In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Felix Magath
2. Bode Miller
3. Renaud Lavillenie
4. Vype e
5. Jamie Coots
6. Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn
7. Philip Fenton
8. 2000 EM 26
9. Brendan McCullum
10. Rowen Cheshire
11. Pat Hughes
12. Certify
13. Matteo Renzi
14. ATOS
In Other News
1. What is the given name of Simon Cowell’s new son?
2. Which film won the BAfta for best film?
3. – and the Bafta for Best Actress – for which film?
4. – and the Bafta for best actor?
5. Which all time England International footballing great passed away aged 91?
6. FA Cup – what was the score between Everton and Swansea?
7. – and Arsenal and Liverpool?
8. – and Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest?
9. Which prop was injured and forced out of England’s 6 Nations team?
10. Who was announced as the lead pacemaker for this year’s London Marathon?
11. Which British football ground has been announced as the venue for the UEFA Super Cup?
12. In which position did the Jamaican 2 man bobsleigh team finish at the Winter Olympics?
13. Champions League – what was the score between Barcelona and Man City?
14. – and Bayern Munich and Arsenal?
15. New Zealand’s Prime Minister officially denied that he is what last week?
16. What was it announced will now be included in the information used to determine the UK’s weekly number 1 single?
17. Who finished 67th in the women’s Giant Slalom in Sochi?
18. Who was elected Rector of Glasgow University?
19. Against which nation’s mens curlers did team GB win a play off to get into the medal matches?
20. Who won Best Male Artist at the Brit Awards?
21. – and best group?
22. – and best female artist?
23. – and best album?
24. What did Time Magazine name as the most influential chocolate bar of all time?
25. Who was it revealed had offered to help Rebekah Brooks over phone hacking?
26. Which actor – probably best known for playing Ives in Porridge – passed away aged 83?
27. Which British Lion was dropped ot the bench for Wales’ 6 Nations match v. France?
28. Which team did GB’s men’s curlers defeat in their semi final to guarantee a silver medal?
29. Which team defeated team GB’s women curlers in their semi final?
30. – and which team did they defeat in the bronze medal match?
31. The Russian favourites were beaten by which team in the ice hockey tournament at Sochi?
32. Which two countries will host the 2017 Rugby League world cup?
33. What was the Europa League score between Spurs and Dnipro?
34. – and Swansea and Napoli?
35. A so called ‘toilet tax’ has been introduced where in the UK?
36. It was announced that who will front the BBC’s election coverage in 2015?
37. Who was called ‘not reliable or truthful’ by the judge when he won his court case last week?
38. A 4.1 earthquake struck where last week?
39. What was the score in the 6 Nations between France and Wales?
40. According to a study, which computer game can prevent cravings for food, cigarettes and alcohol?
41. Chris Moyles was alleged to have claimed to be what in order to save tax?
42. Wayne Rooney signed a new deal for a reported salary of how much per week?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Former German international, new manager of Fulham FC
2. Oldest skier to ever win an alpine skiing medal at the winter Olympics, with medal in Super Giant Slalom
3. French athlete broke Sergei Bubka’s pole vault world record
4. First e-cigarette to be advertised on a UK satellite channel ( Comedy Central)
5. US evangelist preacher, known for handling snakes, killed when one of them bit him
6. Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot who hijacked his own plane to Geneva to seek political asylum
7. Irish trainer charged with alleged possession of banned substances
8. Asteroid which missed Earth b a mere 2.1 million miles
9. First New Zealand batsman to ever score 300 in a test match, v. India
10. British skier ruled out of Olympics after a fall and concussion in training
11. Second Irish trainer in whose yard banned substances were allegedly found
12. Super horse that lost its unbeaten record last week
13. New Italian Prime Minister
14. French benefit testing firm confirmed it is seeking an early end to its contract with the government following death threats to staff
In Other News
1. Eric
2. Twelve Years A Slave
3. Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
4. Chiwetel Ejiofar – Twelve Years A Slave
5. Sir Tom Finney
6. 3 -1 Everton
7. 2 – 1 Arsenal
8. 3 – 1 Sheffield United
9. Dan Cole
10. Haile Gebreselassie
11. Cardiff City Stadium
12. 29th
13. 2 – 0 Barcelona
14. 2 – 0 Bayern Munich
15. A shape shifting alien
16. Streaming data
17. Vanessa Mae
18. Edward Snowden
19. Norway
20. David Bowie
21. Arctic Monkeys
22. Ellie Goulding
23. Am – Arctic Monkeys
24. Kit Kat
25. Tony Blair
26. Ken Jones
27. Mike Phillips
28. Sweden
29. Canada
30. Switzerland
31. Finland
32. Australia and New Zealand
33. 1 – 0 Dnipro
34. 0 - 0
35. Isle of Man
36. David Dimbleby – previously it had been thought that Huw Edwards would have the job this time round.
37. Bernie Ecclestone
38. Bristol Channel
39. 27 - 6
40. Tetris
41. Car Dealer
42. 300,000 pounds a week.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Mastermind - Semi Final One
For our first semifinal it was interesting to note that these five contenders were all heat winners. A fair old spread as well. We’ll look at that as we go through the specialist rounds.
LAM reader Paul Philpot, he of the mighty Just Quiz blog, had won Heat 7, beating repechage runner up Ron Wood on passing. Back then Paul scored 28, with 14 on the life and career of Seb Coe, and an even 14 on GK. That put him in joint 10th on my unofficial table. Tonight, with a shorter specialist round, Paul showed his class by blasting to a fine 11 points on Factory Records before being just caught out on the last question.
Nick Harrison scored 13 on the films of Wes Anderson back in heat 18. He’d scored a pretty decent 13 on GK to win, but only just, having had to survive a seriously good GK round of 17 by David Dutton. Nick was joint 22nd on my unofficial table. However when you consider that only two points separated his score and Paul’s you can see that this wasn’t necessarily all that significant. Tonight he answered questions on the novels of Carol Shields, or as she is known chez LAM, Carol who? Sorry, but these had never crossed my path before. Nick made a stumble or two at the start, but rallied extremely well to achieve the quality mark of a double figure score with 10, just one off the lead.
Carol Atkinson had posted an identical score to Nick’s back in her heat. She won Heat 15 with the Richard Hannay novels of John Buchan, but it was a good score of 15 on GK which just sneaked her ahead of Adam Kirby, who missed out on a qualification spot. Tonight she offered my best subject of the 5 GKs, Homer’s Odyssey. I managed 7 of these, which admittedly was not as good as Carol’s score of 9. You did feel, with this show likely to be won by small margins, 2 points deficit on specialist could be quite a hurdle to overcome.
James Ludden won heat 12, back in the Autumn, with rounds of fifteen on the Rugby World Cup, and General Knowledge. His was one of only 6 scores of 30 or more in the whole of the first round heats, and so, in joint 4th place in my unofficial table he was one of tonight’s fancied runners. He was answering on Roald Amundsen, which was incidentally one of Nancy’s 2009 subjects. Was there an omen in that, I wondered? Well, time would tell. James’ 10 point round certainly kept him in contention going into the General Knowledge.
This left just Michael McPartland, who won Heat 8 by one pass from Stephen Broomfield, who qualified for a repechage slot in the semis. Michael answered on Father Ted, also a Pat Gibson subject in years gone by. Michael was placed slightly above James on the unofficial table, in 3rd place. Tonight Michael offered us the Life and Career of Michael Jordan, and well that he did, for he slam dunked a perfect round of 11 correct answers to 11 questions. Never easy to do at the best of times, but in the semis, even more of an achievement.
With Michael, James, Paul and Carol all having posted good GK scores in their heats, it looked as if the winner would be one of the last three to go. I felt a little for Carol, especially since all three of her passes were included on the Are You A Pass Master compilation on the website. 8 correct answers in two minutes is perfectly respectable, but it’s not semifinal winning form, I’m afraid, and you rather sensed that she struggled a little to get to grips with the level of the semifinal GK questions. Not that any of tonight’s contenders made it look easy on GK. Nick came next, and he actually equaled Carol’s round. His 8 points put him into the lead, but 18 was never quite going to be a winning score tonight.
James started his GK round very hesitantly, but he started picking up correct answers, and didn’t really stop until the end of his round. 10 is still some way short of a likely winning total, however it is enough to put those who have yet to come into the corridor of uncertainty. Paul started his own chase of the target very well, but the going seemed to become harder for him as the round progressed, and with 30 seconds to go you sensed that he was behind the clock, and that the finishing line was probably going to come a couple of questions too soon. Which is pretty much how it turned out. Paul too added 8 to his GK total. Now, when John announced his score at the end of the round, he first said ‘You haven’t done it.’ then said 19. I don’t know, personally I’d rather work that sort of thing out for myself after I’ve been told my score.
I’ve been in something very similar to Michael’s position. Michael needed 10 and no passes to win, whereas in 2007 I needed 11 and no passes to win my semi. Those are scores where you think you have an excellent chance of making it if you can just keep answering the questions, but while the round is actually progressing, the target is significant enough that you feel like you’re wading through treacle to get to it. Michael kept going then, snapping out the answers he knew, and guessing the answers he didn’t, and reached his target with a couple of questions to spare. It was close, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you win by 1 point, or by 10 points. Well played, and good luck in the final. Hard lines Paul, but well done for getting within a couple of points of the final. Next time . . .
The Details
LAM reader Paul Philpot, he of the mighty Just Quiz blog, had won Heat 7, beating repechage runner up Ron Wood on passing. Back then Paul scored 28, with 14 on the life and career of Seb Coe, and an even 14 on GK. That put him in joint 10th on my unofficial table. Tonight, with a shorter specialist round, Paul showed his class by blasting to a fine 11 points on Factory Records before being just caught out on the last question.
Nick Harrison scored 13 on the films of Wes Anderson back in heat 18. He’d scored a pretty decent 13 on GK to win, but only just, having had to survive a seriously good GK round of 17 by David Dutton. Nick was joint 22nd on my unofficial table. However when you consider that only two points separated his score and Paul’s you can see that this wasn’t necessarily all that significant. Tonight he answered questions on the novels of Carol Shields, or as she is known chez LAM, Carol who? Sorry, but these had never crossed my path before. Nick made a stumble or two at the start, but rallied extremely well to achieve the quality mark of a double figure score with 10, just one off the lead.
Carol Atkinson had posted an identical score to Nick’s back in her heat. She won Heat 15 with the Richard Hannay novels of John Buchan, but it was a good score of 15 on GK which just sneaked her ahead of Adam Kirby, who missed out on a qualification spot. Tonight she offered my best subject of the 5 GKs, Homer’s Odyssey. I managed 7 of these, which admittedly was not as good as Carol’s score of 9. You did feel, with this show likely to be won by small margins, 2 points deficit on specialist could be quite a hurdle to overcome.
James Ludden won heat 12, back in the Autumn, with rounds of fifteen on the Rugby World Cup, and General Knowledge. His was one of only 6 scores of 30 or more in the whole of the first round heats, and so, in joint 4th place in my unofficial table he was one of tonight’s fancied runners. He was answering on Roald Amundsen, which was incidentally one of Nancy’s 2009 subjects. Was there an omen in that, I wondered? Well, time would tell. James’ 10 point round certainly kept him in contention going into the General Knowledge.
This left just Michael McPartland, who won Heat 8 by one pass from Stephen Broomfield, who qualified for a repechage slot in the semis. Michael answered on Father Ted, also a Pat Gibson subject in years gone by. Michael was placed slightly above James on the unofficial table, in 3rd place. Tonight Michael offered us the Life and Career of Michael Jordan, and well that he did, for he slam dunked a perfect round of 11 correct answers to 11 questions. Never easy to do at the best of times, but in the semis, even more of an achievement.
With Michael, James, Paul and Carol all having posted good GK scores in their heats, it looked as if the winner would be one of the last three to go. I felt a little for Carol, especially since all three of her passes were included on the Are You A Pass Master compilation on the website. 8 correct answers in two minutes is perfectly respectable, but it’s not semifinal winning form, I’m afraid, and you rather sensed that she struggled a little to get to grips with the level of the semifinal GK questions. Not that any of tonight’s contenders made it look easy on GK. Nick came next, and he actually equaled Carol’s round. His 8 points put him into the lead, but 18 was never quite going to be a winning score tonight.
James started his GK round very hesitantly, but he started picking up correct answers, and didn’t really stop until the end of his round. 10 is still some way short of a likely winning total, however it is enough to put those who have yet to come into the corridor of uncertainty. Paul started his own chase of the target very well, but the going seemed to become harder for him as the round progressed, and with 30 seconds to go you sensed that he was behind the clock, and that the finishing line was probably going to come a couple of questions too soon. Which is pretty much how it turned out. Paul too added 8 to his GK total. Now, when John announced his score at the end of the round, he first said ‘You haven’t done it.’ then said 19. I don’t know, personally I’d rather work that sort of thing out for myself after I’ve been told my score.
I’ve been in something very similar to Michael’s position. Michael needed 10 and no passes to win, whereas in 2007 I needed 11 and no passes to win my semi. Those are scores where you think you have an excellent chance of making it if you can just keep answering the questions, but while the round is actually progressing, the target is significant enough that you feel like you’re wading through treacle to get to it. Michael kept going then, snapping out the answers he knew, and guessing the answers he didn’t, and reached his target with a couple of questions to spare. It was close, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you win by 1 point, or by 10 points. Well played, and good luck in the final. Hard lines Paul, but well done for getting within a couple of points of the final. Next time . . .
The Details
| Paul Philpot | Factory Records | 11 - 0 | 8 - 0 | 19 - 0 |
| Nick Harrison | The Novels of Carol Shields | 10 - 1 | 8 - 1 | 18 - 2 |
| Carol Atkinson | Homer’s Odyssey in English | 9 – 0 | 8 - 3 | 17 - 3 |
| James Ludden | Roald Amundsen | 10 - 0 | 10 - 1 | 20 - 1 |
| Michael McPartland | The Life and Career of Michael Jordan | 11 – 0 | 10 - 1 | 21 - 1 |
A Bit of Gossip
- although not malicious, I hope. Having watched a team with a couple of of useful quizzers in it take the money on "Revenge of the Egghead" this evening, I thought I'd have a nose around and see what people are saying about the show on various online forums. Most of it is not complimentary to be honest. Still, that's neither here nor there for the purposes of this post. What I was intrigued about was a significant number of references to the ideas that - a) C.J. is apparently rejoining the Eggheads in the next series, starting in the early summer - b) a new female Egghead called Lisa Thiel will be taking the place of Daphne Fowler.
Well, we knew that Daphne retired last season. Apparently Lisa Thiel (I don't know if this is the musician Lisa Thiel, or just someone sharing the same name) took part in "Revenge . . . " and caught the producers' eye. Well, there you go. I don't know if this is gospel, or just rumour, but that's what they do say.
I don't often watch the show, so that probably means I haven't got a right to comment, and of course you must always feel free to disagree with anything I say. But if this is true, well, that will mean that we're up to 8 Eggheads, unless they are pushing one out. Which they shouldn't do - the 3 remaining originals - Judith, Chris and Kevin have been loyal to the show from the start, so they should stay. Barry and Pat won their places on the show fair and square. CJ wanted to move on, and my mate Dave was brought in to replace him, which he did well, and so he doesn't deserve to go. Yet 8 of them - it's getting to the stage where they could do a rugby union style substitution of half a team during the second half.
I do wonder about the choice of Lisa Thiel as well. Now I honestly can't comment on her ability as a quizzer, because I know nothing about it. For all I know she might be the sensation of the grand prix scene. But I don't think so. If they were looking for a 'like for like' - ie - female and excellent - replacement for Daphne, then I can think of quite a few names they could have approached. Maybe they did, and were rebuffed. I doubt it, though. Are they perhaps thinking - well, adding Barry and Pat, then replacing CJ with Dave certainly strengthened the team, so a couple of weaker members might improve the challengers' chances.
Well, as I say I don't know if this addition to the Eggheads is just a rumour, or if there's any truth behind it, but it will be interesting to find out in a few months time.
Well, we knew that Daphne retired last season. Apparently Lisa Thiel (I don't know if this is the musician Lisa Thiel, or just someone sharing the same name) took part in "Revenge . . . " and caught the producers' eye. Well, there you go. I don't know if this is gospel, or just rumour, but that's what they do say.
I don't often watch the show, so that probably means I haven't got a right to comment, and of course you must always feel free to disagree with anything I say. But if this is true, well, that will mean that we're up to 8 Eggheads, unless they are pushing one out. Which they shouldn't do - the 3 remaining originals - Judith, Chris and Kevin have been loyal to the show from the start, so they should stay. Barry and Pat won their places on the show fair and square. CJ wanted to move on, and my mate Dave was brought in to replace him, which he did well, and so he doesn't deserve to go. Yet 8 of them - it's getting to the stage where they could do a rugby union style substitution of half a team during the second half.
I do wonder about the choice of Lisa Thiel as well. Now I honestly can't comment on her ability as a quizzer, because I know nothing about it. For all I know she might be the sensation of the grand prix scene. But I don't think so. If they were looking for a 'like for like' - ie - female and excellent - replacement for Daphne, then I can think of quite a few names they could have approached. Maybe they did, and were rebuffed. I doubt it, though. Are they perhaps thinking - well, adding Barry and Pat, then replacing CJ with Dave certainly strengthened the team, so a couple of weaker members might improve the challengers' chances.
Well, as I say I don't know if this addition to the Eggheads is just a rumour, or if there's any truth behind it, but it will be interesting to find out in a few months time.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
BoB - First round review - semi final preview
Let’s have a look at the table, then.
Well, if you go purely by first round scores, then it looks fairly clear cut. Dag’s first round performance was, as our own Gary Grant has said, awesome, in fact, almost Bayley-esque. But the nature of BoB is that nothing is ever quite cut and dried. Robert, David and Mark all put in superb performances of their own during the first round. You’re never going to make good money by betting against Mark Grant in a quiz. Speaking of Grants, as well, 2012 Mastermind champion Gary Grant is in the mix as well, despite losing out on a tie break to Dave Taylor, another very good quizzer who’s been there and bought the T-shirt, as it were.
BoB has a habit, like Mastermind, of throwing up some very tough, top heavy semifinals. It would be harsh, to say the least, if Dag, Robert, David and Mark were all thrown together in the same semi-final, but it could happen. It’s certain possible that two or even three of the above could be in the same semi. Now, don’t get me wrong, this can make for at least one high quality and very exciting semi-final, but it makes the pundit-prognosticator’s job very difficult indeed. Mind you, so does the uneven nature of the starters that contestants get asked. Of course, some would say that the nature of the beast is that only the very, very best can be guaranteed to pick off the vast majority of starters they might be asked, and there’s some truth in that. Look at the list of winners, certainly over the last two decades. Alright, some are stronger than others, but there’s no mugs there at all.
OK, so here it is, the moment that all the contestants are doubtless dreading. Who am I going to tip? Well, I’m not going to ruin anyone’s chances by saying that they are going to win. However I will say this much. Dag was outstanding, really outstanding in his first round, and if he can repeat that level of performance nobody will fancy playing him in the semis. Anyone who can get into the 20s in BoB is a top level performer, and so Robert, David and Mark all served good notice of intent. But then there are some good, competitive quizzers further down the list as well. I just hope that we don’t see any contestant knocked out by having a set of starters which are noticeably harder than anyone else’s. I know that it’s all in the ear of the behearer, but I’m pretty sure that I beheard it happen in at least one of the heats.
