I’ve only ever once featured in a picture handout. That didn’t really count, either, since it was me who made the handout. Perhaps I should explain. It was the week that my Mastermind final was broadcast, and it was my turn to be question master in the rugby club. So that evening I did a connections quiz whereby in each round there were several questions all linked by a Mastermind theme . No ? Well, let me give you an example : -
1) In which Cornish Town is there a branch of the Tate gallery ?
2) What was the title of the first single released by Simply Red from their Stars album ?
3) In the song from the Sound of Music, which note does La follow ?
4) Where were the Bee Gees born ?
5) What nationality was 1982 world formula 1 champion Keke Rosberg ?
Answers
1) St. IVEs
2) Something got me STARTED
3) SO
4) ISLE of Man
5) FINNISH
You see how it works. Well, please yourself. It being the most self indulgent quiz I ever have and probably ever will produce, I also compiled a Mastermind related handout – you can guess how it works – some of the most famous past winners – Kevin , Chris, Fred Housego etc. – some of the winners of Sleb Mastermind – all 4 presenters ( yes , 4 – Clive Anderson on the Discovery Channel and Peter Snow on Radio 4 ) , and me as a baby.
Now, I mention this, because on Sunday night I was playing in the quiz in the Dyffryn Arms – lovely pub and a very good pub quiz on a Sunday night – and I had a surprise on the handout. The link between all of the 16 photographs was that all of the people shown had the initials A.H. One of whom was none other than my friend Chaser, LAM reader, and all round good egg Anne Hegerty ! The temptation to shout out – “I know her !” was almost too much to resist. Almost. Anne, in case you’re wondering, I think everyone in the pub knew who you are as well – you’re famous !
On a similar note, I keep waiting to be asked in a quiz – what was won in 2012 by Dr. Gary Grant ? It hasn’t happened yet in any that I’ve been to since the Grand Final was shown, but it’s bound to happen sooner or later.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Even an old cynic like me -
The Olympics have a special place in my heart. Some people don't have a favourite sporting event - some love the World Cup - and some love other things. For me the number one has always been the Olympics. Which is one reason why I took the modern Olympic Games from 1896 as my first ever specialist subject on Mastermind. It's funny how things work out, isn't it. When London first won these games I always planned to stay at my Mum's, and watch the torch relay as it nears the stadium in Stratford. Then Mum moved away to Worthing last year which put the kibosh on that idea, and then what do I find - it's only going right past my own house !
Not that this whole thing has a lot to do with quizzing, despite the tenuous Mastermind connection, but hey, it's my blog !
In the News
Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news ?
1) Sing
2) The Canterville Ghost
3) Bankia
4) Priscilla Chan
5) Chen Guancheng
6) David Price
7) Jenna Talackova
8) Carina Trimingham
9) Hugh Robertson
10) Eugene Polley
11) Phil Dowson
12) Uttershaw
13) Gryffindor
14) Jonathan Ive
15) Alesha Ahmed
16) Pastora Soler
17) Love Will Set You Free
18) Alan Oakley
19) Hibu
20) Tokyo Skytree
21) Falcon 5
22) Adrian Beecroft
23) Georgia Davis
In Other News
1) Which welsh town became the world’s first wikipedia town ?
2) The G8 Meeting last week took place where ?
3) What breed is Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey ?
4) Who died in Libya ?
5) In pounds what was the flotation vallue of Facebook ?
5) The italian earthquake between Modena, Ferrara and Bologna was which force on the Richter scale ?
6) How many wickets were taken by Stuart Broad in the first test ?
7) Which team won the Championship play off final ?
8) Which team won promotion back into the Football League ?
9) What was the final score in the Heineken Cup Final ?
10) What punged the German town of Hamelin into darkness ?
11) Whose Brighton Beach house was saved last week ?
12) Which part of Britain’s road system celebrated its 40th birthday last week ?
13) A British company tried to auction off what last week, but were prevented ?
14) Kevin Pietersen was fined for his tweet about whom ?
15) Who told Jeremy Paxman how to hack into someone’s phone messages ?
16) Free elections were being held for the first time in which country ?
17) Which country has withdrawn its ambassador from Azerbaijan over the Eurovision Song Contest ?
18) What punishment did Joey Barton receive last week ?
19) Why has an AQA GCSE paper received heavy criticism ?
20) Who took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix ?
21) Who is the only british woman tennis player to qualify for the French Open ?
22) Which is the world’s most valuable brand ?
23) Which is the UK’s most valuable brand ?
24) Who have abandoned their sponsorship of a well known literary prize ?
25) Whose ashes were taken to the International Space Station ?
1) Sing
2) The Canterville Ghost
3) Bankia
4) Priscilla Chan
5) Chen Guancheng
6) David Price
7) Jenna Talackova
8) Carina Trimingham
9) Hugh Robertson
10) Eugene Polley
11) Phil Dowson
12) Uttershaw
13) Gryffindor
14) Jonathan Ive
15) Alesha Ahmed
16) Pastora Soler
17) Love Will Set You Free
18) Alan Oakley
19) Hibu
20) Tokyo Skytree
21) Falcon 5
22) Adrian Beecroft
23) Georgia Davis
In Other News
1) Which welsh town became the world’s first wikipedia town ?
2) The G8 Meeting last week took place where ?
3) What breed is Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey ?
4) Who died in Libya ?
5) In pounds what was the flotation vallue of Facebook ?
5) The italian earthquake between Modena, Ferrara and Bologna was which force on the Richter scale ?
6) How many wickets were taken by Stuart Broad in the first test ?
7) Which team won the Championship play off final ?
8) Which team won promotion back into the Football League ?
9) What was the final score in the Heineken Cup Final ?
10) What punged the German town of Hamelin into darkness ?
11) Whose Brighton Beach house was saved last week ?
12) Which part of Britain’s road system celebrated its 40th birthday last week ?
13) A British company tried to auction off what last week, but were prevented ?
14) Kevin Pietersen was fined for his tweet about whom ?
15) Who told Jeremy Paxman how to hack into someone’s phone messages ?
16) Free elections were being held for the first time in which country ?
17) Which country has withdrawn its ambassador from Azerbaijan over the Eurovision Song Contest ?
18) What punishment did Joey Barton receive last week ?
19) Why has an AQA GCSE paper received heavy criticism ?
20) Who took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix ?
21) Who is the only british woman tennis player to qualify for the French Open ?
22) Which is the world’s most valuable brand ?
23) Which is the UK’s most valuable brand ?
24) Who have abandoned their sponsorship of a well known literary prize ?
25) Whose ashes were taken to the International Space Station ?
Friday, 25 May 2012
Answers to News Questions
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news ?
1) Lupo
2) Ashley Butler
3) Betty Smith and Beryl Renwick
4) Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
5) Genevieve Sabourin
6)Donald Duck Dunn
7) Jonny Bairstow
8) Nafissatou Diallo
9) Jon Cruddas
10) Nicholas Crace
11) John Ruddy and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
12) Nicola Adams and Natasha Jones
13) Panagiotis Pikramenos
14) Carlos Fuentes
15) The Wiggles
16) Casey Stoner
Answers
1) The Duke of Cambridge’s cocker spaniel
2) Winner of Britain’s Got Talent – along with Pudsey the dog
3) Pensioners who won a Sony award for their show on Radio Humberside
4) Owner of Manchester City - Premier League champions
5) In court for stalking Alec Baldwin
6) Stax legendary guitarist – appeared in Blues Brothers film – passed away
7) England test debutant, whose father David also played for England
8) Hotel maid being sued by Dominique Strauss Khan
9) Ed Milliband’s new policy chief
10) World’s oldest kidney donor
11) Only uncapped players in England Euro squad
12) First british women to qualify for the Olympic boxing tournament
13) Greece’s caretaker PM
14) Mexican novelist passed away
15) Three of them have retired – group will continue with new members
16) World motorcycle champion who announced he will retire at the end of this season.
In Other News
1) A new revival of which musical has just opened in the New Wimbledon Theatre ?
2) Which act came second in Britain’s Got Talent ?
3) Who scored the goal that brought Man City the Premier League title ?
4) What is the nationality of Pastor Maldonado, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix
5) What happened in the Williams garage an hour and a half after the end of the grand prix ?
6) Which two teams made it through to the English premiership rugby final ?
7) Which team won the IRB world sevens series ?
8) Which three teams have been relegated from the Premier League ?
9) Which helicopter firm have suspended all North Sea flights ?
10) Who admitted that he doesn’t have broadband last week ?
11) What is the semi final line up for the Rugby League Challenge Cup ?
12) What was the final position of Swansea City in the Premier League ?
13) Last weekend, who became the first ever Spanish club to reach 100 league points in a season ?
14) Who won the Templeton Prize ?
15) What was the offensive message on Tevez’ banner during the Man City victory parade, for which the club made an apology to Sir Alex Ferguson ?
16) Who did new England boss Roy Hodgson add to the England coaching staff for the Euro this summer ?
17) Whose costumes are going on a world tour ?
18) Why was Francois Hollande’s flight to Germany delayed ?
19) Who made a much publicized angry tweet while stuck in a passport control queue at Heathrow ?
20) Which excuse was made for the airport queues by minister Damian Green ?
21) What is being sent to every school in England ?
22) Which sporting figure received an OBE at the Palace ?
23) Which West End show celebrated its 10th anniversary ?
24) Who was controversially left out of the Euro squad ?
25) Who is allegedly suing Steve Kean over YouTube comments ?
26) Which car did Francois Hollande use for his inauguration parade ?
27) Lady Gaga has been refused permission to perform where ?
28) Who will play King Herod in the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar ?
29) A football programme from when and what sold for a record £32,000 last week ?
30) Which 2 teams have reached the League One play off final ?
31) Who was ordered by her government not to attend the Queen’s banquet last week ?
32) Which conference was held in St. Andrew’s University ?
33) What is to happen to BBC children’s programmes ?
34) Whose trial for war crimes began last week ?
35) Who is the most capped player in the England Euro squad ?
36) Who was left out of the Walk of Fame in her home town of Croydon ?
37) How old was the late Donna Summer, who passed away last week ?
38) Who received the Ivor Novello award for Songwriter of the Year ?
39) The US announced that it is suspending sanctions against which country ?
40) Who took 6 wickets in the first innings of the first test against the West Indies ?
41) Which two teams reached the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup ? 1) Starlight Express
2) Charlotte and Jonathan
3) Aguero
4) Venezuelan
5) A fire
6) Harlequins and Leicester
7) New Zealand
8) Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves
9) Bond Helicopters
10) Steve Wozniak
11) Wigan v Leeds and Huddersfield v. Warrington
12) 11th
13) Real Madrid
14) The Dalai Lama
15) R.I.P. Fergie
16) Gary Neville
17) Michael Jackson
18) It was struck by lightning
19) Joan Collins
20) There was the wrong kind of wind
21) A copy of the King James Bible
22) Harold Dickie Bird
23) We Will Rock You
24) Rio Ferdinand
25) Sam Allardyce
26) Citroen DS5
27) Jakarta
28) Chris Moyles
29) 1909 FA Cup Final Programme – Man United v. Bristol City
30) Huddersfield and Sheffield Utd.
31) Queen Sophia of Spain
32) The World’s first Harry Potter Conference
33) They are all being moved from BBC1 and BBC2 onto digital channels
34) Ratko Mladic
35) Ashley Cole (93 caps – Lampard and Gerrard both have 90)
36) Kate Moss
37) 63
38) Adele
39) Myanmar / Burma
40) Stuart Broad
41) Toulon and Biarritz
1) Lupo
2) Ashley Butler
3) Betty Smith and Beryl Renwick
4) Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
5) Genevieve Sabourin
6)Donald Duck Dunn
7) Jonny Bairstow
8) Nafissatou Diallo
9) Jon Cruddas
10) Nicholas Crace
11) John Ruddy and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
12) Nicola Adams and Natasha Jones
13) Panagiotis Pikramenos
14) Carlos Fuentes
15) The Wiggles
16) Casey Stoner
Answers
1) The Duke of Cambridge’s cocker spaniel
2) Winner of Britain’s Got Talent – along with Pudsey the dog
3) Pensioners who won a Sony award for their show on Radio Humberside
4) Owner of Manchester City - Premier League champions
5) In court for stalking Alec Baldwin
6) Stax legendary guitarist – appeared in Blues Brothers film – passed away
7) England test debutant, whose father David also played for England
8) Hotel maid being sued by Dominique Strauss Khan
9) Ed Milliband’s new policy chief
10) World’s oldest kidney donor
11) Only uncapped players in England Euro squad
12) First british women to qualify for the Olympic boxing tournament
13) Greece’s caretaker PM
14) Mexican novelist passed away
15) Three of them have retired – group will continue with new members
16) World motorcycle champion who announced he will retire at the end of this season.
