled. I knew that the pluto platter was the original name of the Frisbee. I guessed that the comic bear might be Rupert, and the organ thus the Daily Express. I completely missed Jimmy Edwards as Professor Edwards, with the war cry Whacko. I knew that 17 syllables suggests haiku – but couldn’t do much better than that with it. Fair play to Diana Callecot, she connected it with the name Basho. The bear actually turned out to be Biffo, and the organ the Beano. So all were ending in –O. Which didn’t explain where the Frisbee came in, but they were all ending in – O, but not Groucho , Harpo , Chico the Marx brothers. Non Marxists, you see . No, I was nowhere near it either. It was the manufacturer of the Frisbee they wanted , which was Whammo. I might have earned perhaps one or two points here, and was well and truly shown up by the team.
If question six was my nadir, then at least question seven was my peak of performance.
A vengeful Catholic monarch; a liberated glossy magazine; a first-rate bore; a world-beater; a dambusting pilot.
Why could all of them leave you feeling light-headed?
I thought Guy Gibson for dambusting pilot. A Gibson is a cocktail. That gave me Bloody Mary for the monarch , gimlet for bore, cosmopolitan for the magazine, Alexander ( Brandy ) for the world beater and a full house, with which I slightly redeemed myself, and did one better than the team.
Far too soon it was time for the eighth and final question.
In a sentence can you say:
what a revered England goalie does to protect his earnings;
how a Queen's manager responds to a request for his musical client;
how a Yorkshire announcer assures vegetables throughout the winter.
The goalie had to be Gordon Banks, I reckoned. I also had Wilfred Pickles for the announcer and the vegetables. Yet I couldn’t get a Queen’s Manager – take it as the pop group, and so the answer is May , as in Brian. Banks – Pickles – May – names and also verbs.
Despite what I said earlier about being happy that Wales are the reigning champs, the score in the end really isn’t that important, but for the record the North recorded a win by 18 to the South’s 17.
As always, the show signed off with a question to ponder : -
What stature is shared by a French international who played for Arsenal and Chelsea; an anonymous author; and the straight man in a 1970s double act?
No prizes for the answer- which is a shame since I'm pretty sure I have it.
Great show . Loved it !
One of the great pleasures of being on holiday from school is being able to listen to the first round of this year’s Round Britain Quiz as it was broadcast at lunchtime today on Radio 4. If you’ve never listened to it before, well, it’s the sort of thing you might well enjoy.
In common with Only Connect , knowledge alone is not enough in RBQ. Each show pits 2 out of 6 regional teams against each other, with the most successful team being crowned champions. It is with some pride I can say that Wales, with my friend David Edwards, are reigning champions. Both teams are asked 4 cryptic questions, which need to be deciphered, and each part of the answer needs to be explained. This can earn the teams a number of points for each question, depending on how well they untangle it.
In the first show, host Tom Sutcliffe introduced the South, represented by Marcel Berlins and Fred Housego, who played against the North , represented by Jim Coulson and Diana Collecott. All the questions from each show can be found on the Radio 4 website. Here they are : -
Question One: -
What, or rather who, is the missing link between:
The phone number of a hotel in New York;
A small earthen receptacle;
A streetcar interchange with the name of a dinner jacket; and
A vigilant group of G.I.’s?
This one went to Fred Housego and Marcel Berlins for the South. Playing at home I knew that the dinner jacket is a tuxedo – the interchange makes it Tuxedo Junction – the receptacle is a little brown jug – the phone number is Pennsylvania 65000 .All three of these are songs/tunes made famous by Glenn Miller. Like the team, I didn’t know Glenn Miller’s song American Patrol for the vigilant group of GIs, but still had the connection.
Question Two was : -
An encounter that leads nowhere; a creature of limited versatility; a settlement without much excitement; Brando’s only movie (in one sense); and a machine that will almost certainly rob you. What do they add up to?
The number one was the connection I had from the start. I knew that Brando’s only movie as director was One Eyed Jacks – A one armed bandit robs you – a one trick pony has limited versatility – a one horse town has little excitement – one night stand was my answer to the encounter – which all adds up to 5. I did rather better than Jim Coulson and Diana Collecott here. I had the lot, but they missed out on two.
Question 3 was a music question – we were played three sound clips, and asked which of the three was the greatest . I recognized Adam Faith’s wish you wanted my love ( baby! ) – I didn’t recognize the second, which wasn’t music at all, but rather a monologue from Gerald Hoffnung – and the third was The Rhythm of Life . That comes from Sweet Charity , which gave me faith hope and charity. As for the connection, the greatest of these is charity. So I lost out on the second , and the South team pulled ahead of me.