Well, if you go purely by first round scores, then it looks fairly clear cut. Dag’s first round performance was, as our own Gary Grant has said, awesome, in fact, almost Bayley-esque. But the nature of BoB is that nothing is ever quite cut and dried. Robert, David and Mark all put in superb performances of their own during the first round. You’re never going to make good money by betting against Mark Grant in a quiz. Speaking of Grants, as well, 2012 Mastermind champion Gary Grant is in the mix as well, despite losing out on a tie break to Dave Taylor, another very good quizzer who’s been there and bought the T-shirt, as it were.
BoB has a habit, like Mastermind, of throwing up some very tough, top heavy semifinals. It would be harsh, to say the least, if Dag, Robert, David and Mark were all thrown together in the same semi-final, but it could happen. It’s certain possible that two or even three of the above could be in the same semi. Now, don’t get me wrong, this can make for at least one high quality and very exciting semi-final, but it makes the pundit-prognosticator’s job very difficult indeed. Mind you, so does the uneven nature of the starters that contestants get asked. Of course, some would say that the nature of the beast is that only the very, very best can be guaranteed to pick off the vast majority of starters they might be asked, and there’s some truth in that. Look at the list of winners, certainly over the last two decades. Alright, some are stronger than others, but there’s no mugs there at all.
OK, so here it is, the moment that all the contestants are doubtless dreading. Who am I going to tip? Well, I’m not going to ruin anyone’s chances by saying that they are going to win. However I will say this much. Dag was outstanding, really outstanding in his first round, and if he can repeat that level of performance nobody will fancy playing him in the semis. Anyone who can get into the 20s in BoB is a top level performer, and so Robert, David and Mark all served good notice of intent. But then there are some good, competitive quizzers further down the list as well. I just hope that we don’t see any contestant knocked out by having a set of starters which are noticeably harder than anyone else’s. I know that it’s all in the ear of the behearer, but I’m pretty sure that I beheard it happen in at least one of the heats.
Brain of Britain - Round One - Heat Twelve
Here we are then. Last Friday we had the last first round heat of mastermind, and then on Monday, the last first round heat of BoB. Our final four entrants to the lists were
Dr. Alan Farnsworth
Rob Hemming
David Hesp
Charles Houghton
I’m fairly sure that I played in the same team as David Hesp last time there was a Grand Prix in Cardiff – well, Rhiwbina. That was a long time ago, hint hint.
Alan kicked off our final heat, then, by failing to get the phrase – It Takes Two to Tango. Rob took that bonus. For his own set Rob answered his first, but didn’t know Europe’s largest Dark Sky Park. That went as a tit for tat bonus to Alan. David answered all five of his first set. No gimmes, neither, but at least tough but fair. Charles couldn’t dredge up – when the hurly burly’s done from the Scottish play, and neither could any of the others. Fair enough. On with round two, and Alan got a nasty starter again, with a list of people who have all been Master of the King’s/Queen’s music. Nobody had it. Rob didn’t know that Aquila chrysatos is the golden eagle, and that was a nice bonus for David. On his own set he took three, but didn’t know that a half is the reciprocal of 2. Charles could have known that Ecce Homo was the first piece of art displayed on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square.It’s the sort of half chance you have to bury if you’re going to get anywhere on BoB. David had it. At the end of the round he led with 11 to 2. You could name your own odds on anyone else. Alan began round three by failing to ascribe the song “Take that look off your face” to the musical work “Tell me on a Sunday”. Inevitably David had the bonus. Rob got one of those infuriating Ambrose Bierce Devil’s Dictionary definitions. Nobody had it. David for the first time was tripped up on a starter, not knowing that Mafia Island is off the coast of Tanzania. Charles was asked about the Ile de Beaute, but didn’t know that it refers to Corsica. Maybe guessable, but he didn’t guess it, and neither did anyone else. Another round before the interval, then. Alan was asked about the fictional character whose nose was crushed during his delivery by Dr. Slop. Tristram Shandy? I mused. David confirmed that I was right. Rob didn’t know that Denny Laine went from the Moody Blues to Wings. Guess who had that bonus? Yes, David. For his own set he took his first, but not the second. Nobody else knew, nor did I, that it was the Montgolfier Bros’ first flight that took place on 1783. Charles now managed to get going, taking his first, but nobody knew that the Karakorum Highway is the highest paved road in the world. That gave him 1, Alan and Rob had 2, and David . . . well, he had 15. I don’t want to be horrible, but had this been a boxing match the referee would probably have stopped the fight a round earlier.
The first of the Beat the Brains Questions asked – what was the contribution of Adriana Jellinek to the German Motor industry. SHE WAS MERCEDES! I yelled. The Brains weren’t close enough saying she designed the 3 pointed star. Her nickname was Mercedes, you see, which was given to the car. The second asked about how a very long named woman came to be besieged twice. I didn’t have a handle on it, neither did the Brains. She was trapped in Badajoz in Spain, but saved by a British officer. Later on she married a Brit, and became Lady Smith, after whom Ladysmith in South Africa was named. Actually, that’s interesting – good question.
Well, we had to continue with the contest. David was clearly going to win, and unless something totally unexpected happened, none of the others was going to get close to a high enough score to make the semis. Still, the game’s the thing. Alan didn’t know two plays with Philadelphia in the title. Nasty old question that. Rob didn’t know that Jacques Santer had been the PM of Luxembourg. David accepted that bonus. David had quite a gentle music starter on Acker Bilk, then went on to take his next. Ernst Ruska did for all of them – apparently he invented the electron microscope. Charles didn’t know that the Biographer’s Moustache was the last novel of Kingsley Amis. David had that. This gave him a lead of 19 to 2. Alan didn’t know that Bellomancy uses arrows for divination. Nasty starter again. Rob took one, but didn’t know that Orlando (the marmalade cat?) was the leader of Italy at the Versailles Peace Conference. David inevitably knew it. He didn’t know that Charles Ist’s daughter Mary was the first ever Princess Royal. Good answer that from Charles as a bonus. He got a song from Flower Drum Song as a starter, didn’t know it, and so David picked it up after allowing one of the others to have a go first. The final round came long, then, and Alan picked up one. He didn’t know that Titus was emperor of Rome when Vesuvius erupted. The cuboid bone is in the foot – and Alan had a bonus when Rob couldn’t answer it. David didn’t know that Marina Ogilvy is the only royal to date to win Rear of the Year. Charles had that bonus. To bring the contest to an end Charles didn’t know his first, that Marc is the residue of pressed grapes.
That was that. Then. There’s no shame for the other three in losing to David, for David is an excellent quizzer, as anyone who listened to this show could hear for themselves. He has to be one of the favourites to get to the final, although, like the Mastermind team, the BoB team do have a habit of sometimes putting several top contenders into the same semi. We’ll look at this again in the preview in a future post.
The Details
Dr. Alan Farnsworth - 3
Rob Hemming - 4
David Hesp - 23
Charles Houghton - 3
Dr. Alan Farnsworth
Rob Hemming
David Hesp
Charles Houghton
I’m fairly sure that I played in the same team as David Hesp last time there was a Grand Prix in Cardiff – well, Rhiwbina. That was a long time ago, hint hint.
Alan kicked off our final heat, then, by failing to get the phrase – It Takes Two to Tango. Rob took that bonus. For his own set Rob answered his first, but didn’t know Europe’s largest Dark Sky Park. That went as a tit for tat bonus to Alan. David answered all five of his first set. No gimmes, neither, but at least tough but fair. Charles couldn’t dredge up – when the hurly burly’s done from the Scottish play, and neither could any of the others. Fair enough. On with round two, and Alan got a nasty starter again, with a list of people who have all been Master of the King’s/Queen’s music. Nobody had it. Rob didn’t know that Aquila chrysatos is the golden eagle, and that was a nice bonus for David. On his own set he took three, but didn’t know that a half is the reciprocal of 2. Charles could have known that Ecce Homo was the first piece of art displayed on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square.It’s the sort of half chance you have to bury if you’re going to get anywhere on BoB. David had it. At the end of the round he led with 11 to 2. You could name your own odds on anyone else. Alan began round three by failing to ascribe the song “Take that look off your face” to the musical work “Tell me on a Sunday”. Inevitably David had the bonus. Rob got one of those infuriating Ambrose Bierce Devil’s Dictionary definitions. Nobody had it. David for the first time was tripped up on a starter, not knowing that Mafia Island is off the coast of Tanzania. Charles was asked about the Ile de Beaute, but didn’t know that it refers to Corsica. Maybe guessable, but he didn’t guess it, and neither did anyone else. Another round before the interval, then. Alan was asked about the fictional character whose nose was crushed during his delivery by Dr. Slop. Tristram Shandy? I mused. David confirmed that I was right. Rob didn’t know that Denny Laine went from the Moody Blues to Wings. Guess who had that bonus? Yes, David. For his own set he took his first, but not the second. Nobody else knew, nor did I, that it was the Montgolfier Bros’ first flight that took place on 1783. Charles now managed to get going, taking his first, but nobody knew that the Karakorum Highway is the highest paved road in the world. That gave him 1, Alan and Rob had 2, and David . . . well, he had 15. I don’t want to be horrible, but had this been a boxing match the referee would probably have stopped the fight a round earlier.
The first of the Beat the Brains Questions asked – what was the contribution of Adriana Jellinek to the German Motor industry. SHE WAS MERCEDES! I yelled. The Brains weren’t close enough saying she designed the 3 pointed star. Her nickname was Mercedes, you see, which was given to the car. The second asked about how a very long named woman came to be besieged twice. I didn’t have a handle on it, neither did the Brains. She was trapped in Badajoz in Spain, but saved by a British officer. Later on she married a Brit, and became Lady Smith, after whom Ladysmith in South Africa was named. Actually, that’s interesting – good question.
Well, we had to continue with the contest. David was clearly going to win, and unless something totally unexpected happened, none of the others was going to get close to a high enough score to make the semis. Still, the game’s the thing. Alan didn’t know two plays with Philadelphia in the title. Nasty old question that. Rob didn’t know that Jacques Santer had been the PM of Luxembourg. David accepted that bonus. David had quite a gentle music starter on Acker Bilk, then went on to take his next. Ernst Ruska did for all of them – apparently he invented the electron microscope. Charles didn’t know that the Biographer’s Moustache was the last novel of Kingsley Amis. David had that. This gave him a lead of 19 to 2. Alan didn’t know that Bellomancy uses arrows for divination. Nasty starter again. Rob took one, but didn’t know that Orlando (the marmalade cat?) was the leader of Italy at the Versailles Peace Conference. David inevitably knew it. He didn’t know that Charles Ist’s daughter Mary was the first ever Princess Royal. Good answer that from Charles as a bonus. He got a song from Flower Drum Song as a starter, didn’t know it, and so David picked it up after allowing one of the others to have a go first. The final round came long, then, and Alan picked up one. He didn’t know that Titus was emperor of Rome when Vesuvius erupted. The cuboid bone is in the foot – and Alan had a bonus when Rob couldn’t answer it. David didn’t know that Marina Ogilvy is the only royal to date to win Rear of the Year. Charles had that bonus. To bring the contest to an end Charles didn’t know his first, that Marc is the residue of pressed grapes.
That was that. Then. There’s no shame for the other three in losing to David, for David is an excellent quizzer, as anyone who listened to this show could hear for themselves. He has to be one of the favourites to get to the final, although, like the Mastermind team, the BoB team do have a habit of sometimes putting several top contenders into the same semi. We’ll look at this again in the preview in a future post.
The Details
Dr. Alan Farnsworth - 3
Rob Hemming - 4
David Hesp - 23
Charles Houghton - 3
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
University Challenge - Quarter Final Qualification Match
Somerville, Oxford v. Southampton
The Somerville team of Sam Walker, Zach Vermeer, Chris Beer and their skipper Michael Davies eventually overcame Clare, Cambridge in a close contest in their first quarter final match. Sam Walker, I noticed, keeps his place following his coming in as a replacement for Hasneen Karbalai in their previous match. Their opponents were Southampton, in the shape of the unchanged team of David Bishop, our own Richard Evans, Matt Loxham, and skipper Bob De Caux had a very comfortable win over Queens, Belfast. This was an interesting match on paper. Somerville had seemed vulnerable against Clare, but they hadn’t lost yet, whereas Southampton have carried all before them since being defeated by SOAS in the first round.
Chris Beer struck first for Somerville, knowing that if it’s a former goalkeeper, French, and worth quoting it’s – no, not Fabien Barthez, but Albert Camus. Good buzz. Bonuses on novels set in London added a further 10 points to their total. Once again it was Chris Beer who played the percentages quickest for the next question, knowing that ‘portrait of a man’+’Wallace Collection’ usually= Laughing Cavalier. No comment from JP on that one. Early computer networking brought both Somerville and me another 2 correct answers. I knew Arpa and Ether, but not the middle one. Chris Beer took a terrific hat trick of consecutive starters by again playing the percentages. Since the 2010 election if you’re asked a question about a male character from Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair”, incidentally possibly my favourite novel of all time, then you answer George Osborne. Ancient bronze artworks gave me a full set, but Somerville took just one. Somerville weren’t exactly eating up the bonuses, but they were getting the starters, and that’s often what matters. Nobody knew that urea was the first organic substance synthesized – or something like that. Richard buzzed in to break Southampton’s duck, knowing that Kosovo’s capital city is Pristina. This brought them a set of bonuses on films based on journalism. I’ll be honest, I was struggling with these myself, although I had The Killing Fields, as did Southampton. They also took the last. For the picture starter we were all shown the logo of Medecins Sans Frontieres, with the wording removed. Nobody had it. Thus as we approached the ten minute mark, for all their superiority on the buzzer Somerville had only established a lead of 55 to 20.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know Mandelbrot, but he made a lovely quote about Geometry, and Chris Beer, so effective for Somerville on the buzzer, knew him. All he got for his pains was the picture bonus set – more logos from organisations which have won the Nobel Peace Prize. They only recognized UN Peace Keepers, and I’ll come clean that this was the only one I knew as well.Nobody knew that NHK is the national broadcasting network of Japan. Bob de Caux, normally so fast on the buzzer, found his range for the first time in this contest, buzzing in first to identify the sun’s corona. A set of bonuses on disorders of the eye was interesting. I’d never realized that my condition – astigmatism – takes its name from the greek for ‘without a mark’. Once the question was asked I had it, but hadn’t heard it before. Southampton sadly did not convert any of this set into points. There was a lovely starter next – which monarch occupies the North West if the South East is occupied by Sir Charles Napier? Smashing question – it’s about plinths in Trafalgar Square. “It’s George IV!” I shouted. You either knew it or you didn’t, and the teams didn’t. A UC special followed with the word pair musty and fusty. Michael Davies, the Somerville skipper took his first with that one. Bonuses on Economics really seemed to get JP’s dander up when Somerville started to clean up on them. The Somerville skipper apologized for finding them too easy, but still answered them all correctly.Chris Beer earned a little contempt of his own from JP – after a couple of bars he identified the brass stylings of Mr. herb Alpert, which earned the response “I can’t believe you’d confess to that!” This earned three more instrumentals from the 1960s. They didn’t know ‘em, I didn’t know ‘em, that’s life. Now something about a single self-replicating robot, and how many years it would take to end up with a million of the little devils followed, and Michael Davis knew it was 6. Fair enough. A gettable set on artists provided Somerville with a good fifteen points, and the gap, which now stood at 100 points, was looking formidable. I was very pleased with myself for guessing that “I Am The Wife of Mao Tse Tung” was an aria from the opera “Nixon in China”. Zach Vermeer, unusually quiet in this match up to now, took his first starter with this one. US States, which autocomplete into a historic phrase on google, offered opportunity, and they had two, although somewhat surprisingly missed out on the Massachussetts Bay Colony. Poor old Southampton, then, had been almost completely buzzed out of the contest during this second period Somerville powerplay, and the Oxford side led by 150 – 30.
Matt Loxham buzzed in for the next starter with “Magnox” as in nuclear reactors. Good shout, that. The US Architect Daniel H Burnham brought them a full set, and put them up to 55. A portrait of John Locke followed, and it was Zach Vermeer who identified it correctly. More pictures of philosophers followed and they had the lot. The next question was a buzzer race about the magazine bought by Peter Cooke, and almost inevitably it was won by Chris Beer. Given a set of bonuses on the Solar System. Now, I was pleased with myself with the second question. I didn’t know that Meitner was an Austrian physicist, but I did know that Meitnerium was about 109 in the Periodic Table, so guessed correctly. That was the one that Somerville missed, ironically. I guessed Sedna as well. Zach Vermeer knew that potage is the thick stew in the Bible story of Jacob and Esau. (For my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth Man – Alan Bennett, Beyond the Fringe, was it?) Events in years of the 1920s brought a further 10 points. Bob de Caux managed to fight his way in ahead of the Somerville buzzer onslaught to identify the greek prefix meta for the next starter. Bonuses on Senegal pushed their score to 75. Some Maths thing about logs and xs escaped everyone. Poor old David Bishop. When things don’t run for you, they really don’t run for you. Asked where Constantine was proclaimed emperor in 306, he buzzed in early, as Southampton had to, and answered Britannia. Actually correct, but not precise enough. Given the full question Somerville knew they wanted the city but missed out on York. Matt Loxham knew that one of the decades that saw 4 General Election was the 50s. Microscopy bonuses took them to 85. Richard was in for a tapeworm – horrible thought – for the next starter, bonuses on Saint Saens following. They were allowed a chance at one of them, which would have taken them to 100, but sadly didn’t get it. At the gong Somerville had won comfortably by 215 to 95. Congratulations to Somerville, our second semi finalists. As for Southampton, well, I think JP was probably right to suggest that they seemed uncharacteristically subdued. Whether that was down to Somerville’s blitz start, or whether they didn’t know the answers, or whether it was just a bad day at the office, well, only they can say. I still have my fingers crossed though. They’ll still be in there fighting for a semi place.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP seems to share my opinion that some questions become obvious before the end of the question has been asked. When Chris Beer answered “Albert Camus” to the first he veritably tutted
”It could only be.” Well, as I said, there is always the admittedly unlikely possibility of Fabien Barthez.
I have no idea why, but JP thought that Chris Beer’s offer of “North Korea” for the country with national broadcaster NHK to be particularly chuckleworthy.
There was a fine display of mock indignation from our hero as Somerville’s skipper, Michael Davies, seemed rather bored by a pair of Economics questions so easy that even I knew them, which earned the response,
”Look, some people find these questions quite difficult! There’s no need to dismiss them with such contempt!”
Hmm, slight case of pot, kettle and black there Jez, dare I say it.
When shown a portrait of Edmund Burke, Somerville seemed surprised that their answer was right, and our hero added,
”Yes, I was surprised . . . I thought he was fatter than that.” I’m sure he would have spoken very highly of you too, Jez.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Guinevere is a geographical feature on the surface of Venus.
The Somerville team of Sam Walker, Zach Vermeer, Chris Beer and their skipper Michael Davies eventually overcame Clare, Cambridge in a close contest in their first quarter final match. Sam Walker, I noticed, keeps his place following his coming in as a replacement for Hasneen Karbalai in their previous match. Their opponents were Southampton, in the shape of the unchanged team of David Bishop, our own Richard Evans, Matt Loxham, and skipper Bob De Caux had a very comfortable win over Queens, Belfast. This was an interesting match on paper. Somerville had seemed vulnerable against Clare, but they hadn’t lost yet, whereas Southampton have carried all before them since being defeated by SOAS in the first round.
