In the News

In the News

Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?

Conrad Gillespie

Francesco Totti

Jonathan Rea

Cory Allen

Syriza

Call Me Dave

Emma Brockes

Viola Davies

Eddie Jones

The Brave Blossoms

Diego Coasta

Suzann Petersen

Mark Colborne

Lord Sewel

Daraprim

Martin Winterkorn

Yogi Berra

Simple Verse

Bloodhound

Red Peak

List of the Lost

In Other News

Jackie Collins passed away. What was the title of her first novel?

Which team won the Solheim Cup

Which famous art critic passed away?

Which former world leader did the Pope meet?

What was the score between Chelsea and Arsenal?

Who won the Singapore GP?

Which team won the Royal London One Day Cup final?

The world’s oldest package holiday ticket was found by researchers. Name the three destinations?

Which anniversary did ITV celebrate?

Why might Andy Murray pull out of the ATP tour finals?

Who is the new French Davis Cup captain

What was the score between England’s women footballers and Estonia?

Marine Le Pen is to appear in court in France on which charge?

Which company announced it is to cut exorbitant hospital shop prices?

EU interior Ministers agreed to accommodate how many refugees?

Which group announced a comeback after 37 years?

Who announced she is leaving Chelsea?

Which team were knocked out of the Capital One cup by Hull?

Radar is going to be used in the search for the tomb of whom?

The Ashcroft book claims that Boris Johnson demanded how much for London not to make a fuss during the election campaign?

Which song did Warners lose the copyright to in the US courts?

What was the Capital One Cup score between Spurs and Arsenal?

What was the RWC score between Scotland and Japan?

– and Australia and Fiji?

700 pilgrims were crushed to death where?

Which architect walked out of a Today programme interview?

Who contacted Elton John this week?

Francis gave the first ever papal address where?

Which team were accused of breaking the spirit of rugby world cup rules?

ITV fans are up in arms about the world cup anthem World In Union – why?

Only Connect: Series Eleven: Elimination Match

Headliners v. Bookworms

The Headliners, Duncan Enright, Dave Robinson and Paddy Baker, were beaten 25 – 16 by the String Section in the first round, and I made the comment that I didn’t think that either team was the best general knowledge team we’ve ever seen. Bit mean that, and I’m sorry. They were playing the Bookworms, Katy Bateman, Tristram Cole and Dave Knapp. The Bookworms were narrowly defeated by the Wayfarers in the first round. So the form guide says. . . hang on a minute. The form guide has been completely reliable in the other elimination matches – it’s always wrong. So hey, no predictions, and may the better team win.

Round One – What’s the Connection?

The Heads began with Two Reeds. They received a music set for their pains, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t recognize anything before Dave said Beverly Knight for the second. I knew Nat King Cole for the third, though, and that gave us chess pieces. The Heads had it too at this same point. Lion gave the Books – starting position in Shogi. Nope. The Times Crossword Grid was a lot more helpful. That is , how should one put it, diagonally reversible. Flag of Georgia followed – red cross on a white field (cross of St George) with smaller red crosses in each quadrant. The Books tried horizontal and vertical symmetry, but alas twas neither. The letter S finished. The key is rotational symmetry, as the Heads confirmed. Eye of Horus gave the Heads 1965: Opened by Harold Wilson. Hmm – I wanted more. 2011 Defunct Aerial removed. Actually it looked like Dave had it at this point – I didn’t. The next clue, though, 1971: Toppled by a kitten gave it to probably every 50 something viewing at home. The Telecom Tower. The Heads took it off 3. Dave K did his team’s chances no good at all by asking for the Horned rather than Hornèd Viper, and received – The Berlin Wall – nope, too many – Celebrity Imperfections in Heat – no, never read it – The Right Hand side of the Daily Mail website – I refer you to my previous answer – then – Losers Leaving the Weakest Link. Well, that obviously had to be –Of Shame, as in the walk of. Now, Twisted Flax gave the Heads the most obvious 5 pointer I’ve seen for some time. Apostle Matthias – well, he was Judas’ substitute/replacements, and so substitutes/replacements was my answer for 5. Ben Wishaw as a Peruvian, the next clue, was lovely. You see, Colin Firth was the original voice of Paddington, but I believe voluntarily stepped down when it just wasn’t working. Kensington Blue Whale – well, while Dippy the Dpilodocus is on his UK tour at the moment his part is being played in the entrance hall of the Natural History Museum by a model of a blue whale. Finally the Heads twigged and took it off three. This left water for the Books. First we saw the late Steve Jobs holding an apple ipod or some such device. Then we saw Marco Polo. I was very pleased with myself for noticing the copy of Il Milione he was holding or I wouldn’t have had a Scooby who he was. A VW Polo came next, so obviously all polos. Only – oh Steve Jobs was wearing a polo neck. Sneaky as hell. The Books took it off three as well. All of which meant that the Heads led by 7 – 3.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth?