Question four played Nothing Sweet About Me – by Gabriella Chilmi – then asked -
Why could an athlete at the centre of a gender controversy, a boxer who was an all-time knockout, and one of George and Martha’s dinner guests, all contradict the words of this song?
Sweet , and boxer, made me think Sugar Ray Robinson( or Leonard. Since the team only suggested Robinson this possibility wasn’t explored. Would the answer Sugar Ray Leonard – or Sugar Ramos even – have been acceptable I wonder ? ) – the athlete was surely South African Caster Semanya – the dinner guests thing made me think of Whose Afraid of Virgina Woolf. I’ve never seen it, so missed out on the fact that one of the guests was called Honey. The team had that, but missed out on Caster Semanya, so honours even there.
For question five we left the music behind again.
Which mighty warrior, never crowned but married twice, once to a man of twenty-eight and then to a boy of fifteen, calls to mind a dancing bag and a little girl who was much cleverer than her headmistress?
Right away I thought of Matilda, since the song Waltzing Matilda is actually addressed by the jolly swagman to his bag and Matilda, eponymous heroine of Roald Dahl’s novel, was much smarter than Miss Trunchbull, her headteacher. I was struggling with the warrior, though. Then I got it – Mathilda, daughter of Henry Ist – never crowned queen, though married first to the Holy Roman Emperor, and then Geoffrey Plantagenet. I didn’t know that Matilda derives from the German for Mighty warrior. I think I didn’t deserve full points, but did better than the team.
Question Six seemed to me the most difficult of all the sets today.
Who are these non-Marxists?
A comic bear and the organ he graced, the top banana at 17 syllables, Professor Edwards’ scholastic war-cry, and the purveyor of the ‘Pluto Platter’ which became a bestseller after a change of name.
Here I struggled. I knew that the pluto platter was the original name of the Frisbee. I guessed that the comic bear might be Rupert, and the organ thus the Daily Express. I completely missed Jimmy Edwards as Professor Edwards, with the war cry Whacko. I knew that 17 syllables suggests haiku – but couldn’t do much better than that with it. Fair play to Diana Callecot, she connected it with the name Basho. The bear actually turned out to be Biffo, and the organ the Beano. So all were ending in –O. Which didn’t explain where the Frisbee came in, but they were all ending in – O, but not Groucho , Harpo , Chico the Marx brothers. Non Marxists, you see . No, I was nowhere near it either. It was the manufacturer of the Frisbee they wanted , which was Whammo. I might have earned perhaps one or two points here, and was well and truly shown up by the team.
If question six was my nadir, then at least question seven was my peak of performance.
A vengeful Catholic monarch; a liberated glossy magazine; a first-rate bore; a world-beater; a dambusting pilot.
Why could all of them leave you feeling light-headed?
I thought Guy Gibson for dambusting pilot. A Gibson is a cocktail. That gave me Bloody Mary for the monarch , gimlet for bore, cosmopolitan for the magazine, Alexander ( Brandy ) for the world beater and a full house, with which I slightly redeemed myself, and did one better than the team.
Far too soon it was time for the eighth and final question.
In a sentence can you say:
what a revered England goalie does to protect his earnings;
how a Queen's manager responds to a request for his musical client;
how a Yorkshire announcer assures vegetables throughout the winter.
The goalie had to be Gordon Banks, I reckoned. I also had Wilfred Pickles for the announcer and the vegetables. Yet I couldn’t get a Queen’s Manager – take it as the pop group, and so the answer is May , as in Brian. Banks – Pickles – May – names and also verbs.
Despite what I said earlier about being happy that Wales are the reigning champs, the score in the end really isn’t that important, but for the record the North recorded a win by 18 to the South’s 17.
As always, the show signed off with a question to ponder : -
What stature is shared by a French international who played for Arsenal and Chelsea; an anonymous author; and the straight man in a 1970s double act?
No prizes for the answer- which is a shame since I'm pretty sure I have it.
Great show . Loved it !
Only Connect
Yes, a quick reminder that Only Connect returns tonight. The teams are the Vegetarians, and the Social Networkers. I think I recognised Beth Webster, skipper of the Social Networkers, as a Masterminder from the 2007 SOBM, although I may be mistaken.
Jenny Heap of the OC production team - aka The Lovely Jenny - said of tonight's show on Facebook -
"it's a wicked episode!"
Can't wait !
Jenny Heap of the OC production team - aka The Lovely Jenny - said of tonight's show on Facebook -
"it's a wicked episode!"
Can't wait !
Saturday, 13 August 2011
News Questions
Hot on the heels of last week's answers, here's the latest batch : -
News Questions
Who or what are the following, and why are they in the news ?