Chris Beer struck first for Somerville, knowing that if it’s a former goalkeeper, French, and worth quoting it’s – no, not Fabien Barthez, but Albert Camus. Good buzz. Bonuses on novels set in London added a further 10 points to their total. Once again it was Chris Beer who played the percentages quickest for the next question, knowing that ‘portrait of a man’+’Wallace Collection’ usually= Laughing Cavalier. No comment from JP on that one. Early computer networking brought both Somerville and me another 2 correct answers. I knew Arpa and Ether, but not the middle one. Chris Beer took a terrific hat trick of consecutive starters by again playing the percentages. Since the 2010 election if you’re asked a question about a male character from Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair”, incidentally possibly my favourite novel of all time, then you answer George Osborne. Ancient bronze artworks gave me a full set, but Somerville took just one. Somerville weren’t exactly eating up the bonuses, but they were getting the starters, and that’s often what matters. Nobody knew that urea was the first organic substance synthesized – or something like that. Richard buzzed in to break Southampton’s duck, knowing that Kosovo’s capital city is Pristina. This brought them a set of bonuses on films based on journalism. I’ll be honest, I was struggling with these myself, although I had The Killing Fields, as did Southampton. They also took the last. For the picture starter we were all shown the logo of Medecins Sans Frontieres, with the wording removed. Nobody had it. Thus as we approached the ten minute mark, for all their superiority on the buzzer Somerville had only established a lead of 55 to 20.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know Mandelbrot, but he made a lovely quote about Geometry, and Chris Beer, so effective for Somerville on the buzzer, knew him. All he got for his pains was the picture bonus set – more logos from organisations which have won the Nobel Peace Prize. They only recognized UN Peace Keepers, and I’ll come clean that this was the only one I knew as well.Nobody knew that NHK is the national broadcasting network of Japan. Bob de Caux, normally so fast on the buzzer, found his range for the first time in this contest, buzzing in first to identify the sun’s corona. A set of bonuses on disorders of the eye was interesting. I’d never realized that my condition – astigmatism – takes its name from the greek for ‘without a mark’. Once the question was asked I had it, but hadn’t heard it before. Southampton sadly did not convert any of this set into points. There was a lovely starter next – which monarch occupies the North West if the South East is occupied by Sir Charles Napier? Smashing question – it’s about plinths in Trafalgar Square. “It’s George IV!” I shouted. You either knew it or you didn’t, and the teams didn’t. A UC special followed with the word pair musty and fusty. Michael Davies, the Somerville skipper took his first with that one. Bonuses on Economics really seemed to get JP’s dander up when Somerville started to clean up on them. The Somerville skipper apologized for finding them too easy, but still answered them all correctly.Chris Beer earned a little contempt of his own from JP – after a couple of bars he identified the brass stylings of Mr. herb Alpert, which earned the response “I can’t believe you’d confess to that!” This earned three more instrumentals from the 1960s. They didn’t know ‘em, I didn’t know ‘em, that’s life. Now something about a single self-replicating robot, and how many years it would take to end up with a million of the little devils followed, and Michael Davis knew it was 6. Fair enough. A gettable set on artists provided Somerville with a good fifteen points, and the gap, which now stood at 100 points, was looking formidable. I was very pleased with myself for guessing that “I Am The Wife of Mao Tse Tung” was an aria from the opera “Nixon in China”. Zach Vermeer, unusually quiet in this match up to now, took his first starter with this one. US States, which autocomplete into a historic phrase on google, offered opportunity, and they had two, although somewhat surprisingly missed out on the Massachussetts Bay Colony. Poor old Southampton, then, had been almost completely buzzed out of the contest during this second period Somerville powerplay, and the Oxford side led by 150 – 30.
Matt Loxham buzzed in for the next starter with “Magnox” as in nuclear reactors. Good shout, that. The US Architect Daniel H Burnham brought them a full set, and put them up to 55. A portrait of John Locke followed, and it was Zach Vermeer who identified it correctly. More pictures of philosophers followed and they had the lot. The next question was a buzzer race about the magazine bought by Peter Cooke, and almost inevitably it was won by Chris Beer. Given a set of bonuses on the Solar System. Now, I was pleased with myself with the second question. I didn’t know that Meitner was an Austrian physicist, but I did know that Meitnerium was about 109 in the Periodic Table, so guessed correctly. That was the one that Somerville missed, ironically. I guessed Sedna as well. Zach Vermeer knew that potage is the thick stew in the Bible story of Jacob and Esau. (For my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth Man – Alan Bennett, Beyond the Fringe, was it?) Events in years of the 1920s brought a further 10 points. Bob de Caux managed to fight his way in ahead of the Somerville buzzer onslaught to identify the greek prefix meta for the next starter. Bonuses on Senegal pushed their score to 75. Some Maths thing about logs and xs escaped everyone. Poor old David Bishop. When things don’t run for you, they really don’t run for you. Asked where Constantine was proclaimed emperor in 306, he buzzed in early, as Southampton had to, and answered Britannia. Actually correct, but not precise enough. Given the full question Somerville knew they wanted the city but missed out on York. Matt Loxham knew that one of the decades that saw 4 General Election was the 50s. Microscopy bonuses took them to 85. Richard was in for a tapeworm – horrible thought – for the next starter, bonuses on Saint Saens following. They were allowed a chance at one of them, which would have taken them to 100, but sadly didn’t get it. At the gong Somerville had won comfortably by 215 to 95. Congratulations to Somerville, our second semi finalists. As for Southampton, well, I think JP was probably right to suggest that they seemed uncharacteristically subdued. Whether that was down to Somerville’s blitz start, or whether they didn’t know the answers, or whether it was just a bad day at the office, well, only they can say. I still have my fingers crossed though. They’ll still be in there fighting for a semi place.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP seems to share my opinion that some questions become obvious before the end of the question has been asked. When Chris Beer answered “Albert Camus” to the first he veritably tutted
”It could only be.” Well, as I said, there is always the admittedly unlikely possibility of Fabien Barthez.
I have no idea why, but JP thought that Chris Beer’s offer of “North Korea” for the country with national broadcaster NHK to be particularly chuckleworthy.
There was a fine display of mock indignation from our hero as Somerville’s skipper, Michael Davies, seemed rather bored by a pair of Economics questions so easy that even I knew them, which earned the response,
”Look, some people find these questions quite difficult! There’s no need to dismiss them with such contempt!”
Hmm, slight case of pot, kettle and black there Jez, dare I say it.
When shown a portrait of Edmund Burke, Somerville seemed surprised that their answer was right, and our hero added,
”Yes, I was surprised . . . I thought he was fatter than that.” I’m sure he would have spoken very highly of you too, Jez.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Guinevere is a geographical feature on the surface of Venus.
New Show - Revenge of the Egghead
I thought that Eggheads were like Jedis - above taking revenge. Just goes to show how much I know.
They do say that what goes around comes around. Once upon a time a production company called Twelve yard came up with an idea for a quiz show. Some have said that the idea for eggheads was at least inspired by an idea that Trevor Montague – he of the mighty “A to Z of Almost everything” – had, whereby he put together a dream team including such other luminaries as David Edwards and Daphne Fowler, to clean up in a range of quizzes in London and the South East. Whether there’s any truth in that or not, “Eggheads” was born, the first ‘pro-am’ TV quiz. Over a few years “Eggheads” built up a very devoted audience, and so, in the fullness of time, the good people of the commercial TV world took note, and lo, “The Chase” was born. Over a short period of time, “The Chase” too built up a very loyal and devoted audience. I believe that the good people at Twelve Yard have taken note.
Now, I am not trying to suggest that “Revenge of the Egghead” is a slavish imitation of “The Chase” – it isn’t – and maybe Twelve Yard would even say that it has never been envisaged as a competitor of the ITV pro-am quiz. Fair enough. However I feel that their new offering is more similar to “The Chase” than to the original “Eggheads”, and I’ll try to explain why.
We start with, on one hand, five contestants, not exactly a team, but not working against each other either, and on the other hand, the chaser - sorry, I'll read that again - Egghead, CJ, whose job it is to prevent them. The first part of the show is the cashbuilder- oops - I mean the first round where the five contestants answer questions to build up a prize pot to take through to the final, if they get there. OK – I’ll stop making cracks about The Chase. "Revenge - " bears similarities to The Chase, but it's not the same. Basically this is how it works. Each contestant has two lives. In turn they each get asked a question. If they get it right, then £200 is added to the prize fund, and the next person gets a question. Now, once they give an answer, if CJ thinks they have got it wrong he can buzz in. If they are wrong, and he has buzzed in, then CJ gets to answer. If he gets it right, then the contestant has to go to the hotspot. CJ asks the contestant a multiple choice question he has written himself. If they get it right, then they keep their life. If they get it wrong, then they lose a life. Once they have lost both lives, they’re out of the game. The game goes on until the klaxon goes off – normally with maybe ten minutes of the show left. Whoever are still in the game get to play for the money.
Now, CJ is asked ten questions by the question master, whom we shall call Jeremy Vine from Eggheads, for it is he. If CJ gets 10 of them right, then 10 is the target. If CJ gets 7, as he did last night, then that’s the target. The contestants still in the game then get asked questions – and this is the crucial thing – they can keep answering questions until all their lives are gone. So let us say that all five contestants got through with 2 lives, then they could afford to get 9 questions wrong. If they reach the target that CJ has set with as much as one life intact, then they win the prize pot they have built up. Time will tell, but I tend to think that this gives the contestants a fairer crack of the whip than the final chase on The Chase does.
So, what’s my verdict? Well, if you’re a regular, you’ll know what I like and what I don’t like in a quiz. To be fair this show seemed to move faster than Eggheads does, and gets through more questions. Not enough for my liking, mind you, but then neither does the first two thirds of The Chase either. The FAQ (Faffing About Quotient) was less than I expected as well, which is all to the good. Anyway, I don’t think I’m its target audience. Of its type my first impression is that it’s a pretty good show, and I certainly do think that this will have appeal to fans of Eggheads and The Chase. CJ’s always had the marmite factor, and I’m sure those who mainly watched Eggheads because they loved him, and those who only watched it because they loathed him, will find much to satisfy them in this show. Of course, there’s no saying whether the public will go for it, or whether they will decide it’s too like one thing, or not enough like another, or simply that it’s not for them. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if this one gets its own following.
They do say that what goes around comes around. Once upon a time a production company called Twelve yard came up with an idea for a quiz show. Some have said that the idea for eggheads was at least inspired by an idea that Trevor Montague – he of the mighty “A to Z of Almost everything” – had, whereby he put together a dream team including such other luminaries as David Edwards and Daphne Fowler, to clean up in a range of quizzes in London and the South East. Whether there’s any truth in that or not, “Eggheads” was born, the first ‘pro-am’ TV quiz. Over a few years “Eggheads” built up a very devoted audience, and so, in the fullness of time, the good people of the commercial TV world took note, and lo, “The Chase” was born. Over a short period of time, “The Chase” too built up a very loyal and devoted audience. I believe that the good people at Twelve Yard have taken note.
Now, I am not trying to suggest that “Revenge of the Egghead” is a slavish imitation of “The Chase” – it isn’t – and maybe Twelve Yard would even say that it has never been envisaged as a competitor of the ITV pro-am quiz. Fair enough. However I feel that their new offering is more similar to “The Chase” than to the original “Eggheads”, and I’ll try to explain why.
We start with, on one hand, five contestants, not exactly a team, but not working against each other either, and on the other hand, the chaser - sorry, I'll read that again - Egghead, CJ, whose job it is to prevent them. The first part of the show is the cashbuilder- oops - I mean the first round where the five contestants answer questions to build up a prize pot to take through to the final, if they get there. OK – I’ll stop making cracks about The Chase. "Revenge - " bears similarities to The Chase, but it's not the same. Basically this is how it works. Each contestant has two lives. In turn they each get asked a question. If they get it right, then £200 is added to the prize fund, and the next person gets a question. Now, once they give an answer, if CJ thinks they have got it wrong he can buzz in. If they are wrong, and he has buzzed in, then CJ gets to answer. If he gets it right, then the contestant has to go to the hotspot. CJ asks the contestant a multiple choice question he has written himself. If they get it right, then they keep their life. If they get it wrong, then they lose a life. Once they have lost both lives, they’re out of the game. The game goes on until the klaxon goes off – normally with maybe ten minutes of the show left. Whoever are still in the game get to play for the money.
Now, CJ is asked ten questions by the question master, whom we shall call Jeremy Vine from Eggheads, for it is he. If CJ gets 10 of them right, then 10 is the target. If CJ gets 7, as he did last night, then that’s the target. The contestants still in the game then get asked questions – and this is the crucial thing – they can keep answering questions until all their lives are gone. So let us say that all five contestants got through with 2 lives, then they could afford to get 9 questions wrong. If they reach the target that CJ has set with as much as one life intact, then they win the prize pot they have built up. Time will tell, but I tend to think that this gives the contestants a fairer crack of the whip than the final chase on The Chase does.
So, what’s my verdict? Well, if you’re a regular, you’ll know what I like and what I don’t like in a quiz. To be fair this show seemed to move faster than Eggheads does, and gets through more questions. Not enough for my liking, mind you, but then neither does the first two thirds of The Chase either. The FAQ (Faffing About Quotient) was less than I expected as well, which is all to the good. Anyway, I don’t think I’m its target audience. Of its type my first impression is that it’s a pretty good show, and I certainly do think that this will have appeal to fans of Eggheads and The Chase. CJ’s always had the marmite factor, and I’m sure those who mainly watched Eggheads because they loved him, and those who only watched it because they loathed him, will find much to satisfy them in this show. Of course, there’s no saying whether the public will go for it, or whether they will decide it’s too like one thing, or not enough like another, or simply that it’s not for them. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if this one gets its own following.
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Mastermind - Semi Final Preview
Right, then, let’s have a look at the table of qualifiers for the semi-finals, shall we?
Now, the first thing to say is that the picture is slightly complicate by the question marks over the repechage places. I have taken it for granted that the same rules have applied this year as last, that the top 6 runner up scores qualify regardless of whether they were second or third in their heats. You might notice that I have given one place to Last Repechage. This is simply because we had three contenders each with 27 and 2 passes, and I don’t know how they will allot the place. Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to recall someone once mentioning that the next measure would be the number of wrong answers given, but I may have dreamed this.
Well, allowing for that uncertainty then, what can we deduce from this table? Well, I always like to see a high GK score, and it’s nice to see that every qualifier achieved double figures in GK. You have to say that Neil Wright, John Jacob and Clive Dunning all impressed with rounds of 18, as did Cliff Challenger and Hamish Cameron on 17. A special word for Hamish. I may be wrong, but I think that is his 4th time in the semifinals, and I really hope that this time he makes it to the finals – nobody deserves this more. I think he has an excellent chance. A special mention for Beth Webster as well. Beth has contested the first round on a couple of previous occasions, and this is the first time she has reached the semis. Looking at her performance in the first round she has to have a chance of the final this time round, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.
While we’re doing shout outs, a mention for Paul Philpot too. Paul is, as I’m sure you know, a dedicated quizzer and blogger, and I’ll be hoping to see him make the Grand Final. I had a lovely email from Roderick Cromar after his win as well, so I’m hoping that he’ll do well. Clive Dunning is a contributor to the blog, and he looks to have a great chance of maybe even going all the way to the title – while wishing in no way to scupper his chances by lumbering him with the Clark tip.
Of course, you just don’t know who is going to be drawn against whom. The team’s first and foremost concern is to make a good show, and this means making the best combination of subjects that they can. This often results in one or two ‘top heavy’ semis, where two or more of the highest scoring first rounders are pitted against each other. Another feature that makes this series difficult to call is the move towards unnecessarily long winded questions in the specialist round. With only 90 seconds allotted to specialist in the semis a contender has even less time and opportunity to adjust to a bad start, which again suggests that the best performers in GK have the best chance of getting to the semis.
One point of interest from looking at the table is that it shows just how remarkable heat 23 was. Three contenders from that one heat qualified – and not only did they qualify, they all posted scores within the top 10. Who knows – if they are all in separate semifinals we might even see all three of them contesting the final.
I’m not going to spoil anyone’s chances by tipping them to get to the final. Some will doubtless do it through preparing thoroughly for their specialists, and keeping their head in their GK. Others will carry all before them in the GK. If I knew who they were, well, I’d have a go at predicting tonight’s lottery numbers while I’m at it. I wish all 30 of them the best of luck, and hope that they enjoy the semifinal experience as much as I enjoyed mine.
Now, the first thing to say is that the picture is slightly complicate by the question marks over the repechage places. I have taken it for granted that the same rules have applied this year as last, that the top 6 runner up scores qualify regardless of whether they were second or third in their heats. You might notice that I have given one place to Last Repechage. This is simply because we had three contenders each with 27 and 2 passes, and I don’t know how they will allot the place. Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to recall someone once mentioning that the next measure would be the number of wrong answers given, but I may have dreamed this.
Well, allowing for that uncertainty then, what can we deduce from this table? Well, I always like to see a high GK score, and it’s nice to see that every qualifier achieved double figures in GK. You have to say that Neil Wright, John Jacob and Clive Dunning all impressed with rounds of 18, as did Cliff Challenger and Hamish Cameron on 17. A special word for Hamish. I may be wrong, but I think that is his 4th time in the semifinals, and I really hope that this time he makes it to the finals – nobody deserves this more. I think he has an excellent chance. A special mention for Beth Webster as well. Beth has contested the first round on a couple of previous occasions, and this is the first time she has reached the semis. Looking at her performance in the first round she has to have a chance of the final this time round, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.
While we’re doing shout outs, a mention for Paul Philpot too. Paul is, as I’m sure you know, a dedicated quizzer and blogger, and I’ll be hoping to see him make the Grand Final. I had a lovely email from Roderick Cromar after his win as well, so I’m hoping that he’ll do well. Clive Dunning is a contributor to the blog, and he looks to have a great chance of maybe even going all the way to the title – while wishing in no way to scupper his chances by lumbering him with the Clark tip.
Of course, you just don’t know who is going to be drawn against whom. The team’s first and foremost concern is to make a good show, and this means making the best combination of subjects that they can. This often results in one or two ‘top heavy’ semis, where two or more of the highest scoring first rounders are pitted against each other. Another feature that makes this series difficult to call is the move towards unnecessarily long winded questions in the specialist round. With only 90 seconds allotted to specialist in the semis a contender has even less time and opportunity to adjust to a bad start, which again suggests that the best performers in GK have the best chance of getting to the semis.
One point of interest from looking at the table is that it shows just how remarkable heat 23 was. Three contenders from that one heat qualified – and not only did they qualify, they all posted scores within the top 10. Who knows – if they are all in separate semifinals we might even see all three of them contesting the final.
I’m not going to spoil anyone’s chances by tipping them to get to the final. Some will doubtless do it through preparing thoroughly for their specialists, and keeping their head in their GK. Others will carry all before them in the GK. If I knew who they were, well, I’d have a go at predicting tonight’s lottery numbers while I’m at it. I wish all 30 of them the best of luck, and hope that they enjoy the semifinal experience as much as I enjoyed mine.
In the News
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Felix Magath
2. Bode Miller
3. Renaud Lavillenie
4. Vype e
5. Jamie Coots
6. Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn
7. Philip Fenton
8. 2000 EM 26
9. Brendan McCullum
10. Rowen Cheshire
11. Pat Hughes
12. Certify
13. Matteo Renzi
14. ATOS
In Other News
1. What is the given name of Simon Cowell’s new son?
2. Which film won the BAfta for best film?
3. – and the Bafta for Best Actress – for which film?
4. – and the Bafta for best actor?
5. Which all time England International footballing great passed away aged 91?
6. FA Cup – what was the score between Everton and Swansea?
7. – and Arsenal and Liverpool?
