Only Connect – Semi Final Special
2) The Francophiles v. The Cartophiles
Som who would go through to face the Celts in next week’s final? The Cartophiles, Colin Kidd, Mark Cooper and Josh Mandel, this week’s underdogs, lost to the Celts in their first match, then won tough scraps against the Corpuscles and the Fell Walkers. Their opponents, the Francophiles, had sailed straight through to the semis by defeating the Festival Fans in the first match, and then disposing of the Fell Walkers in their second. The Francophiles, Ian Clark , Sam Goodyear, and captain Mark Walton, certainly looked the more likely team to make the final, but as we all know, given the right set of circumstances any team can beat any other team. I still felt that the Francs would win.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Francs opted for Horned Viper – second vowel voiced – and received the music set for their pains. I’ll be honest, the only one I really knew was the Specials’ Free Nelson Mandela. That was enough to give the connection of protest songs against wrongful imprisonment. The Francs didn’t have it, but the Carts were happy to take the bonus. Twisted Flax revealed a set very much to my liking. The Ghostbuster’s Cadillac. Well, my boy loved Ghostbusters when he was little, and he actually had an ECTO 1. The second , Dr. Who’s Bessie was obviously Who 1. So number plates ending in 1 was obviously it – which was borne out by Postman Pat’s van, and Lady Penelope’s Rolls Royce. The Carts took it for a point. The Francs got a nice set of Remotopic – Egokinetic – Sexadekal and Uniglossal. Like the Francs I could see that these were manufactured words made up of half latin and half greek. what I didn’t see was that they are what you get if you take an exisiting half and half manufactured word like television – and put the greek word for the latin bit – opic for vision – and the latin bit for the greek bit – remot for tele. Now that’s clever. So we get automobile – hexadecimal and monolingual. What a terrific set. Two Reeds gave the Carts - Self declared king of Iceland – Hmm – Prolific Welsh Hymn writer – still hmmm – Male Star of A Star is Born. Now, the latest version of that would be Kris Kristofferson. Which gave me the answer at the same time as the Carts – that they all had names where the first name is an element of the second. The last would have been The first Presenter of Mastermind. Again, a nice set. Eye of Horus gave the Francs Judit Polgar. Now, Judit Polgar is very well known in the world of chess. I think that the Francs were on the right lines from this point. The second clue was Danica Patrick. The third , Charlotte Brew, they knew was the first woman jockey to ride the Grand National, and so this confirmed our theory that these were all women who have competed on equal terms with men in male competitions. The Cartophiles finished the competition with a set of pictures showing Nelson’s Column, and Olympic Swimming Pool, and Wales – which was enough to give them the good connection that these are all things often used as size comparison points. This completed a great round for the Carts, who now led by 6 to 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Now, Two Reeds gave the Franciphiles what I thought was the first chance at a five pointer in this show. When 1969: Swansea came up I was able to say 2012:St. Asaph – that being the latest Welsh town to become a city. The Francs took it off two clues for a useful 3 points. Twisted Flax didn’t offer an immediate opportunity to the Carts, with the first clue being Bully – the second Patty and Selma , who are Homer Simpson’s sisters in law – the third was Mr. Krabs. I didn’t really have much of a clue where we were going with this one. Neither team had it, and Victoria suggested that even if she gave the teams 14 months they wouldn’t have been able to work it out. Charming. Actually the connection was fiendishly brilliant. Bully was the cartoon bull in Bullseye – Patty and Selma are cartoon twins – Mr. Krabs is a crab. So the next sign of the Zodiac would be a cartoon Lion. Brilliant. Speaking of brilliant, the Francs had the guts to go for a five pointer off 3rd mate: Flask. I knew they were going to say Captain Ahab, but whether I would have had the guts to go for it in the studio is another question. They were quite right, as this was the herarchy of command on the Pequod. Horned Viper revealed a set of picture clues . We saw sterling silver – a mini cooper – hallo, I thought – Stirling Cooper – is that Mad Men again? – and some cloth. The Carts didn’t have it, and the Francs, like me, knew the connection, but not that the last one would be Price. My favourite set came next. Eustace – Here the French do battle. Immediately I said “Hic Harold Rex Interfectus Est / Here King Harold is killed. They are successive inscriptions on the Bayeux Tapestry. Right – pedantry warning. Eustace – or Eustatius is certainly the common interpretation of an inscription on the Tapestry – however the fact is that the few letters after the first E are missing, and have been for a long time, so although it is highly, highly likely that the inscription does say Eustatius, we don’t know for certain. Anyway, the Francs had it off the third clue – And those who were with Harold Fell. The Carts received auditory meatus – Tympanum – and here we were obviously dealing with the ear , and the Carts opted for aricle. Incorrect. Given the last clue of ossicles the Francs offered stirrup – which I’m afraid is actually an ossicles. I took a flyer on cochlea, and that proved to be the right answer. A great round for the Francs had seen them increase their score to 13, giving them a 7 point lead.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Carts fairly quickly sorted out a set of battles in which a king was killed – Clontarf – Bosworth – Crécy and Flodden . Paterson, Irvine – Sole and Hastings all played Rugby for Scotland – and did it very well too. Whiz – Shark – Maestro and Maven they found as terms that all are used for someone who is very good at something. Finally the last line Dab – flounder – Brill and Megrim they knew are all flat fish. A full ten points scored – just what the doctor ordered.
The Francs singlemindedly pursued a set of racehorse trainers, and quickly isolated Stoute – Cumani – Hills and Nicholls. They tried to isolate a set of porcelain factories next, but found a set of warblers first – Reed – Cetti’s – Dartford and Willow. Chord Hammond Pipe and Mouth they found next as a set of organs, and this left the porcelain factories – Limoges – Meissen – Doccia and Coalport. So their 10 point haul gave them a 7 point lead going into the vowels round.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
Film crew professions kicked us off, and went 1 apiece with 2 going begging. Political factions fell 2 – 1 to the Carts. The deficit was being cut, but not quickly enough. Scottish inventors and their inventions fell 4 – 0 to the Francs with unfortunately a Carts’ miscue as well. All over bar the shouting really. Opposites in German finished the show off , giving the Carts just enough time to add another point to the score. This meant that they finished with 19 to the Francs’ 29.
So in the end it turns out that we have two teams who have both proven strong enough to withstand the Curse of the Clark sofa to contest next week’s final. Well played all.
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Only Connect Semi Final Special : Part One
Only Connect – Semi Final Special
1) The Festival Fans v. The Celts
The Festival Fans, Ed Dovey, Stewart McCartney and captain Marianne Fairthorne, lost to the Francophiles in their first match, then beat the GPs and the Cat Lovers on their way to the semis. For my money they were the underdogs , but a good team in the first three rounds. Which suggested that if they could have a very good vowels round they were capable of causing an upset. The Celts, Beverley Downes, Huw Pritchard and David Pritchard, had won both of their matches, beating the Cartophiles and the Cat Lovers. With a slightly higher average score than the other three semi-final teams they were the team to receive the kiss of death in the form of the tip from the Clark sofa.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Celts kicked off with two reeds, for a picture set. I won’t lie, I recognized the picture of a design for a perpetual motion machine at once, and took a 5 pointer. I think that the Celts were onto it pretty quickly too, but they played cautiously and took it on the third. Horned Viper gave the Fans US Intervention World War I. Cause of the Franco Prussian War didn’t really help me for the second clue. However the Fans had it – telegrams. Of Course! The Zimmerman telegram suddenly rang a bell. I’d like to think that I’d have had it off the third clue – How Dr. Crippen was caught, but even so, a great shout by the Fans. Lion brought the sound of music to the Celts. I didn’t get it, the Celts didn’t get it, and the Fans didn’t get it. They were all terms from scoring in tennis.Eye of Horus brought the Fans – Pet Shop Boys “Behaviour “Album – “Fun” Indie pop group – “Eat” Sandwich chain and “Bench” clothing label. The Fans didn’t get it, but the Celts offered that they all had an exclamation mark at the end of the name, and, given a second bite of the cherry by Victoria they got the answer that they all have punctuation marks at the end of their name. Now, you can believe this or not, but I did know the Celts’ set behind Twisted Flax from the first clue. For some reason I remember that Levitating a Frog won the IgNobel prize a couple of years ago. How Swearing Relieves Pain – The odds that Gorbachev was the Antichrist – and – How woodpeckers avoid headaches just confirmed it. The Celts did rather go round the houses in their answer . I had a pretty good guess for the last set for the Fans too. Seeing US Green Cards I guessed that these were all things given out by lottery. Not that I’m saying I would have actually chanced it without looking at another clue on the show, mind, as I would have done with the perpetual motion machines and the IgNobel prizes. The Fans also took Vietnam Conscription and £161,653,000 and drafting picks in the USA before they managed to tease out the correct answer. All of which meant we had a 4 all draw at the end of the round.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The first picture set received by the Celts did pass me by completely, I’m afraid. Neither team had it. Basically we had a quadrille – a trill – the Bill – and if you add –ion to them you get three noughts less each time. So the last would be a mill. Fiendish. Twisted Flax gave the Fans – Name for Anne Boleyn’s Marriage. This I believed was the Thousand Days. Napoleon’s rule after escape from Elba was the Hundred Days. So I predicted that the third would be John Reid’s – that shook the world. The Fans had the connection by this time as well. The third clue was actually John Reid October Revolution story, but you can see where I was coming from. The last would of course be one day – as in the David Nicholls novel. Lovely set – good shout. Lion gave the Celts Melancholia – and I wondered if this was to do with the 4 humours – Cargoes suggested that this was a load of cobblers. However it did suggest John Masefield. Which mean that the next would be Cecil Day Lewis, and the last john Betjeman. So I plumped for Slough as possibly his most famous poem. Where are the War Poets? for the third clue put the Celts onto poets, but not the Poet Laureates I’m afraid. The Fans didn’t have it. Horned Viper gave the Fans 4:Inside Straight – which earned a disapproving – oh flipping heck, is that poker terms? – from the Clark sofa. 3: Pairing your overcard didn’t quite sound like that, although 2: open-ended straight flush did. The Fans didn’t know, but the Celts did – 1: Inside Straight Flush. There was an explanation to do with odds, but I’m afraid it went in one ear and out the other with me. Water gave the Celts GSM – nope – GPRS – nope – EDGE – nope. The Celts knew it was to do with mobile phones and went for 3G. Which was the correct answer. Eye of Horus remained for the Fans. I=Moneybag – II=The Red gave neither of us anything, but – 3=The Great certainly did. I guessed these were Ivans, and I knew that the 4th of these was the infamous Terrible. Stewart of the Fans knew it as well. So this little boost meant that by the end of the round the scores were 9 to the Fans, and 7 to the Celts.
Round Three – The Connecting Wallls
Taking the Lion wall the Fans , sadly, did not isolate any of the lines before the time was up. They knew the connections of at least some of them, but they just wouldn’t unravel. Caesar’s Palace – Paul Ricard – Aintree and Monaco I’m afraid they didn’t know. Monaco and Paul Ricard were the real clues to this – all of them have staged formula 1 grands prix. Jealousy – Britt Reid – Absinthe and Vermont they knew are all nicknamed Green – eyed monster – hornet – fairy and Mountain State .Guy – pyre – Christmas Pudding and Chametz they also knew as all things you would set alight. Black jack – Fennel – Gunpowder Kali and Sambuca they also knew were all aniseed flavoured. So 3 points hard earned on a wall which jealously guarded its secrets.
The Water wall didn’t guard its secrets quite so closely, yielding Master of Foxhounds – Toastmaster – Butlin’s employee – Chelsea Pensioner – which all traditionally wear red. Brie – Moss – Jones and Hendricks I didn’t have a clue about, but the Celts knew that they are all actresses from Mad Men. In fairly short order they untangled the last two lines. The next was Penny Black – Crimea Medal – Double Florin and Bombay Sapphire, but they didn’t know all carry a portrait of Queen Victoria. Beefeater – Citadelle – Tanqueray and Cork Dry they had spotted as gins. The 7 points they had earned meant that they overhauled the Fans, and now led by 14 to 12.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
All to play for, then, with the form guide suggesting that the Celts had an edge in this discipline. Provinces of South Africa fell 2 apiece. Schools of thought went 3-1 to the Celts, but sadly there was also a miscue and a lost point for the Fans. A lovely set on what people say when they’re breaking up went 2 apiece, but there was a Celts miscue this time. That’s all there was time for, and the Celts took a deserved place in the final by winning 20 – 16. Good show.
1) The Festival Fans v. The Celts
The Festival Fans, Ed Dovey, Stewart McCartney and captain Marianne Fairthorne, lost to the Francophiles in their first match, then beat the GPs and the Cat Lovers on their way to the semis. For my money they were the underdogs , but a good team in the first three rounds. Which suggested that if they could have a very good vowels round they were capable of causing an upset. The Celts, Beverley Downes, Huw Pritchard and David Pritchard, had won both of their matches, beating the Cartophiles and the Cat Lovers. With a slightly higher average score than the other three semi-final teams they were the team to receive the kiss of death in the form of the tip from the Clark sofa.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Celts kicked off with two reeds, for a picture set. I won’t lie, I recognized the picture of a design for a perpetual motion machine at once, and took a 5 pointer. I think that the Celts were onto it pretty quickly too, but they played cautiously and took it on the third. Horned Viper gave the Fans US Intervention World War I. Cause of the Franco Prussian War didn’t really help me for the second clue. However the Fans had it – telegrams. Of Course! The Zimmerman telegram suddenly rang a bell. I’d like to think that I’d have had it off the third clue – How Dr. Crippen was caught, but even so, a great shout by the Fans. Lion brought the sound of music to the Celts. I didn’t get it, the Celts didn’t get it, and the Fans didn’t get it. They were all terms from scoring in tennis.Eye of Horus brought the Fans – Pet Shop Boys “Behaviour “Album – “Fun” Indie pop group – “Eat” Sandwich chain and “Bench” clothing label. The Fans didn’t get it, but the Celts offered that they all had an exclamation mark at the end of the name, and, given a second bite of the cherry by Victoria they got the answer that they all have punctuation marks at the end of their name. Now, you can believe this or not, but I did know the Celts’ set behind Twisted Flax from the first clue. For some reason I remember that Levitating a Frog won the IgNobel prize a couple of years ago. How Swearing Relieves Pain – The odds that Gorbachev was the Antichrist – and – How woodpeckers avoid headaches just confirmed it. The Celts did rather go round the houses in their answer . I had a pretty good guess for the last set for the Fans too. Seeing US Green Cards I guessed that these were all things given out by lottery. Not that I’m saying I would have actually chanced it without looking at another clue on the show, mind, as I would have done with the perpetual motion machines and the IgNobel prizes. The Fans also took Vietnam Conscription and £161,653,000 and drafting picks in the USA before they managed to tease out the correct answer. All of which meant we had a 4 all draw at the end of the round.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The first picture set received by the Celts did pass me by completely, I’m afraid. Neither team had it. Basically we had a quadrille – a trill – the Bill – and if you add –ion to them you get three noughts less each time. So the last would be a mill. Fiendish. Twisted Flax gave the Fans – Name for Anne Boleyn’s Marriage. This I believed was the Thousand Days. Napoleon’s rule after escape from Elba was the Hundred Days. So I predicted that the third would be John Reid’s – that shook the world. The Fans had the connection by this time as well. The third clue was actually John Reid October Revolution story, but you can see where I was coming from. The last would of course be one day – as in the David Nicholls novel. Lovely set – good shout. Lion gave the Celts Melancholia – and I wondered if this was to do with the 4 humours – Cargoes suggested that this was a load of cobblers. However it did suggest John Masefield. Which mean that the next would be Cecil Day Lewis, and the last john Betjeman. So I plumped for Slough as possibly his most famous poem. Where are the War Poets? for the third clue put the Celts onto poets, but not the Poet Laureates I’m afraid. The Fans didn’t have it. Horned Viper gave the Fans 4:Inside Straight – which earned a disapproving – oh flipping heck, is that poker terms? – from the Clark sofa. 3: Pairing your overcard didn’t quite sound like that, although 2: open-ended straight flush did. The Fans didn’t know, but the Celts did – 1: Inside Straight Flush. There was an explanation to do with odds, but I’m afraid it went in one ear and out the other with me. Water gave the Celts GSM – nope – GPRS – nope – EDGE – nope. The Celts knew it was to do with mobile phones and went for 3G. Which was the correct answer. Eye of Horus remained for the Fans. I=Moneybag – II=The Red gave neither of us anything, but – 3=The Great certainly did. I guessed these were Ivans, and I knew that the 4th of these was the infamous Terrible. Stewart of the Fans knew it as well. So this little boost meant that by the end of the round the scores were 9 to the Fans, and 7 to the Celts.
Round Three – The Connecting Wallls
Taking the Lion wall the Fans , sadly, did not isolate any of the lines before the time was up. They knew the connections of at least some of them, but they just wouldn’t unravel. Caesar’s Palace – Paul Ricard – Aintree and Monaco I’m afraid they didn’t know. Monaco and Paul Ricard were the real clues to this – all of them have staged formula 1 grands prix. Jealousy – Britt Reid – Absinthe and Vermont they knew are all nicknamed Green – eyed monster – hornet – fairy and Mountain State .Guy – pyre – Christmas Pudding and Chametz they also knew as all things you would set alight. Black jack – Fennel – Gunpowder Kali and Sambuca they also knew were all aniseed flavoured. So 3 points hard earned on a wall which jealously guarded its secrets.