In Other News
1) A new revival of which musical has just opened in the New Wimbledon Theatre ?
2) Which act came second in Britain’s Got Talent ?
3) Who scored the goal that brought Man City the Premier League title ?
4) What is the nationality of Pastor Maldonado, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix
5) What happened in the Williams garage an hour and a half after the end of the grand prix ?
6) Which two teams made it through to the English premiership rugby final ?
7) Which team won the IRB world sevens series ?
8) Which three teams have been relegated from the Premier League ?
9) Which helicopter firm have suspended all North Sea flights ?
10) Who admitted that he doesn’t have broadband last week ?
11) What is the semi final line up for the Rugby League Challenge Cup ?
12) What was the final position of Swansea City in the Premier League ?
13) Last weekend, who became the first ever Spanish club to reach 100 league points in a season ?
14) Who won the Templeton Prize ?
15) What was the offensive message on Tevez’ banner during the Man City victory parade, for which the club made an apology to Sir Alex Ferguson ?
16) Who did new England boss Roy Hodgson add to the England coaching staff for the Euro this summer ?
17) Whose costumes are going on a world tour ?
18) Why was Francois Hollande’s flight to Germany delayed ?
19) Who made a much publicized angry tweet while stuck in a passport control queue at Heathrow ?
20) Which excuse was made for the airport queues by minister Damian Green ?
21) What is being sent to every school in England ?
22) Which sporting figure received an OBE at the Palace ?
23) Which West End show celebrated its 10th anniversary ?
24) Who was controversially left out of the Euro squad ?
25) Who is allegedly suing Steve Kean over YouTube comments ?
26) Which car did Francois Hollande use for his inauguration parade ?
27) Lady Gaga has been refused permission to perform where ?
28) Who will play King Herod in the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar ?
29) A football programme from when and what sold for a record £32,000 last week ?
30) Which 2 teams have reached the League One play off final ?
31) Who was ordered by her government not to attend the Queen’s banquet last week ?
32) Which conference was held in St. Andrew’s University ?
33) What is to happen to BBC children’s programmes ?
34) Whose trial for war crimes began last week ?
35) Who is the most capped player in the England Euro squad ?
36) Who was left out of the Walk of Fame in her home town of Croydon ?
37) How old was the late Donna Summer, who passed away last week ?
38) Who received the Ivor Novello award for Songwriter of the Year ?
39) The US announced that it is suspending sanctions against which country ?
40) Who took 6 wickets in the first innings of the first test against the West Indies ?
41) Which two teams reached the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup ? 1) Starlight Express
2) Charlotte and Jonathan
3) Aguero
4) Venezuelan
5) A fire
6) Harlequins and Leicester
7) New Zealand
8) Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves
9) Bond Helicopters
10) Steve Wozniak
11) Wigan v Leeds and Huddersfield v. Warrington
12) 11th
13) Real Madrid
14) The Dalai Lama
15) R.I.P. Fergie
16) Gary Neville
17) Michael Jackson
18) It was struck by lightning
19) Joan Collins
20) There was the wrong kind of wind
21) A copy of the King James Bible
22) Harold Dickie Bird
23) We Will Rock You
24) Rio Ferdinand
25) Sam Allardyce
26) Citroen DS5
27) Jakarta
28) Chris Moyles
29) 1909 FA Cup Final Programme – Man United v. Bristol City
30) Huddersfield and Sheffield Utd.
31) Queen Sophia of Spain
32) The World’s first Harry Potter Conference
33) They are all being moved from BBC1 and BBC2 onto digital channels
34) Ratko Mladic
35) Ashley Cole (93 caps – Lampard and Gerrard both have 90)
36) Kate Moss
37) 63
38) Adele
39) Myanmar / Burma
40) Stuart Broad
41) Toulon and Biarritz
Pub Quiz Technology
I’ve worked with my current Head of Department for 25 years. He was second in the department when I started in the school. I can distinctly remember him saying in about 1991 words to the effect of – you will NEVER get me using a computer, I am telling you now ! – Well, I wouldn’t say that he’ll ever be Sir Tim Berners-Lee, if you know what I mean, but I doubt very much that he’d be able to function in work or at home without his PC and his laptop now. Never is a very long time, especially where technology is concerned.
I say this because of something that happened in the quiz in the rugby club last night. It was a very tight contest all evening. On the questions we scored 70 ( just me and two social quizzers ), Rob’s team, Lemurs ( joint runner up in Brain of Britain 2012 – 5 team members ) scored 71, and the Vestas ( cast of thousands – one of whom often sits with a book in her lap, at least another two of whom have been seen using their phones to look for answers – not that I am bitter, you understand ) scored 69. Great performance from our team, I thought, getting so close to Lemurs. The annoying thing was that I’m sure we could have drawn with Lemurs. It happened like this – Brian asked the question “Two members of which famous group of the 1960’s wrote songs under the pseudonym Nanker Phelge / Nanker and Phelge ? The problem was this. I heard it as which two members of a famous group of the 1950’s . . . Now, Brian is adamant that he said 60s, and there’s certainly no reason for him to have said 50s, so it must have been my error. Would I have known it even if I’d heard 60s ? No, not known it. But would I have guessed it ? Possibly so.
It struck me, though, that maybe it won’t be that long before reading out a pub quiz off pieces of paper becomes less and less common. As I said at the start of this post, never is a very long time where technology is concerned, and you find it being used and adapted by even the unlikeliest people, in the unlikeliest places. Many places nowadays would surely have the facility whereby you could plug in your laptop to the big screen projector, and show each question simultaneously with you asking it. It would certainly avoid mistakes like the one I made last night. I’ve been to a couple of charity quizzes where they have actually done this. Is it coming do you think ? Certainly if it was possible to connect the laptop to the big projector, as I do at school, I could do some quite different quizzes down the club – and for all I know lots of places are already doing this.
As regards last night, though, to be fair I have to put my hand up and admit that it’s my own fault. We could even have won the questions had I put down that 2 pi R is the circumference and not the diameter of a circle. D’oh !
I say this because of something that happened in the quiz in the rugby club last night. It was a very tight contest all evening. On the questions we scored 70 ( just me and two social quizzers ), Rob’s team, Lemurs ( joint runner up in Brain of Britain 2012 – 5 team members ) scored 71, and the Vestas ( cast of thousands – one of whom often sits with a book in her lap, at least another two of whom have been seen using their phones to look for answers – not that I am bitter, you understand ) scored 69. Great performance from our team, I thought, getting so close to Lemurs. The annoying thing was that I’m sure we could have drawn with Lemurs. It happened like this – Brian asked the question “Two members of which famous group of the 1960’s wrote songs under the pseudonym Nanker Phelge / Nanker and Phelge ? The problem was this. I heard it as which two members of a famous group of the 1950’s . . . Now, Brian is adamant that he said 60s, and there’s certainly no reason for him to have said 50s, so it must have been my error. Would I have known it even if I’d heard 60s ? No, not known it. But would I have guessed it ? Possibly so.
It struck me, though, that maybe it won’t be that long before reading out a pub quiz off pieces of paper becomes less and less common. As I said at the start of this post, never is a very long time where technology is concerned, and you find it being used and adapted by even the unlikeliest people, in the unlikeliest places. Many places nowadays would surely have the facility whereby you could plug in your laptop to the big screen projector, and show each question simultaneously with you asking it. It would certainly avoid mistakes like the one I made last night. I’ve been to a couple of charity quizzes where they have actually done this. Is it coming do you think ? Certainly if it was possible to connect the laptop to the big projector, as I do at school, I could do some quite different quizzes down the club – and for all I know lots of places are already doing this.
As regards last night, though, to be fair I have to put my hand up and admit that it’s my own fault. We could even have won the questions had I put down that 2 pi R is the circumference and not the diameter of a circle. D’oh !
Saturday, 19 May 2012
In the News Questions
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news ?
1) Lupo
2) Ashley Butler
3) Betty Smith and Beryl Renwick
4) Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
5) Genevieve Sabourin
6)Donald Duck Dunn
7) Jonny Bairstow
8) Nafissatou Diallo
9) Jon Cruddas
10) Nicholas Crace
11) John Ruddy and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
12) Nicola Adams and Natasha Jones
13) Panagiotis Pikramenos
14) Carlos Fuentes
15) The Wiggles
16) Casey Stoner
In Other News
1) A new revival of which musical has just opened in the New Wimbledon Theatre ?
2) Which act came second in Britain’s Got Talent ?
3) Who scored the goal that brought Man City the Premier League title ?
4) What is the nationality of Pastor Maldonado, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix
5) What happened in the Williams garage an hour and a half after the end of the grand prix ?
6) Which two teams made it through to the English premiership rugby final ?
7) Which team won the IRB world sevens series ?
8) Which three teams have been relegated from the Premier League ?
9) Which helicopter firm have suspended all North Sea flights ?
10) Who admitted that he doesn’t have broadband last week ?
11) What is the semi final line up for the Rugby League Challenge Cup ?
12) What was the final position of Swansea City in the Premier League ?
13) Last weekend, who became the first ever Spanish club to reach 100 league points in a season ?
14) Who won the Templeton Prize ?
15) What was the offensive message on Tevez’ banner during the Man City victory parade, for which the club made an apology to Sir Alex Ferguson ?
16) Who did new England boss Roy Hodgson add to the England coaching staff for the Euro this summer ?
17) Whose costumes are going on a world tour ?
18) Why was Francois Hollande’s flight to Germany delayed ?
19) Who made a much publicized angry tweet while stuck in a passport control queue at Heathrow ?
20) Which excuse was made for the airport queues by minister Damian Green ?
21) What is being sent to every school in England ?
22) Which sporting figure received an OBE at the Palace ?
23) Which West End show celebrated its 10th anniversary ?
24) Who was controversially left out of the Euro squad ?
25) Who is allegedly suing Steve Kean over YouTube comments ?
26) Which car did Francois Hollande use for his inauguration parade ?
27) Lady Gaga has been refused permission to perform where ?
28) Who will play King Herod in the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar ?
29) A football programme from when and what sold for a record £32,000 last week ?
30) Which 2 teams have reached the League One play off final ?
31) Who was ordered by her government not to attend the Queen’s banquet last week ?
32) Which conference was held in St. Andrew’s University ?
33) What is to happen to BBC children’s programmes ?
34) Whose trial for war crimes began last week ?
35) Who is the most capped player in the England Euro squad ?
36) Who was left out of the Walk of Fame in her home town of Croydon ?
37) How old was the late Donna Summer, who passed away last week ?
38) Who received the Ivor Novello award for Songwriter of the Year ?
39) The US announced that it is suspending sanctions against which country ?
40) Who took 6 wickets in the first innings of the first test against the West Indies ?
41) Which two teams reached the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup ?
1) Lupo
2) Ashley Butler
3) Betty Smith and Beryl Renwick
4) Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
5) Genevieve Sabourin
6)Donald Duck Dunn
7) Jonny Bairstow
8) Nafissatou Diallo
9) Jon Cruddas
10) Nicholas Crace
11) John Ruddy and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
12) Nicola Adams and Natasha Jones
13) Panagiotis Pikramenos
14) Carlos Fuentes
15) The Wiggles
16) Casey Stoner
In Other News
1) A new revival of which musical has just opened in the New Wimbledon Theatre ?
2) Which act came second in Britain’s Got Talent ?
3) Who scored the goal that brought Man City the Premier League title ?
4) What is the nationality of Pastor Maldonado, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix
5) What happened in the Williams garage an hour and a half after the end of the grand prix ?