8. – and Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest?
9. Which prop was injured and forced out of England’s 6 Nations team?
10. Who was announced as the lead pacemaker for this year’s London Marathon?
11. Which British football ground has been announced as the venue for the UEFA Super Cup?
12. In which position did the Jamaican 2 man bobsleigh team finish at the Winter Olympics?
13. Champions League – what was the score between Barcelona and Man City?
14. – and Bayern Munich and Arsenal?
15. New Zealand’s Prime Minister officially denied that he is what last week?
16. What was it announced will now be included in the information used to determine the UK’s weekly number 1 single?
17. Who finished 67th in the women’s Giant Slalom in Sochi?
18. Who was elected Rector of Glasgow University?
19. Against which nation’s mens curlers did team GB win a play off to get into the medal matches?
20. Who won Best Male Artist at the Brit Awards?
21. – and best group?
22. – and best female artist?
23. – and best album?
24. What did Time Magazine name as the most influential chocolate bar of all time?
25. Who was it revealed had offered to help Rebekah Brooks over phone hacking?
26. Which actor – probably best known for playing Ives in Porridge – passed away aged 83?
27. Which British Lion was dropped ot the bench for Wales’ 6 Nations match v. France?
28. Which team did GB’s men’s curlers defeat in their semi final to guarantee a silver medal?
29. Which team defeated team GB’s women curlers in their semi final?
30. – and which team did they defeat in the bronze medal match?
31. The Russian favourites were beaten by which team in the ice hockey tournament at Sochi?
32. Which two countries will host the 2017 Rugby League world cup?
33. What was the Europa League score between Spurs and Dnipro?
34. – and Swansea and Napoli?
35. A so called ‘toilet tax’ has been introduced where in the UK?
36. It was announced that who will front the BBC’s election coverage in 2015?
37. Who was called ‘not reliable or truthful’ by the judge when he won his court case last week?
38. A 4.1 earthquake struck where last week?
39. What was the score in the 6 Nations between France and Wales?
40. According to a study, which computer game can prevent cravings for food, cigarettes and alcohol?
41. Chris Moyles was alleged to have claimed to be what in order to save tax?
42. Wayne Rooney signed a new deal for a reported salary of how much per week?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Felix Magath
2. Bode Miller
3. Renaud Lavillenie
4. Vype e
5. Jamie Coots
6. Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn
7. Philip Fenton
8. 2000 EM 26
9. Brendan McCullum
10. Rowen Cheshire
11. Pat Hughes
12. Certify
13. Matteo Renzi
14. ATOS
In Other News
1. What is the given name of Simon Cowell’s new son?
2. Which film won the BAfta for best film?
3. – and the Bafta for Best Actress – for which film?
4. – and the Bafta for best actor?
5. Which all time England International footballing great passed away aged 91?
6. FA Cup – what was the score between Everton and Swansea?
7. – and Arsenal and Liverpool?
8. – and Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest?
9. Which prop was injured and forced out of England’s 6 Nations team?
10. Who was announced as the lead pacemaker for this year’s London Marathon?
11. Which British football ground has been announced as the venue for the UEFA Super Cup?
12. In which position did the Jamaican 2 man bobsleigh team finish at the Winter Olympics?
13. Champions League – what was the score between Barcelona and Man City?
14. – and Bayern Munich and Arsenal?
15. New Zealand’s Prime Minister officially denied that he is what last week?
16. What was it announced will now be included in the information used to determine the UK’s weekly number 1 single?
17. Who finished 67th in the women’s Giant Slalom in Sochi?
18. Who was elected Rector of Glasgow University?
19. Against which nation’s mens curlers did team GB win a play off to get into the medal matches?
20. Who won Best Male Artist at the Brit Awards?
21. – and best group?
22. – and best female artist?
23. – and best album?
24. What did Time Magazine name as the most influential chocolate bar of all time?
25. Who was it revealed had offered to help Rebekah Brooks over phone hacking?
26. Which actor – probably best known for playing Ives in Porridge – passed away aged 83?
27. Which British Lion was dropped ot the bench for Wales’ 6 Nations match v. France?
28. Which team did GB’s men’s curlers defeat in their semi final to guarantee a silver medal?
29. Which team defeated team GB’s women curlers in their semi final?
30. – and which team did they defeat in the bronze medal match?
31. The Russian favourites were beaten by which team in the ice hockey tournament at Sochi?
32. Which two countries will host the 2017 Rugby League world cup?
33. What was the Europa League score between Spurs and Dnipro?
34. – and Swansea and Napoli?
35. A so called ‘toilet tax’ has been introduced where in the UK?
36. It was announced that who will front the BBC’s election coverage in 2015?
37. Who was called ‘not reliable or truthful’ by the judge when he won his court case last week?
38. A 4.1 earthquake struck where last week?
39. What was the score in the 6 Nations between France and Wales?
40. According to a study, which computer game can prevent cravings for food, cigarettes and alcohol?
41. Chris Moyles was alleged to have claimed to be what in order to save tax?
42. Wayne Rooney signed a new deal for a reported salary of how much per week?
Brain of Britain - Heat 11
Believe it or not, I do actually love Brain of Britain, and had a great time when I participated in the 2009/10 series. I know that I’ve moaned a bit during this series, but the nature of the show is that there might only be seven or eight questions you don’t know in the whole show, but if those are your 7 or 8 starters, then you’re going to struggle. Now, I don’t know whether in each show there is a stock of questions, which are going to be asked in the same order, which means it’s pure blind luck as to whether you get easy or rock hard starters, or whether each contestant has a distinct set of their own for each round. If it’s the former, then it is just a question of pure blind luck as to what you get. If it’s the latter, though, I do think that there are occasions when contestants are unkindly served, to say the least, when you compare the level of difficulty of the starters they are asked, with the level of difficulty of starters that other contestants are asked. If any dear reader knows for certain whether there are distinct sets for each contestant, or whether there is just one stock of questions, I’d be interested to hear.
Well, enough of such things for now. On Monday, the four brave entrants to the lists were
Dr. Alison Hardie
David Hatton
Andrew Hunter
Peter Spicer
None known to me personally, but as I often say, that doesn’t really mean anything.
Alison kicked off with two correct answer, but didn’t know Christmas cactus. Me neither. David Hatton had the bonus. He took his own first three, but missed the relatively simple ultrasound for his fourth, thus giving Alison back the bonus he had taken earlier. Andrew Hunter got off the mark and took three, but didn’t know that the Gal – named after Galileo – is a measure of acceleration. Nobody knew that, and neither did I. Peter finished the round off but didn’t know that Richard Eyre wrote National Service. Not easy that, and nobody else had it. That was a good first round, with the first three contenders all showing good knowledge, as Andre and Alison both had 3, and David 4.
Alison was undone, as many contestants on BoB are, by a straightforward sports question. Not one of them knew that Alun Wyn Jones captained the 2013 Lions in the 3rd test after Tour captain Sam Warburton was injured. Ask it down your local, and you’ll have the correct answer coming at you from all sides. David didn’t know that Malta was given to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in return for an annual gift of a Falcon. Not easy. Andrew Hunter probably should have known the old chestnut that the story The Tin Star was the basis of the film High Noon. Peter Spicer took that bonus to get his own score moving. He got another one of those starters that you’re not going to actually know, but have a chance of guessing. He guessed that the last ever cavalry charge in a genuine war happened in World War 1 – Andrew had it for World War 2. So after the high scores of round one, only small gains were made by anyone in the second. On into the third, and Alison pushed her score on by one. She didn’t know that Ethelred II The Unready levied the Danegeld. Andrew had that. David didn’t know seersucker cloth, and that went to Alison for a bonus. Andrew didn’t know that a group of named museums were all in Las Vegas. Tricky. Peter missed his first, which went for a bonus to Andrew, who named the NUM as an organization that no sensible man ever challenges.
Round Four saw Alison add another one of her own questions, but it fell to Andrew Hunter to answer that the Shah Jehan mosque is in Woking. David probably should have know that the band he was ab out to hear was Mott the Hoople having been told that Ian Hunter was the lead singer, but as much as sport catches a lot of BoB contestants out, so does popular culture. Peter took that bonus. Andrew took his first, but was tripped up by a sporting chestnut, so it fell to Peter to identify Walker Smith as the real name of the great Sugar Ray Robinson. For his own set he took his first, but Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy just eluded him. Nobody had it. So on the cusp of the interval, Andrew led with 8 to Alison’s 6.
The Beat the Brains interval the first question was – Michael Caine has twice appeared in remakes of films he had starred in first time around. Get Carter was one – which was the other? The Brains had it with Sleuth – great answer. The second question was that there are three films in which every named cast member was nominated for an acting Oscar. Now, I knew that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Was one of the others – so would have had it, and so did the team. The other was called ‘Give em Hell, Harry’. No, me neither.
Back to the contest. Andrew and Alison were both looking good for either the win, or even a repechage place. Alison made decent progress with two, but maybe might have known that Anne of Austria was the mother of Louis 14th. Nobody had it. David didn’t know that it was the film version of the Taming of the Shrew that contained the screen credit – with additional dialogue by Sam Taylor. Nobody had it. Andrew was undone by Tristan and Isolde for his first. Peter took one, but didn’t know that eschatology is the branch of theology dealing with last things. Alison had it to complete a very good round which took her to ten points. In the next round she missed her first on islands in the Galapagos. David didn’t know that Mount Ossa is the highest peak on Tasmania. Alison had that, and it must have been a guess, because she couldn’t help laughing afterwards. Andrew didn’t know his first on the carob tree, and nobody had a bonus. He hadn’t scored a point since the break, and after looking good throughout the first part of the contest was in danger of being left behind now. Peter should maybe have known that Mustang Sally was recorded by Wilson Pickett. Popular culture caught out all of the brains again.
Alison didn’t know the study of molluscs. Not surprised. David managed to get his score moving again by taking his first, and Andrew had a bonus on the gall bladder. Andrew didn’t know that Ulysses is set on June 16th. Peter didn’t know that the brightest asteroid is Vesta. Old quiz chestnut there. Alison led by 11 to 9, as we went into the last round. For her set her heart must have sank when the words ‘Brian Clough’ were uttered. She didn’t know that he was playing for Sunderland when his knee was injured. David had it. I guessed the next poem was Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, but David didn’t, giving Peter a bonus. I guessed Andrew’s on the dog Laika – which gave Alison a bonus, and the win. Peter was asked for GB’s first 2012 gold medallist, giving David a bonus with Lizzie Armistead. The final scores were: -
Alison Hardie - 12
David Hatton - 7
Andrew Hunter - 9
Peter Spicer - 7
Congratulations to Alison – she was the pick of the contestants in this show, I think it’s fair to say, and deserved to win.
Well, enough of such things for now. On Monday, the four brave entrants to the lists were
Dr. Alison Hardie
David Hatton
Andrew Hunter
Peter Spicer
None known to me personally, but as I often say, that doesn’t really mean anything.
Alison kicked off with two correct answer, but didn’t know Christmas cactus. Me neither. David Hatton had the bonus. He took his own first three, but missed the relatively simple ultrasound for his fourth, thus giving Alison back the bonus he had taken earlier. Andrew Hunter got off the mark and took three, but didn’t know that the Gal – named after Galileo – is a measure of acceleration. Nobody knew that, and neither did I. Peter finished the round off but didn’t know that Richard Eyre wrote National Service. Not easy that, and nobody else had it. That was a good first round, with the first three contenders all showing good knowledge, as Andre and Alison both had 3, and David 4.
Alison was undone, as many contestants on BoB are, by a straightforward sports question. Not one of them knew that Alun Wyn Jones captained the 2013 Lions in the 3rd test after Tour captain Sam Warburton was injured. Ask it down your local, and you’ll have the correct answer coming at you from all sides. David didn’t know that Malta was given to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in return for an annual gift of a Falcon. Not easy. Andrew Hunter probably should have known the old chestnut that the story The Tin Star was the basis of the film High Noon. Peter Spicer took that bonus to get his own score moving. He got another one of those starters that you’re not going to actually know, but have a chance of guessing. He guessed that the last ever cavalry charge in a genuine war happened in World War 1 – Andrew had it for World War 2. So after the high scores of round one, only small gains were made by anyone in the second. On into the third, and Alison pushed her score on by one. She didn’t know that Ethelred II The Unready levied the Danegeld. Andrew had that. David didn’t know seersucker cloth, and that went to Alison for a bonus. Andrew didn’t know that a group of named museums were all in Las Vegas. Tricky. Peter missed his first, which went for a bonus to Andrew, who named the NUM as an organization that no sensible man ever challenges.
Round Four saw Alison add another one of her own questions, but it fell to Andrew Hunter to answer that the Shah Jehan mosque is in Woking. David probably should have know that the band he was ab out to hear was Mott the Hoople having been told that Ian Hunter was the lead singer, but as much as sport catches a lot of BoB contestants out, so does popular culture. Peter took that bonus. Andrew took his first, but was tripped up by a sporting chestnut, so it fell to Peter to identify Walker Smith as the real name of the great Sugar Ray Robinson. For his own set he took his first, but Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy just eluded him. Nobody had it. So on the cusp of the interval, Andrew led with 8 to Alison’s 6.
The Beat the Brains interval the first question was – Michael Caine has twice appeared in remakes of films he had starred in first time around. Get Carter was one – which was the other? The Brains had it with Sleuth – great answer. The second question was that there are three films in which every named cast member was nominated for an acting Oscar. Now, I knew that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Was one of the others – so would have had it, and so did the team. The other was called ‘Give em Hell, Harry’. No, me neither.
Back to the contest. Andrew and Alison were both looking good for either the win, or even a repechage place. Alison made decent progress with two, but maybe might have known that Anne of Austria was the mother of Louis 14th. Nobody had it. David didn’t know that it was the film version of the Taming of the Shrew that contained the screen credit – with additional dialogue by Sam Taylor. Nobody had it. Andrew was undone by Tristan and Isolde for his first. Peter took one, but didn’t know that eschatology is the branch of theology dealing with last things. Alison had it to complete a very good round which took her to ten points. In the next round she missed her first on islands in the Galapagos. David didn’t know that Mount Ossa is the highest peak on Tasmania. Alison had that, and it must have been a guess, because she couldn’t help laughing afterwards. Andrew didn’t know his first on the carob tree, and nobody had a bonus. He hadn’t scored a point since the break, and after looking good throughout the first part of the contest was in danger of being left behind now. Peter should maybe have known that Mustang Sally was recorded by Wilson Pickett. Popular culture caught out all of the brains again.
Alison didn’t know the study of molluscs. Not surprised. David managed to get his score moving again by taking his first, and Andrew had a bonus on the gall bladder. Andrew didn’t know that Ulysses is set on June 16th. Peter didn’t know that the brightest asteroid is Vesta. Old quiz chestnut there. Alison led by 11 to 9, as we went into the last round. For her set her heart must have sank when the words ‘Brian Clough’ were uttered. She didn’t know that he was playing for Sunderland when his knee was injured. David had it. I guessed the next poem was Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, but David didn’t, giving Peter a bonus. I guessed Andrew’s on the dog Laika – which gave Alison a bonus, and the win. Peter was asked for GB’s first 2012 gold medallist, giving David a bonus with Lizzie Armistead. The final scores were: -
Alison Hardie - 12
David Hatton - 7
Andrew Hunter - 9
Peter Spicer - 7
Congratulations to Alison – she was the pick of the contestants in this show, I think it’s fair to say, and deserved to win.
University Challenge - Quarter Final Elimination Match
Cardiff v. Manchester
We’re getting towards the business end of this quarter final stage now. Whichever team lost this match would be out of the competition. Cardiff, in the shape of Eleri Evans, Sara Caputo, Tom Parry-Jones and captain Roderick Lawford, had to battle to win a low scoring match against Exeter by 145 to 95 in the first round. In the second though they showed their class by convincingly beating a useful Liverpool outfit by 230 to 145. In their first quarter final they were well beaten by SOAS, by 200 to 90, and I’m afraid were very much the underdogs in this contest. Manchester, Ed Woudhuysen, Joe Day, Jonathan Collings and their captain Elizabeth Mitchell, knocked out Brasenose in the first round, then comfortably defeated Queens, Cambridge in the second, breaking the 300 point barrier to do so. In their first quarter final match they fought a titanic contest against Trinity, Cambridge, losing out to Trinity’s turbo charged finish. I’ll be honest, I thought Manchester were packing too much firepower for Cardiff, but hey, I’ve been wrong about this sort of thing before.
A long winded first starter eventually resolved itself into the first ever crossword puzzle, and Jonathan Collings was the first in for it. History gave Manchester 1 bonus. Joe Day took Manchester’s second consecutive starter, knowing that, amongst other things, the General Strike took place in 1926. Bonuses on the year 1599 provided another two correct answers. Manchester’s early spurt continued with Jonathan Collings in early to identify various definitions of the word orbit. Particle Physics promised me little or nothing, yet surprisingly I guessed the quark question.. Manchester on the other hand had a full set. That man Collings knew that Renzo Piano collaborated with Richard Rodgers on the Pompidou Centre. Contemporary ballet brought them nothing. Me neither. Still, as we arrived at the first picture starter Manchester had scored 70 unanswered points. Tom Parry-Jones buzzed in to score Cardiff’s first points of the competition by identifying the flag of Ethiopia. Three flags of West African countries containing red, yellow and green followed, and although they were not all easy at all Cardiff took a full set. A nervy early buzz from Joe Day saw him give away five points, when he offered h and e as the first two letters of the name for the order of reptiles containing snakes and lizards. SA? I ventured wrongly. When the other clues were given the only two letters that made sense were sq, but Cardiff were unable to take advantage. So, on the cups of the ten minute mark Manchester led by 65 to 25.
Jonathan Collings, having already had a good evening, buzzed in to identify a series of local government districts in Norfolk and Cumbria. French sporting terms offered a potential full set, but parc fermé eluded Manchester as did the lantern rouge.Joe Day again buzzed in too early for the word which means both a part of a horse’s bridle, and a system of betting. It’s a little bit of an old chestnut, is the martingale, but Cardiff couldn’t take it. Jonathan Collings knew that it was Julian Barnes who wrote a retelling of the story of Noah’s Ark in 1989. It’s in “The History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters” and it’s very good too, the whole book is well worth a read. Bonuses on equestrian monuments delivered one correct answer. Manchester weren’t scoring as heavily as we’ve seen them do on the bonuses, but they kept winning the buzzer race, and in the end of the day that will bring you more wins than losses. Poor old Joe Day came into early again for the next question – something physicsy about electrons and stuff (stop me if I get too technical)- and lost 5. Cardiff couldn’t take it. Now, if a question has the word ‘Ingmar Bergman’ and ‘film’ you might just as well buzz in with the “Seventh Seal”. To be fair it won’t always be right, but it will be right a hell of a lot more times than it’s wrong. Especially if the word ‘chess’ is also part of the question. Roderick Lawford waited until the game of chess was mentioned, and then buzzed in with the answer. The classification of galaxies brought them one bonus. I loved Tom Parry Jones’ response to being nominated to answer the third bonus by his skipper – “Oh no! Don’t nominate me!” Nice one. On to the music round, and Jonathan Collings identified the dulcet tones of Blondie. Ah, Debbie Harry. Sorry, I was in a world of my own then for a moment. Three other artists or groups singing in French followed. I recognized Annie Lennox, another fave of mine, then Youssou N’Dour, and guessed Carla Bruni for a full set. Manchester had the last two. For the next starter Sara Caputo guessed that a target of an assassination attempt in 1800 would be Napoleon. Interpretation provided three hard bonuses, and I thought Cardiff did very well to take two of them. Jonathan Collings, so impressive on the buzzer for his team in this contest, took the next starter, identifying two authors linked by the surname Lessing. This earned bonuses on the Bishopric of Durham, and they took a full set. This took their score to 130 against Cardiff’s 60 just before the twenty minute mark. Neither team was exactly motoring full speed ahead, and to be honest it would need something special from Cardiff to overhaul Manchester.