The Water wall didn’t guard its secrets quite so closely, yielding Master of Foxhounds – Toastmaster – Butlin’s employee – Chelsea Pensioner – which all traditionally wear red. Brie – Moss – Jones and Hendricks I didn’t have a clue about, but the Celts knew that they are all actresses from Mad Men. In fairly short order they untangled the last two lines. The next was Penny Black – Crimea Medal – Double Florin and Bombay Sapphire, but they didn’t know all carry a portrait of Queen Victoria. Beefeater – Citadelle – Tanqueray and Cork Dry they had spotted as gins. The 7 points they had earned meant that they overhauled the Fans, and now led by 14 to 12.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
All to play for, then, with the form guide suggesting that the Celts had an edge in this discipline. Provinces of South Africa fell 2 apiece. Schools of thought went 3-1 to the Celts, but sadly there was also a miscue and a lost point for the Fans. A lovely set on what people say when they’re breaking up went 2 apiece, but there was a Celts miscue this time. That’s all there was time for, and the Celts took a deserved place in the final by winning 20 – 16. Good show.
University Challenge - Round One - Match Three
Trinity Cambridge v. Christ Church Oxford
Well, if we were still waiting for fireworks in this series, then an Oxford v. Cambridge match was as likely a place to find them as any. Trinity won the original series once in 1974, and then 10 years later they won the first JP series. This year’s vintage were Matthew Ridley, Filip Drnovsek Zorko, Richard Freeland and Ralph Morley, the captain. Christ Church, Oxford didn’t win during the Bamber era, but did win as recently as 2008. They were represented by George Greenwood, Andreas Capstack, Philip Ostrowski and captain Ewan Macauley. On with the show.
When asked the name of the fifth sons of both George V and Henry II Ralph Morley was the first in with the correct answer of John. A set of bonuses on the philosopher Epictetus were all dispatched to the boundary, and even at this early stage Trinity were looking like a class act. Filip Drnovsek Zorko knew that a five letter term for a colourless volatile liquid, and a substance once thought to fill the empty spaces in the Universe would be ether.A nice UC set followed, on clues to pairs of people who shared the same surname. So, for example – the founder of the Quakers, and the winner of a backstroke gold medal in London 2012= Fox. Another full set. Five minutes gone, and already Trinity had 50 points on the board. Matthew Ridley buzzed in very early on the next starter, giving the correct answer of the Broken Windows theory. I wouldn’t have minded hearing a little bit more about that. Finally Trinity showed some weakness by only taking one bonus on scientific diagrams. Which was one more bonus than was answered form the Clark sofa, I might add. A great shout from Ralph Morley took the next starter, on the poet Catullus. Normal service was resumed as the team took a full set of bonuses on film directors and opera. The picture starter showed a map of 4 places in England all sharing the same suffix. Ewan Macauley buzzed first to break Christ Church’s duck with Hampton. Of the bonus set of 3 more sets of places linked by a common suffix they failed to add to their score. Still, they were under way. Matthew Ridley recognized a description of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy ( quote from a pupil – “Where’s the magic”?) Bonuses on world languages were all taken, and so at the 10 minute mark you have to say that Trinity weren’t just looking the most likely winners of this match, they were looking like most likely winners of the whole series. One of the most impressive opening spells I can remember for several years. They led by 115 to 10.
Ralph Morley was the first one to buzz in with the answer that the art collection held in Somerset House is the Courtauld. Once again they showed that they are human by only managing one bonus on Landseer. Now, brace yourselves. I knew a science starter – that the phenomenon involving the loss of electrical resistance at low temperatures is superconductivity. Ewan Macauley knew it too. This gave Christ Church a shot at Geometry. They took two bonuses. Rather surprisingly, given the quality of the two teams involved in this match, neither knew that Judy Garland sang the Trolley Song in the film “Meet Me In St. Louis”. The irrepressible and highly impressive Ralph Morley knew that the Roman General possibly poisoned in Syria in 19 AD was Germanicus ( you know him – Derek Jacobi’s brother.) Another UC special set on words that are often confused with each other followed. For example infer and imply. 2 correct answers brought up the 150 points for Trinity, and raised the possibility that we could possibly see our first 300 pointer for some time. The music starter played us a wee snatch of Pink Floyd before Filip Drnovsek Zorko buzzed in with the right answer. More pieces of music featuring a harmonium followed, with the bands who they accompanied being what was required for the answers. Trinity managed two of them. Asked how many different University Challenge teams could be formed from seven students Ewan Macauley correctly worked out that it would be 35. Bonuses on Deviations in the International Date Line saw them take their score to 50. Filip Drnovsek Zorko knew that novels by Stephen King and Zamyatin both had personal pronouns as titles. Astronomical telescopes provided them with another 5 points. Ralph Morley knew that the language with no official status which is closely related to Cornish is Breton. It’s not dissimilar to Welsh either, I noticed during a stay in St. Malô a good few years ago. Now, continuing the works of fiction whose names bear a word from the NATO phonetic alphabet theme of recent weeks, this time we had films. They didn’t know Une Étrange Aventure du Lemmy Caution, aka Alphaville, (one wonders whether it was big in Japan – one for 80s music fans there) but took the other 2 to break the 200 points barrier. At the 20 minute mark they led by 205 to 50, and the 300 pointer was still very much on.
Ewan Macauley knew what the colour of a particular solution n of ph value 9.6 would be – pink. This earned bonuses on Physics, and took a full set in short order. The second picture starter showed us a couple from European legend. Ewan Macauley took an unsuccessful stab at Abelard and Heloise, but Filip Drnovsek Zorko took a successful one with Tristan and Isolde. More of the same followed, but ironically Abelard and Heloise was the only one they managed. Ralph Morley buzzed in for the next, correctly identifying Lance-Corporal Jones from Dads Army as the recipient of a number of medals, including the Sudan medal. A set of bonuses on Scottish towns or villages brought another full set. Filip Drnovsek Zorko chanced his arm that Dutch metal would be another alloy of copper and zinc, and he was right to do so. Bonuses on Science and the Arts in the 18th Century saw them answer two of the required decades correctly.35 points required for 300. Ewan Macauley, who can still be pleased with his own personal performance in this show, knew that the two colours of the flag of Somalia are blue and white. A full set of bonuses on words ending with – x brought up their 100 points. Ewan Macauley also knew that the NASA probe Dawn was sent to study Ceres and Vesta. Bonuses on Cell Biology provided another full set, and took them to 125 points, and held out just the possibility of setting a repechage score. That man Macauley knew that the Lord Speaker – formerly Chancellor – of the House of Lords sits on the woolsack. A third consecutive full set took them to 150. Make no mistake, this Christ Church team are a very good outfit in their own right. Filip Drnovsek Zorko recognized the title of a work by Shelley. Bonuses on people linked by having the same three letters at the start of their surnames gave Trinity a full set, which brought them to 290. One sensed the gongmeister was flexing his muscles in readiness at this point, but there was just enough for Filip Drnovsek Zorko to answer that FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, which brought up the 300 points, and that was it.
Cards on the table, we’ve been waiting for a UC show this good for a long time. It was good to see JP pay tribute to Christ Church at the end – I agree with him when he says that he hopes this score will be enough to bring them back. To score that well while being blitzed on the buzzer by a rampant Trinity team suggests that they will give many other teams all the problems they can handle. As for Trinity – well! It’s not fair to lay the mantle of Champions in Waiting upon any team’s shoulders after just one performance, but that, gentlemen, was extremely impressive – one of the finest first round performances we have seen in quite a while. Well played.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
So impressive was the performance of Trinity that when neither team could answer about “Meet Me In St. Louis” our hero was moved to make the observation, “At last we’ve found a chink in your armour.”
Interesting Fact That I Did Not Already Know Of The Week
Dutch metal is an alloy of copper and zinc.
Well, if we were still waiting for fireworks in this series, then an Oxford v. Cambridge match was as likely a place to find them as any. Trinity won the original series once in 1974, and then 10 years later they won the first JP series. This year’s vintage were Matthew Ridley, Filip Drnovsek Zorko, Richard Freeland and Ralph Morley, the captain. Christ Church, Oxford didn’t win during the Bamber era, but did win as recently as 2008. They were represented by George Greenwood, Andreas Capstack, Philip Ostrowski and captain Ewan Macauley. On with the show.
When asked the name of the fifth sons of both George V and Henry II Ralph Morley was the first in with the correct answer of John. A set of bonuses on the philosopher Epictetus were all dispatched to the boundary, and even at this early stage Trinity were looking like a class act. Filip Drnovsek Zorko knew that a five letter term for a colourless volatile liquid, and a substance once thought to fill the empty spaces in the Universe would be ether.A nice UC set followed, on clues to pairs of people who shared the same surname. So, for example – the founder of the Quakers, and the winner of a backstroke gold medal in London 2012= Fox. Another full set. Five minutes gone, and already Trinity had 50 points on the board. Matthew Ridley buzzed in very early on the next starter, giving the correct answer of the Broken Windows theory. I wouldn’t have minded hearing a little bit more about that. Finally Trinity showed some weakness by only taking one bonus on scientific diagrams. Which was one more bonus than was answered form the Clark sofa, I might add. A great shout from Ralph Morley took the next starter, on the poet Catullus. Normal service was resumed as the team took a full set of bonuses on film directors and opera. The picture starter showed a map of 4 places in England all sharing the same suffix. Ewan Macauley buzzed first to break Christ Church’s duck with Hampton. Of the bonus set of 3 more sets of places linked by a common suffix they failed to add to their score. Still, they were under way. Matthew Ridley recognized a description of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy ( quote from a pupil – “Where’s the magic”?) Bonuses on world languages were all taken, and so at the 10 minute mark you have to say that Trinity weren’t just looking the most likely winners of this match, they were looking like most likely winners of the whole series. One of the most impressive opening spells I can remember for several years. They led by 115 to 10.
Ralph Morley was the first one to buzz in with the answer that the art collection held in Somerset House is the Courtauld. Once again they showed that they are human by only managing one bonus on Landseer. Now, brace yourselves. I knew a science starter – that the phenomenon involving the loss of electrical resistance at low temperatures is superconductivity. Ewan Macauley knew it too. This gave Christ Church a shot at Geometry. They took two bonuses. Rather surprisingly, given the quality of the two teams involved in this match, neither knew that Judy Garland sang the Trolley Song in the film “Meet Me In St. Louis”. The irrepressible and highly impressive Ralph Morley knew that the Roman General possibly poisoned in Syria in 19 AD was Germanicus ( you know him – Derek Jacobi’s brother.) Another UC special set on words that are often confused with each other followed. For example infer and imply. 2 correct answers brought up the 150 points for Trinity, and raised the possibility that we could possibly see our first 300 pointer for some time. The music starter played us a wee snatch of Pink Floyd before Filip Drnovsek Zorko buzzed in with the right answer. More pieces of music featuring a harmonium followed, with the bands who they accompanied being what was required for the answers. Trinity managed two of them. Asked how many different University Challenge teams could be formed from seven students Ewan Macauley correctly worked out that it would be 35. Bonuses on Deviations in the International Date Line saw them take their score to 50. Filip Drnovsek Zorko knew that novels by Stephen King and Zamyatin both had personal pronouns as titles. Astronomical telescopes provided them with another 5 points. Ralph Morley knew that the language with no official status which is closely related to Cornish is Breton. It’s not dissimilar to Welsh either, I noticed during a stay in St. Malô a good few years ago. Now, continuing the works of fiction whose names bear a word from the NATO phonetic alphabet theme of recent weeks, this time we had films. They didn’t know Une Étrange Aventure du Lemmy Caution, aka Alphaville, (one wonders whether it was big in Japan – one for 80s music fans there) but took the other 2 to break the 200 points barrier. At the 20 minute mark they led by 205 to 50, and the 300 pointer was still very much on.
Ewan Macauley knew what the colour of a particular solution n of ph value 9.6 would be – pink. This earned bonuses on Physics, and took a full set in short order. The second picture starter showed us a couple from European legend. Ewan Macauley took an unsuccessful stab at Abelard and Heloise, but Filip Drnovsek Zorko took a successful one with Tristan and Isolde. More of the same followed, but ironically Abelard and Heloise was the only one they managed. Ralph Morley buzzed in for the next, correctly identifying Lance-Corporal Jones from Dads Army as the recipient of a number of medals, including the Sudan medal. A set of bonuses on Scottish towns or villages brought another full set. Filip Drnovsek Zorko chanced his arm that Dutch metal would be another alloy of copper and zinc, and he was right to do so. Bonuses on Science and the Arts in the 18th Century saw them answer two of the required decades correctly.35 points required for 300. Ewan Macauley, who can still be pleased with his own personal performance in this show, knew that the two colours of the flag of Somalia are blue and white. A full set of bonuses on words ending with – x brought up their 100 points. Ewan Macauley also knew that the NASA probe Dawn was sent to study Ceres and Vesta. Bonuses on Cell Biology provided another full set, and took them to 125 points, and held out just the possibility of setting a repechage score. That man Macauley knew that the Lord Speaker – formerly Chancellor – of the House of Lords sits on the woolsack. A third consecutive full set took them to 150. Make no mistake, this Christ Church team are a very good outfit in their own right. Filip Drnovsek Zorko recognized the title of a work by Shelley. Bonuses on people linked by having the same three letters at the start of their surnames gave Trinity a full set, which brought them to 290. One sensed the gongmeister was flexing his muscles in readiness at this point, but there was just enough for Filip Drnovsek Zorko to answer that FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, which brought up the 300 points, and that was it.
Cards on the table, we’ve been waiting for a UC show this good for a long time. It was good to see JP pay tribute to Christ Church at the end – I agree with him when he says that he hopes this score will be enough to bring them back. To score that well while being blitzed on the buzzer by a rampant Trinity team suggests that they will give many other teams all the problems they can handle. As for Trinity – well! It’s not fair to lay the mantle of Champions in Waiting upon any team’s shoulders after just one performance, but that, gentlemen, was extremely impressive – one of the finest first round performances we have seen in quite a while. Well played.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
So impressive was the performance of Trinity that when neither team could answer about “Meet Me In St. Louis” our hero was moved to make the observation, “At last we’ve found a chink in your armour.”
Interesting Fact That I Did Not Already Know Of The Week
Dutch metal is an alloy of copper and zinc.
Monday, 29 July 2013
In the News
In the News
Who Or What Are the Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Andrews
2. James Pattinson
3. Marte Dalelv
4. Tata Marino
5. Smiler
6. My Brief History
7. Nicholas Jacobs
8. Sant Kaur Bajura
9. James Alexander Gordon
10. Joe Conley
11. HMS Somerset
12. Francisco Jose Garzon
13. Ed Fordham MP and Russell Eagling
In Other News
1. Who won the last stage of the 2013 Tour de France on the Champs Elysee?
2. Who won the four main Tour de France jerseys?
3. Who won golf’s Open Championship?
4. Why was Paul Gascoigne in the news last week?
5. Which famous pair of former colleagues are to appear together in the 75th anniversary issue of the Beano?
6. Two trains collided in which English city?
7. Off the coast of which antipodean city was there a 6.9 earthquake?
8. Where was the largest ever gathering of people dressed as pirates?
9. Which actor, comedian, director died at the age of 60 last week?
10. What is the name of the new King of Belgium?
11. What was Joe Root’s score in the second innings of the 2nd Ashes test?
12. How many birdies di the Open winner make in his last 6 holes?
13. Who won the WBO International Heavyweight title last week?
14. Who turned 70 on the 26th July last week?
15. What was the date and time at which the Cambridges’ baby was born?
16. What was his weight?
17. How many Taliban prisoners broke out of Abu Graibh?
18. Which long running show is being absorbed into Countryfile?
19. Which channel has channel 5 overtaken in the ratings for the first time ever?
20. Where was the royal baby born
21. Which airport proposed having a second runway built last week?
22. In which country were over 70 political prisoners freed?
23. The prize fund for Premium Bonds is to drop to what?
24. What are the three first names of the royal baby?
25. What did Archbishop Justin Welby say he wanted to put out of business?
26. Why did this prove to be a severe case of foot in mouth?
27. What is the most crowded UK train journey?
28. How much did Nadine Dorries MP pay back in wrongly claimed travel expenses?
29. Which great former welter and middleweight world boxing champion passed away?
30. The Spanish train derailment tragedy occurred near which city?
31. Olympic champion boxer Anthony Joshua has signed a management deal with whom?
32. Where was a big blue cockerel unveiled last week?
33. What sentence did SAS sniper Danny Nightingale receive?
34. Julian Assangte announced that he will run for the Senate in which country?
35. Dominic Strauss Khan has been charged with what?
36. Which controversial figure made a documentary with David Attenborough?
37. Which 55 year old DJ is to leave Radio 1?
38. What happened to Stuart Hall’s sentence last week?
Who Or What Are the Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Andrews
2. James Pattinson
3. Marte Dalelv
4. Tata Marino
5. Smiler
6. My Brief History
7. Nicholas Jacobs
8. Sant Kaur Bajura
9. James Alexander Gordon
10. Joe Conley
11. HMS Somerset
12. Francisco Jose Garzon
13. Ed Fordham MP and Russell Eagling
In Other News
1. Who won the last stage of the 2013 Tour de France on the Champs Elysee?
2. Who won the four main Tour de France jerseys?
3. Who won golf’s Open Championship?
4. Why was Paul Gascoigne in the news last week?
5. Which famous pair of former colleagues are to appear together in the 75th anniversary issue of the Beano?
6. Two trains collided in which English city?
7. Off the coast of which antipodean city was there a 6.9 earthquake?
8. Where was the largest ever gathering of people dressed as pirates?
9. Which actor, comedian, director died at the age of 60 last week?
10. What is the name of the new King of Belgium?
11. What was Joe Root’s score in the second innings of the 2nd Ashes test?
12. How many birdies di the Open winner make in his last 6 holes?
13. Who won the WBO International Heavyweight title last week?
14. Who turned 70 on the 26th July last week?
15. What was the date and time at which the Cambridges’ baby was born?
16. What was his weight?
17. How many Taliban prisoners broke out of Abu Graibh?
18. Which long running show is being absorbed into Countryfile?
19. Which channel has channel 5 overtaken in the ratings for the first time ever?
20. Where was the royal baby born
21. Which airport proposed having a second runway built last week?
22. In which country were over 70 political prisoners freed?
23. The prize fund for Premium Bonds is to drop to what?
24. What are the three first names of the royal baby?
25. What did Archbishop Justin Welby say he wanted to put out of business?
26. Why did this prove to be a severe case of foot in mouth?
27. What is the most crowded UK train journey?
28. How much did Nadine Dorries MP pay back in wrongly claimed travel expenses?
29. Which great former welter and middleweight world boxing champion passed away?
30. The Spanish train derailment tragedy occurred near which city?
31. Olympic champion boxer Anthony Joshua has signed a management deal with whom?
32. Where was a big blue cockerel unveiled last week?
33. What sentence did SAS sniper Danny Nightingale receive?
34. Julian Assangte announced that he will run for the Senate in which country?
35. Dominic Strauss Khan has been charged with what?
36. Which controversial figure made a documentary with David Attenborough?
37. Which 55 year old DJ is to leave Radio 1?
38. What happened to Stuart Hall’s sentence last week?
Saturday, 27 July 2013
University Challenge - Round 1 - Match 2
St. John’s, Cambridge v. Reading
St. John’s, Cambridge are old hands at UC, although they have never before quite managed to win the series. The St. John’s team opted to introduce themselves by their christian names alone, which is certainly nice and friendly, and they were Jarrett Huang, Casey Swerner, Robin Younghusband and their captain Anna Stansbury. Reading have never won UC either, and hoping to bring that state of affairs to an end were Michael Dunleavy, Christopher White, Luke Tudge, and skipper Peter Burgess. That’s enough for now, let’s get on with the show.