6) Which two teams made it through to the English premiership rugby final ?
7) Which team won the IRB world sevens series ?
8) Which three teams have been relegated from the Premier League ?
9) Which helicopter firm have suspended all North Sea flights ?
10) Who admitted that he doesn’t have broadband last week ?
11) What is the semi final line up for the Rugby League Challenge Cup ?
12) What was the final position of Swansea City in the Premier League ?
13) Last weekend, who became the first ever Spanish club to reach 100 league points in a season ?
14) Who won the Templeton Prize ?
15) What was the offensive message on Tevez’ banner during the Man City victory parade, for which the club made an apology to Sir Alex Ferguson ?
16) Who did new England boss Roy Hodgson add to the England coaching staff for the Euro this summer ?
17) Whose costumes are going on a world tour ?
18) Why was Francois Hollande’s flight to Germany delayed ?
19) Who made a much publicized angry tweet while stuck in a passport control queue at Heathrow ?
20) Which excuse was made for the airport queues by minister Damian Green ?
21) What is being sent to every school in England ?
22) Which sporting figure received an OBE at the Palace ?
23) Which West End show celebrated its 10th anniversary ?
24) Who was controversially left out of the Euro squad ?
25) Who is allegedly suing Steve Kean over YouTube comments ?
26) Which car did Francois Hollande use for his inauguration parade ?
27) Lady Gaga has been refused permission to perform where ?
28) Who will play King Herod in the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar ?
29) A football programme from when and what sold for a record £32,000 last week ?
30) Which 2 teams have reached the League One play off final ?
31) Who was ordered by her government not to attend the Queen’s banquet last week ?
32) Which conference was held in St. Andrew’s University ?
33) What is to happen to BBC children’s programmes ?
34) Whose trial for war crimes began last week ?
35) Who is the most capped player in the England Euro squad ?
36) Who was left out of the Walk of Fame in her home town of Croydon ?
37) How old was the late Donna Summer, who passed away last week ?
38) Who received the Ivor Novello award for Songwriter of the Year ?
39) The US announced that it is suspending sanctions against which country ?
40) Who took 6 wickets in the first innings of the first test against the West Indies ?
41) Which two teams reached the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup ?
Friday, 18 May 2012
New BBC Quiz
You might have already seen this on Daniel's blog, but in case not, I had an email today from Hannah Clarke of the BBC about a new quiz show. This is the blurb from the poster: -
“YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS; YOU JUST NEED TO BE SURE THAT YOUR OPPONENTS DON’T HAVE THEM!”
We are looking for confident, out-going individuals with a good level of general knowledge to take on the challenge of this exciting new BBC quiz show pilot.
Can you balance good general knowledge with good judgement?
Do your bluffing skills match your powers of persuasion?
To request an application form please email us at BBCquiz@bbc.co.uk, and include your name, age, telephone number and nearest city.
We will be holding London auditions in the next few weeks so get in touch today!
All applicants must be 18yrs or over and residents of the UK.
It’s the ultimate game of choosing the right question at the right time…!
Fair enough. If you're interested, maybe drop them an email.
“YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS; YOU JUST NEED TO BE SURE THAT YOUR OPPONENTS DON’T HAVE THEM!”
We are looking for confident, out-going individuals with a good level of general knowledge to take on the challenge of this exciting new BBC quiz show pilot.
Can you balance good general knowledge with good judgement?
Do your bluffing skills match your powers of persuasion?
To request an application form please email us at BBCquiz@bbc.co.uk, and include your name, age, telephone number and nearest city.
We will be holding London auditions in the next few weeks so get in touch today!
All applicants must be 18yrs or over and residents of the UK.
It’s the ultimate game of choosing the right question at the right time…!
Fair enough. If you're interested, maybe drop them an email.
Calling Quizzers in Scotland
LAM regular Brian Pendreigh has asked me to post this : -
iQa World Quizzing Championships 2012 - Edinburgh
Saturday 2 June
The Voodoo Rooms, 19a West Register Street, Edinburgh EH2 2AA
For the first time ever Scotland will have its own venue for the World Quizzing Championships this year. Around 1500 people took part last year, spread across every continent (except Antarctica) obviously.
It is a full day of quizzing, with an individual quiz in the morning, questions supplied by the International Quizzing Association, and a team quiz in the afternoon, organised by Colin Cruickshank, one of Scotland’s most experienced quizmasters, and Tony Gold, who sets questions for Only Connect.
Cost: £20, but with a 50% discount for anyone who has never been to an IQA or BQA event before = £10.
Please register in advance via scotland@worldquizzing.com. It would help if you paid in advance, via PayPal to payments@quizzing.co.uk, marking payments "WQC Scotland". You can also pay cash on the day.
10.15 - Registration and Welcome
10.30 - World Quizzing Championships (with breaks)
14.30 - Max Thomson Cup/Scottish team championships (up to four in a team - you can either enter as a team or we will sort you into a team on the day)
17.00 - 18.00 Preliminary Results & Close
18.00 - Bar and Restaurant trip, tbc
We hope to cover costs and make a donation to St Columba’s Hospice.
iQa World Quizzing Championships 2012 - Edinburgh
Saturday 2 June
The Voodoo Rooms, 19a West Register Street, Edinburgh EH2 2AA
For the first time ever Scotland will have its own venue for the World Quizzing Championships this year. Around 1500 people took part last year, spread across every continent (except Antarctica) obviously.
It is a full day of quizzing, with an individual quiz in the morning, questions supplied by the International Quizzing Association, and a team quiz in the afternoon, organised by Colin Cruickshank, one of Scotland’s most experienced quizmasters, and Tony Gold, who sets questions for Only Connect.
Cost: £20, but with a 50% discount for anyone who has never been to an IQA or BQA event before = £10.
Please register in advance via scotland@worldquizzing.com. It would help if you paid in advance, via PayPal to payments@quizzing.co.uk, marking payments "WQC Scotland". You can also pay cash on the day.
10.15 - Registration and Welcome
10.30 - World Quizzing Championships (with breaks)
14.30 - Max Thomson Cup/Scottish team championships (up to four in a team - you can either enter as a team or we will sort you into a team on the day)
17.00 - 18.00 Preliminary Results & Close
18.00 - Bar and Restaurant trip, tbc
We hope to cover costs and make a donation to St Columba’s Hospice.
Answers to the Better Late Than Never News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news ?
1) Adam Yauch
2) Professor Pongoo
3) HMS Ocean
4) Roland Moreno
5) Young
6) St. Helena
7) Harry Patch
8) I’ll Have Another
9) Claire Lomas
10) Obese
11) Maurice Sendak
12) Bill Miller
13) Chris Robshaw
14) Valerie Trierwiller
15) Fernando Zylberberg
16) Yulija Tymoshenko
17) Sir Michael Wishaw
18) Spyros Giannotis
19) Dave Richardson
20) Steven Dobbie
In Other News
1) How many seats were gained in the local elections by the Labour Party ?
2) Which former newspaper tycoon left jail ?
3) Which iconic building could become part of the new Chelsea stadium complex ?
4) Which businessman features as an animated Aardman character in a new advert ?
5) Who will be the new presenter of Daybreak with Lorraine Kelly ?
6) Which singer revealed that he has suffered from tinnitus for years ?
7) Which Italian football club won the serie A ?
8) Which rugby team won the top spot in the English Premiership ?
9) Who is the UK’s richest sportsman, it was announced last week ?
10) Which American politician said that he was perfectly comfortable with same sex marriage ?
11) Which country won the Olympic women’s test event in Hockey ?
12) Which sport has been scrapped for the 2016 olympics in favour of kiteboarding ?
13) What did a shopping centre in Colchester ban for May Day ?
14) Whose albums she owned as a child were auctioned online ?
15) Why was Brian Watson, the farmer pictured after killing the ‘giant rat’ in the news again ?
16) Who made a formal apology to the nation ?
17) Which was the second team to be relegated from the Premier League ?
18) What was the final score in the world snooker final ?
19) Which football team announced they would be changing their club strip from blue to red – and then announced that they wouldn’t ?
20) Where is the Haye v. Chisora bout – unlicesnsed by the British boxing authorities – due to take place ?
21) Whose appeal to the European court was rejected ?
22) Who died aged 83 in Los Angeles ?
23) The Tate Britain is to stage a major exhibition of which British artist ? 24) Who will be the first british torchbearer on the Olympic torch relay ?
25) Which one off Ricky Gervais show is to become a series ?
26) Who will play the Wizard of Oz in the Lloyd Webber production ?
27) Which greetings card company went into administration ?
28) What was the score in the Europa League final ?
29) Who delivered a BBC Scotland weather forecast last week ?
30) The Haye - Chisora fight will be licensed by the boxing authorities in which country ?
31) Who is the only overage player that Man Utd. will allow to play for GB in the Olympic Games ?
Answers 1) Former Beastie Boy – passed away
2) Man in penguin suit who scored more votes in the council elections than the Lib Dem candidate
3) Aircraft carrier visited London
4) Pioneer of chip and pin technology passed away
5) Single by Tulisa which went straight into charts at number 1
6) Won their first international cricket match v. Cameroon
7) Last WWI soldier, to whom memorial unveiled at Wells Cathedral
8) Winning horse in Kentucky Derby
9) Completed London Marathon in bionic suit
10) Word that doctors have been asked to avoid using
11) Creator of Where the Wild Things Are – passed away
12) Withdrew his offer to buy Rangers FC
13) Aviva Premiership Player of the Year
14) France’s new first lady
15) Argentine hockey player who featured in an advert for Argentinian TV training in the Falklands – not selected for Argentine Olympic squad
16) Former PM of Ukraine, in jail, called off hunger strike
17) Head of OFSTED, facing possible vote of no confidence from Secondary Heads
18) First torchbearer on Olympic torch relay
19) New Chief Exec. of ICC
20) Appearing in third consecutive play off final ( has scored in previous two )
1) 823
2) Conrad Black
3) Battersea Power Station
4) Levi Roots
5) Aled Jones
6) Chris Martin
7) Juventus
8) Harlequins
9) David Beckham
10) Joe Biden
11) GB
12) Windsurfing
13) Morris Men
14) Princess Diana
15) He received death threats
16) Dwayne Chambers
17) Blackburn
18) O’Sullivan won 18 -11
19) Cardiff City FC
20) Boleyn Ground , Upton park
21) Abu Qatada
22) Vidal Sassoon
23) L.S.Lowry
24) Ben Ainslie
25) Derek
26) Des O’Connor
27) Clinton Cards
28) Atletico Madrid 3 – Athletic Bilbao - 0
29) Prince Charles
30) Luxembourg
31) Ryan Giggs
1) Adam Yauch
2) Professor Pongoo
3) HMS Ocean
4) Roland Moreno
5) Young
6) St. Helena
7) Harry Patch
8) I’ll Have Another
9) Claire Lomas
10) Obese
11) Maurice Sendak
12) Bill Miller
13) Chris Robshaw
14) Valerie Trierwiller
15) Fernando Zylberberg
16) Yulija Tymoshenko
17) Sir Michael Wishaw
18) Spyros Giannotis
19) Dave Richardson
20) Steven Dobbie
In Other News
1) How many seats were gained in the local elections by the Labour Party ?
2) Which former newspaper tycoon left jail ?
3) Which iconic building could become part of the new Chelsea stadium complex ?
4) Which businessman features as an animated Aardman character in a new advert ?
5) Who will be the new presenter of Daybreak with Lorraine Kelly ?
6) Which singer revealed that he has suffered from tinnitus for years ?
7) Which Italian football club won the serie A ?
8) Which rugby team won the top spot in the English Premiership ?
9) Who is the UK’s richest sportsman, it was announced last week ?
10) Which American politician said that he was perfectly comfortable with same sex marriage ?
11) Which country won the Olympic women’s test event in Hockey ?
12) Which sport has been scrapped for the 2016 olympics in favour of kiteboarding ?
13) What did a shopping centre in Colchester ban for May Day ?
14) Whose albums she owned as a child were auctioned online ?
15) Why was Brian Watson, the farmer pictured after killing the ‘giant rat’ in the news again ?
16) Who made a formal apology to the nation ?