Water gave the Books Tigris. Now, this was either going to be the river, or Thor Heyerdahl’s reed boat. If Ra II came next, then Kon Tiki was the answer. It did come next and that was enough for the Heads as well, who were impressing me a lot more than they did in their first match. The Books’ set was difficult compared to this. Basically it was a representation of the four sides of the monopoly board in terms of the streets. So the first had 40% brown and 60% blues, and second half pink and half orange and so on. Now, we’re certainly not in American Municipal Bankruptcies territory, but this was tough. The Heads spurned the opportunity to improve their chances and they too asked for a disappointing Horned Viper. Returns was followed by Forever. Hmm, these were Batman films, but, crucially Returns wasn’t the first. SO I worked out the next would be Batman and Robin, and the answer therefore Begins. A bonus for the Books, and that is what can happen when you spurn Hornèd. Reeds gave the Books ½ pint lager =3. Sorry, but I knew this one, to my shame. It was Weight Watchers points. In which case working down to 0 could only be water. 25 ml gin=2 I wouldn’t have known, but I wasn’t changing my answer. 100 ml apple juice =1, and frankly I thought that the 5 points were mine. At this point the Books saw it to gate the answer. I have to say that the Heads had another plum for their last set. I’m not saying I would have had it from 7 = 900, but I definitely did from 6 = 720. This is internal angles of regular polygons, so 4 = 360. Again, no real excuses if you don’t get that one. No mistake by the Heads who had it off two. This left the Books with Manchester United (Preston North End). Well, one which should come to mind is that D. Beckham Esq, started his pro career at Man Utd where he also had a spell on loan at Preston. Dave had the connection too, and went for it off one. He offered just Paris St. Germain, and oh, had he only had the second clue he’d have been there. That showed Real Madrid (none) . So he’d have known Paris St. Germain (none) was right. The third was LA Galaxy (Milan) which left an open goal for the Heads, and they managed to shoot over the bar with LA Galaxy (Paris St. Germain). Which lucky escape for the Books meant that they trailed the Heads by 13 - 6

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

Realistically the Books needed to pull back at least some of the lead on the Lion wall. They began trying to isolate record retailers, but then switched with success to Blackpool attractions – Winter Gardens – Illuminations – Tower and Golden Mile. Island Groups – South Sandwich – Solomon – Virgin and Windward fell almost immediately afterwards. Square dance moves were there as well as the retailers. Very quickly they resolved the last two lines – Allemande Left – Do si Do – Grand Square and Promenade being the dance moves, while Zavvi – Rough trade – Our Price and HMV were the retailers. Alas, they failed to link the word square with dance, and only received 7 points, when they could well have had 10.

The Heads had the chance to pretty much close the show on their wall. They began by trying to isolate a set of diacritics, then computer games. When these didn’t budge they tried a set of Beyonce songs. Isolating If I Were A Boy – Crazy in Love – Halo and Déjà vu. Time Crisis – Quake – Doom and Deus Ex, the games followed very swiftly. With Fringe, Grave and Call of Duty it looked fairly clear that the last set were all linked by being Beyond The . . . but the Heads couldn’t see it, and had grave as a diacritic – which it could have been. SO the wall froze. When revealed the diacritics were macron – cedilla – hacek and circumflex – while the sea completed the beyond set. This resulted in 5 points, and a lead of 18 – 13. It still looked a tall order for the Books, but at least possible.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

Issues around Scottish Independence fell 4 – 0 to captain Dave of the Books. Now we had a game. Things you can take – take a . . . saw the Heads take two and lose 1, and the Books take 2. All square. Tournament formats went to the Books 3 – 1 and they led for the first time in the competition. Painters of $100 million paintings fell one each, and that was it. Wait for it – the Books had won by 2. What? The form guide, the one time I ignored it, was right! Bad luck to the Heads, but they can be pleased with playing a good game. Congratulations Bookworms. 