1) Diana Nyad
2) Adam Scott
3) Lt. Cdr Sarah West
4) S and P ( Standard and Poor )
5) Lobsang Sangay
6) Shereka Leigh
7) Warren Jeffs
8) Kevin Anderson
9) Yamile Aldama
10) Mustafa Abdel Jalil
11) Howard Riddle
12) Azyraf Mossli
13) Monica Kancyk
14) Ghazanfar Ali
15) Alexis Bailey
16) Laura Johnson
17) Bay House School, Gosport
18) HTV-2 Falcon
19) Red necked phalarope
20) Shara Nelson
21) Geraldine Lynton Edwards
22) Charla Nash
23) Howard Johnson
24) Suzanne Harrison
25) Stephen Hopson
26) Aaron Bibner
27) Jonathan Knowle
28) Elijah McDermott
29) Liam Bretherton
30) Pretty Green
31) Steve Mullings
32) Dr. Jane Horsey
33) Tony Osborne
34) Rhiannon Brookesbank Jones
35) Don Wales
In Other News
1) Whose government report says kids should all study maths until they are 18 ?
2) Where did the world’s longest guided busway open ?
3) What is being used as a temporary art gallery in Llafrynach, near Brecon ?
4) Abbotsbury swannery using what to keep out foxes ?
5) Most common foreign language needed for jobs in Britain ?
6) Soldiers from which regiment accused of cutting fingers from dead Taliban fighters as trophies
7) Whose flagship was found off the coast of Panama
8) Which 69 year old TV chef died ?
9) Who came in the third test for the injured Jonathan Trott ?
10) Which 74 year old racehorse trainer retired ?
11) Which journalist was beaten on his way home from reporting on the riots ?
12) An extra edition of which TV show was shown on August 11th
13) What did Connie Fisher announce ?
14) What washed up on the beach in Lynmouth ?
15) Flights were briefly grounded when a grenade was found near which airport ?
16) Newsweek courted controversy by featuring a cover photo with whom showing ‘staring eyes ‘ ?
17) Which anniversary did the Mr. Men have this week – who was the first Mr. Man ?
18) A test event in which sport took place in Horseguards Parade ?
19) Who performed a citizen’s arrest on a looter outside his Notting Hill home ?
20) Which celebrity chef was threatened at knife point in his own Manchester restaurant ?
21) Inmates in California jails have been banned from ?
22) Claimed on a spoof BBC news page ?
23) Who accused Cameron of violent repression of peaceful protestors ?
24) Which company announced that it will not show its latest advert which did feature scenes of rioting ?
25) Wales football team lost friendly to ?
26) Which welsh walk is number 3 in a list of the world’s top 10 walks ?
27) Which country launched their first ever aircraft carrier ?
28) Who was bowled in the first ball of the third test ?
29) Who shot a record equaling round of 63 in the first round of the USPGA ?
30) Who were the first Mr. Man and Little Miss ? The Mr. Men are 40 years old, and the little Misses 20.
31) Which landmark closes for restoration in October ?
32) What was the final total of Alastair Cook’s innings in the third test ?
33) Where will author Tony Parsons be taking up a week’s position as writer in residence ?
34) Which anniversary is being marked in Germany this weekend ?
35) In which state will prospective republican presidential candidates be taking part in a straw pole this weekend ?
36) Whose report for the government recommended all children study maths to the age of 18 ?
37) Which indian batsman was out first ball of the third test ?
38) Which 2 giant Japanese corporations are set to merge ?
39) Who announced plans for a free wi – fi network ?
40) Which MP made a gaffe by asking why rioting children and teenagers weren’t in school ?
41) Which Tottenham’s league fixture against whom was postponed due to the riots ?
42) Which magazine apologized after slimming down a photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge ?
43) Which 10 year old BBC drama is to come to an end ?
44) Which part of Rory McIlroy’s body did he injure in the first round of the USPGA ?
45) Spain has won the right to stop any more workers from which country entering Spain ?
News Questions
Who or what are the following, and why are they in the news ?
1) Diana Nyad
2) Adam Scott
3) Lt. Cdr Sarah West
4) S and P ( Standard and Poor )
5) Lobsang Sangay
6) Shereka Leigh
7) Warren Jeffs
8) Kevin Anderson
9) Yamile Aldama
10) Mustafa Abdel Jalil
11) Howard Riddle
12) Azyraf Mossli
13) Monica Kancyk
14) Ghazanfar Ali
15) Alexis Bailey
16) Laura Johnson
17) Bay House School, Gosport
18) HTV-2 Falcon
19) Red necked phalarope
20) Shara Nelson
21) Geraldine Lynton Edwards
22) Charla Nash
23) Howard Johnson
24) Suzanne Harrison
25) Stephen Hopson
26) Aaron Bibner
27) Jonathan Knowle
28) Elijah McDermott
29) Liam Bretherton
30) Pretty Green
31) Steve Mullings
32) Dr. Jane Horsey
33) Tony Osborne
34) Rhiannon Brookesbank Jones
35) Don Wales
In Other News
1) Whose government report says kids should all study maths until they are 18 ?