17) Which was the second team to be relegated from the Premier League ?
18) What was the final score in the world snooker final ?
19) Which football team announced they would be changing their club strip from blue to red – and then announced that they wouldn’t ?
20) Where is the Haye v. Chisora bout – unlicesnsed by the British boxing authorities – due to take place ?
21) Whose appeal to the European court was rejected ?
22) Who died aged 83 in Los Angeles ?
23) The Tate Britain is to stage a major exhibition of which British artist ? 24) Who will be the first british torchbearer on the Olympic torch relay ?
25) Which one off Ricky Gervais show is to become a series ?
26) Who will play the Wizard of Oz in the Lloyd Webber production ?
27) Which greetings card company went into administration ?
28) What was the score in the Europa League final ?
29) Who delivered a BBC Scotland weather forecast last week ?
30) The Haye - Chisora fight will be licensed by the boxing authorities in which country ?
31) Who is the only overage player that Man Utd. will allow to play for GB in the Olympic Games ?
Answers 1) Former Beastie Boy – passed away
2) Man in penguin suit who scored more votes in the council elections than the Lib Dem candidate
3) Aircraft carrier visited London
4) Pioneer of chip and pin technology passed away
5) Single by Tulisa which went straight into charts at number 1
6) Won their first international cricket match v. Cameroon
7) Last WWI soldier, to whom memorial unveiled at Wells Cathedral
8) Winning horse in Kentucky Derby
9) Completed London Marathon in bionic suit
10) Word that doctors have been asked to avoid using
11) Creator of Where the Wild Things Are – passed away
12) Withdrew his offer to buy Rangers FC
13) Aviva Premiership Player of the Year
14) France’s new first lady
15) Argentine hockey player who featured in an advert for Argentinian TV training in the Falklands – not selected for Argentine Olympic squad
16) Former PM of Ukraine, in jail, called off hunger strike
17) Head of OFSTED, facing possible vote of no confidence from Secondary Heads
18) First torchbearer on Olympic torch relay
19) New Chief Exec. of ICC
20) Appearing in third consecutive play off final ( has scored in previous two )
1) 823
2) Conrad Black
3) Battersea Power Station
4) Levi Roots
5) Aled Jones
6) Chris Martin
7) Juventus
8) Harlequins
9) David Beckham
10) Joe Biden
11) GB
12) Windsurfing
13) Morris Men
14) Princess Diana
15) He received death threats
16) Dwayne Chambers
17) Blackburn
18) O’Sullivan won 18 -11
19) Cardiff City FC
20) Boleyn Ground , Upton park
21) Abu Qatada
22) Vidal Sassoon
23) L.S.Lowry
24) Ben Ainslie
25) Derek
26) Des O’Connor
27) Clinton Cards
28) Atletico Madrid 3 – Athletic Bilbao - 0
29) Prince Charles
30) Luxembourg
31) Ryan Giggs
How D'You Rate Your Own Quiz ?
Ah, Friday. Even without any Mastermind on the telly it’s a lovely prospect which stretches ahead of us. Not that I mind doing it at all, but this is the first weekend this month when I haven’t had a quiz needing to be compiled for the week. Time was that being without a quiz to compile would actually make me a little depressed.Not now. I like putting the quizzes together, and I like being the question master in the club, but I’m more than happy to just fit in as and when needed.
I suppose it’s an example of how we mellow as we get older. I did my first quiz as question master in the Aberavon Rugby Club back in the summer of 1995. I enjoyed it so much that I would have gladly done it every week, and for years I used to chafe at the bit when it wasn’t my turn. I never minded when it was Brian’s turn, because Brian was, and is, a terrific question master, and his quizzes were always fun to play in. However, and this rather shames me to say it now, I had quite a bit of scorn for other question masters who would take their turn back then, especially if they gave wrong answers, or if they couldn’t phrase their questions clearly, of if they asked a lot of stuff which nobody knew, and nobody would ever want to know. I hope I’m a lot nicer and more tolerant now.
As I say, I don’t ache to be QM every week any more, and if other people want to come in and do a quiz, then fantastic, the more the merrier, and I’ll gladly fit in whenever I’m needed. But there still come times during the year when our semi regulars haven’t got a quiz ready, or don’t want to do them, and Brian and I take the burden upon ourselves. Which is how I ended up doing a double stint last Thursday and yesterday.
During the course of the last couple of weeks I found myself reflecting a little on the way my attitude towards setting the quiz has changed. Back in the day, as it were, my only real guiding principle for putting a set of questions together was to produce a quiz which I would like to play in myself. Actually, come to think of it, that’s not a bad guiding principle at all. But I do tend to worry about the quizzes more now than I used to do. The problem is that I find myself consciously avoiding asking things. For example – I try not to ask too many questions that I know that I’ve asked in the club in the past. I try to avoid asking too many of what I think of as hard questions. I try to avoid asking too many questions from my own favourite subjects. I try to avoid asking too many questions which will exclude the younger team. I try to avoid asking too many questions that will exclude the older teams. I try to avoid asking too many questions that will preclude an educated guess. I try to exclude asking too many questions that can only be guessed. The only problem is that you end up excluding so many potential questions that you’re not left with a great deal you actually can ask !
Well, I think the level was just about right yesterday. All the rounds consisted of 10 questions, and a couple had more than 10 points available. The lowest score for any of the rounds was 4 points, and I think there were only about 3 or 4 full houses from any of the teams all evening. So the evidence from that is that the level was probably judged just about right. I mention this because I did the same quiz at school in the staffroom today, and I told the room what the winning and average scores had been. To some surprise. Some of my colleagues seemed just a little surprised that I bother to think about it when it’s done. Which considering how much you are expected to reflect upon and evaluate your performance in our profession is something of a surprise.
If I had a time machine, well, actually there’s lots of things I’d do with a time machine first, but eventually I’d go back to 1995, and listen to one of my first quizzes for the club. I hope my reaction would be – not bad, but I do a better quiz now. The trouble is that I have a sneaking suspicion that I’d ending up wondering why my quizzes were so much better then than they are now.
I suppose it’s an example of how we mellow as we get older. I did my first quiz as question master in the Aberavon Rugby Club back in the summer of 1995. I enjoyed it so much that I would have gladly done it every week, and for years I used to chafe at the bit when it wasn’t my turn. I never minded when it was Brian’s turn, because Brian was, and is, a terrific question master, and his quizzes were always fun to play in. However, and this rather shames me to say it now, I had quite a bit of scorn for other question masters who would take their turn back then, especially if they gave wrong answers, or if they couldn’t phrase their questions clearly, of if they asked a lot of stuff which nobody knew, and nobody would ever want to know. I hope I’m a lot nicer and more tolerant now.
As I say, I don’t ache to be QM every week any more, and if other people want to come in and do a quiz, then fantastic, the more the merrier, and I’ll gladly fit in whenever I’m needed. But there still come times during the year when our semi regulars haven’t got a quiz ready, or don’t want to do them, and Brian and I take the burden upon ourselves. Which is how I ended up doing a double stint last Thursday and yesterday.
During the course of the last couple of weeks I found myself reflecting a little on the way my attitude towards setting the quiz has changed. Back in the day, as it were, my only real guiding principle for putting a set of questions together was to produce a quiz which I would like to play in myself. Actually, come to think of it, that’s not a bad guiding principle at all. But I do tend to worry about the quizzes more now than I used to do. The problem is that I find myself consciously avoiding asking things. For example – I try not to ask too many questions that I know that I’ve asked in the club in the past. I try to avoid asking too many of what I think of as hard questions. I try to avoid asking too many questions from my own favourite subjects. I try to avoid asking too many questions which will exclude the younger team. I try to avoid asking too many questions that will exclude the older teams. I try to avoid asking too many questions that will preclude an educated guess. I try to exclude asking too many questions that can only be guessed. The only problem is that you end up excluding so many potential questions that you’re not left with a great deal you actually can ask !
Well, I think the level was just about right yesterday. All the rounds consisted of 10 questions, and a couple had more than 10 points available. The lowest score for any of the rounds was 4 points, and I think there were only about 3 or 4 full houses from any of the teams all evening. So the evidence from that is that the level was probably judged just about right. I mention this because I did the same quiz at school in the staffroom today, and I told the room what the winning and average scores had been. To some surprise. Some of my colleagues seemed just a little surprised that I bother to think about it when it’s done. Which considering how much you are expected to reflect upon and evaluate your performance in our profession is something of a surprise.
If I had a time machine, well, actually there’s lots of things I’d do with a time machine first, but eventually I’d go back to 1995, and listen to one of my first quizzes for the club. I hope my reaction would be – not bad, but I do a better quiz now. The trouble is that I have a sneaking suspicion that I’d ending up wondering why my quizzes were so much better then than they are now.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
The "Better Late Than Never" In the News Questions
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news ?
1) Adam Yauch
2) Professor Pongoo
3) HMS Ocean
4) Roland Moreno
5) Young
6) St. Helena
7) Harry Patch
8) I’ll Have Another
9) Claire Lomas
10) Obese
11) Maurice Sendak
12) Bill Miller
13) Chris Robshaw
14) Valerie Trierwiller
15) Fernando Zylberberg
16) Yulija Tymoshenko
17) Sir Michael Wishaw
18) Spyros Giannotis
19) Dave Richardson
20) Steven Dobbie
In Other News
1) How many seats were gained in the local elections by the Labour Party ?
2) Which former newspaper tycoon left jail ?
3) Which iconic building could become part of the new Chelsea stadium complex ?
4) Which businessman features as an animated Aardman character in a new advert ?
5) Who will be the new presenter of Daybreak with Lorraine Kelly ?
6) Which singer revealed that he has suffered from tinnitus for years ?
7) Which Italian football club won the serie A ?
8) Which rugby team won the top spot in the English Premiership ?
9) Who is the UK’s richest sportsman, it was announced last week ?
10) Which American politician said that he was perfectly comfortable with same sex marriage ?
11) Which country won the Olympic women’s test event in Hockey ?
12) Which sport has been scrapped for the 2016 olympics in favour of kiteboarding ?
13) What did a shopping centre in Colchester ban for May Day ?
14) Whose albums she owned as a child were auctioned online ?
15) Why was Brian Watson, the farmer pictured after killing the ‘giant rat’ in the news again ?
16) Who made a formal apology to the nation ?
17) Which was the second team to be relegated from the Premier League ?
18) What was the final score in the world snooker final ?
19) Which football team announced they would be changing their club strip from blue to red – and then announced that they wouldn’t ?
20) Where is the Haye v. Chisora bout – unlicesnsed by the British boxing authorities – due to take place ?
21) Whose appeal to the European court was rejected ?
22) Who died aged 83 in Los Angeles ?
23) The Tate Britain is to stage a major exhibition of which British artist ? 24) Who will be the first british torchbearer on the Olympic torch relay ?
25) Which one off Ricky Gervais show is to become a series ?
26) Who will play the Wizard of Oz in the Lloyd Webber production ?
27) Which greetings card company went into administration ?
28) What was the score in the Europa League final ?
29) Who delivered a BBC Scotland weather forecast last week ?
30) The Haye - Chisora fight will be licensed by the boxing authorities in which country ?
31) Who is the only overage player that Man Utd. will allow to play for GB in the Olympic Games ?
1) Adam Yauch
2) Professor Pongoo
3) HMS Ocean
4) Roland Moreno
5) Young
6) St. Helena
7) Harry Patch
8) I’ll Have Another
9) Claire Lomas
10) Obese
11) Maurice Sendak
12) Bill Miller
13) Chris Robshaw
14) Valerie Trierwiller
15) Fernando Zylberberg
16) Yulija Tymoshenko
17) Sir Michael Wishaw
18) Spyros Giannotis
19) Dave Richardson
20) Steven Dobbie
In Other News
1) How many seats were gained in the local elections by the Labour Party ?
2) Which former newspaper tycoon left jail ?
3) Which iconic building could become part of the new Chelsea stadium complex ?
4) Which businessman features as an animated Aardman character in a new advert ?
5) Who will be the new presenter of Daybreak with Lorraine Kelly ?
6) Which singer revealed that he has suffered from tinnitus for years ?
7) Which Italian football club won the serie A ?