Both teams were a little slow off the mark to answer about Highgate Cemetery’s most famous customer, but when the buzzer race did finally get under way it was won by Luke Tudge, who answered correctly with Karl Marx. My mother reckoned that he is actually buried next to a person named Spencer, but I’ve never got round to checking out if this is true. The first set of bonuses were all on politicians born in 1913, and they managed two, missing out only on Menachem Begin. Reading maintained their confident start, when they captain Peter Burgess realized that if the two word phrase used by Kofi Annan was more famously associated with the Queen, then it must be annus horribilis. Bonuses on bodily processes saw them once again miss the first and take the second and third. Luke Tudge took his second starter, with the matched pair of words Elbe and Elba. Almost inevitably the set of bonuses on clerics in literature saw them miss the first, and take the next two. It has to be said that these 20 point increments were pushing their score up nicely, and they had racked up 60 altogether without reply from St. John’s. The first picture starter showed us a map of California, and asked the teams to identify a city at the head of Silicon Valley. Neither team knew the way to San Jose, which was the answer, and so the bonuses rolled over. This one asked for the 4 letters which started words meaning a tuba-like instrument – a pleasant word or expression substituted for something harsher – and at this point Anna Stansbury interrupted correctly with Euph – to open the St. John’s account. The picture bonuses showed them three more San Joses in Central or South America, and asked them to identify the country. This provided us with the first full set of the series, in what showed every sign of becoming a quality contest. Christopher White took his first starter for Reading with the U2 spy plane – which apparently still hasn’t found what it’s looking for. Sorry. Bonuses on Italian cinema passed them by. Nonetheless it had been a very good first ten minutes for Reading, who led by 70 to 25.
Anna Stansbury knew that if a questio0n contains the words ‘festival’ – ‘ lights’ and ‘October’ then Diwali is never going to be a bad answer. This timely interruption brought up bonuses on a group of philosophers. St. John’s managed two about the Vienna School. Peter Burgess took the next starter with the anagrammatical Ohms and Mohs. Bonuses on Spanish Conquistadores followed. Every answer that Reading gave was the name of a conquistador, but unfortunately not the right one for the right answer, and no bonuses were taken.Christopher Whiet took his second starter recognizing Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Good shout. The bonuses were on excerpts from other pieces of music used in the Opening Ceremony of London 2012. They knew all 3 pieces, but not who composed the music of Jerusalem, or the Dambusters March. It didn’t really matter, since it brought the 100 up for Reading anyway. Neither team knew that the mythical creature linking the unlikely pairing of Shakespeare and E. Nesbit is a phoenix – and the Turtle , - and the Carpet. Lovely UC special followed. Which two prime numbers when multiplied together give the total number of kilometres in the two events in which Mo Farah won gold in London 2012? Well, I quickly worked out that 10 and 5 are 15, and 3 x 5 gives the same answer. Anna Stansbury let Christopher White have a go first, but when he gave the wrong answer she buzzed in with the right one. A fascinating set on Astronomical errors followed. I’ll be honest, the only one I knew was that the lines, or canalli on Mars were put forward by the astronomer Schiapparelli – whose granddaguther, I think, was Elsa, the ‘shocking pink’ designer. St. John’s did not manage any of these. Anna Stansbury took another starter, knowing full well that your atrium might be in your hall or your heart. A good UC set on calendar dates where the number of the day is the same as the number of the month followed. They took one of a tricky set. The next starter contained the words ‘controversial novel’, and without waiting I shouted “The Satanic Verses”. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Luke Tudge did, and earned his team bonuses on zoology.2 were taken, which meant that Reading still led at the 20 minute mark, by 120 to 70. Reading still had the whip hand, but St. John’s had at least shown their ability, and put themselves in a position in which a late spurt could still be enough for them.
For the second picture starter JP showed a little leniency accepting Peter Burgess’ answer of Juan Manuel Barroso for Jose Manuel Barroso. The three bonuses showed other prominent European politicians. They managed one with Baroness Ashton. Spoon, direct and roller-lever were all types of bicycle brakes, as Peter Burgess knew for the next starter. Cities on the Indian subcontinent whose names end with – bad - . The one they managed took their score up to 150, and with only a few minutes to go it seemed that they had surely passed over the event horizon. Robin Younghusband correctly identified leviathan, behemoth, cherub and jubilee as having been derived from Hebrew. Two bonuses on novels whose titles contain words from the NATO phonetic alphabet – a lovely set that – brought St. John’s to the brink of triple figures. When Michael Dunleavy correctly answered that Michael Faraday inaugurated the annual Christmas Lectures it meant that each member of the Reading team had answered at least one starter correctly. Members of Parliament representing constituencies in Scotland brought them a couple more correct answers. Asked in MAths, what is the lowest common multiple of all of the prime numbers between one and six my despairing stab in the dark with 30 turned out to be right when Anna Stansbury buzzed in with the correct answer. By way of an encore I took all three questions on metals, of which St. John’s took 1. Never mind, they were now into triple figures and respectability, whatever happened. Robin Younghusband took his second starter, knowing that Macedonia starts with 4 letters which denote a symbol of the authority of the House of Commons. Now, some readers might be kind enough to say that they remember me taking Henry Ford as a specialist subject in the first round of Mastermind 2007(SOBM), so I was delighted to see St. John’s receive a set of bonuses on the man himself. They were what I would call very fair questions – nothing to really catch you out, and St. John’s took the first. Michael Dunleavy took his second starter, knowing that the John Steinbeck novel about brothers, one of whom is called Caleb is “East of Eden”. Bonuses on Hermes prevented the team from adding to their score, but it was no matter. Reading ended by winning on 180 to 120.
Reading were, I thought, pretty good value for their win. A good buzzer team, although I don’t think they converted any full sets of bonuses. Good luck next round. Well played both teams.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP allowed Peter Burgess a little leniency on the Barroso question. Other than that I have absolutely nothing left to report. A little disappointing for seasoned JP connoisseurs.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Cassini once identified a moon of Venus. Unfortunately for him, Venus has no moons.
St. John’s, Cambridge are old hands at UC, although they have never before quite managed to win the series. The St. John’s team opted to introduce themselves by their christian names alone, which is certainly nice and friendly, and they were Jarrett Huang, Casey Swerner, Robin Younghusband and their captain Anna Stansbury. Reading have never won UC either, and hoping to bring that state of affairs to an end were Michael Dunleavy, Christopher White, Luke Tudge, and skipper Peter Burgess. That’s enough for now, let’s get on with the show.
Both teams were a little slow off the mark to answer about Highgate Cemetery’s most famous customer, but when the buzzer race did finally get under way it was won by Luke Tudge, who answered correctly with Karl Marx. My mother reckoned that he is actually buried next to a person named Spencer, but I’ve never got round to checking out if this is true. The first set of bonuses were all on politicians born in 1913, and they managed two, missing out only on Menachem Begin. Reading maintained their confident start, when they captain Peter Burgess realized that if the two word phrase used by Kofi Annan was more famously associated with the Queen, then it must be annus horribilis. Bonuses on bodily processes saw them once again miss the first and take the second and third. Luke Tudge took his second starter, with the matched pair of words Elbe and Elba. Almost inevitably the set of bonuses on clerics in literature saw them miss the first, and take the next two. It has to be said that these 20 point increments were pushing their score up nicely, and they had racked up 60 altogether without reply from St. John’s. The first picture starter showed us a map of California, and asked the teams to identify a city at the head of Silicon Valley. Neither team knew the way to San Jose, which was the answer, and so the bonuses rolled over. This one asked for the 4 letters which started words meaning a tuba-like instrument – a pleasant word or expression substituted for something harsher – and at this point Anna Stansbury interrupted correctly with Euph – to open the St. John’s account. The picture bonuses showed them three more San Joses in Central or South America, and asked them to identify the country. This provided us with the first full set of the series, in what showed every sign of becoming a quality contest. Christopher White took his first starter for Reading with the U2 spy plane – which apparently still hasn’t found what it’s looking for. Sorry. Bonuses on Italian cinema passed them by. Nonetheless it had been a very good first ten minutes for Reading, who led by 70 to 25.
Anna Stansbury knew that if a questio0n contains the words ‘festival’ – ‘ lights’ and ‘October’ then Diwali is never going to be a bad answer. This timely interruption brought up bonuses on a group of philosophers. St. John’s managed two about the Vienna School. Peter Burgess took the next starter with the anagrammatical Ohms and Mohs. Bonuses on Spanish Conquistadores followed. Every answer that Reading gave was the name of a conquistador, but unfortunately not the right one for the right answer, and no bonuses were taken.Christopher Whiet took his second starter recognizing Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Good shout. The bonuses were on excerpts from other pieces of music used in the Opening Ceremony of London 2012. They knew all 3 pieces, but not who composed the music of Jerusalem, or the Dambusters March. It didn’t really matter, since it brought the 100 up for Reading anyway. Neither team knew that the mythical creature linking the unlikely pairing of Shakespeare and E. Nesbit is a phoenix – and the Turtle , - and the Carpet. Lovely UC special followed. Which two prime numbers when multiplied together give the total number of kilometres in the two events in which Mo Farah won gold in London 2012? Well, I quickly worked out that 10 and 5 are 15, and 3 x 5 gives the same answer. Anna Stansbury let Christopher White have a go first, but when he gave the wrong answer she buzzed in with the right one. A fascinating set on Astronomical errors followed. I’ll be honest, the only one I knew was that the lines, or canalli on Mars were put forward by the astronomer Schiapparelli – whose granddaguther, I think, was Elsa, the ‘shocking pink’ designer. St. John’s did not manage any of these. Anna Stansbury took another starter, knowing full well that your atrium might be in your hall or your heart. A good UC set on calendar dates where the number of the day is the same as the number of the month followed. They took one of a tricky set. The next starter contained the words ‘controversial novel’, and without waiting I shouted “The Satanic Verses”. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Luke Tudge did, and earned his team bonuses on zoology.2 were taken, which meant that Reading still led at the 20 minute mark, by 120 to 70. Reading still had the whip hand, but St. John’s had at least shown their ability, and put themselves in a position in which a late spurt could still be enough for them.
For the second picture starter JP showed a little leniency accepting Peter Burgess’ answer of Juan Manuel Barroso for Jose Manuel Barroso. The three bonuses showed other prominent European politicians. They managed one with Baroness Ashton. Spoon, direct and roller-lever were all types of bicycle brakes, as Peter Burgess knew for the next starter. Cities on the Indian subcontinent whose names end with – bad - . The one they managed took their score up to 150, and with only a few minutes to go it seemed that they had surely passed over the event horizon. Robin Younghusband correctly identified leviathan, behemoth, cherub and jubilee as having been derived from Hebrew. Two bonuses on novels whose titles contain words from the NATO phonetic alphabet – a lovely set that – brought St. John’s to the brink of triple figures. When Michael Dunleavy correctly answered that Michael Faraday inaugurated the annual Christmas Lectures it meant that each member of the Reading team had answered at least one starter correctly. Members of Parliament representing constituencies in Scotland brought them a couple more correct answers. Asked in MAths, what is the lowest common multiple of all of the prime numbers between one and six my despairing stab in the dark with 30 turned out to be right when Anna Stansbury buzzed in with the correct answer. By way of an encore I took all three questions on metals, of which St. John’s took 1. Never mind, they were now into triple figures and respectability, whatever happened. Robin Younghusband took his second starter, knowing that Macedonia starts with 4 letters which denote a symbol of the authority of the House of Commons. Now, some readers might be kind enough to say that they remember me taking Henry Ford as a specialist subject in the first round of Mastermind 2007(SOBM), so I was delighted to see St. John’s receive a set of bonuses on the man himself. They were what I would call very fair questions – nothing to really catch you out, and St. John’s took the first. Michael Dunleavy took his second starter, knowing that the John Steinbeck novel about brothers, one of whom is called Caleb is “East of Eden”. Bonuses on Hermes prevented the team from adding to their score, but it was no matter. Reading ended by winning on 180 to 120.
Reading were, I thought, pretty good value for their win. A good buzzer team, although I don’t think they converted any full sets of bonuses. Good luck next round. Well played both teams.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP allowed Peter Burgess a little leniency on the Barroso question. Other than that I have absolutely nothing left to report. A little disappointing for seasoned JP connoisseurs.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Cassini once identified a moon of Venus. Unfortunately for him, Venus has no moons.
Thursday, 25 July 2013
My New Grandson
Sorry to interrupt all of the quiz stuff. I don't normally post a great amount about my family, and things which aren't really connected with quizzing, but you have to forgive me for being a proud new Granddad.
The fine young man in the photo is Ollie, my first grandchild, born this morning at 4:34am.
The fine young man in the photo is Ollie, my first grandchild, born this morning at 4:34am.
Monday, 22 July 2013
Only Connect - Semi Final Preview
| Carts | 22 - 28 | 26 – 26 (TB) | 15 – 13 |
| Fans | 20 - 23 | 28 – 30 | 20 – 20 (TB) |
| Francophiles | 23 - 20 | 27 – 16 | - |
| Celts | 28 - 22 | 23 – 12 | - |
Schedule
Celts v. Festival Fans
Carts v. Francophiles
On paper the forecast looks a simple one doesn’t it? The Celts and the Francophiles should contest the final? Well, maybe so. The Francophiles defeated the Festival Fans in their first match, and the Celts defeated the Cartophiles in theirs. Still, let’s not be too hasty in forming judgements. We’ll have a quick look at the teams and see what conclusions we can draw, if any.
The Fans : The Francophiles were actually behind the Fans in their match going into the missing vowels. The GPs pulled back points on the Fans in their second match during the missing vowels. The Cat Lovers trailed the Fans by 3 points going into the missing vowels, and they pulled up to force a tie break. All of which suggests a very useful team on rounds 1 – 3, but one that might be vulnerable on the final run in.
The Carts: The Cartophiles matched the Celts in the first and last rounds of their clash, but were second best in rounds 2 and 3. In their second match they had a little bit of a crisis in the vowels round, having carved out a decent lead in the first three rounds, only to let the Corpuscles pull back in the vowels to force a tie break. In their final match they held their nerve to eke out a two point lead over the Fell Walkers and keep it. If they have a lead going into the vowels, then they seem capable of keeping it, but not necessarily of overturning a lead if they are behind at this point.
The Celts: The Celts’ 23 – 12 victory over the Cat Lovers in their second round match was one of the two really dominant performances from any of the semi-finalists in the first round. The Cat Lovers were good enough to take the Festival Fans to a tie break as well in their next match. In their first match they beat fellow semifinalists the Cartophiles by racking up the points during rounds 2 and 3. In all honesty they don’t seem to have a great weakness, but the Fans are certainly capable of taking them all the way to the wire, and if the missing vowel categories suit, they could even cause an upset.
The Francophiles: After their close match against the Fans in their first round match, the Francs comfortably disposed of the Fell Walkers, in the second really dominant performance of the round, opening out a huge gap during rounds 2 and 3. Having already beaten fellow semifinalists the Festival Fans I fancy that this team should go all of the way. Yet again, though, the Carts are a resilient bunch, capable of springing an upset.
So am I taking the line of least resistance when I back the two unbeaten teams to reach the final? Well, my forecast is not without statistical reinforcement. These are the teams’ average scores :
The Celts: 25.5
The Francs: 25
The Fans: 22.6
The Carts: 21
Well, alright, you can only tell so much from even three matches, so maybe we shouldn’t read too much into this. In fact, you can say that with such a small gap covering all 4 teams’ average it does demonstrate what we’ve thought, namely, that this has been a very competitive series so far, with precious few ‘soft’ teams there for the taking.