2) Where did the world’s longest guided busway open ?
3) What is being used as a temporary art gallery in Llafrynach, near Brecon ?
4) Abbotsbury swannery using what to keep out foxes ?
5) Most common foreign language needed for jobs in Britain ?
6) Soldiers from which regiment accused of cutting fingers from dead Taliban fighters as trophies
7) Whose flagship was found off the coast of Panama
8) Which 69 year old TV chef died ?
9) Who came in the third test for the injured Jonathan Trott ?
10) Which 74 year old racehorse trainer retired ?
11) Which journalist was beaten on his way home from reporting on the riots ?
12) An extra edition of which TV show was shown on August 11th
13) What did Connie Fisher announce ?
14) What washed up on the beach in Lynmouth ?
15) Flights were briefly grounded when a grenade was found near which airport ?
16) Newsweek courted controversy by featuring a cover photo with whom showing ‘staring eyes ‘ ?
17) Which anniversary did the Mr. Men have this week – who was the first Mr. Man ?
18) A test event in which sport took place in Horseguards Parade ?
19) Who performed a citizen’s arrest on a looter outside his Notting Hill home ?
20) Which celebrity chef was threatened at knife point in his own Manchester restaurant ?
21) Inmates in California jails have been banned from ?
22) Claimed on a spoof BBC news page ?
23) Who accused Cameron of violent repression of peaceful protestors ?
24) Which company announced that it will not show its latest advert which did feature scenes of rioting ?
25) Wales football team lost friendly to ?
26) Which welsh walk is number 3 in a list of the world’s top 10 walks ?
27) Which country launched their first ever aircraft carrier ?
28) Who was bowled in the first ball of the third test ?
29) Who shot a record equaling round of 63 in the first round of the USPGA ?
30) Who were the first Mr. Man and Little Miss ? The Mr. Men are 40 years old, and the little Misses 20.
31) Which landmark closes for restoration in October ?
32) What was the final total of Alastair Cook’s innings in the third test ?
33) Where will author Tony Parsons be taking up a week’s position as writer in residence ?
34) Which anniversary is being marked in Germany this weekend ?
35) In which state will prospective republican presidential candidates be taking part in a straw pole this weekend ?
36) Whose report for the government recommended all children study maths to the age of 18 ?
37) Which indian batsman was out first ball of the third test ?
38) Which 2 giant Japanese corporations are set to merge ?
39) Who announced plans for a free wi – fi network ?
40) Which MP made a gaffe by asking why rioting children and teenagers weren’t in school ?
41) Which Tottenham’s league fixture against whom was postponed due to the riots ?
42) Which magazine apologized after slimming down a photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge ?
43) Which 10 year old BBC drama is to come to an end ?
44) Which part of Rory McIlroy’s body did he injure in the first round of the USPGA ?
45) Spain has won the right to stop any more workers from which country entering Spain ?
Answers to News Questions
OK – here’s the answers
Who or what are the following, and why are they in the news ?
1) Reverend Neil Carter
2) Liam Tancock
3) Colin Atkinson
4) David Mackay
5) Glynn and Gregor Morris
6) Jim Devine
7) Chai Patel
8) Hayley Wilkins
9) Michael Whitaker
10) Shem Davies
11) Hama
12) Francesca Ariani
13) Jake Davies
14) Ched Evans
15) Abigail Bannatyne
16) Dealz
17) Madeleine Pulver
18) Jose Manuel Borroso
19) The White Shadow
20) Shaun Evans
21) Sean Price
22) Major General Keith Cima
23) Rhys Priestland
24) Myrtle Rose
25) Bill Bratton
26) Mark Duggan
27) Pauline Whitehouse
28) Muifa
29) Rick Perry
30) Alastair Brownlee and Helen Jenkins
Answers
1) He performed Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall’s marriage ceremony
2) Won gold in the world 50m swimming championships
3) He claimed he was mistreated at work for putting up a palm cross in his van .
4) Chief pilot for Virgin Galactic, which begin sub orbital commercial flights in 2013
5) Gregor Morris is autistic and they were thrown out of a West end performance of “Wicked” for being too loud
6) Expenses fraud MP let out after 4 months in prison
7) Big donor to the Labour Party who has asked for his money back
8) Fraudster who dodged Community Service in a charity shop by complaining of a bad bask
9) Showjumper arrested by police after fracas at Copthorne Hotel, Gatwick
10) Britain’s youngest grandfather, at 29 years old – unemployed
11) Syrian city in which tanks committed atrocities
12) Italian waitress whom David Cameron did not tip
13) Hacker from Shetland alleged to have hacked into SOCO
14) Welsh footballer charged with rape.