University Challenge: Round One: Match 11

St. Catharine’s, Cambridge v. Southampton

So then, representing JP’s own alma mater we had Callum Watson, Ellie Chan, Alex Cranston and skipper Callum Bungey. Their opposition, the University of Southampton, consisted of Will Cable, Sarah Stock, Roland Sadler and captain Tricia Goggins. Now, I never wish bad luck on any team, but I have to admit that I was intrigued, going into this match, to see what JP would say to the St. Catharine’s team if they should happen to lose.

Right, controversy struck with the very first starter. The question actually was – in which CITY SQUARE was the statue called The Goddess of Democracy etc. etc. Now, the correct answer is of course Tiananamen Square. However, you listen to it on the iplayer, and you can easily be forgiven for thinking that JP said – In which CITY’S SQUARE – I’m sure that’s why Callum Watson answered Beijing and lost 5 for his team. Rather bad luck that. This gave Sarah Stock the opportunity to supply the correct answer. A gentle set of things all linked by an adjective meaning a nationality brought Southampton a full house. Skipper Callum Bungey lost St. Catharine’s a further 5 with an incorrect interruption of various definitions of the word salient. Reading couldn’t capitalize. Nobody knew Norwegian Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlson. Nobody knew about Peel’s second term in office. Finally, and I sense JP was starting to get a little frustrated at this, when he gave several East Anglian locations of large factories and asked what they processed. Callum Bungey gave us sugar beet, which was of course right. Scientific institutions brought St. Catharine’s a full house, and saw them narrow the gap to 10. A nice picture starter followed, which showed us the cover of a Terry Deary Horrible History book, with the title removed. It was Roland Sadler who correctly identified it as the Slimy Stuarts. More of the same followed in the bonuses, and Southampton were happy to take the full set. Callum Bungey knew that good old quiz chestnut that a church which does not fall under the authority of a bishop is a peculiar. Well, quite. Bonuses on gin brought another full house, which was enough to ensure that Cats (if it’s good enough for JP to call them that, then it’s good enough for me, tailed by just 5 points, 45 to 40.

Nobody knew the famous French Maths geezer Clairaut. Now, asked a classic Greek Mythology question, Tricia Goggins made the easy mistake of saying Icarus – yet the flight was completed, so it could only be his dad Daedalus, a fact not lost on Callum Bungey. Another full house on Lithuania compounded Southampton’s punishment. The Cats skipper took his 4^th starter of the competition when he recognized the definition of a Turing Machine. A couple of bonuses on statistical doo dahs followed. Starter number 5 was Callum Bungey’s as he identified about half a note of a song from Les Mis for the music starter. No bonuses on other sung through musicals followed. Be honest, the first one sounded more like a slept through musical, but I digress. Will Cable bull dozed Southampton back into the match by answering that various personages were the brothers of George IV. Quotations about too much of something brought them 2 bonuses, and cut the gap to 30 points. Nobody recognized a series of quotations about Art. Tricia Goggins further reduced her team’s arrears knowing that Jaggers in Great Expectations is a lawyer. A full set on families of carnivores meant that they trailed by just 5. Callum Bungey’s 6^th starter came when he knew that thermal and catalytic are two types of fracking. Good shout. 2 bonuses on Alexander Pope took Cats through to triple figures, and on the cusp of the 20 minute mark they led by 120 to 85. This was one of those games where it was just possible that both sides might make it through, bearing in mind how JP speeds up for the last few minutes.