Saturday, 20 July 2013
In The News
In The News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail
2. Robert Galbraith
3. Stephen Hunt
4. George Zimmerman
5. Cory Monteith
6. And the Crowd ( wept)
7. James Dasaolu
8. Morgan Shepherd
9. Steph McGovern
10. Steve Sewell
11. Susie Wolff
12. Reverend Al Sharpton
13. Emma Way
14. Miguel Angel Trevino Morales
15. Jibaozhai Museum
16. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
17. Adnan Rasheed
18. Chris Reynolds
19. Carl Fearns
20. Leah Totton
21. Erwin Bach
22. Ray Butt
23. Paul Battachargee
24. Judith Callegari
25. Liza Gharboni
26. Alexei Navaliy
27. Olga Dogaru
28. Lord Selsdon
In Other News
1. What was England’s exact margin of victory in the first Ashes test?
2. Chris Froome became the first british rider to win a stage on which iconic mountain in the Tour de France?
3. Name the two leading male sprinters who it was announced had failed drugs tests?
4. Who had the highest score in the 2nd Australian innings of the first test?
5. What does DRS stand for in cricket?
6. Which England footballer signed a further two year deal with his club last week?
7. Which bill passed its final reading in the House of Lords last week?
8. Which disease is the latest to cause havoc amongst Britain’s native trees?
9. Which charity website has been suspended by the Charity Commission?
10. Where did Lance Corporal Craig Roberts pass away while on exercises ?
11. Where did Susan Taylor tragically pass away during a fundraising event?
12. Who was reported as taking all of his music off Spotify in protest against the low level of royalties?
13. The 4 copies of what are to be reunited for its 800th anniversary, it was announced?
14. Which company dropped America’s fastest ever sprinter following his failed drug test last week?
15. In Gowerton Comprehensive, near Swansea, boys have taken to which unusual measure to combat overheating?
16. Who was reported last week as joining the Radio 4 Today programme?
17. Why was Kristian Vikernes arrested in France?
18. Who was the second judge to announce that he is leaving The Voice?
19. Which memorable 5 word phrase did Mickey Arthur, the sacked coach of the Australian cricket team say that Michael Clarke had used to describe Shane Watson?
20. Which football manager lost his court appeal against his sacking by Brighton?
21. Lord Leveson was passed over for what last week?
22. Mickey Arthur claimed that he was sacked for which reason?
23. Who has been Hollywood’s top earning actor over the last 12 months?
24. Bernie Ecclestone was reported as having been indicted on bribery charges in which country?
25. 22 children died from poisoned school lunches in which area of India?
26. Which mountain was sacled twice in the same stage of the Tour de France for the first time ever, to mark the 100th running of the tour?
27. Which Olympic 4x400m silver medalist, and former holder of the world indoor record for the 400m, passed away aged 51?
28. What was the name of the NHS blood supplier sold to US Bain Capital?
29. Who visited Lords on the first day of the 2nd Ashes test?
30. What was Ian Bell’s score in the first innings of the 2nd test?
31. According to the Retailer Magazine, which is Britain’s top selling alcohol brand?
32. Which chain is being sued by Rihanna for selling T Shirts with unlicensed images of her?
33. Which famous FA Cup winner passed away aged 89?
34. Who became Europe’s fastest ever 1500m runner?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail
2. Robert Galbraith
3. Stephen Hunt
4. George Zimmerman
5. Cory Monteith
6. And the Crowd ( wept)
7. James Dasaolu
8. Morgan Shepherd
9. Steph McGovern
10. Steve Sewell
11. Susie Wolff
12. Reverend Al Sharpton
13. Emma Way
14. Miguel Angel Trevino Morales
15. Jibaozhai Museum
16. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
17. Adnan Rasheed
18. Chris Reynolds
19. Carl Fearns
20. Leah Totton
21. Erwin Bach
22. Ray Butt
23. Paul Battachargee
24. Judith Callegari
25. Liza Gharboni
26. Alexei Navaliy
27. Olga Dogaru
28. Lord Selsdon
In Other News
1. What was England’s exact margin of victory in the first Ashes test?
2. Chris Froome became the first british rider to win a stage on which iconic mountain in the Tour de France?
3. Name the two leading male sprinters who it was announced had failed drugs tests?
4. Who had the highest score in the 2nd Australian innings of the first test?
5. What does DRS stand for in cricket?
6. Which England footballer signed a further two year deal with his club last week?
7. Which bill passed its final reading in the House of Lords last week?
8. Which disease is the latest to cause havoc amongst Britain’s native trees?
9. Which charity website has been suspended by the Charity Commission?
10. Where did Lance Corporal Craig Roberts pass away while on exercises ?
11. Where did Susan Taylor tragically pass away during a fundraising event?
12. Who was reported as taking all of his music off Spotify in protest against the low level of royalties?
13. The 4 copies of what are to be reunited for its 800th anniversary, it was announced?
14. Which company dropped America’s fastest ever sprinter following his failed drug test last week?
15. In Gowerton Comprehensive, near Swansea, boys have taken to which unusual measure to combat overheating?
16. Who was reported last week as joining the Radio 4 Today programme?
17. Why was Kristian Vikernes arrested in France?
18. Who was the second judge to announce that he is leaving The Voice?
19. Which memorable 5 word phrase did Mickey Arthur, the sacked coach of the Australian cricket team say that Michael Clarke had used to describe Shane Watson?
20. Which football manager lost his court appeal against his sacking by Brighton?
21. Lord Leveson was passed over for what last week?
22. Mickey Arthur claimed that he was sacked for which reason?
23. Who has been Hollywood’s top earning actor over the last 12 months?
24. Bernie Ecclestone was reported as having been indicted on bribery charges in which country?
25. 22 children died from poisoned school lunches in which area of India?
26. Which mountain was sacled twice in the same stage of the Tour de France for the first time ever, to mark the 100th running of the tour?
27. Which Olympic 4x400m silver medalist, and former holder of the world indoor record for the 400m, passed away aged 51?
28. What was the name of the NHS blood supplier sold to US Bain Capital?
29. Who visited Lords on the first day of the 2nd Ashes test?
30. What was Ian Bell’s score in the first innings of the 2nd test?
31. According to the Retailer Magazine, which is Britain’s top selling alcohol brand?
32. Which chain is being sued by Rihanna for selling T Shirts with unlicensed images of her?
33. Which famous FA Cup winner passed away aged 89?
34. Who became Europe’s fastest ever 1500m runner?
Friday, 19 July 2013
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Doctor Werner Lang
2. Lac Magnétic, Quebec
3. Ralph Tarrant
4. Asiana Airlines
5. Robbie Deans
6. The Human Voice
7. Andy Flower
8. Steve Bate
9. Rory Kinnear
10. Malcolm Hayes
11. Reece Elliot
12. Barry George
13. Danny Nightingale
14. Manuel Pellegrini
15. Ashton Agar
16. Charles Foley
17. Albert de Salvo
18. Malala Yousafzai
19. Shahid Khan
20. Andy Harris
21. Martha Renee Kolleh
In Other News
1. What was the score in the third Lions v. Wallabies test?
2. Who scored the Lions’ tries in the final test?
3. Who was finally deported to Jordan last week?
4. What was announced by Michael Parkinson last week?
5. What was the score in the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final?
6. Who won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles?
7. Who resigned from the Privy Council last week?
8. Which famous volcano began erupting last week?
9. Who won the German Grand Prix?
10. Who was criticized for saying that the Wimbledon Ladies singles was never going to be “a looker”?
11. Who issued a press release saying that he is going to be divorcing his wife last week?
12. Laura Robson achieved a career high ranking last week – what is it ?
13. Which member of the Royal family announced that she is expecting a baby last week?
14. Which opera star suffered a pulmonary embolism last week?
15. Who agreed to appear before MPs last week?
16. Who was attacked in HMP Wakefield?
17. David Haye signed to fight whom last week?
18. The Eu have called for the UK to adopt which term as the maximum sentence without automatic review?
19. Athletes from which country failed over 30 drugs tests at the Mediterranean Games?
20. Ireland qualified for which world cup last week?
21. What is the controversial pay rise recommended by IPSA for MPs?
22. What is Barak Obama’s favourite food?
23. Which former champion is out of the world athletics championships in Moscow this summer?
24. Who top scored in England’s 1st innings in the first Ashes Test?
25. Who had urine thrown over him following a controversial incident in the previous day’s stage at the Tour de France?
26. James Anderson passed Freddie Trueman’s test wicket total in the first test. How many did Trueman take?
27. Which two firms are facing a public fraud probe?
28. In a poll of books which was the book that most people gave up before finishing?
29. What did George Osborne admit that he had never visited last week?
30. Whose sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal last week?
31. Which former original Eastenders actress passed away last week?
32. Which book topped the list of most abandoned modern classics?
33. The star of a popular series of TV adverts passed away last week – who was he and what did he advertise?
34. Where did Greenpeace activists make a protest last week?
35. What happened to the care pathway for terminally ill patients last week?
36. Name the Archers spin off which can only be picked up on digital radio?
37. The immigration backlog reached which figure last week?
38. Which welsh village is voting on the spelling of its name?
39. Which TV veteran passed away aged 87?
40. Heathrow was shut down following a 787 dreamliner fire. Which airline was involved?
41. Which famous actor was allegedly hurt during a stage fight in a production of Macbeth last week?
42. What happened in Bretigny sur Orge just outside Paris?
43. Who was widely condemned for failing to walk during the first test?
44. Which rugby player was allegedly knocked out in a brawl with a team mate, before he has even played for the club?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Inventor of the Trabant car, passed away last week
2. Site of the oil train explosion
3. Britain’s oldest man – 110 last week
4. Korean airline in the San Francisco airport crash
5. Sacked coach of the Australian Rugby team
6. New film starring Sophia Loren
7. Coach of the England cricket team
8. 1st blind man to scale El Capital mountain in California
9. Actor tipped as the next Doctor Who, claimed he had never even watched it
10. Headteacher who had a Baasil Falwty style meltdown and took school’s electric organ out and ran over it repeatedly
11. Jailed for making online threats to kill 200 children
12. Lost case for compensation over his imprisonment for the Jill Dando murder
13. SAS Sniper found guilty of illegal possession of a gun
14. New manager of Man City
15. Scored 98 in first test – highest ever by a no 11 batsman – beating previous record by Tino Best
16. Inventor of ‘Twister’ – passed away
17. Body to be exhumed for DNA tests to prove whether he really was The Boston Strangler
18. Girl shot in Pakistan after championing education for girls, addressed United Nations last week
19. New owner of Fulham FC
20. First professional opponent of Olymipic boxing champion Luke Campbell
21. Yorkshire café owner, placed a notice in window saying that customers shouldn’t come in if they are allergic to black people.
In Other News
1. 41 – 16 to the Lions
2. Corbisiero – Sexton – North - Roberts
3. Abu Qatada, who waved bye bye from RAF Northolt
4. He has prostate cancer
5. 6-4 / 7-5/ 6 - 4
6. Marion Bartoli bt. Sabine Lisicki
7. John Prescott
8. Popocatapetl
9. Sebastian Vettel
10. John Inverdale
11. Charles Saatchi
12. 27th in the world
13. Zara Tindall (Phillips)
14. Placido Domingo
15. Rupert Murdoch
16. Mark Bridger
17. Tyson Fury
18. 25 years
19. Turkey
20. 2015 cricket world cup
21. 12%
22. Broccoli
23. Phillips Idowu
24. Jonathan Trott - 48
25. Mark Cavendish
26. 307
27. G4S - SERCO
28. “The Casual Vacancy” by JK Rowling
29. A food bank
30. Stuart Hall
31. Anna Wing – Lou Beale from the start in the 80s
32. “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller
33. Louis the chimp – star of the Brooke Bond tea adverts
34. They scaled the Shard in London
35. It has been axed
36. Ambridge Extra
37. 500,000
38. Llansain(t)ffraid ( some want the T and some don’t)
39. Alan Whicker
40. Ethiopian Airlines
41. Sir Kenneth Branagh
42. A train derailment which caused fatalities
43. Stuart Broad
44. Gavin Henson
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Doctor Werner Lang
2. Lac Magnétic, Quebec
3. Ralph Tarrant
4. Asiana Airlines
5. Robbie Deans
6. The Human Voice
7. Andy Flower
8. Steve Bate
9. Rory Kinnear
10. Malcolm Hayes
11. Reece Elliot
12. Barry George
13. Danny Nightingale
14. Manuel Pellegrini
15. Ashton Agar
16. Charles Foley
17. Albert de Salvo
18. Malala Yousafzai
19. Shahid Khan
20. Andy Harris
21. Martha Renee Kolleh
In Other News
1. What was the score in the third Lions v. Wallabies test?
2. Who scored the Lions’ tries in the final test?
3. Who was finally deported to Jordan last week?
4. What was announced by Michael Parkinson last week?
5. What was the score in the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final?
6. Who won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles?
7. Who resigned from the Privy Council last week?
8. Which famous volcano began erupting last week?
9. Who won the German Grand Prix?
10. Who was criticized for saying that the Wimbledon Ladies singles was never going to be “a looker”?
11. Who issued a press release saying that he is going to be divorcing his wife last week?
12. Laura Robson achieved a career high ranking last week – what is it ?
13. Which member of the Royal family announced that she is expecting a baby last week?
14. Which opera star suffered a pulmonary embolism last week?
15. Who agreed to appear before MPs last week?
16. Who was attacked in HMP Wakefield?
17. David Haye signed to fight whom last week?
18. The Eu have called for the UK to adopt which term as the maximum sentence without automatic review?
19. Athletes from which country failed over 30 drugs tests at the Mediterranean Games?
20. Ireland qualified for which world cup last week?
21. What is the controversial pay rise recommended by IPSA for MPs?
22. What is Barak Obama’s favourite food?
23. Which former champion is out of the world athletics championships in Moscow this summer?
24. Who top scored in England’s 1st innings in the first Ashes Test?
25. Who had urine thrown over him following a controversial incident in the previous day’s stage at the Tour de France?
26. James Anderson passed Freddie Trueman’s test wicket total in the first test. How many did Trueman take?
27. Which two firms are facing a public fraud probe?
28. In a poll of books which was the book that most people gave up before finishing?
29. What did George Osborne admit that he had never visited last week?
30. Whose sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal last week?
31. Which former original Eastenders actress passed away last week?
32. Which book topped the list of most abandoned modern classics?
33. The star of a popular series of TV adverts passed away last week – who was he and what did he advertise?
34. Where did Greenpeace activists make a protest last week?
35. What happened to the care pathway for terminally ill patients last week?
36. Name the Archers spin off which can only be picked up on digital radio?
37. The immigration backlog reached which figure last week?
38. Which welsh village is voting on the spelling of its name?
39. Which TV veteran passed away aged 87?
40. Heathrow was shut down following a 787 dreamliner fire. Which airline was involved?
41. Which famous actor was allegedly hurt during a stage fight in a production of Macbeth last week?
42. What happened in Bretigny sur Orge just outside Paris?
43. Who was widely condemned for failing to walk during the first test?
44. Which rugby player was allegedly knocked out in a brawl with a team mate, before he has even played for the club?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Inventor of the Trabant car, passed away last week
2. Site of the oil train explosion
3. Britain’s oldest man – 110 last week
4. Korean airline in the San Francisco airport crash
5. Sacked coach of the Australian Rugby team
6. New film starring Sophia Loren
7. Coach of the England cricket team
8. 1st blind man to scale El Capital mountain in California
9. Actor tipped as the next Doctor Who, claimed he had never even watched it
10. Headteacher who had a Baasil Falwty style meltdown and took school’s electric organ out and ran over it repeatedly
11. Jailed for making online threats to kill 200 children
12. Lost case for compensation over his imprisonment for the Jill Dando murder
13. SAS Sniper found guilty of illegal possession of a gun
14. New manager of Man City
15. Scored 98 in first test – highest ever by a no 11 batsman – beating previous record by Tino Best
16. Inventor of ‘Twister’ – passed away
17. Body to be exhumed for DNA tests to prove whether he really was The Boston Strangler
18. Girl shot in Pakistan after championing education for girls, addressed United Nations last week
19. New owner of Fulham FC
20. First professional opponent of Olymipic boxing champion Luke Campbell
21. Yorkshire café owner, placed a notice in window saying that customers shouldn’t come in if they are allergic to black people.
In Other News
1. 41 – 16 to the Lions
2. Corbisiero – Sexton – North - Roberts
3. Abu Qatada, who waved bye bye from RAF Northolt
4. He has prostate cancer
5. 6-4 / 7-5/ 6 - 4
6. Marion Bartoli bt. Sabine Lisicki
7. John Prescott
8. Popocatapetl
9. Sebastian Vettel
10. John Inverdale
11. Charles Saatchi
12. 27th in the world
13. Zara Tindall (Phillips)
14. Placido Domingo
15. Rupert Murdoch
16. Mark Bridger
17. Tyson Fury
18. 25 years
19. Turkey
20. 2015 cricket world cup
21. 12%
22. Broccoli
23. Phillips Idowu
24. Jonathan Trott - 48
25. Mark Cavendish
26. 307
27. G4S - SERCO
28. “The Casual Vacancy” by JK Rowling
29. A food bank
30. Stuart Hall
31. Anna Wing – Lou Beale from the start in the 80s
32. “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller
33. Louis the chimp – star of the Brooke Bond tea adverts
34. They scaled the Shard in London
35. It has been axed
36. Ambridge Extra
37. 500,000
38. Llansain(t)ffraid ( some want the T and some don’t)
39. Alan Whicker
40. Ethiopian Airlines
41. Sir Kenneth Branagh
42. A train derailment which caused fatalities
43. Stuart Broad
44. Gavin Henson
University Challenge - Round One - Match One
Aberdeen v. Queen’s University, Belfast
I don’t know why, but it always comes as a pleasant surprise to me when a series of University Challenge begins before the end of the school year. Kicking off this series we had a celtic showdown between Aberdeen, and Queens Belfast. The honour of being the first competitor to make an introduction fell to Jonathan Bee, who, accompanied by Ananyo Bagchi, Benedict Jones-Williams, and captain Ben Conway, made up the team from Aberdeen. Queen’s Belfast, hereafter to be referred to as Queen’s for the sake of brevity, were represented by Suzanne Cobain, Gareth Gamble, Alexander Green and their skipper Joseph Greenwood. Let’s say no more by way of introduction, and get on with the show.