8) Which rugby team won the top spot in the English Premiership ?
9) Who is the UK’s richest sportsman, it was announced last week ?
10) Which American politician said that he was perfectly comfortable with same sex marriage ?
11) Which country won the Olympic women’s test event in Hockey ?
12) Which sport has been scrapped for the 2016 olympics in favour of kiteboarding ?
13) What did a shopping centre in Colchester ban for May Day ?
14) Whose albums she owned as a child were auctioned online ?
15) Why was Brian Watson, the farmer pictured after killing the ‘giant rat’ in the news again ?
16) Who made a formal apology to the nation ?
17) Which was the second team to be relegated from the Premier League ?
18) What was the final score in the world snooker final ?
19) Which football team announced they would be changing their club strip from blue to red – and then announced that they wouldn’t ?
20) Where is the Haye v. Chisora bout – unlicesnsed by the British boxing authorities – due to take place ?
21) Whose appeal to the European court was rejected ?
22) Who died aged 83 in Los Angeles ?
23) The Tate Britain is to stage a major exhibition of which British artist ? 24) Who will be the first british torchbearer on the Olympic torch relay ?
25) Which one off Ricky Gervais show is to become a series ?
26) Who will play the Wizard of Oz in the Lloyd Webber production ?
27) Which greetings card company went into administration ?
28) What was the score in the Europa League final ?
29) Who delivered a BBC Scotland weather forecast last week ?
30) The Haye - Chisora fight will be licensed by the boxing authorities in which country ?
31) Who is the only overage player that Man Utd. will allow to play for GB in the Olympic Games ?
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Answers to News Questions
In the news
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news ?
1) Margaret Moran
2) James Allen
3) Pep Guardiola
4) Kirsty Bertorelli
5) Nick Cannon
6) Laura Adshead
7) Khalil Dale
8) Noma
9) Dinner
10) Shakeel Ahmed
11) Vincent Kompany
12) Amarillo Slim
13) Jacqueline Woodhouse
14) Graham Stuart MP
15) Amy Williams
16) Cheryl Tiegs
17) Dirk
18) Lauren Socha
19) Janos Ader
20) Sandy Phillips
21) Lionel Morton and Rick Jones
22) Bill Miller
In Other News
1) The Queen visited the site of which tragedy this week ?
2) Who were the second club to gain promotion as of right to the Premier League ?
3) Who was announced as joining the england RU coaching team for the tour to South Africa ?
4) Who topped the Sunday Times Rich List ?
5) Which team were beaten by Ulster in the semi final of the Heineken Cup ?
6) Which scene topped a survey to find the most memorable movie scene ?
7) Who was the surprise choice as new England football manager ?
8) Which sprinter and which cyclist look to be the most likely to benefit from the Court for Arbitration in Sport’s ruling that drug cheats cannot be banned from Olympics for good on a first offence ?
9) Which team are the Blue Square Premier Champs ?
10) Who won cycling’s Tour of Romandie ?
11) Which team were beaten by Leinster in the other semi final of the Heineken Cup ?
12) Name the son of Seve Ballesteros who made his professional golf debut last week ?
13) Who won the Barcelona Tennis Open
14) Who accused the Tories of lacking vision and principles ?
15) Four footballers from which team have been charged with sexual assault
16) Who caused outrage with his comments about Germans, calling them Krauts, and saying that they would start another war ?
17) What is the highest building in New York ?
18) Lukas Podolski will be joining which Premier League club ?
19) The UK has ordered ISPs to block which internet site ?
20) Who knocked Judd Trump out of the world snooker championships ?
21) Which annual sporting event was cancelled due to terrible weather ?
22) Danny Cipriani has left Melbourne to join which club?
23) The ECB have ruled that non UK players will have to live in the UK for how long to qualify to play cricket for England ?
24) The Duke of York visited the war graves where ?
25) Who finally settled a £100 million tax claim ?
26) David James has been released by which club ?
27) Who retired after his world snooker quarter final defeat by Stephen Maguire
28) According to a survey which city is the world’s top tourist destination ?
29) Who announced plans to open an aviation centre in South wales ?
30) The European Space Agency announced an unmanned mission to Mars planned for which year ?
31) Who took her seat in parliament for the first time this week ?
32) Which 4 teams contest the Championship play offs ?
33) Who has been awarded the BAFTA Fellowship ?
34) Who finally quit the race for the Republican nomination ?
35) Which ex England footballer retired ?
36) According to Time Magazine, what is the best musical of the 20th century ?
37) European Commissioners will be snubbing the European football championships in Ukraine for which reason ?
38) The Scream sold where and for how much ?
39) Whose album went up to 5th biggest seller of all time, overtaking Thriller ?
Answers
1) Labour former MP ruled unfit to face trial over fraud allegations
2) Suspected of double murder – apprehended
3) Coach of Barcelona FC , resigned and linked to Chelsea FC by rumour
4) Top woman on Sunday Times UK rich list
5) He renewed his wedding vows with his missus Mariah Carey
6) Former girlfriend of David Cameron who it was revealed has become a nun .
7) British aid worker beheaded in Pakistan
8) Once again named the world’s best restaurant – in Copenhagen
9) One of the two Heston Blumenthal restaurants in top 20 of world – this one is highest placed British restaurant
10) Entrepreneur selling Osama Bin Laden’s house in Abbotabad brick by brick
11) Scored the winning goal for Man City v. Man Utd
. 12) 4 time world poker champ died at age of 83
13) On trial for racist tirade on tube filmed on a phone
14) Chairman of House of Commons select committee which has recommended sacking poorly performing teachers
15) British winter Olympic gold medallist announced retirement due to persistent injuries
16) Former US model – David Cameron revealed he used to have a pin up of her
17) The penguin stolen in Australia by Rhys Owen Jones and James Vasilj
18) Star of The Misfits given a 12 month suspended sentence for abusing a taxi driver
19) New president of Hungary
20) Wife of Mark Phillips, the two are seeking a divorce
21) Presenters of Play School accused in documentary of presenting it while stoned
22) Preferred buyer of Glasgow Rangers
1) Aberfan
2) Southampton
3) Mike Catt
4) Lakhsmi Mittal
5) Edinburgh
6) The bike chase in ET
7) Roy Hodgson
8) Dwayne Chambers and David Millar
9) Fleetwood
10) Bradley Wiggins
11) Clermont Auvergne
12) Javier
13) Rafael Nadal
14) Lord Tebbit
15) Brighton and Hove Albion
16) Patrick Moore
17) One World Trade Centre
18) Arsenal
19) Pirate Bay
20) Ali Carter
21) Badminton Three Day event
22) Sale
23) 7 years
24) Kohima
25) Paul Hogan
26) Bristol City
27) Stephen Hendry
28) London
29) Bruce Dickinson
30) 2022
31) Aung Sang Suu Kyi ( Burmese Parliament )
32) Cardiff v. West Ham : Blackpool v. Birmingham
33) Rolf Harris
34) Newt Gingrich
35) Sol Campbell
36) Carousel
37) The treatment of former PM Yulia Tymoshenko
38) Sotheby’s in New York - £74 million / $119.9 million
39) Adele - 21
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news ?
1) Margaret Moran
2) James Allen
3) Pep Guardiola
4) Kirsty Bertorelli
5) Nick Cannon
6) Laura Adshead
7) Khalil Dale
8) Noma
9) Dinner
10) Shakeel Ahmed
11) Vincent Kompany
12) Amarillo Slim
13) Jacqueline Woodhouse
14) Graham Stuart MP
15) Amy Williams
16) Cheryl Tiegs
17) Dirk
18) Lauren Socha
19) Janos Ader
20) Sandy Phillips
21) Lionel Morton and Rick Jones
22) Bill Miller
In Other News
1) The Queen visited the site of which tragedy this week ?
2) Who were the second club to gain promotion as of right to the Premier League ?
3) Who was announced as joining the england RU coaching team for the tour to South Africa ?
4) Who topped the Sunday Times Rich List ?
5) Which team were beaten by Ulster in the semi final of the Heineken Cup ?
6) Which scene topped a survey to find the most memorable movie scene ?
7) Who was the surprise choice as new England football manager ?
8) Which sprinter and which cyclist look to be the most likely to benefit from the Court for Arbitration in Sport’s ruling that drug cheats cannot be banned from Olympics for good on a first offence ?
9) Which team are the Blue Square Premier Champs ?
10) Who won cycling’s Tour of Romandie ?
11) Which team were beaten by Leinster in the other semi final of the Heineken Cup ?
12) Name the son of Seve Ballesteros who made his professional golf debut last week ?
13) Who won the Barcelona Tennis Open
14) Who accused the Tories of lacking vision and principles ?
15) Four footballers from which team have been charged with sexual assault
16) Who caused outrage with his comments about Germans, calling them Krauts, and saying that they would start another war ?
17) What is the highest building in New York ?
18) Lukas Podolski will be joining which Premier League club ?
19) The UK has ordered ISPs to block which internet site ?
20) Who knocked Judd Trump out of the world snooker championships ?
21) Which annual sporting event was cancelled due to terrible weather ?
22) Danny Cipriani has left Melbourne to join which club?
23) The ECB have ruled that non UK players will have to live in the UK for how long to qualify to play cricket for England ?
24) The Duke of York visited the war graves where ?
25) Who finally settled a £100 million tax claim ?
26) David James has been released by which club ?
27) Who retired after his world snooker quarter final defeat by Stephen Maguire
28) According to a survey which city is the world’s top tourist destination ?
29) Who announced plans to open an aviation centre in South wales ?
30) The European Space Agency announced an unmanned mission to Mars planned for which year ?
31) Who took her seat in parliament for the first time this week ?
32) Which 4 teams contest the Championship play offs ?
33) Who has been awarded the BAFTA Fellowship ?
34) Who finally quit the race for the Republican nomination ?
35) Which ex England footballer retired ?
36) According to Time Magazine, what is the best musical of the 20th century ?
37) European Commissioners will be snubbing the European football championships in Ukraine for which reason ?
38) The Scream sold where and for how much ?
39) Whose album went up to 5th biggest seller of all time, overtaking Thriller ?
Answers
1) Labour former MP ruled unfit to face trial over fraud allegations
2) Suspected of double murder – apprehended
3) Coach of Barcelona FC , resigned and linked to Chelsea FC by rumour
4) Top woman on Sunday Times UK rich list
5) He renewed his wedding vows with his missus Mariah Carey
6) Former girlfriend of David Cameron who it was revealed has become a nun .
7) British aid worker beheaded in Pakistan
8) Once again named the world’s best restaurant – in Copenhagen
9) One of the two Heston Blumenthal restaurants in top 20 of world – this one is highest placed British restaurant
10) Entrepreneur selling Osama Bin Laden’s house in Abbotabad brick by brick
11) Scored the winning goal for Man City v. Man Utd
. 12) 4 time world poker champ died at age of 83
13) On trial for racist tirade on tube filmed on a phone
14) Chairman of House of Commons select committee which has recommended sacking poorly performing teachers
15) British winter Olympic gold medallist announced retirement due to persistent injuries
16) Former US model – David Cameron revealed he used to have a pin up of her
17) The penguin stolen in Australia by Rhys Owen Jones and James Vasilj
18) Star of The Misfits given a 12 month suspended sentence for abusing a taxi driver
19) New president of Hungary
20) Wife of Mark Phillips, the two are seeking a divorce
21) Presenters of Play School accused in documentary of presenting it while stoned
22) Preferred buyer of Glasgow Rangers
1) Aberfan
2) Southampton
3) Mike Catt
4) Lakhsmi Mittal
5) Edinburgh
6) The bike chase in ET
7) Roy Hodgson
8) Dwayne Chambers and David Millar
9) Fleetwood
10) Bradley Wiggins
11) Clermont Auvergne
12) Javier
13) Rafael Nadal
14) Lord Tebbit
15) Brighton and Hove Albion
16) Patrick Moore
17) One World Trade Centre
18) Arsenal
19) Pirate Bay
20) Ali Carter
21) Badminton Three Day event
22) Sale
23) 7 years
24) Kohima
25) Paul Hogan
26) Bristol City
27) Stephen Hendry
28) London
29) Bruce Dickinson
30) 2022
31) Aung Sang Suu Kyi ( Burmese Parliament )
32) Cardiff v. West Ham : Blackpool v. Birmingham
33) Rolf Harris
34) Newt Gingrich
35) Sol Campbell
36) Carousel
37) The treatment of former PM Yulia Tymoshenko
38) Sotheby’s in New York - £74 million / $119.9 million
39) Adele - 21
The Thoughts of the New Champion
IN case anyone missed Gary's comments after my review of yesterday's Grand Final I've taken the liberty of reposting them here. Not sure if this is a world exclusive.