Neither team could take tryptophan for the next starter. Cardiff finally found their buzzer fingers when Tom Parry Jones came in early to identify KSA and RSA as Saudi Arabia and South Africa respectively. Swedish scientists gave me a rare Science bonus, with Angstrom, and a second one with Linnaeus.These were the ones Cardiff had as well. It was back to normal with the next starter as Manchester, in the shape of skipper Elizabeth Mitchell won the buzzer race to identify Van Gogh’s Irises. More works depicting flowers proved a very good set for me, as I took a full set. Manchester knew all the flowers, but none of the artists. Jonathan Collings knew a collection of world war 1 artists for the next starter, as the Manchester galleon sailed serenely onwards. A set of bonuses on the ancient world and coins gave them two more bonuses, and pushed them closer to 200. Nobody took Joseph Stiglitz for the next starter. Me neither. Nobody knew that Dante and Thomas Aquinas were both born during the long reign of Henry III. Given a list of towns, and asked what status they were given in 1867, the big clue was the year, since it was the year of another reform act, but neither team quite had that they became parliamentary boroughs. Jonathan Collings buzzed in first to spell discrete – as in separate and distinct. A UC special set on pairs of words formed by the addition of the letter S – Hut and Shut for example – promised much, and delivered a full set. With a lead of over 100 Manchester were home and dry, and Cardiff had nothing more than pride to play for. Jonathan Collings buzzed in as soon as he heard the name Basil Hallward to identify The Picture of Dorian Grey. Antibacterial agents only needed to yield one correct answer to take Manchester to 200, but it was not to be. Not surprised. Now, I didn’t understand the next question, but the answer was three, and Tom Parry Jones had it. Bonuses on language families brought one bonus to take them to 95, and you feared at this stage that they might have lost their chance to make triple figures. Thankfully Tom Parry Jones knew that Dumbarton and Coventry City both have elephants on their crests. Just as well because there was no time for any bonuses. Cardiff finished, then with 105 to Manchester’s 195. Hard lines Cardiff, but well done for getting to the quarter final stage in what has been so far a highly competitive series. As for Manchester, well played. Good luck in your sudden death match next time.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Hardly anything to report until JP displayed one of my own worst traits as a question master, not only saying that an answer was wrong, when Manchester offered Michelangelo, but also saying why it was wrong, and suggesting that they should have known it,
”No, no, he was MUCH later. It was Donatello.”
He seemed in quite a jovial mood in this contest, did Jez. He chuckled along with the rest of us when Tom Parry Jones tried to refuse the poisoned chalice of nomination by his captain, and when the wrong answer was given replied “No, but it was worth it to see you try, though.”
Who would have thought that JP is a fan of the former first lady of France, Carla Bruni? He said, after Manchester had correctly identified her Gallic warblings,
”Yes, it IS Carla Bruni. . . It’s actually quite a good album.”
I thought that his reply of
”Which one?” to Sara Caputo’s answer of Napoleon was a little pernickety. After all, Napoleon always means Napoleon Bonaparte I. If the question required Louis Napoleon/Napoleon III, then yes, ask for clarification. She had it right, anyway.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Marilyn Monroe was born in the same year that Rudolph Valentino died.
We’re getting towards the business end of this quarter final stage now. Whichever team lost this match would be out of the competition. Cardiff, in the shape of Eleri Evans, Sara Caputo, Tom Parry-Jones and captain Roderick Lawford, had to battle to win a low scoring match against Exeter by 145 to 95 in the first round. In the second though they showed their class by convincingly beating a useful Liverpool outfit by 230 to 145. In their first quarter final they were well beaten by SOAS, by 200 to 90, and I’m afraid were very much the underdogs in this contest. Manchester, Ed Woudhuysen, Joe Day, Jonathan Collings and their captain Elizabeth Mitchell, knocked out Brasenose in the first round, then comfortably defeated Queens, Cambridge in the second, breaking the 300 point barrier to do so. In their first quarter final match they fought a titanic contest against Trinity, Cambridge, losing out to Trinity’s turbo charged finish. I’ll be honest, I thought Manchester were packing too much firepower for Cardiff, but hey, I’ve been wrong about this sort of thing before.
A long winded first starter eventually resolved itself into the first ever crossword puzzle, and Jonathan Collings was the first in for it. History gave Manchester 1 bonus. Joe Day took Manchester’s second consecutive starter, knowing that, amongst other things, the General Strike took place in 1926. Bonuses on the year 1599 provided another two correct answers. Manchester’s early spurt continued with Jonathan Collings in early to identify various definitions of the word orbit. Particle Physics promised me little or nothing, yet surprisingly I guessed the quark question.. Manchester on the other hand had a full set. That man Collings knew that Renzo Piano collaborated with Richard Rodgers on the Pompidou Centre. Contemporary ballet brought them nothing. Me neither. Still, as we arrived at the first picture starter Manchester had scored 70 unanswered points. Tom Parry-Jones buzzed in to score Cardiff’s first points of the competition by identifying the flag of Ethiopia. Three flags of West African countries containing red, yellow and green followed, and although they were not all easy at all Cardiff took a full set. A nervy early buzz from Joe Day saw him give away five points, when he offered h and e as the first two letters of the name for the order of reptiles containing snakes and lizards. SA? I ventured wrongly. When the other clues were given the only two letters that made sense were sq, but Cardiff were unable to take advantage. So, on the cups of the ten minute mark Manchester led by 65 to 25.
Jonathan Collings, having already had a good evening, buzzed in to identify a series of local government districts in Norfolk and Cumbria. French sporting terms offered a potential full set, but parc fermé eluded Manchester as did the lantern rouge.Joe Day again buzzed in too early for the word which means both a part of a horse’s bridle, and a system of betting. It’s a little bit of an old chestnut, is the martingale, but Cardiff couldn’t take it. Jonathan Collings knew that it was Julian Barnes who wrote a retelling of the story of Noah’s Ark in 1989. It’s in “The History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters” and it’s very good too, the whole book is well worth a read. Bonuses on equestrian monuments delivered one correct answer. Manchester weren’t scoring as heavily as we’ve seen them do on the bonuses, but they kept winning the buzzer race, and in the end of the day that will bring you more wins than losses. Poor old Joe Day came into early again for the next question – something physicsy about electrons and stuff (stop me if I get too technical)- and lost 5. Cardiff couldn’t take it. Now, if a question has the word ‘Ingmar Bergman’ and ‘film’ you might just as well buzz in with the “Seventh Seal”. To be fair it won’t always be right, but it will be right a hell of a lot more times than it’s wrong. Especially if the word ‘chess’ is also part of the question. Roderick Lawford waited until the game of chess was mentioned, and then buzzed in with the answer. The classification of galaxies brought them one bonus. I loved Tom Parry Jones’ response to being nominated to answer the third bonus by his skipper – “Oh no! Don’t nominate me!” Nice one. On to the music round, and Jonathan Collings identified the dulcet tones of Blondie. Ah, Debbie Harry. Sorry, I was in a world of my own then for a moment. Three other artists or groups singing in French followed. I recognized Annie Lennox, another fave of mine, then Youssou N’Dour, and guessed Carla Bruni for a full set. Manchester had the last two. For the next starter Sara Caputo guessed that a target of an assassination attempt in 1800 would be Napoleon. Interpretation provided three hard bonuses, and I thought Cardiff did very well to take two of them. Jonathan Collings, so impressive on the buzzer for his team in this contest, took the next starter, identifying two authors linked by the surname Lessing. This earned bonuses on the Bishopric of Durham, and they took a full set. This took their score to 130 against Cardiff’s 60 just before the twenty minute mark. Neither team was exactly motoring full speed ahead, and to be honest it would need something special from Cardiff to overhaul Manchester.
Neither team could take tryptophan for the next starter. Cardiff finally found their buzzer fingers when Tom Parry Jones came in early to identify KSA and RSA as Saudi Arabia and South Africa respectively. Swedish scientists gave me a rare Science bonus, with Angstrom, and a second one with Linnaeus.These were the ones Cardiff had as well. It was back to normal with the next starter as Manchester, in the shape of skipper Elizabeth Mitchell won the buzzer race to identify Van Gogh’s Irises. More works depicting flowers proved a very good set for me, as I took a full set. Manchester knew all the flowers, but none of the artists. Jonathan Collings knew a collection of world war 1 artists for the next starter, as the Manchester galleon sailed serenely onwards. A set of bonuses on the ancient world and coins gave them two more bonuses, and pushed them closer to 200. Nobody took Joseph Stiglitz for the next starter. Me neither. Nobody knew that Dante and Thomas Aquinas were both born during the long reign of Henry III. Given a list of towns, and asked what status they were given in 1867, the big clue was the year, since it was the year of another reform act, but neither team quite had that they became parliamentary boroughs. Jonathan Collings buzzed in first to spell discrete – as in separate and distinct. A UC special set on pairs of words formed by the addition of the letter S – Hut and Shut for example – promised much, and delivered a full set. With a lead of over 100 Manchester were home and dry, and Cardiff had nothing more than pride to play for. Jonathan Collings buzzed in as soon as he heard the name Basil Hallward to identify The Picture of Dorian Grey. Antibacterial agents only needed to yield one correct answer to take Manchester to 200, but it was not to be. Not surprised. Now, I didn’t understand the next question, but the answer was three, and Tom Parry Jones had it. Bonuses on language families brought one bonus to take them to 95, and you feared at this stage that they might have lost their chance to make triple figures. Thankfully Tom Parry Jones knew that Dumbarton and Coventry City both have elephants on their crests. Just as well because there was no time for any bonuses. Cardiff finished, then with 105 to Manchester’s 195. Hard lines Cardiff, but well done for getting to the quarter final stage in what has been so far a highly competitive series. As for Manchester, well played. Good luck in your sudden death match next time.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Hardly anything to report until JP displayed one of my own worst traits as a question master, not only saying that an answer was wrong, when Manchester offered Michelangelo, but also saying why it was wrong, and suggesting that they should have known it,
”No, no, he was MUCH later. It was Donatello.”
He seemed in quite a jovial mood in this contest, did Jez. He chuckled along with the rest of us when Tom Parry Jones tried to refuse the poisoned chalice of nomination by his captain, and when the wrong answer was given replied “No, but it was worth it to see you try, though.”
Who would have thought that JP is a fan of the former first lady of France, Carla Bruni? He said, after Manchester had correctly identified her Gallic warblings,
”Yes, it IS Carla Bruni. . . It’s actually quite a good album.”
I thought that his reply of
”Which one?” to Sara Caputo’s answer of Napoleon was a little pernickety. After all, Napoleon always means Napoleon Bonaparte I. If the question required Louis Napoleon/Napoleon III, then yes, ask for clarification. She had it right, anyway.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Marilyn Monroe was born in the same year that Rudolph Valentino died.
Friday, 21 February 2014
Answers to News Questions
In The News
Who Or What Are The Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Bernard Hedges
2. Mark Harper
3. Jenny Jones
4. Cheyenne Woods
5. Matthias Mayer
6. Rosa Khutor
7. Carina Vogt
8. Natalie Hynde
9. Tidal Bay
10. Gary Stretch and Leslie Layton
11. Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin
12. Enrico Letta
13. Colin Cunningham
14. Bill Spence
15. Elise Christie
16. Mervyn
17. Ralph Waite
18. Simona de Silvestro
In Other News
1. Which actor last week saved the life of a man choking on a piece of cheese.
2. What was the score between Spurs and Everton?
3. – and Fulham and Man Utd.?
4. – and France and Italy in the 6 Nations?
5. – and England and Scotland?
6. – and Ireland and Wales
7. – and Liverpool and Arsenal?
8. Who was revealed as the biggest philanphropist in the USA?
9. Last week MPs voted to support which ban?
10. Who got into difficulties while swimming Lake Windermere for Sport Relief?
11. Which England cricketer quit the Indian Premier League last week?
12. Which has become the first album to sell 6 million copies in the UK?
13. The first high level talks between which two countries since 1949 were announced?
14. A huge sinkhole appeared very close to which motorway last week?
15. What became the UK’s first online pound shop?
16. Which film star died aged 85?
17. The Berlusconi corruption trial commenced in which city?
18. What was the score between W.Ham and Norwich?
19. – and W. Ham and Chelsea
20. Who is the new head coach of the Pakistan cricket team?
21. What was the score between Arsenal and Man Utd?
22. – and Spurs and Newcastle?
23. What was named the UK’s most elusive species of wildlife?
24. Which drug was upgraded to class B?
25. Which IPL team bought Kevin Pietersen for £880,000?
26. What was the score between Liverpool and Fulham?
27. Which actor did Boris Johnson say had lost his marbles?
28. What drastic action has been taken with the horses in the Spanish Riding School?
29. How many of the charges against Dave Lee Travis could the jury not reach a verdict over?
30. Which veteran US comedian passed away aged 91?
31. Which union announced their support for changes to their links with the Labour Party
32. Which two British boxers agreed a world championship rematch ?
33. Which record was held in 2013 by Lee Child’s The Affair?
34. Who won the women’s skeleton bob gold medal?
35. Which British actor was announced as joining the cast of Downton Abbey?
36. Who is losing her position as the Government’s ‘queen of the High Street’?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Former Glamorgan cricketer – passed away 86
2. Immigration Minister who quit when he found his cleaner was illegally in the UK
3. Own Olympic slopestyle bronze medal
4. Niece of Tiger Woods who won her first golf title
5. Winner of Sochi 2014 men’s downhill gold
6. Venue for snow slope sports at Sochi
7. Winner of women’s ski jump gold – first ever
8. Daughter of Chrissy Hynde and Ray Davies – superglued herself to protestor and railings at fracking protests
9. Top weight for the Grand National
10. Convicted and sentenced for aiding serial killer Joanna Dennehy
11. Shared the Sochi women’s downhill gold
12. Italian PN on the brink of resigning all week
13. Autistic boy in Michigan. Mother posted online that he didn’t have any friends to come to his birthday party. Over 1.7 million people sent him birthday wishes online.
14. First ever male nominee for Romantic Novelist of the Year, under pen name Jessica Blair
15. Disqualified from silver medal in 500m short track speedskating, and then unfairly disqualified in 1500m
16. The name of Lizzie Yarnold’s gold medal winning skeleton bobsleigh
17. John Walton (the dad) in The Waltons. Passed away
18. Woman driver signed by the Sauber Formula One team
In Other News
1. Clint Eastwood
2. 1 – 0 Spurs
3. 2 - 2
4. 30 - 10
5. 20 - 0
6. 26 – 3 Ireland
7. 5 – 1 Liverpool
8. Mark Zuckerberg
9. Smoking in a car with children
10. Davina McCall
11. Eoin Morgan
12. Queen Greatest Hits
13. China and Taiwan
14. M2 – near Sittingbourne
15. Poundshop.com
16. Shirley Temple
17. Naples
18. 2 – 0 W. Ham
19. 1 - 1
20. Moin Khan
21. 0 – 0
22. 4 – 0 Spurs
23. Nightjar
24. Ketamine
25. Delhi Daredevils
26. 3 – 2 Liverpool
27. George Clooney – Clooney has called for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece
28. The horse have been fed too many snacks over the winter, and have therefore been put on a diet.
29. 2
30. Sid Caesar
31. Unite
32. Carl Froch and George Groves
33. Most Borrowed book in British libraries 2013
34. Lizzie Yarnold
35. Richard E. Grant
36. Mary Portas
Who Or What Are The Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Bernard Hedges
2. Mark Harper
3. Jenny Jones
4. Cheyenne Woods
5. Matthias Mayer
6. Rosa Khutor
7. Carina Vogt
8. Natalie Hynde
9. Tidal Bay
10. Gary Stretch and Leslie Layton
11. Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin
12. Enrico Letta
13. Colin Cunningham
14. Bill Spence
15. Elise Christie
16. Mervyn
17. Ralph Waite
18. Simona de Silvestro
In Other News
1. Which actor last week saved the life of a man choking on a piece of cheese.
2. What was the score between Spurs and Everton?
3. – and Fulham and Man Utd.?
4. – and France and Italy in the 6 Nations?
5. – and England and Scotland?
6. – and Ireland and Wales
7. – and Liverpool and Arsenal?
8. Who was revealed as the biggest philanphropist in the USA?
9. Last week MPs voted to support which ban?
10. Who got into difficulties while swimming Lake Windermere for Sport Relief?
11. Which England cricketer quit the Indian Premier League last week?
12. Which has become the first album to sell 6 million copies in the UK?
13. The first high level talks between which two countries since 1949 were announced?
14. A huge sinkhole appeared very close to which motorway last week?
15. What became the UK’s first online pound shop?
16. Which film star died aged 85?
17. The Berlusconi corruption trial commenced in which city?
18. What was the score between W.Ham and Norwich?
19. – and W. Ham and Chelsea
20. Who is the new head coach of the Pakistan cricket team?
21. What was the score between Arsenal and Man Utd?
22. – and Spurs and Newcastle?
23. What was named the UK’s most elusive species of wildlife?
24. Which drug was upgraded to class B?
25. Which IPL team bought Kevin Pietersen for £880,000?
26. What was the score between Liverpool and Fulham?
27. Which actor did Boris Johnson say had lost his marbles?
28. What drastic action has been taken with the horses in the Spanish Riding School?
29. How many of the charges against Dave Lee Travis could the jury not reach a verdict over?
30. Which veteran US comedian passed away aged 91?
31. Which union announced their support for changes to their links with the Labour Party
32. Which two British boxers agreed a world championship rematch ?
33. Which record was held in 2013 by Lee Child’s The Affair?
34. Who won the women’s skeleton bob gold medal?
35. Which British actor was announced as joining the cast of Downton Abbey?
36. Who is losing her position as the Government’s ‘queen of the High Street’?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Former Glamorgan cricketer – passed away 86
2. Immigration Minister who quit when he found his cleaner was illegally in the UK
3. Own Olympic slopestyle bronze medal
4. Niece of Tiger Woods who won her first golf title
5. Winner of Sochi 2014 men’s downhill gold
6. Venue for snow slope sports at Sochi
7. Winner of women’s ski jump gold – first ever
8. Daughter of Chrissy Hynde and Ray Davies – superglued herself to protestor and railings at fracking protests
9. Top weight for the Grand National
10. Convicted and sentenced for aiding serial killer Joanna Dennehy
11. Shared the Sochi women’s downhill gold
12. Italian PN on the brink of resigning all week
13. Autistic boy in Michigan. Mother posted online that he didn’t have any friends to come to his birthday party. Over 1.7 million people sent him birthday wishes online.