The first starter fel to Joseph Greenwood, who knew that if the question contains the words “Petrarchan” and “14 lines” then the answer will be sonnet. This brought up the first bonus set of the series, on offices of state. They managed the first, on the Lord Chancellor, missed the second on that old quiz chestnut, the Master of the Rolls, and didn’t know that Canning, Castlereagh and Palmerston all held the office of Foreign Secretary, although not all at the same time. A long winded quote about the royal banning of a sport saw Ben Conway buzz in first with the correct answer of football. So both teams were now off the mark. Aberdeen’s bonuses on motor manufacturers proved tricky to all of us – I had Nissan due to the bluebird clue, but the team couldn’t get any of them. The next starter I really surprised myself. I can’t give you the exact numbers, but basically it asked which object might have a particularly tiny radius, and a particularly astronomical mass. I answered black hole, which proved to be right. Neither team answered correctly. A timely interruption from Joseph Greenwood, who knew that Martin Esslin coined the term “Theatre of the Absurd” took the next starter, thus earning a set of bonuses on orders of insects. I was delighted to get a full set on what you could categorise as – optera – questions. Coleoptera and hymenoptera flitted past the team, and they obviously knew Lepidoptera, but just couldn’t quite get it out correctly enough for the points.The first picture showed us a diagram of a cocktail consituents. Gin and vermouth shouted Martini, and Benedict Jones-Williams must have heard it, since he was the first to buzz in. I found the following three cocktails from the TV series Mad Men a lot more difficult. Brandy Alexander passed us both by. I had the Tom Collins – not literally, for I can’t stand the stuff – but not the Old Fashioned. Sadly Aberdeen didn’t get any. Asked which French port was taken by the Brits in the 1650s, Alexander green took a punt with Dunkirk, and bagged the points. A set of bonus on the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 (The peasants are revolting! So are you, Rasputin! – name the product in the advert)They were gettable, but Queen’s didn’t quite manage it, zigging with Jack Straw, for instance, rather than sagging with John Ball. So after a first ten minutes which had shown bonuses to be hard to come by for both teams, Queen’s led by 35 to 20.
Asked which woman was advised by Robert Southey that literature could not be part of a woman’s life – ah, if only he had been alive to give Barbara Cartland the same advice – Joseph Greewood buzzed in too early with Jane Austen and lost 5, but Aberdeen could not drag up Charlotte Bronte – now there is an unpleasant mental image. A second consecutive starter went begging with a question on probabaility theory, to which the answer was the Law of Large Numbers. Probably. Ben Conway stopped the rot, recognizing the names of two of the founder members of Dadaism. A very nice set of bonuses on Sussex towns and literature saw Aberdeen manage two, which actually took them into a 10 point lead. Given the titles of two of his works, Jonathan Bee was able to give the name of the economist Ricardo. A nice set of bonuses on puddings followed, I liked the suggestion, which didn’t make it as far as JP, that the pudding with the name which means antidote to a venomous bite is ‘ spotted dick’ but on reflection I think that they were wise not to offer it as an answer to the man himself. They answered one correctly, which to be honest was all I managed as well. The music starter gave us a rock interpretation of a piece by Boccherini, otherwise known in the philistine Clark household as bocca who? The bonuses then were held over while the teams were answered something about focal lengths and diopters. Gareth Gamble not only understood the question, but had the correct answer. For which he earned his team the music bonuses. By the way, I was watching this with the subtitles on with the iplayer, and there was a lovely subtitle with the first bonus – and I quote – “FRANTIC MUSIC PLAYS” -. I recognized Katchaturian’s Sabre Dance, but the team didn’t. They also missed out on the immortal Night on Disco Mountain, based on a work by Mussorgsky, and another by Tchaikovsky. Ananyo Bagchi came in for his first starter with a timely interruption for the term Balkanisation. The team managed one bonus on ecological terms. Aberdeen had a 30 point lead at this stage, so it was a timely buzz from the Queen’s skipper which saw him correctly answer that Danica May Camacho, born in the Philippines, was symbolically dubbed the world’s 7 billionth person . A great UC special set followed, on novels whose titles contain words from the Nato Phonetic Alphabet. I am not ashamed to admit that I didn’t know Delta of Venus either, but we both knew Oscar and Lucinda, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. A tidy little set, and a much needed boost to the score, which saw Queen’s having cut the deficit so that Aberdeen now led by 70 to 60 at the 20 minute mark.
So it was anybody’s game, and it would all come down to who was willing to be a little more daring on the buzzer. Now, you know that I have a thing about bridges, so I loved the next starter, a very nice painting of the Forth Bridge. Johnathan Bee won the buzzer race on that one. Three more pictures of British bridges followed. All three were fairly iconic – Telford’s Menai suspension bridge, the Tyne Bridge, and the stunningly beautiful Clifton Suspension Bridge. Comedy moment of the show came when Ben Conway, lacking any answer for the Menai bridge, answered, completely deadpan “The Bridge over the River Kwai.” More later about JP’s reaction. Maybe their daring was rewarded, as the correct final answer of the Tyne bridge seemed to be something of a guess. Joseph Greenwood recognized a description of the word mantra for the next starter. I managed precisely no bonuses on thermodynamics, but the team managed one. Skipper Joseph Greenwood seemed to smell blood in the water, and he was very quickly in to identify the Real Madrid v. Barcelona match as El Clasico. I’ll be honest, I only got the bonus on the BArrytown trilogy which the team got, and didn’t know the other two literary trilogies. That one bonus though was enough to put Queen’s back in the lead. It was short lived, though, since Benedict Jones-Williams knew that Bute House is the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland. A lovely set of false friends – that is words in another language that resemble words in English, but have completely different meanings – followed as bonuses. I didn’t know that the german word gift actually means poison, but we both had the other two. So Aberdeen were now in treble figures. Nobody knew that the third largest constituent of sea water is chlorine, although I think that Jonathan Bee was definitely on the right lines with Sodium. That man Greenwood knew that the 1999 winner who went on to direct Hunger was Steve McQueen. Two bonuses n US presidents brought them also into treble figures, and as a by product, the lead as well. The Queen’s skipper again showed the way, by answering the next starter, that Pontus Euxinus was another name for the Black Sea. Bonuses on nicknames connected with Tigers saw them add another 5 points to their lead. Alexander Green following his captain’s lead buzzed correctly in for the next starter, on the highest ever rating in Chess. Another five points followed from a set of bonuses on carbon atoms. That, as they say was that. The gong sounded, leaving Queen’s with 140, and Aberdeen becalmed on 105.
Well played Queen’s, and hard lines Aberdeen. Maybe it wasn’t a great show. Both teams were a little too profligate with the bonuses for that – I may be mistaken but I don’ think that either team managed one full set in the whole show. For all that, though, it’s still a pleasure to see UC back.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Alexander Green of Queen’s offered “The Earth “ for the Black Hole Question, and JP, obviously just warming up at this early stage of the series, merely raised a quizzical eyebrow, and observed, “Very odd idea of the shape of the Earth!” Actually, JP, I think you rather meant radius, or size, if we’re being pedantic.
We’ve noticed before how much JP hates it when the teams miss out on English literature questions, so when Benedict Jones-Williams offered Emily Barrett in answer to the question about the woman advised by Southey to give up dreams of becoming a writer, he repeated the answer, with a huge audible question mark, and a ton of derision in every syllable.
When Queen’s offered Rimsky-Korsakov for the reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky, our hero offered,”It’s by Tchaikovsky! Surely it’s unmistakeable!” Well, the fact that they did mistake it kind of gave the lie to that one, old chap.
Finally we saw a virtuoso display of the facial skill known as the ‘old fashioned look’ in response to Ben Conway’s River Kwai crack. “Very funny” JP muttered.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Treacle tart apparently takes its name from a Greek term meaning the antidote to a venomous bite.
I don’t know why, but it always comes as a pleasant surprise to me when a series of University Challenge begins before the end of the school year. Kicking off this series we had a celtic showdown between Aberdeen, and Queens Belfast. The honour of being the first competitor to make an introduction fell to Jonathan Bee, who, accompanied by Ananyo Bagchi, Benedict Jones-Williams, and captain Ben Conway, made up the team from Aberdeen. Queen’s Belfast, hereafter to be referred to as Queen’s for the sake of brevity, were represented by Suzanne Cobain, Gareth Gamble, Alexander Green and their skipper Joseph Greenwood. Let’s say no more by way of introduction, and get on with the show.
The first starter fel to Joseph Greenwood, who knew that if the question contains the words “Petrarchan” and “14 lines” then the answer will be sonnet. This brought up the first bonus set of the series, on offices of state. They managed the first, on the Lord Chancellor, missed the second on that old quiz chestnut, the Master of the Rolls, and didn’t know that Canning, Castlereagh and Palmerston all held the office of Foreign Secretary, although not all at the same time. A long winded quote about the royal banning of a sport saw Ben Conway buzz in first with the correct answer of football. So both teams were now off the mark. Aberdeen’s bonuses on motor manufacturers proved tricky to all of us – I had Nissan due to the bluebird clue, but the team couldn’t get any of them. The next starter I really surprised myself. I can’t give you the exact numbers, but basically it asked which object might have a particularly tiny radius, and a particularly astronomical mass. I answered black hole, which proved to be right. Neither team answered correctly. A timely interruption from Joseph Greenwood, who knew that Martin Esslin coined the term “Theatre of the Absurd” took the next starter, thus earning a set of bonuses on orders of insects. I was delighted to get a full set on what you could categorise as – optera – questions. Coleoptera and hymenoptera flitted past the team, and they obviously knew Lepidoptera, but just couldn’t quite get it out correctly enough for the points.The first picture showed us a diagram of a cocktail consituents. Gin and vermouth shouted Martini, and Benedict Jones-Williams must have heard it, since he was the first to buzz in. I found the following three cocktails from the TV series Mad Men a lot more difficult. Brandy Alexander passed us both by. I had the Tom Collins – not literally, for I can’t stand the stuff – but not the Old Fashioned. Sadly Aberdeen didn’t get any. Asked which French port was taken by the Brits in the 1650s, Alexander green took a punt with Dunkirk, and bagged the points. A set of bonus on the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 (The peasants are revolting! So are you, Rasputin! – name the product in the advert)They were gettable, but Queen’s didn’t quite manage it, zigging with Jack Straw, for instance, rather than sagging with John Ball. So after a first ten minutes which had shown bonuses to be hard to come by for both teams, Queen’s led by 35 to 20.
Asked which woman was advised by Robert Southey that literature could not be part of a woman’s life – ah, if only he had been alive to give Barbara Cartland the same advice – Joseph Greewood buzzed in too early with Jane Austen and lost 5, but Aberdeen could not drag up Charlotte Bronte – now there is an unpleasant mental image. A second consecutive starter went begging with a question on probabaility theory, to which the answer was the Law of Large Numbers. Probably. Ben Conway stopped the rot, recognizing the names of two of the founder members of Dadaism. A very nice set of bonuses on Sussex towns and literature saw Aberdeen manage two, which actually took them into a 10 point lead. Given the titles of two of his works, Jonathan Bee was able to give the name of the economist Ricardo. A nice set of bonuses on puddings followed, I liked the suggestion, which didn’t make it as far as JP, that the pudding with the name which means antidote to a venomous bite is ‘ spotted dick’ but on reflection I think that they were wise not to offer it as an answer to the man himself. They answered one correctly, which to be honest was all I managed as well. The music starter gave us a rock interpretation of a piece by Boccherini, otherwise known in the philistine Clark household as bocca who? The bonuses then were held over while the teams were answered something about focal lengths and diopters. Gareth Gamble not only understood the question, but had the correct answer. For which he earned his team the music bonuses. By the way, I was watching this with the subtitles on with the iplayer, and there was a lovely subtitle with the first bonus – and I quote – “FRANTIC MUSIC PLAYS” -. I recognized Katchaturian’s Sabre Dance, but the team didn’t. They also missed out on the immortal Night on Disco Mountain, based on a work by Mussorgsky, and another by Tchaikovsky. Ananyo Bagchi came in for his first starter with a timely interruption for the term Balkanisation. The team managed one bonus on ecological terms. Aberdeen had a 30 point lead at this stage, so it was a timely buzz from the Queen’s skipper which saw him correctly answer that Danica May Camacho, born in the Philippines, was symbolically dubbed the world’s 7 billionth person . A great UC special set followed, on novels whose titles contain words from the Nato Phonetic Alphabet. I am not ashamed to admit that I didn’t know Delta of Venus either, but we both knew Oscar and Lucinda, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. A tidy little set, and a much needed boost to the score, which saw Queen’s having cut the deficit so that Aberdeen now led by 70 to 60 at the 20 minute mark.
So it was anybody’s game, and it would all come down to who was willing to be a little more daring on the buzzer. Now, you know that I have a thing about bridges, so I loved the next starter, a very nice painting of the Forth Bridge. Johnathan Bee won the buzzer race on that one. Three more pictures of British bridges followed. All three were fairly iconic – Telford’s Menai suspension bridge, the Tyne Bridge, and the stunningly beautiful Clifton Suspension Bridge. Comedy moment of the show came when Ben Conway, lacking any answer for the Menai bridge, answered, completely deadpan “The Bridge over the River Kwai.” More later about JP’s reaction. Maybe their daring was rewarded, as the correct final answer of the Tyne bridge seemed to be something of a guess. Joseph Greenwood recognized a description of the word mantra for the next starter. I managed precisely no bonuses on thermodynamics, but the team managed one. Skipper Joseph Greenwood seemed to smell blood in the water, and he was very quickly in to identify the Real Madrid v. Barcelona match as El Clasico. I’ll be honest, I only got the bonus on the BArrytown trilogy which the team got, and didn’t know the other two literary trilogies. That one bonus though was enough to put Queen’s back in the lead. It was short lived, though, since Benedict Jones-Williams knew that Bute House is the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland. A lovely set of false friends – that is words in another language that resemble words in English, but have completely different meanings – followed as bonuses. I didn’t know that the german word gift actually means poison, but we both had the other two. So Aberdeen were now in treble figures. Nobody knew that the third largest constituent of sea water is chlorine, although I think that Jonathan Bee was definitely on the right lines with Sodium. That man Greenwood knew that the 1999 winner who went on to direct Hunger was Steve McQueen. Two bonuses n US presidents brought them also into treble figures, and as a by product, the lead as well. The Queen’s skipper again showed the way, by answering the next starter, that Pontus Euxinus was another name for the Black Sea. Bonuses on nicknames connected with Tigers saw them add another 5 points to their lead. Alexander Green following his captain’s lead buzzed correctly in for the next starter, on the highest ever rating in Chess. Another five points followed from a set of bonuses on carbon atoms. That, as they say was that. The gong sounded, leaving Queen’s with 140, and Aberdeen becalmed on 105.
Well played Queen’s, and hard lines Aberdeen. Maybe it wasn’t a great show. Both teams were a little too profligate with the bonuses for that – I may be mistaken but I don’ think that either team managed one full set in the whole show. For all that, though, it’s still a pleasure to see UC back.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Alexander Green of Queen’s offered “The Earth “ for the Black Hole Question, and JP, obviously just warming up at this early stage of the series, merely raised a quizzical eyebrow, and observed, “Very odd idea of the shape of the Earth!” Actually, JP, I think you rather meant radius, or size, if we’re being pedantic.
We’ve noticed before how much JP hates it when the teams miss out on English literature questions, so when Benedict Jones-Williams offered Emily Barrett in answer to the question about the woman advised by Southey to give up dreams of becoming a writer, he repeated the answer, with a huge audible question mark, and a ton of derision in every syllable.
When Queen’s offered Rimsky-Korsakov for the reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky, our hero offered,”It’s by Tchaikovsky! Surely it’s unmistakeable!” Well, the fact that they did mistake it kind of gave the lie to that one, old chap.
Finally we saw a virtuoso display of the facial skill known as the ‘old fashioned look’ in response to Ben Conway’s River Kwai crack. “Very funny” JP muttered.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Treacle tart apparently takes its name from a Greek term meaning the antidote to a venomous bite.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Only Connect - Sudden Death Match - Cartophiles v. Fell Walkers
Cartophiles v. Fell Walkers
Right, settle down, then, since we’ve got a lot to get through. The Cartophiles, Colin Kidd, Mark Cooper and Josh Mandel,lost 28-22 to the much fancied Celts in their first match. In their last match they eliminated the Corpuscles on a tie break, with captain Josh steering the ship to safety. As for the Fell walkers, they had a convincing 28 – 22 win against the GPs to kick off their own campaign. They came up against the Francophiles in the qualification match, where they lost by 27 – 16. As for the form guide, well it was really difficult for me to pick a winner. Both teams had had mixed fortunes up to this point, but with the Carts having won their second match and thus having the momentum I plumped, albeit hesitantly, for them.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
The Carts were first receivers, and they nominated Two Reeds. Former President of Arms Tech meant nothing to me, but Former Tory MP, Baron of Dorking meant Kenneth Baker. Trumpeter in Ted Heath’s orchestra meant nothing more, but R2-D2 made the whole thing clear, since this part was played by Kenny Baker. A point for me. Nowt for the Carts, who opted for persons of restricted height. The Fells offered Baker for a bonus – which strictly speaking was correct, and good enough for a point. They were all Kenneth Baker’s though.Twisted Flax gave the Fells Mormo Maura moth – try saying that after you’ve had a few. No lightbulb moment for me. However on Juventus FC I think that I would have been tempted to gamble that these were all nicknamed ‘old lady’ – as in the old lady of Turin (which reminds me, Sophia Loren is in a new movie. Alright, bad joke, and she’s from Naples anyway.) Wife of a motorbike gang member confirmed it, and I predicted that the last would be the Bank of England. The Fells took it on three, and I was right with the last clue. This left the Carts trailing, and they selected Horned Viper (no comment on that this week).Now this brought up a set of picture clues. We saw firstly a picture of American patriots in the War of Independence, the spirit of 76. So either spirit or numbers, I thought. The second picture – hydrochloric acid confirmed that we were dealing with spirits, the alternative name for it being Spirits of Salt. The Carts took another picture, a Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstasy to confirm the deal, and narrow the gap. Lion fell to the Fells, and the first clue – Duration:9m 18 sec – left me clueless. Maximum speed: 843.6mph didn’t help any of us. However Exit Altitude: 127,852 feet helped considerably. I think we got the connection at the same time, although it didn’t take me as long to come up with the name Felix Baumgartner as it did the Fells.They had it, I think, but took the last clue – Freefall Distance: 119:431 feet. They offered a long description of what Herr Baumgarnter had done, but Victoria had to ask for the name before they gave it. The Carts found the music set behind water – not their favourite category, judging by their reaction. They heard all four, and plumped for pieces of music saying goodbyes. I can’t say anything, because my mind was running on those lines. The Fells had a bit of a wild stab with rivers. No, it was in fact Rome – Arriverderci Roma having led the Carts and me down the garden path. The Fells were left to finish the round with Eye of Horus, and shame to admit it, I didn’t get the connection from the first clue , Orphans in Oliver Twist. The second clue, though, Tropical Storms I did see just about the same time as Craig of the Fells, that they are all named in alphabetical order. To be certain the Fells took the next clue, Sue Grafton detective novel series – which really wouldn’t have helped me very much at all, I’m afraid. It was enough for the Fells though. They took the points to give them 6 in total, and a useful lead over the Carts who had scored 2. Could it be that a relative upset was on the cards?