15) Daughter of Duncan Bannatyne – death threats on Twitter
16) The name of Poundland’s new European stores
17) The Australian girl who was told she had a bomb collar on – hoax
18) President of the European Commission
19) Early Hitchcock film rediscovered in New Zealand
20) He will be playing Morse in the prequel series to be called “Endeavour”
21) Chief Constable of Cleveland who was arrested as part of a corruption investigation.
22) The sacked former chief of The Tower of London
23) Stepped in as fly half for Wales v. England at short notice
24) 75 year old pilot who flew into restricted airspace and was investigated by F16 fighter planes during Obama visit to Chicago.
25) American supercop wanted as Met Chief Constable by Cameron but rejected by Theresa May
26) The man who was shot dead in Tottenham
27) 53 year old woman asked to leave a Morrison’s store when suffering from a stroke
28) Typhoon which failed to hit Shanghai
29) Governor of Texas who publicly prayed for deliverance from America’s woes
30) Winners of Hyde park Olympic Rehearsal triathlon
In other news
1) Who won the Hungarian Grand Prix ?
2) Name the other teams in England’s World Cup Qualifying group
3) The indian cricket team showed great sportsmanship over which England batsman’s dismissal as he walked off for the tea interval ?
4) Which part of Windsor Castle has just been reopened to the public ?
5) Who criticized modern comedians for being too offensive ?
6) Who have been criticized for being shown parking electric cars in disabled parking bays ?
7) 2nd August is the 150th anniversary of the first published what ?
8) Who finally took the blame for the ‘no hurricane’ prediction of 1987 ?
9) 2nd August – a group of illegal immigrants were apprehended trying to enter UK having stowed away in what ?
10) Who took 5 wickets in the Indian second innings of the second test ?
11) What was the name of the film actor grandfather of Toby Flood ?
12) Which footballer will be given a free transfer to anyone who will take him ?
13) Where did a plane belonging to which airline fall off the runway, with nobody seriously hurt ?
14) IN an LA Fitness survey, who were the best bodies – women – men ?
15) Who was Mike Tindall’s best man ?
16) Which department store have introduced their triple boost bra ?
17) Who is joining the TV series Family Guy – to play a dolphin ?
18) Who sang Happy Birthday to barack Obama on his 50th ?
19) Which country has created its own brand scent ?
20) Which TV Presenter was hit by a foam pie ?
21) Scientists claim to have found what on Mars ?
22) Which former world champion was in court accused of attacking her former husband ?
23) Who is the new manager of Brentford FC ?
24) Heather Mills claimed that she has been hacked by which newspaper ?
25) Which team did Fulham beat in the qualifiers for the Europa League ?
26) Which team knocked Rangers out of the European Champions League ?
27) Which Leicester centre made his debut for England RFU v. Wales ?
28) From which country is Noriega being extradited to his native Panama ?
29) Which films tar is facing eviction from her home in New York ?
30) Which Holiday firm went bust, stranding holiday makers in Turkey particularly ?
31) ON which island did the polar bear attack happen
32) Who crashed his Mclaren F1 sports car ?
33) Which company have been given provisional permission to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea ?
34) The Bratz toy doll company won $309 million damages from whom ?
35) Who was taken to hospital after having a pizza thrown in his eye by Sooty ?
36) Which 73 year old novelist died ?
37) What is the venue for this year’s USPGA ?
38) Which horse racing competition pitted teams from Ireland , The UK, and the Rest of the World ?
39) Score – England v. Wales at Twickenham ?
40) A man was shot dead by police near which station in London ?
41) What celebrated its 20th anniversary on 7th August ?
42) Where were Victorian beachhuts destroyed in an arson attack ?
43) Which town is making its own Hollywood style walk of fame ?
44) Which of his sponsors have announced that they have just ended their association with Tiger Woods ?
45) What was the final score in the Community Shield ?
46) Which team did Leeds beat in their Challenge Cup semi final ?
47) Which team did Wigan beat in their Challenge Cup semi final ?