Thanks Dave, and I hope I managed to keep the result secret from you - I was worried that you might see through my unusually high level of posting this year! The reason I have been critical at times is only because I care about the show too - winning really is the biggest achievement of my life - and I just wanted that win to be fair, and not spoiled by the show not being a level playing field.
Massive commisserations to Andy. Recently we ended up as a 'pair' doing a quiz that Rob Hannah had set, and the fact that he got at least 75-80% of the answers (plus the fact that he usually beats me in the big national quizzes by some margin) just emphasized the point that he is a better quizzer, and that 9 times out of 10 he'd have beaten me. I make no bones about having been tactical all the way through - even the choices of specialist subjects were all chosen with trying to win in mind. I just wonder if all those Azeri names slowed John down a bit on Andy's SS? I wouldn't have scored 16 on his GK set either.
Nick too, was unwell, but I only found that after the show from his wife - to his immense credit, he didn't moan about this once, although if you look closely it definitely affected his performance.
Speaking of looking closely, anyone who taped it is invited to watch the audience to the right as I walk to the chair for GK. My dad starts clapping (the sound was later edited out) at which point he gets clobbered by my mum - hilarious.
Still, I'm delighted to have won, and I remain amazed that my name comes after Jesse Honey and Ian Bayley in the list of winners. Even now it hasn't sunk in. I've always had a competitive streak so I was in 'quiz' solely to try win Mastermind. The plan was always, that if I achieved it I'd retire from quizzing and move on, but I've met so many fabulous people through quizzing - and I miss them. So, I will be at the World Quiz Championships in June. As many have told me, once a quizzer, always a quizzer.....
Thanks to everybody again for your kind words, and I'm proud to have won for both Scotland and the Radio Addicts! Shame I slept in for my interview on BBC Breakfast this morning.....
Thanks Dave, and I hope I managed to keep the result secret from you - I was worried that you might see through my unusually high level of posting this year! The reason I have been critical at times is only because I care about the show too - winning really is the biggest achievement of my life - and I just wanted that win to be fair, and not spoiled by the show not being a level playing field.
Massive commisserations to Andy. Recently we ended up as a 'pair' doing a quiz that Rob Hannah had set, and the fact that he got at least 75-80% of the answers (plus the fact that he usually beats me in the big national quizzes by some margin) just emphasized the point that he is a better quizzer, and that 9 times out of 10 he'd have beaten me. I make no bones about having been tactical all the way through - even the choices of specialist subjects were all chosen with trying to win in mind. I just wonder if all those Azeri names slowed John down a bit on Andy's SS? I wouldn't have scored 16 on his GK set either.
Nick too, was unwell, but I only found that after the show from his wife - to his immense credit, he didn't moan about this once, although if you look closely it definitely affected his performance.
Speaking of looking closely, anyone who taped it is invited to watch the audience to the right as I walk to the chair for GK. My dad starts clapping (the sound was later edited out) at which point he gets clobbered by my mum - hilarious.
Still, I'm delighted to have won, and I remain amazed that my name comes after Jesse Honey and Ian Bayley in the list of winners. Even now it hasn't sunk in. I've always had a competitive streak so I was in 'quiz' solely to try win Mastermind. The plan was always, that if I achieved it I'd retire from quizzing and move on, but I've met so many fabulous people through quizzing - and I miss them. So, I will be at the World Quiz Championships in June. As many have told me, once a quizzer, always a quizzer.....
Thanks to everybody again for your kind words, and I'm proud to have won for both Scotland and the Radio Addicts! Shame I slept in for my interview on BBC Breakfast this morning.....
Friday, 11 May 2012
Mastermind Grand Final
I have no idea why this happens, but whenever I start to watch the Mastermind Grand Final I start to get nervous, far more nervous than I did in my own final. Of course, there were three LAM readers playing, one of whom, Gary, was my skipper in Only Connect, so I had my favourites I was rooting for. Having said in my preview that I was hoping in my heart of hearts that Gary would win I was hoping that this wouldn’t bring down the curse of the Clark sofa. Well, within the hour I would know one way or another.
Mark Wyatt opened the batting with the Life and Works of JMW Turner. Mark has been a very strong performer on Specialist all series, scoring a perfect 18 in his heat, and 13 in the semi, which was the joint highest semi specialist of any of our finalists tonight. This wasn’t quite a perfect round, but it was a very good one for a final. 15 and 1 pass meant that he would be in contention at the halfway stage.
I said in my preview that Maya had exceeded my expectations in getting to the final, and to be fair, from her filmed insert she seemed to have exceeded her own as well. Maya scored 12 in her specialist in the semi, when she offered owls. Tonight we had a complete change of pace with her specialist subject of alchemy. It seemed to me that this was very much one of those out of left field subjects, which could go very well for you. The other side of the coin though is that it’s the kind of subject that if you don’t do really well, you end up doing the opposite. Maya made an error, and knew she made an error on her second question, and she never really recovered from it. Her 6 points scored were 6 points more than almost everybody sitting at home scored, but in real terms it meant that her bid for the title was over.
Every year one of the contenders seems to win first prize in the insert lottery. This year no less than three contenders could claim to have done this. David Love was one of them. Answering on the comic songs of Tom Lehrer, David was whisked away to Boston. I’ll be honest, I enjoyed the wee snippets of Tom Lehrer in performance which were slipped into the film, and I could have watched more of them. Still, there was still the serious business of the round to get on with. David has been a rock solid performer all series, with a fine 13 in the semi, and so his 14 in this round was no less than I expected. Second place at this stage, but handily placed nonetheless.
The first of our LAM contributors tonight came next. Nick Reed has been one of the surprise packages of this year’s series. I must admit to being a little bit taken aback by his admission in his film that he doesn’t play in organized quizzes. You certainly wouldn’t have known this from his GK performances in the heat and the semi, where he knocked out our own Gruff in a tie break. Nick has been a high scorer in specialist before. However in his film he did say that his subject The Levellers was the first subject in which he had no level of expertise to begin with. His score of 12 was nothing to be ashamed of at all, a good performance, but in terms of winning you really don’t want to be more than a couple of points behind at the halfway stage. Ideally, you don’t want to be behind at all if you can help it.
Gary Grant was a veritable vision in black. Actually that’s wrong, since due to the darkness of the background the only bits of him you could actually see clearly were his head and hands.Gary’s film showed him on the north coast of Scotland, which made him the second candidate for winner of the filmed insert lottery. I have to take my hat off to Gary for being absolutely candid and frank about how much he wanted to win. In my filmed insert in 2007 I was actually asked the question myself, and I fudged it, thinking – if I tell the truth, that I’d give my eyeteeth to win, and think I’ve at least got a pretty good chance, then if I don’t win, that film will come back to haunt me. – Ian had the guts to say he wanted to win last year, and now Gary had done the same. An omen ? Well, Gary’s subject was whales and dolphins, and he treated us to the finest specialist round we’ve seen all series. Gary goes at 100 miles an hour when he’s answering. So when he produces a perfect round, you get something remarkable. In this case a 19 point round – that’s a Hall of Fame score. A fantastic performance which in all probability blew the previous 4 contenders out of the water. Only Andy Tucker remained in the first round.
If you read my review you’ll maybe remember that Andy and Gary were my two tips for the top. Andy too seemed to have drawn a lucky ticket in the shape of a trip to Baku in Azerbaijan. Andy is a very modest chap – this is the first time I had the slightest inkling that he has been a British Ambassador – an Ambassador to Azerbaijan no less. Like Gary, Andy too made no secret of the fact that he would like to win – there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of there. I thought it was a lovely touch to pay tribute to Kevin Ashman, and particularly to the late Sir David Hunt, winner in 1977, himself a very distinguished diplomat. As for the round, well it was a good one, no doubt about that. Not quite as fast as Gary’s, though, and not as accurate as Gary’s, and in the end he score 14 and no passes. Advantage Gary.
I have to say that of all the General Knowledge rounds I struggled most with Maya’s. I thought that her 14 was a tremendous performance. Ironically it did give her the lead, albeit that this was only by a single point, but at least it had the effect of taking her to 20 points. Look – you have nothing to be ashamed of if you get to the Mastermind final in the first place, but anything in the 20s therein is totally respectable. Nick followed her into the chair, and it’s sad to say, but he had his most difficult GK round of the series. A number of his questions were what I would call old quiz chestnuts, which you wouldn’t necessarily know if you’re not a regular quizzer. This should take nothing away from what has been a fantastic series for Nick. By his own admission he is not a quizzer, and has pretty much come from nowhere to make the Mastermind Final, taking notable scalps in the process. Well done to you, Nick.
You just knew that David Love was going to set a total. He managed 12 in the semis, but to me he has really been Mr. Consistency in this series, and I felt sure that he would do better than this. Indeed he did. He seemed a little surprised that some of his more speculative answers were correct – but really had no need to be so. If they’re right, it doesn’t matter how much of a guess they are. David whacked in a hefty 14, to take him to a fine score of 28, and now at least Gary had a target to aim at.
A target which I felt certain would be surpassed by Andy Tucker. Now, at this stage, you would have forgiven Andy had he lost a little composure. Gary’s score had made him overwhelming favourite at the halfway stage, and it looked unlikely that Andy would be able to overhaul a 5 point deficit. All the more credit then for whacking in an excellent 16 points, to take his own score to 30. Make no mistake about this, Andy had actually put himself in with the chance of a win. When the target reaches 12 points, then that is what I call the corridor of uncertainty, after all, how many times have we seen really good quizzers struggle to rattle off enough correct answers to win once the total required reaches 12 and over ? Andy had done everything he could, and you cannot do more than that. Respect is due.
Like Maya, Mark Wyatt found himself served a tough GK round as well, and he found it pretty hard going. I’m not surprised. The first few questions rather knocked the wind out of his sails, and he never really got any momentum going at all. Well, it can happen. Mark is a Mastermind finalist, and nothing can take that away. It didn’t work out this time – which doesn’t matter. Just being there was an achievement in itself.
So Gary, even without the lucky shirt , or the pink shirt, returned to the chair, probably knowing in his heart of hearts that he would never have such a good chance to win Mastermind – and I know from conversations we had a couple of years ago in the Only Connect dressing room just how much he wanted to one day do this. He must have still felt under intense pressure at this stage – but I knew better than most that he could cope. Of the three of us in the Radio Addicts Gary dealt with the pressure of the grand final better than any of us. He produced a round , then, every bit as good as Andy’s – in fact statistics will show that it was slightly better since there were no passes. In terms of how good a performance that was, well, the record for a Humphrys Final is 37, held jointly by his two predecessors Ian Bayley and Jesse Honey, followed by my own predecessor, Geoff Thomas who scored 36 in 2006. That’s a hell of a group to find yourself among. I’m so delighted to have a Scottish winner as well. Fred Housego was born in Dundee, but I believe that he is the only previous Scottish winner, and even then Fred was more often referred to as ‘London Cabbie Fred” rather than Scottish born Fred.
Many congratulations Gary ! I offer special commiserations too to Andy. As John said scoring 30 would have won some past finals, but congratulations on a string of fine performances this series. Finally congratulations to all 96 contenders who gave is good entertainment this season, and to the production team for the same reason.
The Details
Mark Wyatt opened the batting with the Life and Works of JMW Turner. Mark has been a very strong performer on Specialist all series, scoring a perfect 18 in his heat, and 13 in the semi, which was the joint highest semi specialist of any of our finalists tonight. This wasn’t quite a perfect round, but it was a very good one for a final. 15 and 1 pass meant that he would be in contention at the halfway stage.