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The Carts began with flax, and found A: Upper Middle. Now, I knew that the connection was – the socio economic class classifications used by advertisers, but crucially I didn’t from this far out know what would have been fourth. B:Middle came next . The Carts contemplated a gamble, but discretion won out, and they took the last clue C1:Lower Middle. They answered with C2 Upper Working, which would have been my answer by this stage. It was close enough to C2: Skilled Working, which was the answer on the card. Well played- discretion secured the point. Now, the Fells had one of those questions which may look like an easy 5 points – and indeed I took them, but V:Tommy Gunn is only easy if you’ve seen the first 5 Rocky films. And the Fells, I believe, had not. Craig knew it was Rocky films, but not the opponent in Rocky II. The Carts of course had it, and you sensed at this stage that maybe the tide was turning. Horned Viper brought the Carts what I thought was a really tricky set. First we saw a gentleman with drumsticks whom I didn’t recognize as Pete Best, then we saw some fruit. Finally a set of marigold gloves. OK, marigold gives you a clue, but I was nowhere near seeing that this was referencing the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel . Neither team had a clue, nor did I. Tricky, tricky set. The Fell Walkers, thrown a chance to reassert their dominance, first found Lexington. I thought that this was either battles of the American War of Independence, or streets in New York. Park suggested the latter. The only problem of which was that I didn’t have a clue which street would be the fourth in the sequence. The Fells had worked out the New York connection, but couldn’t give the right answer. The Carts did, though, with 5th Avenue coming after Madison. Good shout. Lion then gave them 1759. Nope – I had no idea yet. 1835 didn’t help. I should have worked out the interval, for 76 years means one thing. The Carts didn’t do it either, plumping for 1974, as years with 2 elections. The Fells had it though. They knew that the next time Halley’s Comet appeared after 1910 was 1986. Very well worked out. D’oh!Mind you, I made up for it a little when the Fells opted for Eye of Horus. Simples was the first, and when the second – Big Society was revealed I yelled out ‘Omnishambles’, this being the 2012 Oxford Dictionary Word or Phrase of the Year. The teams were led a little down the garden path by the political connotations of Big Society, I think. The Fells then were still in the lead, but they had only added 1 point to take their score to 7, while the Carts had now increased their own score to 6.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Fells had first stab. Now, being as I would have answered on Queen Victoria’s Daughters had I made the Champ of Champs final in 2010 I was delighted to see 4 of these as a set – Alice – Helena – Beatrice and Victoria. This was the first line unraveled by the Fells. I noticed a set of Oval cricket grounds before the Fells, and also a set of UK number 1 singles. The Fells, having only managed to find one line, did manage to see the connection between the ovals – Kennington –Queen’s Park – Kensington – Adelaide. They couldn’t see that that Wuthering Heights – Lucille – Mississippi – Waterloo were number 1s from the 70s. As for Colorado – Missouri – Green – Arkansas – maybe I might have said that they were all American rivers, which was the correct answer given by the Fells, but more likely I wouldn’t. So the 4 points they scored gave a huge window of opportunity for the Carts to propel themselves into the lead.
They had two connections very quickly, but not the correct lines to go with them. It was almost the end of the three minutes when they finally unraveled vegetable members of the squash family, with courgette – kabocha – pumpkin and gourd. But a pesky set of rappers just wouldn’t unravel, leaving them two with just one line solved. Aubergine – Autumn – Trousers and Lorry I could see were all words which Americans have their own words for, but this escaped the Carts. The rappers were Combs – Marrow – Broadus and Wallace. I had no idea about Love – Mathers – Moues and Art. Yet it was a simple connection. They are all anagrams of rodents. The Carts didn’t take that. So rather than taking the lead, with 3 points score the Carts fell a little further behind, with 9 to the Fells’ 11.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
A two point gap is nothing at the start of the vowels round, but everything at the end of it. The first category was Parlour Games, and this fell to the Carts 2 – 1. The Fells still led by a point. They Usually happen on Thursdays saw the first two fall to the Carts, who now led by a point. The Fells took the next – all square. Neither team knew the fourth. A great set followed – locations of James Bond’s romantic liaisons. Carts took first – swimming pool - and the lead, Fells took second – ferris wheel - and it was all square again. Then came the moment that separated the teams. The Fells buzzed too quickly and couldn’t identify iceberg submarine. They lost a point, and to rub salt into the wound, the Carts had it as well. There wasn’t time for either team to decipher Under a parachute, and that was it. A very good game ended with the Cartophiles, who had only taken a lead for the first time in the last couple of minutes of the show, winning by 15 to 13, with captain Josh once again playing a captain's innings on the vowels. Hard lines to the Fell Walkers, eliminated, but notably cheerful about the whole experience. That really is the spirit. Well done to the Cartophiles – good luck in the semis.
Right, settle down, then, since we’ve got a lot to get through. The Cartophiles, Colin Kidd, Mark Cooper and Josh Mandel,lost 28-22 to the much fancied Celts in their first match. In their last match they eliminated the Corpuscles on a tie break, with captain Josh steering the ship to safety. As for the Fell walkers, they had a convincing 28 – 22 win against the GPs to kick off their own campaign. They came up against the Francophiles in the qualification match, where they lost by 27 – 16. As for the form guide, well it was really difficult for me to pick a winner. Both teams had had mixed fortunes up to this point, but with the Carts having won their second match and thus having the momentum I plumped, albeit hesitantly, for them.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
The Carts were first receivers, and they nominated Two Reeds. Former President of Arms Tech meant nothing to me, but Former Tory MP, Baron of Dorking meant Kenneth Baker. Trumpeter in Ted Heath’s orchestra meant nothing more, but R2-D2 made the whole thing clear, since this part was played by Kenny Baker. A point for me. Nowt for the Carts, who opted for persons of restricted height. The Fells offered Baker for a bonus – which strictly speaking was correct, and good enough for a point. They were all Kenneth Baker’s though.Twisted Flax gave the Fells Mormo Maura moth – try saying that after you’ve had a few. No lightbulb moment for me. However on Juventus FC I think that I would have been tempted to gamble that these were all nicknamed ‘old lady’ – as in the old lady of Turin (which reminds me, Sophia Loren is in a new movie. Alright, bad joke, and she’s from Naples anyway.) Wife of a motorbike gang member confirmed it, and I predicted that the last would be the Bank of England. The Fells took it on three, and I was right with the last clue. This left the Carts trailing, and they selected Horned Viper (no comment on that this week).Now this brought up a set of picture clues. We saw firstly a picture of American patriots in the War of Independence, the spirit of 76. So either spirit or numbers, I thought. The second picture – hydrochloric acid confirmed that we were dealing with spirits, the alternative name for it being Spirits of Salt. The Carts took another picture, a Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstasy to confirm the deal, and narrow the gap. Lion fell to the Fells, and the first clue – Duration:9m 18 sec – left me clueless. Maximum speed: 843.6mph didn’t help any of us. However Exit Altitude: 127,852 feet helped considerably. I think we got the connection at the same time, although it didn’t take me as long to come up with the name Felix Baumgartner as it did the Fells.They had it, I think, but took the last clue – Freefall Distance: 119:431 feet. They offered a long description of what Herr Baumgarnter had done, but Victoria had to ask for the name before they gave it. The Carts found the music set behind water – not their favourite category, judging by their reaction. They heard all four, and plumped for pieces of music saying goodbyes. I can’t say anything, because my mind was running on those lines. The Fells had a bit of a wild stab with rivers. No, it was in fact Rome – Arriverderci Roma having led the Carts and me down the garden path. The Fells were left to finish the round with Eye of Horus, and shame to admit it, I didn’t get the connection from the first clue , Orphans in Oliver Twist. The second clue, though, Tropical Storms I did see just about the same time as Craig of the Fells, that they are all named in alphabetical order. To be certain the Fells took the next clue, Sue Grafton detective novel series – which really wouldn’t have helped me very much at all, I’m afraid. It was enough for the Fells though. They took the points to give them 6 in total, and a useful lead over the Carts who had scored 2. Could it be that a relative upset was on the cards?
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The Carts began with flax, and found A: Upper Middle. Now, I knew that the connection was – the socio economic class classifications used by advertisers, but crucially I didn’t from this far out know what would have been fourth. B:Middle came next . The Carts contemplated a gamble, but discretion won out, and they took the last clue C1:Lower Middle. They answered with C2 Upper Working, which would have been my answer by this stage. It was close enough to C2: Skilled Working, which was the answer on the card. Well played- discretion secured the point. Now, the Fells had one of those questions which may look like an easy 5 points – and indeed I took them, but V:Tommy Gunn is only easy if you’ve seen the first 5 Rocky films. And the Fells, I believe, had not. Craig knew it was Rocky films, but not the opponent in Rocky II. The Carts of course had it, and you sensed at this stage that maybe the tide was turning. Horned Viper brought the Carts what I thought was a really tricky set. First we saw a gentleman with drumsticks whom I didn’t recognize as Pete Best, then we saw some fruit. Finally a set of marigold gloves. OK, marigold gives you a clue, but I was nowhere near seeing that this was referencing the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel . Neither team had a clue, nor did I. Tricky, tricky set. The Fell Walkers, thrown a chance to reassert their dominance, first found Lexington. I thought that this was either battles of the American War of Independence, or streets in New York. Park suggested the latter. The only problem of which was that I didn’t have a clue which street would be the fourth in the sequence. The Fells had worked out the New York connection, but couldn’t give the right answer. The Carts did, though, with 5th Avenue coming after Madison. Good shout. Lion then gave them 1759. Nope – I had no idea yet. 1835 didn’t help. I should have worked out the interval, for 76 years means one thing. The Carts didn’t do it either, plumping for 1974, as years with 2 elections. The Fells had it though. They knew that the next time Halley’s Comet appeared after 1910 was 1986. Very well worked out. D’oh!Mind you, I made up for it a little when the Fells opted for Eye of Horus. Simples was the first, and when the second – Big Society was revealed I yelled out ‘Omnishambles’, this being the 2012 Oxford Dictionary Word or Phrase of the Year. The teams were led a little down the garden path by the political connotations of Big Society, I think. The Fells then were still in the lead, but they had only added 1 point to take their score to 7, while the Carts had now increased their own score to 6.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Fells had first stab. Now, being as I would have answered on Queen Victoria’s Daughters had I made the Champ of Champs final in 2010 I was delighted to see 4 of these as a set – Alice – Helena – Beatrice and Victoria. This was the first line unraveled by the Fells. I noticed a set of Oval cricket grounds before the Fells, and also a set of UK number 1 singles. The Fells, having only managed to find one line, did manage to see the connection between the ovals – Kennington –Queen’s Park – Kensington – Adelaide. They couldn’t see that that Wuthering Heights – Lucille – Mississippi – Waterloo were number 1s from the 70s. As for Colorado – Missouri – Green – Arkansas – maybe I might have said that they were all American rivers, which was the correct answer given by the Fells, but more likely I wouldn’t. So the 4 points they scored gave a huge window of opportunity for the Carts to propel themselves into the lead.
They had two connections very quickly, but not the correct lines to go with them. It was almost the end of the three minutes when they finally unraveled vegetable members of the squash family, with courgette – kabocha – pumpkin and gourd. But a pesky set of rappers just wouldn’t unravel, leaving them two with just one line solved. Aubergine – Autumn – Trousers and Lorry I could see were all words which Americans have their own words for, but this escaped the Carts. The rappers were Combs – Marrow – Broadus and Wallace. I had no idea about Love – Mathers – Moues and Art. Yet it was a simple connection. They are all anagrams of rodents. The Carts didn’t take that. So rather than taking the lead, with 3 points score the Carts fell a little further behind, with 9 to the Fells’ 11.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
A two point gap is nothing at the start of the vowels round, but everything at the end of it. The first category was Parlour Games, and this fell to the Carts 2 – 1. The Fells still led by a point. They Usually happen on Thursdays saw the first two fall to the Carts, who now led by a point. The Fells took the next – all square. Neither team knew the fourth. A great set followed – locations of James Bond’s romantic liaisons. Carts took first – swimming pool - and the lead, Fells took second – ferris wheel - and it was all square again. Then came the moment that separated the teams. The Fells buzzed too quickly and couldn’t identify iceberg submarine. They lost a point, and to rub salt into the wound, the Carts had it as well. There wasn’t time for either team to decipher Under a parachute, and that was it. A very good game ended with the Cartophiles, who had only taken a lead for the first time in the last couple of minutes of the show, winning by 15 to 13, with captain Josh once again playing a captain's innings on the vowels. Hard lines to the Fell Walkers, eliminated, but notably cheerful about the whole experience. That really is the spirit. Well done to the Cartophiles – good luck in the semis.
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Calling Welsh Quizzers
I had an email as well from Gareth Kingston, regarding the European Quiz Championships. This event takes place in Liverpool this year, between 1 - 3 November.From Gareth's email: -
I am looking for Welsh qualified quizzers which means:
- Born in Wales, or
- Have a parent or grandparent who was Welsh, or
- Have been resident in Wales for the past 5 years.
We have the Wales 1st team, which will take part in the main competition against other national 1st teams. And then we can enter as many subsidiary teams as we like for the parallel competition. I am hopeful of entering 3 or 4 teams in total.
Then there are the other quizzes. I suspect you would love the individual and pairs quizzes in particular.
If people want to find out more I can send them some sample questions, and even if they do not want to take the plunge this year, there are other occasions where we put representative sides together throughout the year. I would like to build up a network of interested Welsh quizzers. They can either contact me via facebook or at gareth.kingston@gmail.com
I've never played in the European Championships - yet - but I'm sure that this will be a terrific event, well worth attending if you can.
I am looking for Welsh qualified quizzers which means:
- Born in Wales, or
- Have a parent or grandparent who was Welsh, or
- Have been resident in Wales for the past 5 years.
We have the Wales 1st team, which will take part in the main competition against other national 1st teams. And then we can enter as many subsidiary teams as we like for the parallel competition. I am hopeful of entering 3 or 4 teams in total.
Then there are the other quizzes. I suspect you would love the individual and pairs quizzes in particular.
If people want to find out more I can send them some sample questions, and even if they do not want to take the plunge this year, there are other occasions where we put representative sides together throughout the year. I would like to build up a network of interested Welsh quizzers. They can either contact me via facebook or at gareth.kingston@gmail.com
I've never played in the European Championships - yet - but I'm sure that this will be a terrific event, well worth attending if you can.
University Challenge Tape Plea
I received an email from Meredith Lloyd-Evans, the captain of the Churchill College Cambridge team that won University Challenge in 1970.-
"Hi Dave Londinius
I was captain of Churchill College winning team 1970.
I’m contacting you because you might know how I can find out if anyone ever video’d our matches – apparently Granada lost the tapes in a flood or wiped them…. The matches contain some gem moments that it would be great to recapture. Meredith"
I'm afraid I don't know anyone who might have a tape, and I'm afraid that Granada's wiping of the original tapes was all too typical of TV companies' penny pinching attitudes in the early /mid 70s - some great old Doctor Whos were wiped by the Beeb at around the same time. 1970 seems a little early for a home taping, but you never know. So if by any chance you either have a tape of the final, or know where we can get one, or even just have a lead or a hunch, could you either email me, or post a comment here, and I'll get in touch with Meredith to let him know.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
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While we're on the subject of UC, I'm indebted as always to Weaver's Week for the welcome news that the new series starts tomorrow. Back of the net!
"Hi Dave Londinius
I was captain of Churchill College winning team 1970.
I’m contacting you because you might know how I can find out if anyone ever video’d our matches – apparently Granada lost the tapes in a flood or wiped them…. The matches contain some gem moments that it would be great to recapture. Meredith"
I'm afraid I don't know anyone who might have a tape, and I'm afraid that Granada's wiping of the original tapes was all too typical of TV companies' penny pinching attitudes in the early /mid 70s - some great old Doctor Whos were wiped by the Beeb at around the same time. 1970 seems a little early for a home taping, but you never know. So if by any chance you either have a tape of the final, or know where we can get one, or even just have a lead or a hunch, could you either email me, or post a comment here, and I'll get in touch with Meredith to let him know.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
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While we're on the subject of UC, I'm indebted as always to Weaver's Week for the welcome news that the new series starts tomorrow. Back of the net!