Answers
1) Jenson Button
2) Moldova- Montenegro – Poland – San Marino – Ukraine
3) Ian Bell
4) The Round Tower
5) Ronnie Corbett
6) James May and Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear
7) Weather Forecast
8) Bill Giles
9) Wheelie Bins
10) Tim Bresnan
11) Albert Lievin
12) Joey Barton
13) Guyana – Caribbean Airways
14) Helen Mirrne – David Beckham
15) Ian Balshaw
16) Debenhams
17) Ricky Gervais
18) Jennifer Hudson
19) Lithuania
20) Fiona Bruce
21) Streams of Water
22) Liz McColgan
23) Uwe Rosler
24) The Daily Mirror
25) RNK Split
26) Malmo
27) Manu Tuilagi
28) France
29) Faye Dunaway
30) Holidays 4U
31) Spitzbergen / Svalbard
32) Rowan Atkinson
33) Shell
34) Mattel (Barbie)
35) Paul Daniels
36) Stan Barstow
37) Atlanta Athletic club
38) The Shergar Cup at Ascot
39) 23 – 29 to England
40) Tottenham Hale
41) The World Wide Web
42) Weymouth
43) Maidenhead
44) Tag Heuer
45) Manchester United 3 – Manchester City – 2
46) Castleford
47) St. Helens
Who or what are the following, and why are they in the news ?
1) Reverend Neil Carter
2) Liam Tancock
3) Colin Atkinson
4) David Mackay
5) Glynn and Gregor Morris
6) Jim Devine
7) Chai Patel
8) Hayley Wilkins
9) Michael Whitaker
10) Shem Davies
11) Hama
12) Francesca Ariani
13) Jake Davies
14) Ched Evans
15) Abigail Bannatyne
16) Dealz
17) Madeleine Pulver
18) Jose Manuel Borroso
19) The White Shadow
20) Shaun Evans
21) Sean Price
22) Major General Keith Cima
23) Rhys Priestland
24) Myrtle Rose
25) Bill Bratton
26) Mark Duggan
27) Pauline Whitehouse
28) Muifa
29) Rick Perry
30) Alastair Brownlee and Helen Jenkins
Answers
1) He performed Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall’s marriage ceremony
2) Won gold in the world 50m swimming championships
3) He claimed he was mistreated at work for putting up a palm cross in his van .
4) Chief pilot for Virgin Galactic, which begin sub orbital commercial flights in 2013
5) Gregor Morris is autistic and they were thrown out of a West end performance of “Wicked” for being too loud
6) Expenses fraud MP let out after 4 months in prison
7) Big donor to the Labour Party who has asked for his money back
8) Fraudster who dodged Community Service in a charity shop by complaining of a bad bask
9) Showjumper arrested by police after fracas at Copthorne Hotel, Gatwick
10) Britain’s youngest grandfather, at 29 years old – unemployed
11) Syrian city in which tanks committed atrocities
12) Italian waitress whom David Cameron did not tip
13) Hacker from Shetland alleged to have hacked into SOCO
14) Welsh footballer charged with rape.
15) Daughter of Duncan Bannatyne – death threats on Twitter
16) The name of Poundland’s new European stores
17) The Australian girl who was told she had a bomb collar on – hoax
18) President of the European Commission
19) Early Hitchcock film rediscovered in New Zealand
20) He will be playing Morse in the prequel series to be called “Endeavour”
21) Chief Constable of Cleveland who was arrested as part of a corruption investigation.
22) The sacked former chief of The Tower of London
23) Stepped in as fly half for Wales v. England at short notice
24) 75 year old pilot who flew into restricted airspace and was investigated by F16 fighter planes during Obama visit to Chicago.
25) American supercop wanted as Met Chief Constable by Cameron but rejected by Theresa May
26) The man who was shot dead in Tottenham
27) 53 year old woman asked to leave a Morrison’s store when suffering from a stroke
28) Typhoon which failed to hit Shanghai
29) Governor of Texas who publicly prayed for deliverance from America’s woes
30) Winners of Hyde park Olympic Rehearsal triathlon
In other news
1) Who won the Hungarian Grand Prix ?
2) Name the other teams in England’s World Cup Qualifying group
3) The indian cricket team showed great sportsmanship over which England batsman’s dismissal as he walked off for the tea interval ?
4) Which part of Windsor Castle has just been reopened to the public ?
5) Who criticized modern comedians for being too offensive ?
6) Who have been criticized for being shown parking electric cars in disabled parking bays ?
7) 2nd August is the 150th anniversary of the first published what ?
8) Who finally took the blame for the ‘no hurricane’ prediction of 1987 ?
9) 2nd August – a group of illegal immigrants were apprehended trying to enter UK having stowed away in what ?
10) Who took 5 wickets in the Indian second innings of the second test ?
11) What was the name of the film actor grandfather of Toby Flood ?
12) Which footballer will be given a free transfer to anyone who will take him ?
13) Where did a plane belonging to which airline fall off the runway, with nobody seriously hurt ?