For the second picture starter nobody fancied a shy at a lovely bit of Poussin, and so the bonuses rolled over. A good early buzz from Will Cable saw him identify the word cartouche, as used in Egyptian Heiroglyphs. 2 bonuses put them on 105. Tricia Goggins guessed a series of musical valves, which gave Southampton back the lead. Bonuses on places sharing their names with breeds of dog brought only one, although all three were gettable if not exactly easy. Nobody knew the next one which was a computer acronym thungummybob – do stop me if I get too technical. Callum Bungey knew about a squawk, which is  - oh, let’s be honest, I haven’t got a clue what it is. Chemistry bonuses were enough to give Cats a 10 point lead. The 8^th Callum Bungey starter came from knowing that the two children created by Charles Addams in his eponymous family were Wednesday and Pugsley. Bonuses on New Zealand writers proved elusive, and so even with just a few minutes left the game was not over, although my money was on Cats. Callum Bungey knew that Wotan and Erda in Wagner’s Ring were the parents of the Valkyries. A full house on Chinese Emperors pretty much sealed the deal for Cats, and so it was down to Southampton to see if they could get at least a full house to give them a sniff of a repechage slot. Nobody knew the Casa Rosada is the executive mansion in Argentina. I did. It’s in the lyrics of ‘Oh What A Circus’ from Evita. Tricia Goggins knew that Toulouse won the Heineken Cup more times than any other club – 4 times. Southampton needed as many of these bonuses on population as possible. 1 they managed. Nobody knew reptation. Me neither. That was that. Cats won by 165 to 135.

A good match that, quite close. Southampton had a bad patch in the middle of the match, and ultimately that left them a little short at the end. As for Cats, well played, especially to Callum Bungey for a virtuoso starter performance. Mind you, Cats could be up against it if he has an off day on the buzzer next time round.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

JP made his first venture into dudgeon when neither team knew that the repeal of the Corn Laws happened during Peel’s second term as Prime Minister – “It’s famously the greatest achievement of his administration!” he huffed.

When Sarah Stock announced that her answer of Poincare was going to be wrong, this set him up for the every popular, “You’re right! . . . It is wrong!” He’s here all, week, ladies and gents.

Interesting Fact That I DIdn’t Already Know Of The Week   

Thermal and catalytic are two types of fracking

Mastermind: Round One: Heat 8

My first reaction when scanning the line-up for last night’s show was that I didn’t recognize any of the names, and when I scanned down my contender database it confirmed that they were all Mastermind virgins. Nothing wrong with that either.

First up was Rachel Fullard. Rachel offered us Catherine of Aragon, one of England’s finest queens, who did little or nothing wrong, other than fail to provide a surviving male heir, for which she was treated appallingly. I didn’t know until this round, for example, that Henry dressed himself in ceremonial yellow to celebrate when he heard that she had died. I remember my History teacher telling us how Henry Died, by using the euphemism ‘he died of sensual pleasures’ by which we were left to draw the inference that he died of a sexually transmitted illness. Good. Coming back to Rachel, she also did little wrong in her round. The trouble is, with the length of questions  putting the ceiling at about 15 for a specialist round, the margins are so tight that you really can’t afford mistakes. As it was, Rachel managed 10 and 2 passes – a good round, but unlikely to give her a realistic chance in the last round.

Ed Kent looked well up for the challenge as he made his way to the chair. Answering on the Labour Government of 1945-1951, he was pretty animated on the chair, well, as animated as you can be anyway. Without wishing to shove my own political views in your faces I’d still like to comment that this immediate post-war Labour Government is still well worthy of study, for the scope of their ambition for change even if not for their achievements – and in my opinion these were quite considerable. I managed half a dozen on this round, which was the same as I’d managed on Catherine of Aragon. Like Rachel before him, Ed made 10, although with one fewer pass. If a 14 came along he’d struggle.

I wasn’t much of a fan of Rush – be honest, I’d struggle to name any other song of theirs except ‘Spirit of Radio’, and I can only name that one since my brother went through a phase of playing it about 20 times a day for a week or two after it was released. Invisible airwaves crackle with life etc. etc. Tom Mead, who was third into the chair, offered us a better SS round than we’d seen so far in this show. Ed had answered very quickly, and so did Tom, reaching a final score of 12. It wasn’t a ‘blow the opposition away’ score, but in the context of this show it was distinctly useful.

I cannot in all honesty say that I know a great deal about poet Robert Fergusson. In fact I didn’t get a single answer in Andrew Brophy’s specialist round on the same. It did give John H the chance to indulge himself in that cod Scottish accent non-Scots tend to put on when they’re trying to read Burns. To be fair he did make some self-deprecating comments about it after the round. Andrew managed a final score of 9. Now, that’s perfectly respectable in the context of this series. Realistically, it’s only 1 less than 10, yet psychologically there’s something about getting into double figures, and I felt sorry for Andrew that he just didn’t quite manage this.