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Only Connect - Sudden Death Play Off
Round One – Sudden Death play off – Festival Fans v. The Cat Lovers
The Festival Fans - Ed Dovey, Stewart McCartney and captain Marianne Fairthorne, lost to the Francophiles in the last round of their first match. In their elimination match they beat the GPs by 30 – 28, although they had seemed the better of the two teams right up until the vowels round. In their first match the Cat Lovers, Roger Johnson, Jean Upton and captain Jim Crozier squeezed past the Corpuscles by a single point, 18-17, but were well beaten by the Celts – 23 – 13 in their first chance at qualification for the semis. Based on my reading of the two matches so far I thought that the Fans might have just too much firepower for the Cat Lovers. Time would tell.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
Marion didn’t voice the second syllable of Horned Viper, and immediately I feared that the Fans could be in for a difficult evening. The pictures revealed, firstly, Oscar de la Hoya – not sure yet – then A map of the USA with California highlighted. I had a lightbulb moment, and said – Golden State – Golden Boy – Golden. I am not familiar with the golden spiral that came up next, but I am familiar with jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear. Mario was working on the state nickname theme, but unfortunately plumped for Sunshine rather than Golden. The Cats were thus given a golden opportunity for a bonus, and couldn’t take it, offering spirals. Water for the Cats revealed sin(x) and cos(x) – nope – Two male Norwegian forenames. Now, working on the numbers theme I did know that Odd is a relatively common Norwegian name. Fellow lovers of the Eurovision may well remember former contestant Odd Bore ( honestly). I have never heard of Even as a Norwegian name, but what the hell, I went for it. Two roulette outside bets certainly didn’t rule it out as a guess, but x and x+1 (x=integer) might just as well have been written in Egyptian hieroglyphs for all it meant to me. And the Cats, as it happened, who plumped for the letter B. The fans didn’t have it either. Yet rather surprisingly my Odd and Even guess was right. The Fans opted for Lion and the bong informed us that this was a music set. I’ll be honest, I had nothing until Wipeout, but guessed game/quiz shows at the same time that Marion came up with it for the Fans. 2 points in the bank, and the Fans were away. The Cats opted for Eye of Horus. Air Stewardess gave me little to go on, then Hughes H-4 aircraft did. That’s the Spruce Goose – an air hostess can be called a Trolley Dolly, and so here we had rhyming nicknames. I think the Cats had it at this point, but Roger advised caution, and so they took the third clue – Alexandra Palace – Ally Pally. Two points in the bag for the Cats, thank you very much. The Fans took Two Reeds. The first clue – Chagos Archipelago was not familiar to me I’m afraid. The second – Antarctica 20 degrees west – 80 degrees west didn’t immediately suggest anything – Gibraltar though suggest that the Antarctic one might be the British Antarctic territory, and these might be disputed British possessions/territories/dependencies ( delete where accurate) The Falklands confirmed it, although the Fans needed a second bite to get beyond just British overseas Territories. Cat Lovers were left with Twisted Flax. Now, I took a flyer on this – the first clue – Welsh =RH – NG. I did know that these count as single letters in Welsh, and so gambled that this would be the equivalent to Q and Z in English language scrabble, making them 10 point letters. The other three clues were French = K,W,X,Y,Z – German=Q,Y – and of course English = Q,Z.The Cats came in for a point here. This meant that the Fans and Cats were tied on 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Lion to begin gave the Fans Lazio. This gave me two options. Firstly, that it was where Paul Gascogine went after leaving Spurs. Secondly, it was the team Sevn Goran Ericson managed before England. The second was Midelesborough – which was the club managed by Steve Maclaren before England. Working forwards, Roy Hodgson managed West Brom before England, so that was my answer. The Fans never had the connection, and so failed to score. The Cats didn’t either. The Cats took Two Reeds, and received Gingerbread – Honeycomb – Ice cream sandwich. Sorry, but I really didn’t have a clue on this one at all. They are actually successive versions of the Android Operating System. The next would be Jelly Bean. Fair enough. None of us knew that, neither me nor the teams. Twisted flax gave the Fans 10: US Treasury Building, 5: Lincoln Memorial – and here I was thinking banknotes - 2:Signing the Declaration of Independence – did they really have a $2 bill? Must have. I didn’t have a clue what would be on the $1 bill anyway. Neither did the Fans of the Cats, the answer being the Great Seal of the USA. This time it was Jim who gave is the foreshortened version of Horned Viper, and for his trouble he received some pictures. What none of us knew was that the pictures represented various districts in the Hunger Games books – and 13: Nuclear was missing. Seen the film, never read any of the books. Eye of Horus gave us (3,5) – (5,7) – and just to prove I’m not totally innumerate at this stage I could see that they were pairs of consecutive prime numbers, the difference between which was 2. Which suggested that the next would be (11,13) and the last (17,19). The Fans were wise to take the third clue, which guaranteed they got the correct answer. Right, five point answer coming up for me. I’m not saying I would have gambled in the studio, but when Nasser came up for the Cats, I said straight away Morsi. How ironic this coming just days after he was deposed. Recorded well before it happened, though, I’ve no doubt. Sadat confirmed it, and I have to say I was surprised that the Cats took the third clue of Mubarak. Every point can count in OC. So going into the walls the teams were locked at 5 apiece.
The Connecting Walls
The Cats opted for Water, and used about a third of their time before untangling their first line – Festoon – Nosegay – Buttonhole – Garland – all festive arrangements of flowers .Soon after they also untangled a list of synonyms for gather together – corral – assemble – muster – convene. They worked out that the last two sets were words which ended with the name of a herb – Bombay – Organise – Corsage and Archives – which left a set of capital cities – past and present – that had changed names – Salisbury – Rangoon – Tananarive – Port Natal – respectively Harare – Yangon – Antananarivo – Durban. That full house of 10 really put the pressure on the Fans.
The Lion Wall yielded jamb – panel – threshold – frame – which were all parts of a door pretty quickly. Extinguisher – Watch – Escape and Alarm can all follow the word – Fire. They could see songs by the Cure – Lullaby – The Lovecats – Catch and Friday I’m in Love. However they just didn’t know that The Castle – Whistle – The Hanging Garden and Billy Budd were all unfinished last novels. I knew the Castle and so guessed correctly. So 7 points meant that the Fans trailed by 12 to 15.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The first set – food additives – saw a 4 – 0 shut out for the Fans which overturned the Cats’ lead. 16 – 15 to the Fans. They lived to be a hundred saw the Cats take back the lead with the first two, then lose it when the Fans took the second 2. 18 – 17 to the Fans. Alternative Medicine Treatments fell 3 – 0 to the Cats. Cats led by 20 – 18. Films with Courtroom Scenes saw the Fans level the show with the first two. Neither team knew Inherit the Wind, and the end music confirmed we had a draw on our hands. Well, the rules are pretty clear. In case of a tie, the two captains alone face a last clue. The first to answer correctly wins the show. However an incorrect answer would mean that the other team automatically win. A test of nerve, then, and it was captain Marion of the Fans who buzzed in first to say “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” Correct. Very hard lines, Cats. Very much underdogs to my mind, they pushed the Fans all the way. Well played Festival Fans – good luck in the semi finals.
The Festival Fans - Ed Dovey, Stewart McCartney and captain Marianne Fairthorne, lost to the Francophiles in the last round of their first match. In their elimination match they beat the GPs by 30 – 28, although they had seemed the better of the two teams right up until the vowels round. In their first match the Cat Lovers, Roger Johnson, Jean Upton and captain Jim Crozier squeezed past the Corpuscles by a single point, 18-17, but were well beaten by the Celts – 23 – 13 in their first chance at qualification for the semis. Based on my reading of the two matches so far I thought that the Fans might have just too much firepower for the Cat Lovers. Time would tell.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
Marion didn’t voice the second syllable of Horned Viper, and immediately I feared that the Fans could be in for a difficult evening. The pictures revealed, firstly, Oscar de la Hoya – not sure yet – then A map of the USA with California highlighted. I had a lightbulb moment, and said – Golden State – Golden Boy – Golden. I am not familiar with the golden spiral that came up next, but I am familiar with jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear. Mario was working on the state nickname theme, but unfortunately plumped for Sunshine rather than Golden. The Cats were thus given a golden opportunity for a bonus, and couldn’t take it, offering spirals. Water for the Cats revealed sin(x) and cos(x) – nope – Two male Norwegian forenames. Now, working on the numbers theme I did know that Odd is a relatively common Norwegian name. Fellow lovers of the Eurovision may well remember former contestant Odd Bore ( honestly). I have never heard of Even as a Norwegian name, but what the hell, I went for it. Two roulette outside bets certainly didn’t rule it out as a guess, but x and x+1 (x=integer) might just as well have been written in Egyptian hieroglyphs for all it meant to me. And the Cats, as it happened, who plumped for the letter B. The fans didn’t have it either. Yet rather surprisingly my Odd and Even guess was right. The Fans opted for Lion and the bong informed us that this was a music set. I’ll be honest, I had nothing until Wipeout, but guessed game/quiz shows at the same time that Marion came up with it for the Fans. 2 points in the bank, and the Fans were away. The Cats opted for Eye of Horus. Air Stewardess gave me little to go on, then Hughes H-4 aircraft did. That’s the Spruce Goose – an air hostess can be called a Trolley Dolly, and so here we had rhyming nicknames. I think the Cats had it at this point, but Roger advised caution, and so they took the third clue – Alexandra Palace – Ally Pally. Two points in the bag for the Cats, thank you very much. The Fans took Two Reeds. The first clue – Chagos Archipelago was not familiar to me I’m afraid. The second – Antarctica 20 degrees west – 80 degrees west didn’t immediately suggest anything – Gibraltar though suggest that the Antarctic one might be the British Antarctic territory, and these might be disputed British possessions/territories/dependencies ( delete where accurate) The Falklands confirmed it, although the Fans needed a second bite to get beyond just British overseas Territories. Cat Lovers were left with Twisted Flax. Now, I took a flyer on this – the first clue – Welsh =RH – NG. I did know that these count as single letters in Welsh, and so gambled that this would be the equivalent to Q and Z in English language scrabble, making them 10 point letters. The other three clues were French = K,W,X,Y,Z – German=Q,Y – and of course English = Q,Z.The Cats came in for a point here. This meant that the Fans and Cats were tied on 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Lion to begin gave the Fans Lazio. This gave me two options. Firstly, that it was where Paul Gascogine went after leaving Spurs. Secondly, it was the team Sevn Goran Ericson managed before England. The second was Midelesborough – which was the club managed by Steve Maclaren before England. Working forwards, Roy Hodgson managed West Brom before England, so that was my answer. The Fans never had the connection, and so failed to score. The Cats didn’t either. The Cats took Two Reeds, and received Gingerbread – Honeycomb – Ice cream sandwich. Sorry, but I really didn’t have a clue on this one at all. They are actually successive versions of the Android Operating System. The next would be Jelly Bean. Fair enough. None of us knew that, neither me nor the teams. Twisted flax gave the Fans 10: US Treasury Building, 5: Lincoln Memorial – and here I was thinking banknotes - 2:Signing the Declaration of Independence – did they really have a $2 bill? Must have. I didn’t have a clue what would be on the $1 bill anyway. Neither did the Fans of the Cats, the answer being the Great Seal of the USA. This time it was Jim who gave is the foreshortened version of Horned Viper, and for his trouble he received some pictures. What none of us knew was that the pictures represented various districts in the Hunger Games books – and 13: Nuclear was missing. Seen the film, never read any of the books. Eye of Horus gave us (3,5) – (5,7) – and just to prove I’m not totally innumerate at this stage I could see that they were pairs of consecutive prime numbers, the difference between which was 2. Which suggested that the next would be (11,13) and the last (17,19). The Fans were wise to take the third clue, which guaranteed they got the correct answer. Right, five point answer coming up for me. I’m not saying I would have gambled in the studio, but when Nasser came up for the Cats, I said straight away Morsi. How ironic this coming just days after he was deposed. Recorded well before it happened, though, I’ve no doubt. Sadat confirmed it, and I have to say I was surprised that the Cats took the third clue of Mubarak. Every point can count in OC. So going into the walls the teams were locked at 5 apiece.
The Connecting Walls
The Cats opted for Water, and used about a third of their time before untangling their first line – Festoon – Nosegay – Buttonhole – Garland – all festive arrangements of flowers .Soon after they also untangled a list of synonyms for gather together – corral – assemble – muster – convene. They worked out that the last two sets were words which ended with the name of a herb – Bombay – Organise – Corsage and Archives – which left a set of capital cities – past and present – that had changed names – Salisbury – Rangoon – Tananarive – Port Natal – respectively Harare – Yangon – Antananarivo – Durban. That full house of 10 really put the pressure on the Fans.
The Lion Wall yielded jamb – panel – threshold – frame – which were all parts of a door pretty quickly. Extinguisher – Watch – Escape and Alarm can all follow the word – Fire. They could see songs by the Cure – Lullaby – The Lovecats – Catch and Friday I’m in Love. However they just didn’t know that The Castle – Whistle – The Hanging Garden and Billy Budd were all unfinished last novels. I knew the Castle and so guessed correctly. So 7 points meant that the Fans trailed by 12 to 15.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The first set – food additives – saw a 4 – 0 shut out for the Fans which overturned the Cats’ lead. 16 – 15 to the Fans. They lived to be a hundred saw the Cats take back the lead with the first two, then lose it when the Fans took the second 2. 18 – 17 to the Fans. Alternative Medicine Treatments fell 3 – 0 to the Cats. Cats led by 20 – 18. Films with Courtroom Scenes saw the Fans level the show with the first two. Neither team knew Inherit the Wind, and the end music confirmed we had a draw on our hands. Well, the rules are pretty clear. In case of a tie, the two captains alone face a last clue. The first to answer correctly wins the show. However an incorrect answer would mean that the other team automatically win. A test of nerve, then, and it was captain Marion of the Fans who buzzed in first to say “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” Correct. Very hard lines, Cats. Very much underdogs to my mind, they pushed the Fans all the way. Well played Festival Fans – good luck in the semi finals.
In The News
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Doctor Werner Lang
2. Lac Magnétic, Quebec
3. Ralph Tarrant
4. Asiana Airlines
5. Robbie Deans
6. The Human Voice
7. Andy Flower
8. Steve Bate
9. Rory Kinnear
10. Malcolm Hayes
11. Reece Elliot
12. Barry George
13. Danny Nightingale
14. Manuel Pellegrini
15. Ashton Agar
16. Charles Foley
17. Albert de Salvo
18. Malala Yousafzai
19. Shahid Khan
20. Andy Harris
21. Martha Renee Kolleh
In Other News
1. What was the score in the third Lions v. Wallabies test?
2. Who scored the Lions’ tries in the final test?
3. Who was finally deported to Jordan last week?
4. What was announced by Michael Parkinson last week?
5. What was the score in the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final?
6. Who won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles?
7. Who resigned from the Privy Council last week?
8. Which famous volcano began erupting last week?
9. Who won the German Grand Prix?
10. Who was criticized for saying that the Wimbledon Ladies singles was never going to be “a looker”?
11. Who issued a press release saying that he is going to be divorcing his wife last week?
12. Laura Robson achieved a career high ranking last week – what is it ?
13. Which member of the Royal family announced that she is expecting a baby last week?
14. Which opera star suffered a pulmonary embolism last week?
15. Who agreed to appear before MPs last week?
16. Who was attacked in HMP Wakefield?
17. David Haye signed to fight whom last week?
18. The Eu have called for the UK to adopt which term as the maximum sentence without automatic review?
19. Athletes from which country failed over 30 drugs tests at the Mediterranean Games?
20. Ireland qualified for which world cup last week?
21. What is the controversial pay rise recommended by IPSA for MPs?
22. What is Barak Obama’s favourite food?
23. Which former champion is out of the world athletics championships in Moscow this summer?
24. Who top scored in England’s 1st innings in the first Ashes Test?
25. Who had urine thrown over him following a controversial incident in the previous day’s stage at the Tour de France?
26. James Anderson passed Freddie Trueman’s test wicket total in the first test. How many did Trueman take?
27. Which two firms are facing a public fraud probe?
28. In a poll of books which was the book that most people gave up before finishing?
29. What did George Osborne admit that he had never visited last week?
30. Whose sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal last week?
31. Which former original Eastenders actress passed away last week?
32. Which book topped the list of most abandoned modern classics?
33. The star of a popular series of TV adverts passed away last week – who was he and what did he advertise?
34. Where did Greenpeace activists make a protest last week?
35. What happened to the care pathway for terminally ill patients last week?
36. Name the Archers spin off which can only be picked up on digital radio?
37. The immigration backlog reached which figure last week?
38. Which welsh village is voting on the spelling of its name?
39. Which TV veteran passed away aged 87?
40. Heathrow was shut down following a 787 dreamliner fire. Which airline was involved?
41. Which famous actor was allegedly hurt during a stage fight in a production of Macbeth last week?
42. What happened in Bretigny sur Orge just outside Paris?
43. Who was widely condemned for failing to walk during the first test?
44. Which rugby player was allegedly knocked out in a brawl with a team mate, before he has even played for the club?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Doctor Werner Lang
2. Lac Magnétic, Quebec
3. Ralph Tarrant
4. Asiana Airlines
5. Robbie Deans
6. The Human Voice
7. Andy Flower
8. Steve Bate
9. Rory Kinnear
10. Malcolm Hayes
11. Reece Elliot
12. Barry George
13. Danny Nightingale
14. Manuel Pellegrini
15. Ashton Agar
16. Charles Foley
17. Albert de Salvo
18. Malala Yousafzai
19. Shahid Khan
20. Andy Harris
21. Martha Renee Kolleh
In Other News
1. What was the score in the third Lions v. Wallabies test?
2. Who scored the Lions’ tries in the final test?
3. Who was finally deported to Jordan last week?
4. What was announced by Michael Parkinson last week?
5. What was the score in the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final?
6. Who won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles?
7. Who resigned from the Privy Council last week?
8. Which famous volcano began erupting last week?
9. Who won the German Grand Prix?
10. Who was criticized for saying that the Wimbledon Ladies singles was never going to be “a looker”?
11. Who issued a press release saying that he is going to be divorcing his wife last week?
12. Laura Robson achieved a career high ranking last week – what is it ?
13. Which member of the Royal family announced that she is expecting a baby last week?
14. Which opera star suffered a pulmonary embolism last week?
15. Who agreed to appear before MPs last week?
16. Who was attacked in HMP Wakefield?
17. David Haye signed to fight whom last week?
18. The Eu have called for the UK to adopt which term as the maximum sentence without automatic review?
19. Athletes from which country failed over 30 drugs tests at the Mediterranean Games?
20. Ireland qualified for which world cup last week?
21. What is the controversial pay rise recommended by IPSA for MPs?
22. What is Barak Obama’s favourite food?
23. Which former champion is out of the world athletics championships in Moscow this summer?
24. Who top scored in England’s 1st innings in the first Ashes Test?
25. Who had urine thrown over him following a controversial incident in the previous day’s stage at the Tour de France?
26. James Anderson passed Freddie Trueman’s test wicket total in the first test. How many did Trueman take?
27. Which two firms are facing a public fraud probe?
28. In a poll of books which was the book that most people gave up before finishing?
29. What did George Osborne admit that he had never visited last week?
30. Whose sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal last week?
31. Which former original Eastenders actress passed away last week?
32. Which book topped the list of most abandoned modern classics?
33. The star of a popular series of TV adverts passed away last week – who was he and what did he advertise?
34. Where did Greenpeace activists make a protest last week?
35. What happened to the care pathway for terminally ill patients last week?
36. Name the Archers spin off which can only be picked up on digital radio?
37. The immigration backlog reached which figure last week?
38. Which welsh village is voting on the spelling of its name?
39. Which TV veteran passed away aged 87?
40. Heathrow was shut down following a 787 dreamliner fire. Which airline was involved?
41. Which famous actor was allegedly hurt during a stage fight in a production of Macbeth last week?
42. What happened in Bretigny sur Orge just outside Paris?
43. Who was widely condemned for failing to walk during the first test?
44. Which rugby player was allegedly knocked out in a brawl with a team mate, before he has even played for the club?
Answers to News Questions
IN the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority who recommended a £10,000pa rise for MPs
2. Winner of first stage of the Tour de France
3. Winner of the second stage of the Tour de France
4. First ever female lead character in Commando War Comic
5. Former Scotland Yard officer claims that there was no attempt to smear the Lawrence family
6. Boyfriend of murdered Linzi Ashton, for whom there has been a police manhunt
7. 24th seed who reached the Wimbledon ladies final, beating Serena Williams along the way.