14. First ever male nominee for Romantic Novelist of the Year, under pen name Jessica Blair
15. Disqualified from silver medal in 500m short track speedskating, and then unfairly disqualified in 1500m
16. The name of Lizzie Yarnold’s gold medal winning skeleton bobsleigh
17. John Walton (the dad) in The Waltons. Passed away
18. Woman driver signed by the Sauber Formula One team
In Other News
1. Clint Eastwood
2. 1 – 0 Spurs
3. 2 - 2
4. 30 - 10
5. 20 - 0
6. 26 – 3 Ireland
7. 5 – 1 Liverpool
8. Mark Zuckerberg
9. Smoking in a car with children
10. Davina McCall
11. Eoin Morgan
12. Queen Greatest Hits
13. China and Taiwan
14. M2 – near Sittingbourne
15. Poundshop.com
16. Shirley Temple
17. Naples
18. 2 – 0 W. Ham
19. 1 - 1
20. Moin Khan
21. 0 – 0
22. 4 – 0 Spurs
23. Nightjar
24. Ketamine
25. Delhi Daredevils
26. 3 – 2 Liverpool
27. George Clooney – Clooney has called for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece
28. The horse have been fed too many snacks over the winter, and have therefore been put on a diet.
29. 2
30. Sid Caesar
31. Unite
32. Carl Froch and George Groves
33. Most Borrowed book in British libraries 2013
34. Lizzie Yarnold
35. Richard E. Grant
36. Mary Portas
Mastermind - Round One - Heat 24
Well, here we are at last. We have now seen this year’s winner. Maybe not tonight, but since this was the last of the 24 heats, all of this year’s contenders have now had their first go. We’ll have a look at the semi final line up in a later post.
For the meanwhile, let’s content ourselves with tonight’s show. I was interested to see Peter Gaskell back for another go. Peter accomplished the relatively rare feat of appearing in two consecutive series, in 2006 and the 2007 SOBM. Only one other person was a contender in both of those two series. Me. Peter reached the semis last time out in 2007 when he was beaten by Anna Torpey. Peter hails from Caerphilly, but to the best of my knowledge we have never met at a quiz, or anywhere else for that matter. If I recall correctly his first round subject in 2007 was Bob Marley. This time out he offered us The Grateful Dead, and managed a very useful 12.
Terence Saunders gave us a really traditional Mastermind subject in the shape of the Novels of Wilkie Collins. I read the Mooonstone a few years ago, when it looked like we were going to have to use it at school. Hmm – s’alright, I s’pose. I couldn’t get on with the Woman in White, if I’m honest, which is unusual for me since I rather like nineteenth century novels, however, I digress. Terence didn’t manage to achieve enough of a score to give him a realistic chance of success, although his score of 8 was certainly nothing to be ashamed of.
Now, our third contender tonight, Lindsay Ashford is a novelist. So was 1997 champion Anne Ashurst. Lindsay Ashford is an award nominated author of crime fiction, popular enough to have her own wikipedia page. Her subject was the interesting History of Bedlam, and she scored a perfect 14 correct answers to 14 questions. Terrific performance, and one which puts into perspective that at least the setters have been consistent in their setting of unnecessarily long questions in this series.
James Maple answered on the second very traditional specialist subject of the evening, when he gave us The English Civil Wars. He too produced a very good round, although not quite as good as Lindsay’s, since he levelled out at 12. So at the halfway mark it seemed as if the only person from this heat who would qualify for the semi finals would be the winner. Lindsay was in the driving seat, but then a two point lead isn’t massive, especially if one of the chasers is a quizzer. But were they?
Well, I have to say that Terence Saunders, first to return to the chair, seemed to shape up as one. 15 in two and a half minutes might not be the highest we’ve ever seen, but it’s pretty good, and pushed him up to 23. It would have won a show or two in this series, and he would be forgiven for thinking of what might have been, had he managed to squeeze into double figures in his specialist round. Especially after he saw Peter Gaskell fail to beat his score, despite having a four point advantage. It’s probably fair to say that Specialist, rather than General Knowledge has been Peter’s strength in all of his previous appearences on mastermind, and so it was tonight. Sadly he fell into a pass spiral very early in the round, and by the time he had managed to extricate himself after 8 passes, any hope of taking the lead had gone. He finished with 19.
James Maple, on 12 going into the round, then had every chance to take the lead, and set a big enough target to put Lindsay into the corridor of uncertainty. Well, he didn’t quite manage to do that. He did manage double figure respectability, adding 11 which meant that he too was on 23. However his chance of a win had been scuppered by the passes he uncurred during the round. So Lindsay returned to the chair needing 9 points and no more than 3 passes to win, or 9 points and 4 passes to force a tie break. It was something of a struggle, since the answers were not coming quickly. However Lindsay kept her head, and did what you must do when the answers don’t flow – consider each question on its own merit , answer if you can, guess if you can’t, and pass if you can’t guess. The last question gave her the 10th point she needed to make the number of passes irrelevant, and she posted the final score of 24 which gave her the win. Well played.
The Details
Repechage Places
Steven Broomfield 30 – 1
Emma Laslett 29 – 0
Andries Van Tonder 29 – 3
Beth Webster 28 – 2
Ron Wood 28 – 3
=Carol O’Byrne 27 – 2 =Peter Russell 27 – 2=Chloe Stone 27 – 2
For the meanwhile, let’s content ourselves with tonight’s show. I was interested to see Peter Gaskell back for another go. Peter accomplished the relatively rare feat of appearing in two consecutive series, in 2006 and the 2007 SOBM. Only one other person was a contender in both of those two series. Me. Peter reached the semis last time out in 2007 when he was beaten by Anna Torpey. Peter hails from Caerphilly, but to the best of my knowledge we have never met at a quiz, or anywhere else for that matter. If I recall correctly his first round subject in 2007 was Bob Marley. This time out he offered us The Grateful Dead, and managed a very useful 12.
Terence Saunders gave us a really traditional Mastermind subject in the shape of the Novels of Wilkie Collins. I read the Mooonstone a few years ago, when it looked like we were going to have to use it at school. Hmm – s’alright, I s’pose. I couldn’t get on with the Woman in White, if I’m honest, which is unusual for me since I rather like nineteenth century novels, however, I digress. Terence didn’t manage to achieve enough of a score to give him a realistic chance of success, although his score of 8 was certainly nothing to be ashamed of.
Now, our third contender tonight, Lindsay Ashford is a novelist. So was 1997 champion Anne Ashurst. Lindsay Ashford is an award nominated author of crime fiction, popular enough to have her own wikipedia page. Her subject was the interesting History of Bedlam, and she scored a perfect 14 correct answers to 14 questions. Terrific performance, and one which puts into perspective that at least the setters have been consistent in their setting of unnecessarily long questions in this series.
James Maple answered on the second very traditional specialist subject of the evening, when he gave us The English Civil Wars. He too produced a very good round, although not quite as good as Lindsay’s, since he levelled out at 12. So at the halfway mark it seemed as if the only person from this heat who would qualify for the semi finals would be the winner. Lindsay was in the driving seat, but then a two point lead isn’t massive, especially if one of the chasers is a quizzer. But were they?
Well, I have to say that Terence Saunders, first to return to the chair, seemed to shape up as one. 15 in two and a half minutes might not be the highest we’ve ever seen, but it’s pretty good, and pushed him up to 23. It would have won a show or two in this series, and he would be forgiven for thinking of what might have been, had he managed to squeeze into double figures in his specialist round. Especially after he saw Peter Gaskell fail to beat his score, despite having a four point advantage. It’s probably fair to say that Specialist, rather than General Knowledge has been Peter’s strength in all of his previous appearences on mastermind, and so it was tonight. Sadly he fell into a pass spiral very early in the round, and by the time he had managed to extricate himself after 8 passes, any hope of taking the lead had gone. He finished with 19.
James Maple, on 12 going into the round, then had every chance to take the lead, and set a big enough target to put Lindsay into the corridor of uncertainty. Well, he didn’t quite manage to do that. He did manage double figure respectability, adding 11 which meant that he too was on 23. However his chance of a win had been scuppered by the passes he uncurred during the round. So Lindsay returned to the chair needing 9 points and no more than 3 passes to win, or 9 points and 4 passes to force a tie break. It was something of a struggle, since the answers were not coming quickly. However Lindsay kept her head, and did what you must do when the answers don’t flow – consider each question on its own merit , answer if you can, guess if you can’t, and pass if you can’t guess. The last question gave her the 10th point she needed to make the number of passes irrelevant, and she posted the final score of 24 which gave her the win. Well played.
The Details
| Peter Gaskell | The Grateful Dead | 12 - 1 | 7 - 8 | 19 - 8 |
| Terence Saunders | The Novels of Wilkie Collins | 8 - 1 | 15 - 3 | 23 - 4 |
| Lindsay Ashford | The History of Bedlam | 14 – 0 | 10 - 5 | 24 - 5 |
| James Maple | English Civil Wars 1642 - 1651 | 12 - 1 | 11 – 5 | 23 – 6 |
Repechage Places
Steven Broomfield 30 – 1
Emma Laslett 29 – 0
Andries Van Tonder 29 – 3
Beth Webster 28 – 2
Ron Wood 28 – 3
=Carol O’Byrne 27 – 2 =Peter Russell 27 – 2=Chloe Stone 27 – 2
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Application to join the Grumpy Old Men
I know that I’ve been grumpy and grouchy this week. I do apologise, but I really can’t help it. I’ve been struggling, you see. I could feel myself coming down with flu on Monday evening during our League match against the Mackworth. It didn’t affect the outcome. The Mackworth are no mugs, but we hit a rich vein of form and saw out the win. But when I went to bed later that evening I started shivering uncontrollably, and it went on for about a quarter of an hour. I’ll be honest, I felt terrible all through Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and only marginally better yesterday, and I know that I’m grumpy when I’m not well, I suppose that it probably didn’t make things any better for myself by insisting on going into work all week despite the illness. You see, I had my Year 11 GCSE class 4 times this week, and another hour after school as well, and I honestly couldn’t face losing up to 5 hours with them.
That’s my excuse for spending a lot of this week moaning about things which haven’t been worth moaning about, anyway. It didn’t necessarily get off to the best of starts on Sunday evening. John and I have been trying to find a permanent Sunday evening home for some time now, since we decided to knock it on the head at the Dyffryn Arms. My son Mikey suggested a place on Sunday evening, and we thought we’d done due diligence checking it when we rang up to check up whether it was on – what time – was it general knowledge etc.? What we didn’t check . . . well, you wouldn’t automatically think that you’d need to check if it’s a team, writing down quiz, would you? So we turned up, and found out it was a free for all, individual shouting out quiz.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the first quiz I ever went to regularly was just such a quiz. But. . . I was a lot more inexperienced then. It was my entry level drug, I suppose, and since then I’ve moved on to the hard stuff. Not only that, I really didn’t want to go drawing attention to myself that much. So I just answered everything nobody else could answer. Still won, mind, but at least it wasn’t quite as conspicuous.
Then there was Thursday. Now, Thursday’s setter is a semi regular now, and his output is, in my opinion, variable. His last quiz I really enjoyed, but this one – well, you may recall that I’ve outlined my theory that there are five basic flaws, any one of which on its own can sink a quiz. I think he committed three of these on Thursday. My hopes weren’t high when he took it upon himself to inform us ,
”Something over 75% of tonight’s questions were taken from a website called “Trivia For Kids””
My first reaction was – why? I’m sorry, but I firmly believe that you should use at least 5 – and more if possible – sources for an 80 question quiz. There was a preponderance of –est questions – longest, biggest etc. etc. Not the most interesting stuff you could ask, to be honest. On several occasions the answer was given along with the words ‘nobody had this one – I wasn’t really expecting anyone to get it right.” Oh really? Well why ask the bloody thing, then? It really isn’t supposed to be a contest between the question master and the teams, after all. Then there were those annoying questions where it is down to the QM’s interepretation. For example – Which is the world’s longest continually occupied city? Now, some QM’s will give you Damascus – and some will give you Jericho. If they are good enough to say ‘capital city’ then you know it’s Damascus. Otherwise you just have ti put one down, and hope. It relegates it to a guessing game.
In a similar vein, what would you say is the world’s longest Highway? Now, it is, I suppose, a question of definition. But the answer always given in quizzes is the Pan American Highway. Not this one. Now, maybe there are reasons why it wouldn’t be the Pan American , but the Trans Canadian? Come on. If it’s the longest national highway, then it’s Australian, not Canadian.
You see, I will admit to being a sore loser – although come to think of it, we had a draw on the actual questions. We’re never going to win picture quizzes, and I can’t let myself get worked up about such fripperies. But I can live with losing, in fact it can even be quite profitable in the long run, if you learn something you can use later on in another quiz, something which you’ll get right next time round. I can’t honestly think of anything which I can take forward from Thursday night which is likely to be of much use to me in any other quiz.
See – grumpy and grouchy. I did a Room 101 exercise with one of my classes this week, to try to get them using persuasive language devices to express opinion. Asked for an example, I gave this particular grump of mine.
Every time I go into my dentist he seems to have a different receptionist, and always what looks like a 16 or 17 year old school leaver. Now, I have nothing against school leavers. But you see the thing is, I’m sure that the dentist tells every single one of them to address all of the patients by their christian name straight from the off. And I’m sorry, but I find it rather disconcerting to have some, for want of a better word, kid who I’ve never seen before greeting me with the words ‘Hello David!’. I'm sorry, but when someone my own age or older does it, then it's a different matter, although if I' honest I still prefer something a little more formal on a first occasion. I long to turn round and say,
“Excuse me there a minute. Were you at school with me? No? Are we by any chance related? No? Are you a friend of my family? No? Well, it’s Mr. Bleedin’ Clark to you, then!”
Now, I never have and never would say such a thing because
a) It would be extremely rude
b) The dentist probably tells them to do this in the mistaken belief that it creates an atmosphere which puts patients at their ease – and
c) These kids work for dentists, and dentists have the power to hurt .
so I just put up with it.
I finished this rant, and the kids sat in thoughtful silence before one of them observed sagely,
”No offence, sir, but you are a bit of a grumpy old man, aren’t you?”
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.
That’s my excuse for spending a lot of this week moaning about things which haven’t been worth moaning about, anyway. It didn’t necessarily get off to the best of starts on Sunday evening. John and I have been trying to find a permanent Sunday evening home for some time now, since we decided to knock it on the head at the Dyffryn Arms. My son Mikey suggested a place on Sunday evening, and we thought we’d done due diligence checking it when we rang up to check up whether it was on – what time – was it general knowledge etc.? What we didn’t check . . . well, you wouldn’t automatically think that you’d need to check if it’s a team, writing down quiz, would you? So we turned up, and found out it was a free for all, individual shouting out quiz.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the first quiz I ever went to regularly was just such a quiz. But. . . I was a lot more inexperienced then. It was my entry level drug, I suppose, and since then I’ve moved on to the hard stuff. Not only that, I really didn’t want to go drawing attention to myself that much. So I just answered everything nobody else could answer. Still won, mind, but at least it wasn’t quite as conspicuous.
Then there was Thursday. Now, Thursday’s setter is a semi regular now, and his output is, in my opinion, variable. His last quiz I really enjoyed, but this one – well, you may recall that I’ve outlined my theory that there are five basic flaws, any one of which on its own can sink a quiz. I think he committed three of these on Thursday. My hopes weren’t high when he took it upon himself to inform us ,
”Something over 75% of tonight’s questions were taken from a website called “Trivia For Kids””
My first reaction was – why? I’m sorry, but I firmly believe that you should use at least 5 – and more if possible – sources for an 80 question quiz. There was a preponderance of –est questions – longest, biggest etc. etc. Not the most interesting stuff you could ask, to be honest. On several occasions the answer was given along with the words ‘nobody had this one – I wasn’t really expecting anyone to get it right.” Oh really? Well why ask the bloody thing, then? It really isn’t supposed to be a contest between the question master and the teams, after all. Then there were those annoying questions where it is down to the QM’s interepretation. For example – Which is the world’s longest continually occupied city? Now, some QM’s will give you Damascus – and some will give you Jericho. If they are good enough to say ‘capital city’ then you know it’s Damascus. Otherwise you just have ti put one down, and hope. It relegates it to a guessing game.
In a similar vein, what would you say is the world’s longest Highway? Now, it is, I suppose, a question of definition. But the answer always given in quizzes is the Pan American Highway. Not this one. Now, maybe there are reasons why it wouldn’t be the Pan American , but the Trans Canadian? Come on. If it’s the longest national highway, then it’s Australian, not Canadian.
You see, I will admit to being a sore loser – although come to think of it, we had a draw on the actual questions. We’re never going to win picture quizzes, and I can’t let myself get worked up about such fripperies. But I can live with losing, in fact it can even be quite profitable in the long run, if you learn something you can use later on in another quiz, something which you’ll get right next time round. I can’t honestly think of anything which I can take forward from Thursday night which is likely to be of much use to me in any other quiz.
See – grumpy and grouchy. I did a Room 101 exercise with one of my classes this week, to try to get them using persuasive language devices to express opinion. Asked for an example, I gave this particular grump of mine.
Every time I go into my dentist he seems to have a different receptionist, and always what looks like a 16 or 17 year old school leaver. Now, I have nothing against school leavers. But you see the thing is, I’m sure that the dentist tells every single one of them to address all of the patients by their christian name straight from the off. And I’m sorry, but I find it rather disconcerting to have some, for want of a better word, kid who I’ve never seen before greeting me with the words ‘Hello David!’. I'm sorry, but when someone my own age or older does it, then it's a different matter, although if I' honest I still prefer something a little more formal on a first occasion. I long to turn round and say,
“Excuse me there a minute. Were you at school with me? No? Are we by any chance related? No? Are you a friend of my family? No? Well, it’s Mr. Bleedin’ Clark to you, then!”
Now, I never have and never would say such a thing because
a) It would be extremely rude
b) The dentist probably tells them to do this in the mistaken belief that it creates an atmosphere which puts patients at their ease – and
c) These kids work for dentists, and dentists have the power to hurt .
so I just put up with it.
I finished this rant, and the kids sat in thoughtful silence before one of them observed sagely,
”No offence, sir, but you are a bit of a grumpy old man, aren’t you?”
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.
New Show - Contestant Call - The Link
I received this email from Katie Walker a few days ago -
Hello,
I'm hoping you might be able to help me.
We’re currently looking for contestants to take part in our brand new BBC 1 quiz show THE LINK (which we are filming in Scotland).
It’s a general knowledge game of strategy, lateral thinking and team work where contestants have the chance to take home thousands of pounds!
We’re now accepting applications for the first series and looking for enthusiastic, outgoing, knowledgeable teams of two who fancy battling it out for a potential cash prize.
We are currently trying to get the word out to as many people as possible as we are auditioning soon!
I was hoping you might be able to share the information attached, whichever way you can (blogs/ intranets/website, email to friends/colleagues, posters on notice boards etc)
Fair enough Katie - can do. Here's what it says on the poster: -
Can you find The Link?
Have you banked enough to stay in the game?
Will you hold your nerve facing...
...The Super Link?
The Link is a brand new quiz show where teams don’t just rely on general knowledge but lateral thinking, in a race to find the link between the answers!
We’re looking for enthusiastic, outgoing teams of two, with good general knowledge, who fancy battling it out for a potential cash prize!! So, if you, your family, friends or colleagues love a challenge and think you’ve got what it takes, get in touch now!
To apply: Please email: thelink@stv.tv for an application form
Applicants must be aged 18 or over and a legal resident in the UK. Please only send one completed application form for both contestants in the team.
The closing date for applications is Friday 21st February 2014 but please APPLY NOW! as audition spaces are limited!
We reserve the right to extend the closing date at our sole discretion
Might be worth your while to give it a go.
Hello,
I'm hoping you might be able to help me.
We’re currently looking for contestants to take part in our brand new BBC 1 quiz show THE LINK (which we are filming in Scotland).
It’s a general knowledge game of strategy, lateral thinking and team work where contestants have the chance to take home thousands of pounds!
We’re now accepting applications for the first series and looking for enthusiastic, outgoing, knowledgeable teams of two who fancy battling it out for a potential cash prize.