With only three points separating all 4 contenders theoretically any of them could win. For Andrew to do so, though, he needed to throw in something in the mid teens. He had a go too, but by the middle of the round he was slogging through the questions, and looked behind on the clock. 12 was a decent performance, and was certainly enough to give at least the next two contenders food for thought, although it didn’t look like a potentially winning score.

Rachel Fullard found her GK round pretty hard going. Like many, she didn’t start at all badly. However a Mastermind GK round, I believe, is designed to allow you to build up a bit of momentum. The proof of the pudding is how you cope when you start getting a couple wrong. Rachel looked a bit unhappy with herself when she went back to her chair. She really needn’t have – 8 is fine and nothing to be ashamed of, especially if you’re not a quizzer. What made it appear worse was that she passed 9 times. Don’t let it get you down, if by any chance you’re reading Rachel – as the late, great Magnus Magnusson used to say, It’s only a bl**dy game.

As with his first round, Ed Kent was up for it when he came back to the chair. He virtually snapped his answers out, doing the classic thing of only giving surnames when names were asked for. Judging by the quality of a lot of his answers Ed is a quizzer. If he isn’t, then he should think of taking it up. Again, we have to consider the context of the series, and in the context of this series, 14 is a good score for GK. It put Ed on 24, which was surely at least enough to put Tom within the corridor of doubt. Another thing it did do, though, was to make it pretty certain that only one of tonight’s contenders would be going through to the semis.

I dare say that Tom is also a quizzer. His round was similar to Ed’s – both of them answered quickly and with admirable economy, and both of them got many ‘quizzer’s questions’ right – by which I mean the sort of thing the average person will never need to know, but a quizzer will know immediately because it’s the sort of thing asked in quizzes. It was close. In the end Tom managed 13, one fewer than Ed had scored. However he had that 2 point cushion, and that was enough to give him a one point win. As a matter of fact, not having passed at all Tom would have gone through if he’d only scored 12. Well played, sir. As for Ed, well I do feel a little sorry, since I can’t really see him making the semis with 24, and that’s a shame since he’d produced a GK round worthy of a semi place. But then it is a game played over two rounds, and however brilliant your GK, if you don’t maximize your score on SS, then you can leave yourself with problems.

The Details

Rachel Fullard	Catherine of Aragon	10	2	8	9	18	11
Ed Kent	Labour Government 1945 - 1951	10	1	14	2	24	3
Tom Mead	Rush	12	0	13	0	25	0
Andrew Brophy	Robert Fergusson	9	1	12	4	21	5

Answers to News Questions

In the News

Who or what Are the Following and Why have they been in the news?

Aymara Al Zawahiri

Tom Watson

Laura Alvarez

Edvald Boassen Hagen

Ron Springett

Sebastien Ogier

Malcolm Turnbull

Photograph 51

Loretta Lynch

Sonja Crisp

Theo Bronkhorst

Hanya Yanagihara : A Little Life

Jonathan Thomas

Ashya King

Jerome Valcke

Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov (Vovan and Lexus)

Paroxetine

Steve Rannazzissi

Fred de Luca

Mohammed Ali

In Other News

Andy Murray’s singles win over which player put Britain into the Davis Cup Final?

Who is the new Shadow Home Secretary?

and Foreign Affairs secretary?

Chuka Ummuna gave which reason for quitting the Shadow Cabinet?

Germany suspended all rail traffic with which country?

Who won the Great North Run?

Who won the Walker Cup?

Who won the US Tennis Open – Womens singles?

Who equaled Rocky Marciano’s perfect boxing record of 49 – 0?

Which bank announced they will be doubling account charges?

Which title did Anthony Joshua win?

Which prison saw a rooftop protest?

Who will take over from Donald Trump hosting US Celebrity Apprentice?

Which former England cricket great passed away?

What was the result of the US Open Men’s singles final?

Who will become the first player to play in 5 world cups?

IN which European country is there to be a TV talent show to find a new National Anthem?

At which event did Jeremy Corbyn ‘stand respectfully’ without singing the National Anthem?

Which country declared a state of emergency over the immigration crisis?

The 125^th anniversary of the birth of Agatha Christie took place in her birthplace. Where?

In the Champions League what was the score between Man Utd and PSV?

and Man City and Juventus?

and Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal?

and Cehlsea and Maccabi Tel Aviv?

Which England cricketer has been released by Essex?

Which new feature is Facebook going to introduce?