8. Player who knocked Laura Robson out of the ladies singles at Wimbledon
9. Royal Gynaecologist who will deliver Kate and William’s baby
10. Shopper told by Sainsbury’s assistant to get off her mobile phone or she would not serve her.
11. Creator Bebo – originally sold it for $850 million, bought it back for $1million last week
12. Martial arts actor from Enter The Dragon – passed away last week
13. Player brought back into Australian RU squad 2 years after retiring from international rugby
14. Took Andy Murray to five sets in their Wimbledon ¼ final
15. Redesigned a more ‘realistic’ Barbie doll
16. Referred to IPCC over Lawrence family smear claims
17. Legal intoxicant, used among Ethiopian and Somali communities in UK – to be banned against the advice of the ACMD
18. Captain of Lions in 3rd test v. Wallabies
19. Set a world record for eating 69 frankfurters ( silly sod)
20. Acting president of Egypt
21. Inventor of the computer mouse – passed away
22. Claimed that increased use of food banks is not related to cuts in benefits
23. Friend of Stephen Lawrence, bugged by police.
24. Producer of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, awarded a share in Spamalot by the High Court.
In Other News
1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Nico Rosberg
3. 6
4. Yohan Blake
5. Milk of Magnesia
6. Barack Obama
7. Croatia
8. It’s a new film starring Status Quo
9. Channel 4
10. They will no longer be printed, although some will still be available online
11. Geraint Thomas- Team sky
12. Ali Carter
13. Thorpe Park
14. Essex
15. Lisicki v. Radwanska – Bartoli v. Flipkens
16. James Horwill
17. Queens Park Rangers
18. Edward Snowden
19. Colin Montgomerie
20. Darren Maddy
21. Mohammad Morsi
22. King Albert II of Belgium
23. Kerry Katona
24. Ed Milliband
25. Brian O’Driscoll
26. 5th stage
27. Djokovic v. Del Potro – Murray v. Janowicz
28. Lisicki v. Bartoli
29. Bernie Nolan
30. The Statue of Liberty
31. Colin Firth jumping in the lake as Mr. Darcy
32. Jon Venables
33. Nelson Mandela
34. 50 cent
35. A ‘lucky’ special edition silver penny
36. Buenos Aires
37. It was the longest ever at 4 hours 43 minutes
38. The closing of the roof for bad light
39. Nicolas Anelka
40. 3D programming
41. Prince Harry
42. Jessie J
43. Falkirk
44. John Paul II and John XXIII
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority who recommended a £10,000pa rise for MPs
2. Winner of first stage of the Tour de France
3. Winner of the second stage of the Tour de France
4. First ever female lead character in Commando War Comic
5. Former Scotland Yard officer claims that there was no attempt to smear the Lawrence family
6. Boyfriend of murdered Linzi Ashton, for whom there has been a police manhunt
7. 24th seed who reached the Wimbledon ladies final, beating Serena Williams along the way.
8. Player who knocked Laura Robson out of the ladies singles at Wimbledon
9. Royal Gynaecologist who will deliver Kate and William’s baby
10. Shopper told by Sainsbury’s assistant to get off her mobile phone or she would not serve her.
11. Creator Bebo – originally sold it for $850 million, bought it back for $1million last week
12. Martial arts actor from Enter The Dragon – passed away last week
13. Player brought back into Australian RU squad 2 years after retiring from international rugby
14. Took Andy Murray to five sets in their Wimbledon ¼ final
15. Redesigned a more ‘realistic’ Barbie doll
16. Referred to IPCC over Lawrence family smear claims
17. Legal intoxicant, used among Ethiopian and Somali communities in UK – to be banned against the advice of the ACMD
18. Captain of Lions in 3rd test v. Wallabies
19. Set a world record for eating 69 frankfurters ( silly sod)
20. Acting president of Egypt
21. Inventor of the computer mouse – passed away
22. Claimed that increased use of food banks is not related to cuts in benefits
23. Friend of Stephen Lawrence, bugged by police.
24. Producer of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, awarded a share in Spamalot by the High Court.
In Other News
1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Nico Rosberg
3. 6
4. Yohan Blake
5. Milk of Magnesia
6. Barack Obama
7. Croatia
8. It’s a new film starring Status Quo
9. Channel 4
10. They will no longer be printed, although some will still be available online
11. Geraint Thomas- Team sky
12. Ali Carter
13. Thorpe Park
14. Essex
15. Lisicki v. Radwanska – Bartoli v. Flipkens
16. James Horwill
17. Queens Park Rangers
18. Edward Snowden
19. Colin Montgomerie
20. Darren Maddy
21. Mohammad Morsi
22. King Albert II of Belgium
23. Kerry Katona
24. Ed Milliband
25. Brian O’Driscoll
26. 5th stage
27. Djokovic v. Del Potro – Murray v. Janowicz
28. Lisicki v. Bartoli
29. Bernie Nolan
30. The Statue of Liberty
31. Colin Firth jumping in the lake as Mr. Darcy
32. Jon Venables
33. Nelson Mandela
34. 50 cent
35. A ‘lucky’ special edition silver penny
36. Buenos Aires
37. It was the longest ever at 4 hours 43 minutes
38. The closing of the roof for bad light
39. Nicolas Anelka
40. 3D programming
41. Prince Harry
42. Jessie J
43. Falkirk
44. John Paul II and John XXIII
Saturday, 6 July 2013
In The News
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who Or What Are the Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Trenton Oldfield
2. Walle
3. Andrea Begley
4. Kaesong
5. Jeffrey Osborne
6. Lin Harmer
7. Zaid Al Hilli
8. Nik Wallenda
9. Mickey Arthur
10. Steve Darcis
11. Digby Ioane
12. Mick Aston
13. Wendy Williams
14. Maria Kirilenko
15. Aaron Hernandez
16. Caroline Lucas
17. Lord Drayson
18. Cambodian Tailor Bird
19. Sergiy Stakhovsky
20. Ernest Gulbis
21. Iain Lawrence
22. Adam Brown
23. Dark Seoul
24. Get Lucky
25. Wendy Davis
26. Scott Horwill
27. White Throated Needletail
28. Kimiko Date Krumm
29. George Stark
30. Chip Starnes
In Other News
1. Which team won cricket’s Champions Trophy?
2. Which English city began an experiment with ‘car-free Sundays’?
3. Which US cakes made a comeback last week?
4. Where did the Archbishop of Canterbury visit last week?
5. A homemade explosive device was found in a mosque in which midlands town?
6. How did Gus Poyet find out he’d been sacked by Brighton and Hove Albion last week?
7. What was the score in the Under 20 Rugby Union World Final?
8. In which position did Team GB finish in the European team Athletics championships?
9. Who won the title in the British professional cycle road racing championship?
10. For how many years was Silvio Berlusconi sentenced for underage sex and misusing his position to cover it up?
11. Which batsman was dropped from England’s Ashes squad?
12. Name the Irish lock injured and out of the 2nd and 3rd Lions tests
13. Who is the new coach of the Australian cricket team?
14. Who is the new head coach of European Champions Bayern Munich?
15. Which Middle Eastern ruler abdicated in favour of his son?
16. In which airport was Edward Snowden reported last week?
17. Which part of the UK was visited by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall?
18. Carlo Ancelotti is the new manager of which club?
19. What was the score in the tour match between the Lions and Melbourne Rebels?
20. Which 38 year old admitted he had just read his first book?
21. Which figure will be replacing Charles Darwin on the new £10 note?
22. Julia Gillard was replaced laast week by the man she ousted herself three years ago. Who is he?
23. To what did the Supreme Court of the USA give recognition last week?
24. Which player claimed that he has joined Real Madrid last week?
25. Which MP claimed that she will not claim parliamentary expenses?
26. Who announced his retirement from Formula One from the end of the season?
27. What was the result of Ian Brady’s appeal?
28. Which famous painting was defaced last week, allegedly by a member of Fathers 4 Justice?
29. Which company have been forced to remove the WHO logo from their adverts for baby milk?
30. For which event will it be necessary to obtain a bagpipe permit, in order to play the aforesaid instrument?
31. Which country is beginning negotiations to join the EU?
Answers
1. 2012 Boat Race protestor asked to leave the country
2. The world’s Ugliest Dog
3. Winner of The Voice
4. New World Heritage site in North Korea
5. Soul singer Obama confused with George Osborne
6. Head of HMRC denied any wrongdoing to Public Accounts COmmittee
7. Brother of Alps murder victim, arrested on suspicion of the murder
8. Did tightrope walk across Niagara Falls
9. Asutralian cricket coach sacked on eve of the Ashes
10. Knocked out Nadal in round 1 of Wimbledon
11. Australian out of 2nd and 3rd Lions tests after a warrant was issued for his arrest
12. Professor, regular on Time Team – passed away
13. Senior RAF nurse won sexism case against MOD
14. Wimbledon 10th seed defeated by Laura Robson
15. Professional Gridiron player accused of murder
16. Wore a No More Page 3 T Shirt to a Commons committee
17. Beat the land speed record for electric cars – new record 204 mph
18. New species of bird identified
19. Knocked Federer out of Wimbledon singles in round 2 match
20. Won when Jo Wilfred Tsonga pulled out with injury
21. Convicted of murder by deliberately crashing after disabling his wife’s airbag
22. Broke Mark Foster’s British 50m freestyle swimming record
23. Group of Cyber hackers targeting South Korea
24. Daft Punk song – 1 million downloads in 69 days
25. Texas senator who made a 10 hour filibuster to stymie anti abortion bill
26. IRB asked the Australian RFU to review their decision to clear him of stamping in the first test
27. Rare bird – twitchers trekked to Island of Harris to see it – it was killed flying into a wind turbine
28. 42 year old who became the oldest woman to make the 3rd round of Wimbledon singles
29. Mail Online journalist threatened online by Alec Baldwin
30. US Executive help prisoner by employees in China, demanding a severance package
In Other News
1. India
2. Bristol
3. Hostess Twinkies
4. The Middle East
5. Walsall
6. He was taking part in a TV show when a production assistant brought him the press release from the club which announced his sacking
7. England 23- Wales 15
8. 3rd
9. Mark Cavendish
10. 7 years
11. Nick Compton
12. Paul O’Connell
13. Darren Lehman
14. Pep Guardiola
15. The Emir of Kuwait
16. Moscow
17. Northern Ireland
18. Real Madrid
19. 35 - 0
20. Jamie Oliver
21. Jane Austen
22. Kevin Rudd
23. Same Sex Marriage
24. Luis Suarez
25. Nadine Dorries
26. Mark Webber
27. He lost, and will be staying in Ashworth hospital
28. The Haywain by Constable
29. Danone
30. The England v Scotland football match at Wembley in August
31. Serbia
Who Or What Are the Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Trenton Oldfield
2. Walle
3. Andrea Begley
4. Kaesong
5. Jeffrey Osborne
6. Lin Harmer
7. Zaid Al Hilli
8. Nik Wallenda
9. Mickey Arthur
10. Steve Darcis
11. Digby Ioane
12. Mick Aston
13. Wendy Williams
14. Maria Kirilenko
15. Aaron Hernandez
16. Caroline Lucas
17. Lord Drayson
18. Cambodian Tailor Bird
19. Sergiy Stakhovsky
20. Ernest Gulbis
21. Iain Lawrence
22. Adam Brown
23. Dark Seoul
24. Get Lucky
25. Wendy Davis
26. Scott Horwill
27. White Throated Needletail
28. Kimiko Date Krumm
29. George Stark
30. Chip Starnes
In Other News
1. Which team won cricket’s Champions Trophy?
2. Which English city began an experiment with ‘car-free Sundays’?
3. Which US cakes made a comeback last week?
4. Where did the Archbishop of Canterbury visit last week?
5. A homemade explosive device was found in a mosque in which midlands town?
6. How did Gus Poyet find out he’d been sacked by Brighton and Hove Albion last week?
7. What was the score in the Under 20 Rugby Union World Final?
8. In which position did Team GB finish in the European team Athletics championships?
9. Who won the title in the British professional cycle road racing championship?
10. For how many years was Silvio Berlusconi sentenced for underage sex and misusing his position to cover it up?
11. Which batsman was dropped from England’s Ashes squad?
12. Name the Irish lock injured and out of the 2nd and 3rd Lions tests
13. Who is the new coach of the Australian cricket team?
14. Who is the new head coach of European Champions Bayern Munich?
15. Which Middle Eastern ruler abdicated in favour of his son?
16. In which airport was Edward Snowden reported last week?
17. Which part of the UK was visited by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall?
18. Carlo Ancelotti is the new manager of which club?
19. What was the score in the tour match between the Lions and Melbourne Rebels?
20. Which 38 year old admitted he had just read his first book?
21. Which figure will be replacing Charles Darwin on the new £10 note?
22. Julia Gillard was replaced laast week by the man she ousted herself three years ago. Who is he?
23. To what did the Supreme Court of the USA give recognition last week?
24. Which player claimed that he has joined Real Madrid last week?
25. Which MP claimed that she will not claim parliamentary expenses?
26. Who announced his retirement from Formula One from the end of the season?
27. What was the result of Ian Brady’s appeal?
28. Which famous painting was defaced last week, allegedly by a member of Fathers 4 Justice?
29. Which company have been forced to remove the WHO logo from their adverts for baby milk?
30. For which event will it be necessary to obtain a bagpipe permit, in order to play the aforesaid instrument?
31. Which country is beginning negotiations to join the EU?
Answers
1. 2012 Boat Race protestor asked to leave the country
2. The world’s Ugliest Dog
3. Winner of The Voice
4. New World Heritage site in North Korea
5. Soul singer Obama confused with George Osborne
6. Head of HMRC denied any wrongdoing to Public Accounts COmmittee
7. Brother of Alps murder victim, arrested on suspicion of the murder
8. Did tightrope walk across Niagara Falls
9. Asutralian cricket coach sacked on eve of the Ashes
10. Knocked out Nadal in round 1 of Wimbledon
11. Australian out of 2nd and 3rd Lions tests after a warrant was issued for his arrest
12. Professor, regular on Time Team – passed away
13. Senior RAF nurse won sexism case against MOD
14. Wimbledon 10th seed defeated by Laura Robson
15. Professional Gridiron player accused of murder
16. Wore a No More Page 3 T Shirt to a Commons committee
17. Beat the land speed record for electric cars – new record 204 mph
18. New species of bird identified
19. Knocked Federer out of Wimbledon singles in round 2 match
20. Won when Jo Wilfred Tsonga pulled out with injury
21. Convicted of murder by deliberately crashing after disabling his wife’s airbag
22. Broke Mark Foster’s British 50m freestyle swimming record
23. Group of Cyber hackers targeting South Korea
24. Daft Punk song – 1 million downloads in 69 days
25. Texas senator who made a 10 hour filibuster to stymie anti abortion bill
26. IRB asked the Australian RFU to review their decision to clear him of stamping in the first test
27. Rare bird – twitchers trekked to Island of Harris to see it – it was killed flying into a wind turbine
28. 42 year old who became the oldest woman to make the 3rd round of Wimbledon singles
29. Mail Online journalist threatened online by Alec Baldwin
30. US Executive help prisoner by employees in China, demanding a severance package
In Other News
1. India
2. Bristol
3. Hostess Twinkies
4. The Middle East
5. Walsall
6. He was taking part in a TV show when a production assistant brought him the press release from the club which announced his sacking
7. England 23- Wales 15
8. 3rd
9. Mark Cavendish
10. 7 years
11. Nick Compton
12. Paul O’Connell
13. Darren Lehman
14. Pep Guardiola
15. The Emir of Kuwait
16. Moscow
17. Northern Ireland
18. Real Madrid
19. 35 - 0
20. Jamie Oliver
21. Jane Austen
22. Kevin Rudd
23. Same Sex Marriage
24. Luis Suarez
25. Nadine Dorries
26. Mark Webber
27. He lost, and will be staying in Ashworth hospital
28. The Haywain by Constable
29. Danone
30. The England v Scotland football match at Wembley in August
31. Serbia
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