We are currently trying to get the word out to as many people as possible as we are auditioning soon!
I was hoping you might be able to share the information attached, whichever way you can (blogs/ intranets/website, email to friends/colleagues, posters on notice boards etc)
Fair enough Katie - can do. Here's what it says on the poster: -
Can you find The Link?
Have you banked enough to stay in the game?
Will you hold your nerve facing...
...The Super Link?
The Link is a brand new quiz show where teams don’t just rely on general knowledge but lateral thinking, in a race to find the link between the answers!
We’re looking for enthusiastic, outgoing teams of two, with good general knowledge, who fancy battling it out for a potential cash prize!! So, if you, your family, friends or colleagues love a challenge and think you’ve got what it takes, get in touch now!
To apply: Please email: thelink@stv.tv for an application form
Applicants must be aged 18 or over and a legal resident in the UK. Please only send one completed application form for both contestants in the team.
The closing date for applications is Friday 21st February 2014 but please APPLY NOW! as audition spaces are limited!
We reserve the right to extend the closing date at our sole discretion
Might be worth your while to give it a go.
In The News
In The News
Who Or What Are The Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Bernard Hedges
2. Mark Harper
3. Jenny Jones
4. Cheyenne Woods
5. Matthias Mayer
6. Rosa Khutor
7. Carina Vogt
8. Natalie Hynde
9. Tidal Bay
10. Gary Stretch and Leslie Layton
11. Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin
12. Enrico Letta
13. Colin Cunningham
14. Bill Spence
15. Elise Christie
16. Mervyn
17. Ralph Waite
18. Simona de Silvestro
In Other News
1. Which actor last week saved the life of a man choking on a piece of cheese.
2. What was the score between Spurs and Everton?
3. – and Fulham and Man Utd.?
4. – and France and Italy in the 6 Nations?
5. – and England and Scotland?
6. – and Ireland and Wales
7. – and Liverpool and Arsenal?
8. Who was revealed as the biggest philanphropist in the USA?
9. Last week MPs voted to support which ban?
10. Who got into difficulties while swimming Lake Windermere for Sport Relief?
11. Which England cricketer quit the Indian Premier League last week?
12. Which has become the first album to sell 6 million copies in the UK?
13. The first high level talks between which two countries since 1949 were announced?
14. A huge sinkhole appeared very close to which motorway last week?
15. What became the UK’s first online pound shop?
16. Which film star died aged 85?
17. The Berlusconi corruption trial commenced in which city?
18. What was the score between W.Ham and Norwich?
19. – and W. Ham and Chelsea
20. Who is the new head coach of the Pakistan cricket team?
21. What was the score between Arsenal and Man Utd?
22. – and Spurs and Newcastle?
23. What was named the UK’s most elusive species of wildlife?
24. Which drug was upgraded to class B?
25. Which IPL team bought Kevin Pietersen for £880,000?
26. What was the score between Liverpool and Fulham?
27. Which actor did Boris Johnson say had lost his marbles?
28. What drastic action has been taken with the horses in the Spanish Riding School?
29. How many of the charges against Dave Lee Travis could the jury not reach a verdict over?
30. Which veteran US comedian passed away aged 91?
31. Which union announced their support for changes to their links with the Labour Party
32. Which two British boxers agreed a world championship rematch ?
33. Which record was held in 2013 by Lee Child’s The Affair?
34. Who won the women’s skeleton bob gold medal?
35. Which British actor was announced as joining the cast of Downton Abbey?
36. Who is losing her position as the Government’s ‘queen of the High Street’?
Who Or What Are The Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Bernard Hedges
2. Mark Harper
3. Jenny Jones
4. Cheyenne Woods
5. Matthias Mayer
6. Rosa Khutor
7. Carina Vogt
8. Natalie Hynde
9. Tidal Bay
10. Gary Stretch and Leslie Layton
11. Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin
12. Enrico Letta
13. Colin Cunningham
14. Bill Spence
15. Elise Christie
16. Mervyn
17. Ralph Waite
18. Simona de Silvestro
In Other News
1. Which actor last week saved the life of a man choking on a piece of cheese.
2. What was the score between Spurs and Everton?
3. – and Fulham and Man Utd.?
4. – and France and Italy in the 6 Nations?
5. – and England and Scotland?
6. – and Ireland and Wales
7. – and Liverpool and Arsenal?
8. Who was revealed as the biggest philanphropist in the USA?
9. Last week MPs voted to support which ban?
10. Who got into difficulties while swimming Lake Windermere for Sport Relief?
11. Which England cricketer quit the Indian Premier League last week?
12. Which has become the first album to sell 6 million copies in the UK?
13. The first high level talks between which two countries since 1949 were announced?
14. A huge sinkhole appeared very close to which motorway last week?
15. What became the UK’s first online pound shop?
16. Which film star died aged 85?
17. The Berlusconi corruption trial commenced in which city?
18. What was the score between W.Ham and Norwich?
19. – and W. Ham and Chelsea
20. Who is the new head coach of the Pakistan cricket team?
21. What was the score between Arsenal and Man Utd?
22. – and Spurs and Newcastle?
23. What was named the UK’s most elusive species of wildlife?
24. Which drug was upgraded to class B?
25. Which IPL team bought Kevin Pietersen for £880,000?
26. What was the score between Liverpool and Fulham?
27. Which actor did Boris Johnson say had lost his marbles?
28. What drastic action has been taken with the horses in the Spanish Riding School?
29. How many of the charges against Dave Lee Travis could the jury not reach a verdict over?
30. Which veteran US comedian passed away aged 91?
31. Which union announced their support for changes to their links with the Labour Party
32. Which two British boxers agreed a world championship rematch ?
33. Which record was held in 2013 by Lee Child’s The Affair?
34. Who won the women’s skeleton bob gold medal?
35. Which British actor was announced as joining the cast of Downton Abbey?
36. Who is losing her position as the Government’s ‘queen of the High Street’?
Brain of Britain - Heat Ten
Let’s have a look at the competitors in this week’s heat of BoB shall we? Alan Heath, I am afraid is not a name I’m familiar with, although that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Isabel Morgan though has been on Mastermind in at least 2 series, always doing well, although not quite well enough to get through to the semis. Ian Orriss on the other hand has made it to the Mastermind semi finals, where he encountered a certain Jesse Honey. Paul Steeples, though, did get to the Mastermind final the year that Ian won, when he was third. As regards BoB, Paul was runner up in the final won by Geoff Thomas. Also in the final that day was Barry Simmons, who went on to win BoB 2013. An omen there, perhaps? Time will tell.
Alan tripped up on his first, not knowing that the Herdwick is a breed of sheep. Paul had that chestnut for a bonus. Isabel started well, with an admittedly rather gentle set to score a full set of five and a bonus. Ian also started well, getting his own rather gentle set to score 5. So far I had answered every question on the show. Was Paul about to be shown the same kind of generosity by the setters? No. He got a snorter to begin about Geoffrey of Monmouth’s use of the phrase Night of the Long Knives. Nasty. At this stage one could only hope that, in the interests of fairness, Paul would be given his own set of gentler questions later on.
Alan’s second set saw him get off the mark, but a quotation from ‘Princess Ida’ gave a bonus to Paul. Isabel missed out on her first, not knowing that Cadillac is also a french wine appellation. Paul had that. Ian benefitted from three more gentle questions, and in fact I didn’t think his fourth was that hard either. Asked for either the 2nd or 3rd in line for the Presidency of the USA, Alan came in for a bonus with the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Nobody had Norman Parkinson, for a Royal Portrait photographer, and I suppose that was a chance, but even so Paul’s first wasn’t a gimme in the same way that each of the others had been given at least one gimme to get them off the mark .
Alan didn’t know Jack White from the White Stripes – another point to Paul. Isabel missed her first, and Ian took a good bonus with the Vacuum Cleaner. He went on to take his first two, but then got his first really difficult question of the contest about the aardvark, which nobody got. Paul got another stopper to kick off, with the founder of the tradition of Mother’s Day, which did for him.
At the Beat the Brains Interval the Brains were given some Maths gobbledygook, called Russell’s paradox. Yawn yawn. The second question asked about the Fender Stratocaster sunburst given by Frank Zappa to his son Dweezil. Isabel guessed that it once belonged to Jimi Hendrix.
Back to the contest. Now, another good round for Ian here could well mean that he had achieved escape velocity – he was already looking good for a repechage slot at the very least. Alan took 2, but didn’t know that stomatology deals with the mouth. Isabel, having struggled for points since her blitz start, answered her first, but didn’t know fraunhoffer lines. Me neither. Ian’s first three weren’t gimmes, but they were gettable, and he got them. He stumbled on the term – festoon – from art, and Paul took that one. The gimme he deserved, and, frankly, needed to start his own round off didn’t come. Asked which was the only Beatles’ song to win Grammy for song of the year, nobody knew it was Michelle. If I’m being harsh, I don’t mean to. Ian could only answer the questions he was asked, and had done so extremely well indeed to score 15 points by the end of this round, with his closest challenger Isabel on 8.
Alan got a rather nasty one about the Martian school of Poetry. Never heard of it, but Paul had, and he took the bonus. Galactagog. Ever heard of it? Neither had Isabel nor I. Actually it is something that increases the flow of milk. Makes sense I suppose. Ian took his first, but the Harmsworth Trophy for Powerboat racing did for him. Right, back to Paul. To the nearest ten feet – how tall is Salisbury Cathedral’s spire! No, I’m not joking, they did ask that. Respect to Alan Heath for having it exactly at 404ft. I said 397 – no idea why – which would at least have been close enough. Onto another round, and Alan kicked off with a nasty one with a quote about Gandhi from Orwell. Nobody had it. Isabel didn’t know that the first meeting of the UN was in London. Paul had that. Ian showed his class by taking a nasty first question but missed out on the ‘sweet science’ of boxing. I’m surprised nobody had that. Paul for once had his first, but didn’t know that W.H.Auden died in Austria. Nobody had it. How many of Paul’s questions went unanswered by anyone in this show? I think that says a lot.
For the record, the final scores were : -
Alan Heath – 6
Isabel Morgan - 9
Ian Orriss – 17
Paul Steeples - 8
Many congratulations to Ian. That was a fine performance – especially in the later rounds where he answered some really difficult questions. Even if he had not had the 6 points in the first round he would still have won clearly. However – and I’m sure that my feelings have probably already come through on this issue – I have to say that I think Paul was extremely unlucky with the starters he was asked almost every round. It can happen – it does happen, but that knowledge, I should imagine, doesn’t make it any easier to take when you’re the one it happens to.
Alan tripped up on his first, not knowing that the Herdwick is a breed of sheep. Paul had that chestnut for a bonus. Isabel started well, with an admittedly rather gentle set to score a full set of five and a bonus. Ian also started well, getting his own rather gentle set to score 5. So far I had answered every question on the show. Was Paul about to be shown the same kind of generosity by the setters? No. He got a snorter to begin about Geoffrey of Monmouth’s use of the phrase Night of the Long Knives. Nasty. At this stage one could only hope that, in the interests of fairness, Paul would be given his own set of gentler questions later on.
Alan’s second set saw him get off the mark, but a quotation from ‘Princess Ida’ gave a bonus to Paul. Isabel missed out on her first, not knowing that Cadillac is also a french wine appellation. Paul had that. Ian benefitted from three more gentle questions, and in fact I didn’t think his fourth was that hard either. Asked for either the 2nd or 3rd in line for the Presidency of the USA, Alan came in for a bonus with the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Nobody had Norman Parkinson, for a Royal Portrait photographer, and I suppose that was a chance, but even so Paul’s first wasn’t a gimme in the same way that each of the others had been given at least one gimme to get them off the mark .
Alan didn’t know Jack White from the White Stripes – another point to Paul. Isabel missed her first, and Ian took a good bonus with the Vacuum Cleaner. He went on to take his first two, but then got his first really difficult question of the contest about the aardvark, which nobody got. Paul got another stopper to kick off, with the founder of the tradition of Mother’s Day, which did for him.
At the Beat the Brains Interval the Brains were given some Maths gobbledygook, called Russell’s paradox. Yawn yawn. The second question asked about the Fender Stratocaster sunburst given by Frank Zappa to his son Dweezil. Isabel guessed that it once belonged to Jimi Hendrix.
Back to the contest. Now, another good round for Ian here could well mean that he had achieved escape velocity – he was already looking good for a repechage slot at the very least. Alan took 2, but didn’t know that stomatology deals with the mouth. Isabel, having struggled for points since her blitz start, answered her first, but didn’t know fraunhoffer lines. Me neither. Ian’s first three weren’t gimmes, but they were gettable, and he got them. He stumbled on the term – festoon – from art, and Paul took that one. The gimme he deserved, and, frankly, needed to start his own round off didn’t come. Asked which was the only Beatles’ song to win Grammy for song of the year, nobody knew it was Michelle. If I’m being harsh, I don’t mean to. Ian could only answer the questions he was asked, and had done so extremely well indeed to score 15 points by the end of this round, with his closest challenger Isabel on 8.
Alan got a rather nasty one about the Martian school of Poetry. Never heard of it, but Paul had, and he took the bonus. Galactagog. Ever heard of it? Neither had Isabel nor I. Actually it is something that increases the flow of milk. Makes sense I suppose. Ian took his first, but the Harmsworth Trophy for Powerboat racing did for him. Right, back to Paul. To the nearest ten feet – how tall is Salisbury Cathedral’s spire! No, I’m not joking, they did ask that. Respect to Alan Heath for having it exactly at 404ft. I said 397 – no idea why – which would at least have been close enough. Onto another round, and Alan kicked off with a nasty one with a quote about Gandhi from Orwell. Nobody had it. Isabel didn’t know that the first meeting of the UN was in London. Paul had that. Ian showed his class by taking a nasty first question but missed out on the ‘sweet science’ of boxing. I’m surprised nobody had that. Paul for once had his first, but didn’t know that W.H.Auden died in Austria. Nobody had it. How many of Paul’s questions went unanswered by anyone in this show? I think that says a lot.
For the record, the final scores were : -
Alan Heath – 6
Isabel Morgan - 9
Ian Orriss – 17
Paul Steeples - 8
Many congratulations to Ian. That was a fine performance – especially in the later rounds where he answered some really difficult questions. Even if he had not had the 6 points in the first round he would still have won clearly. However – and I’m sure that my feelings have probably already come through on this issue – I have to say that I think Paul was extremely unlucky with the starters he was asked almost every round. It can happen – it does happen, but that knowledge, I should imagine, doesn’t make it any easier to take when you’re the one it happens to.
University Challenge - Qualification Match
Trinity , Cambridge v. SOAS
Matthew Ridley, Filip Drnovšek Zorko, Richard Freeland and Ralph Morley left Christ Church, Oxford team and Peterhouse, Cambridge trailing in their wake in the first two rounds. They put one of their collective feet in the semis when they defeated a fine Manchester team in the first quarter final match – one of the very finest matches of this series. SOAS – the London University School of Oriental and African Studies – represented by Maeve Weber, Luke Vivian-Neal, James Figueroa and their captain Peter McKean, beat surprise package Southampton in the first round, and then knocked out Reading in the second. In their own first quarter final match they comprehensively beat Cardiff. I hadn’t bet against Trinity in this series so far, and Monday night saw me loath to change this policy.
Peter McKean lost an immediate 5 points through buzzing in too early to identify parties in a European Presidential Election. This allowed Matthew Ridley to supply the correct answer of France. Russian visitors to London promised much but they missed out on the second and third. The words ‘sprung rhythm had no sooner passed JP’s lips, than the words ‘Gerard Manley Hopkins’ had passed mine. It took Maeve Weber considerably longer after she had buzzed to dredge up the name, and had she not been a more mature lady than the average contestant I dare say she would have brought the wrath of Paxman down upon her head for her hesitation. Writers who completed only one novel in their lifetimes gave them a full set, and the lead. Apparently Primo Levi wrote a poem to Carbon. I didn’t know, and neither did anyone else. I have heard of Instagram, and so had our own Filip Drnovšek Zorko, thus earning a set on the Space Shuttle. One was taken.The next starter was one of those where you have to wait, and then go like Billy – O for the buzzer, when it becomes obvious right at the end. If the question ends with ‘Thomas a Kempis’ then it’s pounds to pennies that the answer is “The Mimitation of Christ”. Peter McKean won that battle. How nice that there was a set on Syon House in Hounslow. I spent many happy Sunday afternoons there as a kid – E1 bus from Elthorne Park, as I recall. This was enough to put SOAS back in front as the first picture starter hove into view. We saw a map with some of the prominent battle sites from a series of wars. Filip Drnovšek Zorko won the buzzer race to identify the conflicts as the Napoleonic Wars. Three more maps of wars in which France was invioved were shown. War and French monarch at the time were required.2 correct answers earned a cautious well done from JP. This was enough to put Trinity in front by 50 to 40 as we reached the ten minute mark. Early exchanges had been inconclusive, and neither team had yet established dominance over the buzzer.
Richard Freeland was first in to identify a conchoid curve. Not really sure why JP felt the need to correct his pronunciation of that one. Terms from photography weren’t at all easy – panning was gettable, although I didn’t – and no further points were scored. I guessed social mobility for the next starter, and Matthew Ridley knew it. Bonuses on songbirds weren’t that easy either, but we both got the first and last, missing the redstart. Peter McKean stopped the rot for OSAS, knowing a series of clues that all pointed to 24 hours. I had it from 24 hour Party People. Modern Feminist works. I think we were all grateful for the appearance of Germaine Greer in this set to give us some points. For the music starter Richard Freeland recognized Shostakovitch very quickly. This earned Trinity a go at 3 waltzes by composers not often associated with waltzes. I was surprised to recognize both Gershwin and Ravel. Right then, some Mathsy thing about a pendulum followed. I didn’t understand it, and nobody else had it either. A great early buzz from SOAS’ inspirational skipper identified the Namib desert as the home of some of the biggest sand dunes in the world. A good UC set of pairs of words with transposed vowels – eg lintel and lentil – followed. It promised much and delivered a full set, taking SOAS back to within 15 points of Trinity. Nobody knew ‘Scenes from Clerical Life’ by George Eliot for the next starter. Filip Drnovšek Zorko knew that the coriolis force is created by the rotation of the Earth. Trinity put in their own full set on glands, to stretch the lead again, and take them into triple figures. Ralph Morley, quiet so far in this show, buzzed in very early with the term Commonwealth Realm for the next starter. Ancient empires delivered a full quota as well. This latest flurry meant that there was now daylight between the teams at the twenty minute mark, with Trinity leading by 145 to 75, and just as importantly, having all the momentum.