14) IN an LA Fitness survey, who were the best bodies – women – men ?
15) Who was Mike Tindall’s best man ?
16) Which department store have introduced their triple boost bra ?
17) Who is joining the TV series Family Guy – to play a dolphin ?
18) Who sang Happy Birthday to barack Obama on his 50th ?
19) Which country has created its own brand scent ?
20) Which TV Presenter was hit by a foam pie ?
21) Scientists claim to have found what on Mars ?
22) Which former world champion was in court accused of attacking her former husband ?
23) Who is the new manager of Brentford FC ?
24) Heather Mills claimed that she has been hacked by which newspaper ?
25) Which team did Fulham beat in the qualifiers for the Europa League ?
26) Which team knocked Rangers out of the European Champions League ?
27) Which Leicester centre made his debut for England RFU v. Wales ?
28) From which country is Noriega being extradited to his native Panama ?
29) Which films tar is facing eviction from her home in New York ?
30) Which Holiday firm went bust, stranding holiday makers in Turkey particularly ?
31) ON which island did the polar bear attack happen
32) Who crashed his Mclaren F1 sports car ?
33) Which company have been given provisional permission to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea ?
34) The Bratz toy doll company won $309 million damages from whom ?
35) Who was taken to hospital after having a pizza thrown in his eye by Sooty ?
36) Which 73 year old novelist died ?
37) What is the venue for this year’s USPGA ?
38) Which horse racing competition pitted teams from Ireland , The UK, and the Rest of the World ?
39) Score – England v. Wales at Twickenham ?
40) A man was shot dead by police near which station in London ?
41) What celebrated its 20th anniversary on 7th August ?
42) Where were Victorian beachhuts destroyed in an arson attack ?
43) Which town is making its own Hollywood style walk of fame ?
44) Which of his sponsors have announced that they have just ended their association with Tiger Woods ?
45) What was the final score in the Community Shield ?
46) Which team did Leeds beat in their Challenge Cup semi final ?
47) Which team did Wigan beat in their Challenge Cup semi final ?
Answers
1) Jenson Button
2) Moldova- Montenegro – Poland – San Marino – Ukraine
3) Ian Bell
4) The Round Tower
5) Ronnie Corbett
6) James May and Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear
7) Weather Forecast
8) Bill Giles
9) Wheelie Bins
10) Tim Bresnan
11) Albert Lievin
12) Joey Barton
13) Guyana – Caribbean Airways
14) Helen Mirrne – David Beckham
15) Ian Balshaw
16) Debenhams
17) Ricky Gervais
18) Jennifer Hudson
19) Lithuania
20) Fiona Bruce
21) Streams of Water
22) Liz McColgan
23) Uwe Rosler
24) The Daily Mirror
25) RNK Split
26) Malmo
27) Manu Tuilagi
28) France
29) Faye Dunaway
30) Holidays 4U
31) Spitzbergen / Svalbard
32) Rowan Atkinson
33) Shell
34) Mattel (Barbie)
35) Paul Daniels
36) Stan Barstow
37) Atlanta Athletic club
38) The Shergar Cup at Ascot
39) 23 – 29 to England
40) Tottenham Hale
41) The World Wide Web
42) Weymouth
43) Maidenhead
44) Tag Heuer
45) Manchester United 3 – Manchester City – 2
46) Castleford
47) St. Helens
RIP Robert Robinson
I was saddened this morning to see that Robert Robinson, broadcaster and writer, and for many years the chairman of Brain of Britain, has passed away. I've said before that the only disappointment about appearing in Brain of Britain for me was that Mr. Robinson had decided that his health would no longer permit him to take part - although Russell Davies did, and will continue to do an excellent job. so alas, I never actually met him myself.
I remember Robert Robinson mainly from watching "Ask the Family" when I was a kid, and then Points of View. He always struck me as a witty , dry chap, and at a time when genuine rather than manufactured personalities are in shorter supply on radio and television than ever, his passing is a cause of sadness. I am sure he will be missed, and my condolences go to his family, friends and those who were lucky enough to have known him.
I remember Robert Robinson mainly from watching "Ask the Family" when I was a kid, and then Points of View. He always struck me as a witty , dry chap, and at a time when genuine rather than manufactured personalities are in shorter supply on radio and television than ever, his passing is a cause of sadness. I am sure he will be missed, and my condolences go to his family, friends and those who were lucky enough to have known him.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Stoppers
It was my turn in the rugby club last night. Often when I compile a quiz for the club I set out , determined to make it easy and thus ensure a set of high scores across the board, yet when I actually start asking the questions I realize that what looked so easy on the computer screen in front of me, doesn’t actually sound so easy now I’m asking it to the teams. So this week I made up my mind that I was going to go out of my way to produce the easiest quiz I possibly could.