I said in my preview that Maya had exceeded my expectations in getting to the final, and to be fair, from her filmed insert she seemed to have exceeded her own as well. Maya scored 12 in her specialist in the semi, when she offered owls. Tonight we had a complete change of pace with her specialist subject of alchemy. It seemed to me that this was very much one of those out of left field subjects, which could go very well for you. The other side of the coin though is that it’s the kind of subject that if you don’t do really well, you end up doing the opposite. Maya made an error, and knew she made an error on her second question, and she never really recovered from it. Her 6 points scored were 6 points more than almost everybody sitting at home scored, but in real terms it meant that her bid for the title was over.
Every year one of the contenders seems to win first prize in the insert lottery. This year no less than three contenders could claim to have done this. David Love was one of them. Answering on the comic songs of Tom Lehrer, David was whisked away to Boston. I’ll be honest, I enjoyed the wee snippets of Tom Lehrer in performance which were slipped into the film, and I could have watched more of them. Still, there was still the serious business of the round to get on with. David has been a rock solid performer all series, with a fine 13 in the semi, and so his 14 in this round was no less than I expected. Second place at this stage, but handily placed nonetheless.
The first of our LAM contributors tonight came next. Nick Reed has been one of the surprise packages of this year’s series. I must admit to being a little bit taken aback by his admission in his film that he doesn’t play in organized quizzes. You certainly wouldn’t have known this from his GK performances in the heat and the semi, where he knocked out our own Gruff in a tie break. Nick has been a high scorer in specialist before. However in his film he did say that his subject The Levellers was the first subject in which he had no level of expertise to begin with. His score of 12 was nothing to be ashamed of at all, a good performance, but in terms of winning you really don’t want to be more than a couple of points behind at the halfway stage. Ideally, you don’t want to be behind at all if you can help it.
Gary Grant was a veritable vision in black. Actually that’s wrong, since due to the darkness of the background the only bits of him you could actually see clearly were his head and hands.Gary’s film showed him on the north coast of Scotland, which made him the second candidate for winner of the filmed insert lottery. I have to take my hat off to Gary for being absolutely candid and frank about how much he wanted to win. In my filmed insert in 2007 I was actually asked the question myself, and I fudged it, thinking – if I tell the truth, that I’d give my eyeteeth to win, and think I’ve at least got a pretty good chance, then if I don’t win, that film will come back to haunt me. – Ian had the guts to say he wanted to win last year, and now Gary had done the same. An omen ? Well, Gary’s subject was whales and dolphins, and he treated us to the finest specialist round we’ve seen all series. Gary goes at 100 miles an hour when he’s answering. So when he produces a perfect round, you get something remarkable. In this case a 19 point round – that’s a Hall of Fame score. A fantastic performance which in all probability blew the previous 4 contenders out of the water. Only Andy Tucker remained in the first round.
If you read my review you’ll maybe remember that Andy and Gary were my two tips for the top. Andy too seemed to have drawn a lucky ticket in the shape of a trip to Baku in Azerbaijan. Andy is a very modest chap – this is the first time I had the slightest inkling that he has been a British Ambassador – an Ambassador to Azerbaijan no less. Like Gary, Andy too made no secret of the fact that he would like to win – there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of there. I thought it was a lovely touch to pay tribute to Kevin Ashman, and particularly to the late Sir David Hunt, winner in 1977, himself a very distinguished diplomat. As for the round, well it was a good one, no doubt about that. Not quite as fast as Gary’s, though, and not as accurate as Gary’s, and in the end he score 14 and no passes. Advantage Gary.
I have to say that of all the General Knowledge rounds I struggled most with Maya’s. I thought that her 14 was a tremendous performance. Ironically it did give her the lead, albeit that this was only by a single point, but at least it had the effect of taking her to 20 points. Look – you have nothing to be ashamed of if you get to the Mastermind final in the first place, but anything in the 20s therein is totally respectable. Nick followed her into the chair, and it’s sad to say, but he had his most difficult GK round of the series. A number of his questions were what I would call old quiz chestnuts, which you wouldn’t necessarily know if you’re not a regular quizzer. This should take nothing away from what has been a fantastic series for Nick. By his own admission he is not a quizzer, and has pretty much come from nowhere to make the Mastermind Final, taking notable scalps in the process. Well done to you, Nick.
You just knew that David Love was going to set a total. He managed 12 in the semis, but to me he has really been Mr. Consistency in this series, and I felt sure that he would do better than this. Indeed he did. He seemed a little surprised that some of his more speculative answers were correct – but really had no need to be so. If they’re right, it doesn’t matter how much of a guess they are. David whacked in a hefty 14, to take him to a fine score of 28, and now at least Gary had a target to aim at.
A target which I felt certain would be surpassed by Andy Tucker. Now, at this stage, you would have forgiven Andy had he lost a little composure. Gary’s score had made him overwhelming favourite at the halfway stage, and it looked unlikely that Andy would be able to overhaul a 5 point deficit. All the more credit then for whacking in an excellent 16 points, to take his own score to 30. Make no mistake about this, Andy had actually put himself in with the chance of a win. When the target reaches 12 points, then that is what I call the corridor of uncertainty, after all, how many times have we seen really good quizzers struggle to rattle off enough correct answers to win once the total required reaches 12 and over ? Andy had done everything he could, and you cannot do more than that. Respect is due.
Like Maya, Mark Wyatt found himself served a tough GK round as well, and he found it pretty hard going. I’m not surprised. The first few questions rather knocked the wind out of his sails, and he never really got any momentum going at all. Well, it can happen. Mark is a Mastermind finalist, and nothing can take that away. It didn’t work out this time – which doesn’t matter. Just being there was an achievement in itself.
So Gary, even without the lucky shirt , or the pink shirt, returned to the chair, probably knowing in his heart of hearts that he would never have such a good chance to win Mastermind – and I know from conversations we had a couple of years ago in the Only Connect dressing room just how much he wanted to one day do this. He must have still felt under intense pressure at this stage – but I knew better than most that he could cope. Of the three of us in the Radio Addicts Gary dealt with the pressure of the grand final better than any of us. He produced a round , then, every bit as good as Andy’s – in fact statistics will show that it was slightly better since there were no passes. In terms of how good a performance that was, well, the record for a Humphrys Final is 37, held jointly by his two predecessors Ian Bayley and Jesse Honey, followed by my own predecessor, Geoff Thomas who scored 36 in 2006. That’s a hell of a group to find yourself among. I’m so delighted to have a Scottish winner as well. Fred Housego was born in Dundee, but I believe that he is the only previous Scottish winner, and even then Fred was more often referred to as ‘London Cabbie Fred” rather than Scottish born Fred.
Many congratulations Gary ! I offer special commiserations too to Andy. As John said scoring 30 would have won some past finals, but congratulations on a string of fine performances this series. Finally congratulations to all 96 contenders who gave is good entertainment this season, and to the production team for the same reason.
The Details
| Mark Wyatt | The Life and Work of JMW Turner | 15 - 1 | 4 - 6 | 19 – 7 |
| Maya Davis | Alchemy | 6 - 2 | 14 - 2 | 20 - 4 |
| David Love | Tom Lehrer | 14 - 0 | 14 - 0 | 28 - 0 |
| Nick Reed | The Diggers | 12 - 0 | 8 - 6 | 20 - 6 |
| Gary Grant | Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises | 19 - 0 | 16 - 0 | 35 - 0 |
| Andy Tucker | The History of Azerbaijan – 1919 – Present Day | 14 - 0 | 16 - 1 | 30 – 1 |
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Past Coming Back to Haunt Me
Twice actually. A couple of weeks ago they repeated my Millionaire diasaster on Challenge. Every time they do that it's the cue for half a dozen little cherubs at work to tell me that they saw me on it and didn't I do badly etc. etc. All good, clean knockabout fun, and all part of what you sign up for when you go on the show - no complaints there.
The other time though happened just over on Daniel's Quiz Addict blog. Daniel has posted the documentary Quizzers, which came out a couple of years ago - I'm not sure which channel it was on. Doesn't matter. I never saw this when it first came out, so I started watching it. The first thing I noticed was that it began in a quiz, and asking the questions was Trevor Parry. - Hello - thought I - close to home ( relatively speaking ) Then the camera panned around some of the faces, and I thought that I recognised a lot of the quizzers there. Then it stayed on my dear late friend Allan Coombs for a couple of seconds. Allan passed away in 2010, so this must have been filmed at Christmas 2008 or 9 I'd guess. Then I noticed it also showed my mate Barry. - Hmm - I wondered - what were they doing going to a Trevor quiz without me ? Then I realised. it wasn't without me at all. At about 42 seconds in you just get a very brief glimpse of me as I lean forward to write an answer.
Odd feeling . I mean, I know that Trevor would have said something about there being people there filming for a documentary that evening, but I'd forgotten all about it - I didn't know it was THAT documentary. Funny how your past sometimes catches up with you like that. I don't remember it at all. I do, however, think I remember the quiz, though. It was a Christmas Quiz, and there was a £200 first prize, I think. As I recall we ended up sharing it with Mark and CJ's team ( which incidentally was a bigger team than ours, not that I like to boast, you understand )
The other time though happened just over on Daniel's Quiz Addict blog. Daniel has posted the documentary Quizzers, which came out a couple of years ago - I'm not sure which channel it was on. Doesn't matter. I never saw this when it first came out, so I started watching it. The first thing I noticed was that it began in a quiz, and asking the questions was Trevor Parry. - Hello - thought I - close to home ( relatively speaking ) Then the camera panned around some of the faces, and I thought that I recognised a lot of the quizzers there. Then it stayed on my dear late friend Allan Coombs for a couple of seconds. Allan passed away in 2010, so this must have been filmed at Christmas 2008 or 9 I'd guess. Then I noticed it also showed my mate Barry. - Hmm - I wondered - what were they doing going to a Trevor quiz without me ? Then I realised. it wasn't without me at all. At about 42 seconds in you just get a very brief glimpse of me as I lean forward to write an answer.
Odd feeling . I mean, I know that Trevor would have said something about there being people there filming for a documentary that evening, but I'd forgotten all about it - I didn't know it was THAT documentary. Funny how your past sometimes catches up with you like that. I don't remember it at all. I do, however, think I remember the quiz, though. It was a Christmas Quiz, and there was a £200 first prize, I think. As I recall we ended up sharing it with Mark and CJ's team ( which incidentally was a bigger team than ours, not that I like to boast, you understand )
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Jack's Blog
If you read the University Challenge reviews on LAM and the comments afterwards you'll know Jack as one of our stalwarts who posts stats and observations about the shows. Jack just sent me an email telling me about his new blog. He wasn't asking me to give it a plug, but I'm going to do so anyway. Here's the link - why don't you pop over and give it a look and maybe wish him the best of luck: -
Jack's Blog
Jack's Blog
Saturday, 5 May 2012
The University Challenge - Open University Question
During the last series, after one of the shows Des made a comment regarding the lack of an Open University team in recent years. Lance Haward, a winner with the OU, saw this and although he found he couldn't leave a comment on the site he emailed me a few days ago, with this, which I reproduce with his permission : -
"To answer your doubt about the O.U.: no, it has not withdrawn. I happen
to have been in touch with others (Mastermind Club, e.g. - such as
Peter Richardson who expressed himself as narked that he hadn't thought
of the idea first) eminently well qualified to participate, who have
put in and not got beyond the University team-vetting stage. No
question about it : Jeremy DID NOT ENJOY our success, having been
reduced to public grumbling at the Bookfest at Hay-on-Wye at the time
of transmission . The Beeb, who commissioned it from Granada, had no
problems, and the O.U. itself, by contrast, loved it, and employed our
win to run a recruiting advert with team photograph, the day after it
went out. The obvious conclusion can be drawn. Does make something
of a travesty of the programme's implicit vaunt of being a championship
between all the British universities.
But then, of course, it has been
going downhill in another blatant respect since its golden era under
Bamber Gascoigne. Namely the staggering imbalance between questions
on the Arts/Humanities side, all such as anyone with pretensions to be
grounded in such general knowledge as the Reasonably Educated Man can
make a stab at (75% of them, at least), and those on the
Science/Mathematics side, a good two thirds of which these days go on
for five minutes in what could well be Esperanto and require a
postgraduate qualification in the specific subject concerned even to
have the haziest idea what the hell the questionmaster is on about."