Nobody knew that the historic area of Courland is part of modern day Latvia. Filip Drnovšek Zorko knew that Matisse painted “Woman with a hat”. Indigenous peoples took Trinity to 160. Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Marriage appeared for the next starter, and Filip slammed the buzzer to win the race for that chestnut.More paintings of couples gave me an unexpected full set, and Trinity took a maximum as well. That’s one of the things I like about this Trinity team. When they have the scent of their opponents’ blood in their nostrils they tend to become clinical with a very diverse range of bonuses. Nobody knew “I am My Own Wife”, however Ralph Morely knew that Malta has the highest population density of any EU member state. I didn’t know, but made a good guess. Misleading culinary names – eg Scotch Woodcock - . The next starter was a real, buzzer race question. In terms of chameical elements, what comes next – N – O – F – Ne ? The next element was sodium – so ‘Na!’ – I shouted at the same time as Richard Freeland, desperate to get a rare chemistry starter right. Bonuses on scales saw Trinity take two, but miss out on the rather chestnutty Beaufort Scale. Didn’t matter. They already had 220 points, and were already in the semis. I didn’t work out the meaning of the next starter by the time Filip Drnovšek Zorko had already supplied the correct answer of Athens. Geoffrey of Monmouth gave me three bonuses, and Trinity two. Such was SOAS’ collapse by this stage that you never expected them to win a buzzer race now. Filip Drnovšek Zorko was first in to give the names of two of the largest moons of the solar system. Ganymede and Titan he gave us – I substituted Callisto for Titan, but we were both right. That old quiz chestnut – the Haber –Bosch process – gave two bonuses. To be fair to SOAS, Peter McKean did chance his arm with the next starter, but he didn’t know the way that the word man is described in the Devil’s Dictionary. Matthew Ridley knew that Othello said that he ‘loved not wisely but too well’. Look, Oth, old son, you killed her, so you didn’t love her very well at all, mate. Some rather simple poetry collection bonuses gave a full set to Trinity. Peter McKean managed to salvage one crumb of comfort by taking the next starter, knowing that South East Iceland is the northernmost of the areas on the UK shipping forecast. This denied Trinity a shot at 300. Godwins brought them to 95. Maeve Weber knew that phrenic refers to the diaphragm, which just pushed SOAS past 100. That was enough for the timekeeper, who gonged the contest to an end. Trinity had 280, and SOAS 105. Well played Trinity. As for SOAS, well, they are still in it, and for more than half the contest they were right up there with a very, very fine team. But once Trinity put their foot on the gas there was only going to be one winner. Good luck in the semis.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
We had to wait quite a long time for JP to give us anything worthy of mention in this show. With the feminist writers bonuses , when SOAS only managed to score with Germaine Greer (oooohh, Matron) he observed,
”That’s the only feminist writer you know!”
Well, come on then Jez – name all the ones YOU know, then!
For some reason JP was extremely tickled by Luke Vivian-Neal’s offer of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” for “I Am My Own Wife”. When Trinity offered lamb for the main constituent of the New Zealand dish of colonial goose, he made the observation “There’s no other meat in New Zealand, is there.” Such was the reaction I almost expected this to be followed with a Frankie Howerdesque ‘well, please yourselves’.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
New Zealand, Tuvalu and Barbados should all be referred to by the term ‘Commonwealth Realm’.
Matthew Ridley, Filip Drnovšek Zorko, Richard Freeland and Ralph Morley left Christ Church, Oxford team and Peterhouse, Cambridge trailing in their wake in the first two rounds. They put one of their collective feet in the semis when they defeated a fine Manchester team in the first quarter final match – one of the very finest matches of this series. SOAS – the London University School of Oriental and African Studies – represented by Maeve Weber, Luke Vivian-Neal, James Figueroa and their captain Peter McKean, beat surprise package Southampton in the first round, and then knocked out Reading in the second. In their own first quarter final match they comprehensively beat Cardiff. I hadn’t bet against Trinity in this series so far, and Monday night saw me loath to change this policy.
Peter McKean lost an immediate 5 points through buzzing in too early to identify parties in a European Presidential Election. This allowed Matthew Ridley to supply the correct answer of France. Russian visitors to London promised much but they missed out on the second and third. The words ‘sprung rhythm had no sooner passed JP’s lips, than the words ‘Gerard Manley Hopkins’ had passed mine. It took Maeve Weber considerably longer after she had buzzed to dredge up the name, and had she not been a more mature lady than the average contestant I dare say she would have brought the wrath of Paxman down upon her head for her hesitation. Writers who completed only one novel in their lifetimes gave them a full set, and the lead. Apparently Primo Levi wrote a poem to Carbon. I didn’t know, and neither did anyone else. I have heard of Instagram, and so had our own Filip Drnovšek Zorko, thus earning a set on the Space Shuttle. One was taken.The next starter was one of those where you have to wait, and then go like Billy – O for the buzzer, when it becomes obvious right at the end. If the question ends with ‘Thomas a Kempis’ then it’s pounds to pennies that the answer is “The Mimitation of Christ”. Peter McKean won that battle. How nice that there was a set on Syon House in Hounslow. I spent many happy Sunday afternoons there as a kid – E1 bus from Elthorne Park, as I recall. This was enough to put SOAS back in front as the first picture starter hove into view. We saw a map with some of the prominent battle sites from a series of wars. Filip Drnovšek Zorko won the buzzer race to identify the conflicts as the Napoleonic Wars. Three more maps of wars in which France was invioved were shown. War and French monarch at the time were required.2 correct answers earned a cautious well done from JP. This was enough to put Trinity in front by 50 to 40 as we reached the ten minute mark. Early exchanges had been inconclusive, and neither team had yet established dominance over the buzzer.
Richard Freeland was first in to identify a conchoid curve. Not really sure why JP felt the need to correct his pronunciation of that one. Terms from photography weren’t at all easy – panning was gettable, although I didn’t – and no further points were scored. I guessed social mobility for the next starter, and Matthew Ridley knew it. Bonuses on songbirds weren’t that easy either, but we both got the first and last, missing the redstart. Peter McKean stopped the rot for OSAS, knowing a series of clues that all pointed to 24 hours. I had it from 24 hour Party People. Modern Feminist works. I think we were all grateful for the appearance of Germaine Greer in this set to give us some points. For the music starter Richard Freeland recognized Shostakovitch very quickly. This earned Trinity a go at 3 waltzes by composers not often associated with waltzes. I was surprised to recognize both Gershwin and Ravel. Right then, some Mathsy thing about a pendulum followed. I didn’t understand it, and nobody else had it either. A great early buzz from SOAS’ inspirational skipper identified the Namib desert as the home of some of the biggest sand dunes in the world. A good UC set of pairs of words with transposed vowels – eg lintel and lentil – followed. It promised much and delivered a full set, taking SOAS back to within 15 points of Trinity. Nobody knew ‘Scenes from Clerical Life’ by George Eliot for the next starter. Filip Drnovšek Zorko knew that the coriolis force is created by the rotation of the Earth. Trinity put in their own full set on glands, to stretch the lead again, and take them into triple figures. Ralph Morley, quiet so far in this show, buzzed in very early with the term Commonwealth Realm for the next starter. Ancient empires delivered a full quota as well. This latest flurry meant that there was now daylight between the teams at the twenty minute mark, with Trinity leading by 145 to 75, and just as importantly, having all the momentum.
Nobody knew that the historic area of Courland is part of modern day Latvia. Filip Drnovšek Zorko knew that Matisse painted “Woman with a hat”. Indigenous peoples took Trinity to 160. Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Marriage appeared for the next starter, and Filip slammed the buzzer to win the race for that chestnut.More paintings of couples gave me an unexpected full set, and Trinity took a maximum as well. That’s one of the things I like about this Trinity team. When they have the scent of their opponents’ blood in their nostrils they tend to become clinical with a very diverse range of bonuses. Nobody knew “I am My Own Wife”, however Ralph Morely knew that Malta has the highest population density of any EU member state. I didn’t know, but made a good guess. Misleading culinary names – eg Scotch Woodcock - . The next starter was a real, buzzer race question. In terms of chameical elements, what comes next – N – O – F – Ne ? The next element was sodium – so ‘Na!’ – I shouted at the same time as Richard Freeland, desperate to get a rare chemistry starter right. Bonuses on scales saw Trinity take two, but miss out on the rather chestnutty Beaufort Scale. Didn’t matter. They already had 220 points, and were already in the semis. I didn’t work out the meaning of the next starter by the time Filip Drnovšek Zorko had already supplied the correct answer of Athens. Geoffrey of Monmouth gave me three bonuses, and Trinity two. Such was SOAS’ collapse by this stage that you never expected them to win a buzzer race now. Filip Drnovšek Zorko was first in to give the names of two of the largest moons of the solar system. Ganymede and Titan he gave us – I substituted Callisto for Titan, but we were both right. That old quiz chestnut – the Haber –Bosch process – gave two bonuses. To be fair to SOAS, Peter McKean did chance his arm with the next starter, but he didn’t know the way that the word man is described in the Devil’s Dictionary. Matthew Ridley knew that Othello said that he ‘loved not wisely but too well’. Look, Oth, old son, you killed her, so you didn’t love her very well at all, mate. Some rather simple poetry collection bonuses gave a full set to Trinity. Peter McKean managed to salvage one crumb of comfort by taking the next starter, knowing that South East Iceland is the northernmost of the areas on the UK shipping forecast. This denied Trinity a shot at 300. Godwins brought them to 95. Maeve Weber knew that phrenic refers to the diaphragm, which just pushed SOAS past 100. That was enough for the timekeeper, who gonged the contest to an end. Trinity had 280, and SOAS 105. Well played Trinity. As for SOAS, well, they are still in it, and for more than half the contest they were right up there with a very, very fine team. But once Trinity put their foot on the gas there was only going to be one winner. Good luck in the semis.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
We had to wait quite a long time for JP to give us anything worthy of mention in this show. With the feminist writers bonuses , when SOAS only managed to score with Germaine Greer (oooohh, Matron) he observed,
”That’s the only feminist writer you know!”
Well, come on then Jez – name all the ones YOU know, then!
For some reason JP was extremely tickled by Luke Vivian-Neal’s offer of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” for “I Am My Own Wife”. When Trinity offered lamb for the main constituent of the New Zealand dish of colonial goose, he made the observation “There’s no other meat in New Zealand, is there.” Such was the reaction I almost expected this to be followed with a Frankie Howerdesque ‘well, please yourselves’.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
New Zealand, Tuvalu and Barbados should all be referred to by the term ‘Commonwealth Realm’.
Friday, 14 February 2014
Mastermind - Round One - Heat 23
Well, was there ever a better example of two consecutive heats of Mastermind being chalk and cheese than last Friday’s, and tonight’s shows? Possibly not. Last week we saw three contenders giving it their best, but sadly falling victims to the chair. Tonight, well, tonight we saw something different.
Duncan Mitchell was answering on Punk Music. Punk, like so many things in my life, was a party at which I arrived after everybody else had left. I think I have told the story of our ill-fated band “Fred Foetus and the Embryos” (I can only apologise) before. Our most memorable, indeed, only song – Breech Birth (once again, I apologise) thankfully only survives in the memory of a few very unfortunate individuals. However, I digress. By the end of the round I had 4, thanks to 4 easy ones. Ah, that Bill Grundy interview. I had the mortifying experience of watching it with my grandmother, who turned to me after the torrent of 4 letter abuse and asked, all; innocence, “Do people still use the word ‘rotter’ then?”. Getting back to the round, Duncan scored an excellent 13.
A difference in tone for the next round, as Andries Van Tonder offered us Rhodesia 1965 - 1980 . I did one better on this round, taking 5 points. Andries ended with 13 and no passes, just as Duncan had. However, Andries’ round was a perfect one, though. 13 questions, 13 correct answers.
Now, regular viewers of the best quizzes will surely have recognized Emma Laslett as one of the Lasletts, who were one of the surprise packages in the most recent series of OC. The Lasletts actually beat series winners the Board Gamers earlier in the competition, but tripped up in the semis against the Bakers. For her part in the Lasletts’ exploits in OC Emma was the recipient of the dubious benefit of support from the Clark sofa in this show. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn’t – answering on the plays of Samuel Beckett Emma stumbled on an early question about the Royal Court theatre. But after that she powered her way through the rest of the round to set the bar at 14 and no passes. Good score.
Well, we’d been through three specialist rounds without the merest sniff of a bad ‘un. The round Neil Wright served up lacked nothing in quality either. Neil was answering on French Wines of the Rhone Valley. Now, what I know about any French wines, let alone those of the Rhone Valley you could write on the back of a timbre – and still have room left over to comment on the awful weather we’ve been having. I guessed Gerard Depardieu for my one point. Neil scored 13, although his 1 pass ironically meant that he was nominally in 4th on countback. Mind you, they don’t take passes into account when they’re working out the order for the GK round.
Right, I have the habit of observing to anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity while I’m watching a GK round that either – so and so is a regular quizzer – or so and so isn’t a regular quizzer. When asked how I know, I tend to say that it’s a question of the answers they give – and not just the right answers either. Someone who is not a regular quizzer, but has a good general knowledge, can still set a good score, in fact, a winning score. But they tend to get things wrong that a regular, serious quizzer wouldn’t. Also, while a regular, serious quizzer won’t always get everything right, there will often be a certain logic about the wrong answers – they will sound like quizzers’ answers. Of course, by the time I’ve tried to explain it, my nearest and dearest will all have switched off, or wandered off to pastures new, and who shall blame them? Still, it did occur to me as I was watching Duncan’s GK round. It was a perfectly serviceable double figures round, and took him to 24, but it wasn’t – well it wasn’t a quizzer’s round. Not quite. Now, the round which Andries served up – well, that was a different kettle of fish entirely. I thought he was a little unlucky to be pinged for his answer of Bach, to which he was asked which one? He got it right, but it wasted maybe time for another question. Still, 16 and 3 passes gave him 29, and surely a place in the semis via repechage at the very least. Now, that was a quizzer’s round.
Mind you, if that was a quizzer’s round, then what was Neil’s round? Dare I say it, an even better quizzer’s round. Neil scored 18 on his round, and if he wasn’t quite at express speed throughout the round he was in an admirably steady rhythm, and more important, he kept getting them right. 31 is one of the finest scores of the whole series, and alright, maybe this was a flash in the pan, but then maybe it wasn’t, which makes Neil a contender whose credentials and prospects have to be taken most seriously. Not that the show was by any means over. Emma’s credentials had to be taken seriously following a number of sterling performances on OC. She was answering more quickly than Neil, but then she was getting a couple more wrong as well. For the record, Emma answered every question, and her round was very much a quizzer’s round as well, and a good one, but the finishing line came too soon, and she too ended with 29. Very well done Neil!
Well done Emma and Andires too. By my reckoning they are both into the semi-finals. However the situation underneath is far from clear. I said a couple of weeks ago that I thought some places had already been settled. Thinking about it, though, theoretically , with 1 show still to go, it is possible for 3 places to change. If no runner up does better than 27 and 2 passes next show, Heaven alone knows how they are going to separate the log jam for the last place. Watch this space.
The Details
Repechage Places
Steven Broomfield 30 – 1
Emma Laslett 29 – 0
Andries Van Tonder 29 – 3
-----------------------------------------------------------
Beth Webster 28 – 2
Ron Wood 28 – 3
=Carol O’Byrne 27 – 2 =Peter Russell 27 – 2=Chloe Stone 27 – 2
Duncan Mitchell was answering on Punk Music. Punk, like so many things in my life, was a party at which I arrived after everybody else had left. I think I have told the story of our ill-fated band “Fred Foetus and the Embryos” (I can only apologise) before. Our most memorable, indeed, only song – Breech Birth (once again, I apologise) thankfully only survives in the memory of a few very unfortunate individuals. However, I digress. By the end of the round I had 4, thanks to 4 easy ones. Ah, that Bill Grundy interview. I had the mortifying experience of watching it with my grandmother, who turned to me after the torrent of 4 letter abuse and asked, all; innocence, “Do people still use the word ‘rotter’ then?”. Getting back to the round, Duncan scored an excellent 13.
A difference in tone for the next round, as Andries Van Tonder offered us Rhodesia 1965 - 1980 . I did one better on this round, taking 5 points. Andries ended with 13 and no passes, just as Duncan had. However, Andries’ round was a perfect one, though. 13 questions, 13 correct answers.
Now, regular viewers of the best quizzes will surely have recognized Emma Laslett as one of the Lasletts, who were one of the surprise packages in the most recent series of OC. The Lasletts actually beat series winners the Board Gamers earlier in the competition, but tripped up in the semis against the Bakers. For her part in the Lasletts’ exploits in OC Emma was the recipient of the dubious benefit of support from the Clark sofa in this show. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn’t – answering on the plays of Samuel Beckett Emma stumbled on an early question about the Royal Court theatre. But after that she powered her way through the rest of the round to set the bar at 14 and no passes. Good score.
Well, we’d been through three specialist rounds without the merest sniff of a bad ‘un. The round Neil Wright served up lacked nothing in quality either. Neil was answering on French Wines of the Rhone Valley. Now, what I know about any French wines, let alone those of the Rhone Valley you could write on the back of a timbre – and still have room left over to comment on the awful weather we’ve been having. I guessed Gerard Depardieu for my one point. Neil scored 13, although his 1 pass ironically meant that he was nominally in 4th on countback. Mind you, they don’t take passes into account when they’re working out the order for the GK round.
Right, I have the habit of observing to anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity while I’m watching a GK round that either – so and so is a regular quizzer – or so and so isn’t a regular quizzer. When asked how I know, I tend to say that it’s a question of the answers they give – and not just the right answers either. Someone who is not a regular quizzer, but has a good general knowledge, can still set a good score, in fact, a winning score. But they tend to get things wrong that a regular, serious quizzer wouldn’t. Also, while a regular, serious quizzer won’t always get everything right, there will often be a certain logic about the wrong answers – they will sound like quizzers’ answers. Of course, by the time I’ve tried to explain it, my nearest and dearest will all have switched off, or wandered off to pastures new, and who shall blame them? Still, it did occur to me as I was watching Duncan’s GK round. It was a perfectly serviceable double figures round, and took him to 24, but it wasn’t – well it wasn’t a quizzer’s round. Not quite. Now, the round which Andries served up – well, that was a different kettle of fish entirely. I thought he was a little unlucky to be pinged for his answer of Bach, to which he was asked which one? He got it right, but it wasted maybe time for another question. Still, 16 and 3 passes gave him 29, and surely a place in the semis via repechage at the very least. Now, that was a quizzer’s round.
Mind you, if that was a quizzer’s round, then what was Neil’s round? Dare I say it, an even better quizzer’s round. Neil scored 18 on his round, and if he wasn’t quite at express speed throughout the round he was in an admirably steady rhythm, and more important, he kept getting them right. 31 is one of the finest scores of the whole series, and alright, maybe this was a flash in the pan, but then maybe it wasn’t, which makes Neil a contender whose credentials and prospects have to be taken most seriously. Not that the show was by any means over. Emma’s credentials had to be taken seriously following a number of sterling performances on OC. She was answering more quickly than Neil, but then she was getting a couple more wrong as well. For the record, Emma answered every question, and her round was very much a quizzer’s round as well, and a good one, but the finishing line came too soon, and she too ended with 29. Very well done Neil!
Well done Emma and Andires too. By my reckoning they are both into the semi-finals. However the situation underneath is far from clear. I said a couple of weeks ago that I thought some places had already been settled. Thinking about it, though, theoretically , with 1 show still to go, it is possible for 3 places to change. If no runner up does better than 27 and 2 passes next show, Heaven alone knows how they are going to separate the log jam for the last place. Watch this space.
The Details
| Duncan Mitchell | Punk Music 1976 - 1979 | 13 - 0 | 11 - 2 | 24 - 2 |
| Andries Van Tonder | The History of Rhodesia 1965 - 1980 | 13 - 0 | 16 - 3 | 29 - 3 |
| Emma Laslett | The Plays of Samuel Beckett | 14 - 0 | 15 – 0 | 29 – 0 |
| Neil Wright | French Wines of the Rhone Valley | 13 – 1 | 18 - 2 | 31 – 3 |
Repechage Places
Steven Broomfield 30 – 1
Emma Laslett 29 – 0
Andries Van Tonder 29 – 3
-----------------------------------------------------------
Beth Webster 28 – 2
Ron Wood 28 – 3
=Carol O’Byrne 27 – 2 =Peter Russell 27 – 2=Chloe Stone 27 – 2
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