In order to do this I paid a visit to the land of the gimmick. Regular readers may remember that I use connections in a quiz on a fairly regular basis, but that tends to be the only gimmick I use. After all, I’m sure you know my feelings about gimmicks in a quiz – a little tends to go a long way. Still, needs must , and for once I was prepared to compromise. So the gimmick I used was ‘last letter – first letter’. I’m sure you know what I mean here, but in case you don’t, all it means is that in each round the first letter of the answer to number 2 is the last letter of the answer to number 1, the first letter of the answer to number 3 is the last letter to answer to number 2 and so on.
As I say, I’m not a great fan of gimmicks like this, but then it’s important to remember that when you compile a quiz for the club, you’re not compiling it for yourself. Still, having gone to the trouble of making it as easy as I could, then I started having little second thoughts. You see, when I went through the quiz , I started to think that there was a very real chance of at least one of the teams answering every single question correctly. Which I’m honest enough to admit I did not want to happen – partly because we are the only team ever to achieve this feat in the club. So I started to put three or four of what I thought would be ‘stoppers’ into the quiz. For the uninitiated a stopper is a question which is not designed to be answered, and is there to stop a team in its tracks. Hence the name. Stoppers seem to be particularly associated with quiz machines, where you will be asked one terribly obscure fact, and given no time at all to answer it. Well, my stoppers weren’t of this sort, but they were the kind of questions which were noticeably less obvious than the majority. The kind of question where even a good team has probably as much chance of getting it wrong as getting it right. For example – which large family car did Citroen produce from 1993 until 2001 ? The answer to the previous question was the River Styx. So that left teams with a quandary – would the answer be the Xsara or the Xantia ? Actually it was the Xantia.
The stoppers didn’t work with the team they were designed for. Yet they still didn’t manage to get everything right. Proving that nobody knows everything, and what is easy to you won’t necessarily be to everyone else, they failed to score a maximum in the very first round, missing out on the name of Lord Sugar’s right hand man in every series of The Apprentice. Which does lead me to make an observation. In my case, its never the questions which I think will catch people out that actually seem to give them the most difficulty, and its never the rounds which I think are hardest which teams have the lowest scores on. More often than not, it’s the round which I think is the easiest. I’m not sure what this goes to prove about me, and I don’t really think I’d like to know the answer even if I was.
In order to do this I paid a visit to the land of the gimmick. Regular readers may remember that I use connections in a quiz on a fairly regular basis, but that tends to be the only gimmick I use. After all, I’m sure you know my feelings about gimmicks in a quiz – a little tends to go a long way. Still, needs must , and for once I was prepared to compromise. So the gimmick I used was ‘last letter – first letter’. I’m sure you know what I mean here, but in case you don’t, all it means is that in each round the first letter of the answer to number 2 is the last letter of the answer to number 1, the first letter of the answer to number 3 is the last letter to answer to number 2 and so on.
As I say, I’m not a great fan of gimmicks like this, but then it’s important to remember that when you compile a quiz for the club, you’re not compiling it for yourself. Still, having gone to the trouble of making it as easy as I could, then I started having little second thoughts. You see, when I went through the quiz , I started to think that there was a very real chance of at least one of the teams answering every single question correctly. Which I’m honest enough to admit I did not want to happen – partly because we are the only team ever to achieve this feat in the club. So I started to put three or four of what I thought would be ‘stoppers’ into the quiz. For the uninitiated a stopper is a question which is not designed to be answered, and is there to stop a team in its tracks. Hence the name. Stoppers seem to be particularly associated with quiz machines, where you will be asked one terribly obscure fact, and given no time at all to answer it. Well, my stoppers weren’t of this sort, but they were the kind of questions which were noticeably less obvious than the majority. The kind of question where even a good team has probably as much chance of getting it wrong as getting it right. For example – which large family car did Citroen produce from 1993 until 2001 ? The answer to the previous question was the River Styx. So that left teams with a quandary – would the answer be the Xsara or the Xantia ? Actually it was the Xantia.
The stoppers didn’t work with the team they were designed for. Yet they still didn’t manage to get everything right. Proving that nobody knows everything, and what is easy to you won’t necessarily be to everyone else, they failed to score a maximum in the very first round, missing out on the name of Lord Sugar’s right hand man in every series of The Apprentice. Which does lead me to make an observation. In my case, its never the questions which I think will catch people out that actually seem to give them the most difficulty, and its never the rounds which I think are hardest which teams have the lowest scores on. More often than not, it’s the round which I think is the easiest. I’m not sure what this goes to prove about me, and I don’t really think I’d like to know the answer even if I was.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