"To answer your doubt about the O.U.: no, it has not withdrawn. I happen
to have been in touch with others (Mastermind Club, e.g. - such as
Peter Richardson who expressed himself as narked that he hadn't thought
of the idea first) eminently well qualified to participate, who have
put in and not got beyond the University team-vetting stage. No
question about it : Jeremy DID NOT ENJOY our success, having been
reduced to public grumbling at the Bookfest at Hay-on-Wye at the time
of transmission . The Beeb, who commissioned it from Granada, had no
problems, and the O.U. itself, by contrast, loved it, and employed our
win to run a recruiting advert with team photograph, the day after it
went out. The obvious conclusion can be drawn. Does make something
of a travesty of the programme's implicit vaunt of being a championship
between all the British universities.
But then, of course, it has been
going downhill in another blatant respect since its golden era under
Bamber Gascoigne. Namely the staggering imbalance between questions
on the Arts/Humanities side, all such as anyone with pretensions to be
grounded in such general knowledge as the Reasonably Educated Man can
make a stab at (75% of them, at least), and those on the
Science/Mathematics side, a good two thirds of which these days go on
for five minutes in what could well be Esperanto and require a
postgraduate qualification in the specific subject concerned even to
have the haziest idea what the hell the questionmaster is on about."
Food for thought, certainly. I don't know if you recall, but back in the day when Lance's OU team won in 1999 there was a bit of a fuss, with JP certainly reported as grumbling about it - I quote this directly from a report which appeared on the BBC's own news website ""What is more, one of the Open University guys had only signed up for a course at the OU so he could be on the team." I don't have a great amount to add to the debate. although if there IS a policy at the Beeb to exclude the OU, then they should at least come clean and admit it.
It's interesting that this arises now. Only a few days ago I had a lesson observed by the Headteacher. Let me tell you, it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it, you still worry like hell when someone is coming in to watch your lesson. Thankfully all went well, and we were discussing the lesson afterwards, then widened the discussion somewhat. One of the things which he asked me was whether I have any other TV appearences lined up. I replied that no, I hadn't, and I don't know when, if ever , I will appear in another broadcast quiz. Basically it's unlikely that I'll ever get on to a money prize quiz again, and of the 4 really good, hard quizzes - Mastermind, Only Connect, Brain of Britain and University Challenge I've been on 3, and frankly exceeded my expectations on all of them. As for UC, well, I'm afraid I missed the boat on that one while I was at Uni and that's that. Except - well, IF the OU became a regular fixture in the series again, and IF I suddenly found that I had the time to do another degree in my own time - which there is no guarantee I ever would be able to find the time for - then would I go for it ? Make no bones about it, if the producers rang me up or emailed me and said - we're doing a special , we'd like you to be on one of the teams, then I'd do it like a shot. Hell, I'd even pay for my own petrol to Manchester. But as regards actually doing a course with the sole purpose of getting on ? Gotta be honest, I'd be tempted.
It's interesting that this arises now. Only a few days ago I had a lesson observed by the Headteacher. Let me tell you, it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it, you still worry like hell when someone is coming in to watch your lesson. Thankfully all went well, and we were discussing the lesson afterwards, then widened the discussion somewhat. One of the things which he asked me was whether I have any other TV appearences lined up. I replied that no, I hadn't, and I don't know when, if ever , I will appear in another broadcast quiz. Basically it's unlikely that I'll ever get on to a money prize quiz again, and of the 4 really good, hard quizzes - Mastermind, Only Connect, Brain of Britain and University Challenge I've been on 3, and frankly exceeded my expectations on all of them. As for UC, well, I'm afraid I missed the boat on that one while I was at Uni and that's that. Except - well, IF the OU became a regular fixture in the series again, and IF I suddenly found that I had the time to do another degree in my own time - which there is no guarantee I ever would be able to find the time for - then would I go for it ? Make no bones about it, if the producers rang me up or emailed me and said - we're doing a special , we'd like you to be on one of the teams, then I'd do it like a shot. Hell, I'd even pay for my own petrol to Manchester. But as regards actually doing a course with the sole purpose of getting on ? Gotta be honest, I'd be tempted.
News Questions
Who or what are the
following and why have they been in the news ?
1) Margaret Moran
2) James Allen
3) Pep Guardiola
4) Kirsty Bertorelli
5) Nick Cannon
6) Laura Adshead
7) Khalil Dale
8) Noma
9) Dinner
10) Shakeel Ahmed
11) Vincent Kompany
12) Amarillo Slim
13) Jacqueline Woodhouse
14) Graham Stuart MP
15) Amy Williams
16) Cheryl Tiegs
17) Dirk
18) Lauren Socha
19) Janos Ader
20) Sandy Phillips
21) Lionel Morton and Rick Jones
22) Bill Miller
In Other News
1) The Queen visited the site of which
tragedy this week ?
2) Who were the second club to gain
promotion as of right to the Premier League ?
3) Who was announced as joining the england
RU coaching team for the tour to South Africa ?
4) Who topped the Sunday Times Rich
List ?
5) Which team were beaten by Ulster in
the semi final of the Heineken Cup ?
6) Which scene topped a survey to find
the most memorable movie scene ?
7) Who was the surprise choice as new England
football manager ?
8) Which sprinter and which cyclist look
to be the most likely to benefit from the Court for Arbitration in Sport’s
ruling that drug cheats cannot be banned from Olympics for good on a first
offence ?
9) Which team are the Blue Square
Premier Champs ?
10) Who won cycling’s Tour of Romandie ?
11) Which team were beaten by Leinster in
the other semi final of the Heineken Cup ?
12) Name the son of Seve Ballesteros who
made his professional golf debut last week ?
13) Who won the Barcelona Tennis Open
14) Who accused the Tories of lacking
vision and principles ?
15) Four footballers from which team have
been charged with sexual assault
16) Who caused outrage with his comments
about Germans, calling them Krauts, and saying that they would start another
war ?
17) What is the highest building in New
York ?
18) Lukas Podolski will be joining which
Premier League club ?
19) The UK has ordered ISPs to block which
internet site ?
20) Who knocked Judd Trump out of the
world snooker championships ?
21) Which annual sporting event was
cancelled due to terrible weather ?
22) Danny Cipriani has left Melbourne to
join which club?
23) The ECB have ruled that non UK players
will have to live in the UK for how long to qualify to play cricket for England
?
24) The Duke of York visited the war graves
where ?
25) Who finally settled a £100 million tax
claim ?
26) David James has been released by which
club ?
27) Who retired after his world snooker
quarter final defeat by Stephen Maguire
28) According to a survey which city is
the world’s top tourist destination ?
29) Who announced plans to open an
aviation centre in South wales ?
30) The European Space Agency announced an
unmanned mission to Mars planned for which year ?
31) Who took her seat in parliament for
the first time this week ?
32) Which 4 teams contest the Championship
play offs ?
33) Who has been awarded the BAFTA
Fellowship ?
34) Who finally quit the race for the
Republican nomination ?
35) Which ex England footballer retired ?
36) According to Time Magazine, what is
the best musical of the 20th century ?
37) European Commissioners will be
snubbing the European football championships in Ukraine for which reason ?
38) The Scream sold where and for how much
?
39) Whose album went up to 5th
biggest seller of all time, overtaking Thriller ?
Friday, 4 May 2012
Answers to News Questions
Who are the following and why are they in the news ?
1.Marcus Mumford
2.Astala
3.Terry Connor
4.Kyle Walker
5.Wilson Kipsang
6.Siobahn Benita
7.Pussy Riot
8.Claire Squires
9.Carina Trimmington
10.Mary Beard
11.Korima “Ruby” El Mahrouj
12.Cao Yupeng
13.Frederic Michel
14.Kurt Mix
15.The Perfect American
16.William Balfour
Answers
1.New Husband of Carey Mulligan
2. Baby son of Peaches Geldof
3.Manager of Wolves – relegated
4. PFA Young Player of the Year
5. Winner of Men’s race in London Marathon
6. Independent Mayor of London candidate BBC refused to allow to
take part in debate
7. Anti Putin band causing riot in Moscow
8. Runner who tragically died during London Marathon – her charitable
efforts have raised over £1 million in donations
9. Lover of Chris Huhne who sold stories about Nick Clegg to
papers
10. Academic and TV presenter received very unkind comments from
A.A.Gill
11. Teenage dancer at heart of Berlusconi scandal
12. Chinese official’swife accused of British man’s death
13. Lobbyist at heart of Jeremy Hunt furore
14. 1st man to face trial for BP Deepwater Horizon oil
spill
15. ENO opera about the life of Walt Disney
16. Jennifer Hudson stepbrother on trial for murder of her mother
and sister
In Other News
1.Which TV drama has been axed by the BBC after 2 series ?
2.Which famous former Labour MP died at the age of 89 ?
3.Which player , likely to play in the European Championships, has
also been named in the GB Olympic Football squad ?
4.Reading became Championship champions after drawing with which
team ?
5.Which team became champions of Division 1 ?
6.– and which team were also promoted from Division 1 ?
7.Who was voted PFA Player of the Year ?
8.A TV crew from which channel were arrested in Bahrain ?
9.Which driver won the Bahrain Grand Prix ?
10.Who won the women’s race in the London Marathon ?
11.Where did Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic
12.Name the daughter of Jean Marie Le Pen who scored the biggest
ever vote for the far right in the French presidential elections ?
13.Who awoke from a coma last week ?
14.How much is the UK giving to the IMF ?
15.Which 4 teams are the top seeds in the Olympic football
tournament ?
16.China is in the middle of an attempt to buy which breakfast
cereal ?
17.Which drink is about to be officially declared as the national
drink of India ?
18.Which country won the last place in the Olympic football
tournament ?
19.– and in which stadium did they manage to do it ?
20.How many times did Theresa May refuse to answer whether officials
had confirmed the date and time to launch proceedings over Abu Qatada ?
21.Which comedienne has upset Streatham Council with comments
about the area ?
22.Who spoke to a government committee on the issue of drug abuse
last week ?
23.Which US state is holding a vote on the abolition of the death
penalty ?
24.The director of the Dr. Phibes films passed away last week. Who
was he ?
25.What was the score in the Chelsea v. Barcelona second leg match
?
26.– and who scored Chelsea’s goals ?
27.Which teams are in the same group as GB in the Olympic football
tournament ?
28.Who will replace Alesha Dixon as a judge on Strictly Come
Dancing ?
29.Sarajevo has voted honorary citizenship to which film star ?
30.Mike Tindall has announced that he is to leave which club at
the end of the season ?
31.What was the final score in the penalty shoot out of the Bayern
v. Real Madrid match ?
32.Which actor will play Tonto in a new Lone Ranger film ?
33.Last week academics announced that they believe that
Shakespeare had a co writer for which of his plays ?
34.Who was found guilty of war crimes in the Hague last week ?
35.Which Syrian city was attacked on Tuesday ?
36.Who were deported to Saudi Arabia last week ?
37.PM Gilani of Pakistan was sentenced for contempt last week. How
long was his sentence ?
38.Who beat whom in the two Europa League semi finals last week ?
Answers
1. Upstairs Downstairs
2. Lord Jack Ashley
3. Wayne Rooney
4. Crystal Palace
5.Charlton Athletic
6. Sheffield Wednesday
7.Robin van Persie
8. Channel 4
9. Sebastian Vettel
10.Mary Keitany
11. Monaco
12. Marine LePen
13. Robin Gibb
14. £10 billion
15. Great Britain, Brazil, Spain , Mexico
16. Weetabix
17. Tea
18. Senegal
19. The Ricoh Stadium
20.6
21. Jo Brand
22. Russell Brand
23.California
24. Robert Fuest
25. 2 – 2
26. Ramires – Torres
27. Senegal – UAE – Uruguay
28. Darcy Bussell
29. Angelina Jolie
30. Gloucester RFC
31. 3 – 1 Bayern
32. Johnny Depp
33. Measure for Measure
34.Charles Taylor
35. Hama
36. Widows and daughters of Bin Laden
37. 30 seconds
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