Whose secret chapel in Westminster Abbey was to be opened to the public?

Silvio Berlusconi has been refused entry to which country?

Which two former Cabinet ministers have been cleared of allegations of cash for access?

Which shadow cabinet minister has apologized for suggesting in the past that IRA members should be honoured?

What was won by How to boil an egg and the discovery that the interjection huh? Is part of a universal language?

Who opened the exhibition on Soviet Cosmonauts at the Science Museum in London?

Who was appointed permanent head of the England women’s netball team?

Which Wales and British and Irish Lions great was knighted?

What was the Europa League score between Spurs and Qarabag?

and Liverpool and Nordeaux?

and Celtic and Ajax?

What was announced by the Federal Reserve?

With which shadow minister is it alleged that Jeremy Corbyn had a ‘fling’ in their younger days?

Answers

Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?

Al Qaeda leader who has denounced ISIS

Elected Deputy leader of Labour Party

Wife of Jeremy Corbyn

Winner of Tour of Britain

Third goalkeeper in England 1966 world Cup winning squad passed away

Won world rally championship

Ousted Tony Abbot as leader of Australian Liberal Party/PM of Australia

Play about Rosalind Franklin, starring Nicole Kidman

US Attorney General who has promised more arrests of FIFA Officials

Lord Mayor of York caused controversy by criticizing the state of the chains of office

Arrested in Zimbabwe concerning the shooting of Cecil the lion

Bookies’ favourite to win the Booker Prize

Welsh international rugby player retired through epilepsy caused by head traumas

British boy who received photon treatment and is now clear of cancer

FIFA secretary general – suspended

Russian broadcasters played practical joke on Sir Elton John

Anti depressant revealed to possibly be ineffective

US Comic had to apologize for saying he was in twin towers during 9/11

Founder of Subway – passed away

Software programmer jailed for trying to buy ricin on the web

In Other News

Bernard Tomic

Andy Burnham

Hilary Benn

Differences over policy over EU membership

Austria

Mo Farah and Mary Keitany

GB and Northern Ireland

Flavia Pennetta bt Roberta Vinci

Floyd Mayweather JR (bt Andre Berto)

Santander

Commonwealth Heavyweight title

Strangeways

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Brian Close

Djokovic bt Federer

Mauro Bergamasco

Switzerland

75^th Anniversary Service for Battle of Britain

Hungary

Torquay

2 – 1 PSV

2 – 1 Juventus

2 – 1 Dinamo Zagreb

4 – 0 Chelsea

Monty Panesar

Dislike Button

Henry V

Ukraine

Malcolm Rifkind and jack Straw

John McDonnell

IgNobel Prizes

Valentina Tereschkova

Tracey Neville

Gareth Edwards

3 – 1 Spurs

 1 – 1

2 – 2

No interest rate rise

Diane Abbot

In the News

In the News

Who or what Are the Following and Why have they been in the news?

Aymara Al Zawahiri

Tom Watson

Laura Alvarez

Edvald Boassen Hagen

Ron Springett

Sebastien Ogier

Malcolm Turnbull

Photograph 51

Loretta Lynch

Sonja Crisp

Theo Bronkhorst

Hanya Yanagihara : A Little Life

Jonathan Thomas

Ashya King

Jerome Valcke

Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov (Vovan and Lexus)

Paroxetine

Steve Rannazzissi

Fred de Luca

Mohammed Ali

In Other News

Andy Murray’s singles win over which player put Britain into the Davis Cup Final?

Who is the new Shadow Home Secretary?

and Foreign Affairs secretary?

Chuka Ummuna gave which reason for quitting the Shadow Cabinet?

Germany suspended all rail traffic with which country?

Who won the Great North Run?

Who won the Walker Cup?

Who won the US Tennis Open – Womens singles?

Who equaled Rocky Marciano’s perfect boxing record of 49 – 0?

Which bank announced they will be doubling account charges?

Which title did Anthony Joshua win?

Which prison saw a rooftop protest?

Who will take over from Donald Trump hosting US Celebrity Apprentice?

Which former England cricket great passed away?

What was the result of the US Open Men’s singles final?

Who will become the first player to play in 5 world cups?

In which European country is there to be a TV talent show to find a new National Anthem?

At which event did Jeremy Corbyn ‘stand respectfully’ without singing the National Anthem?

Which country declared a state of emergency over the immigration crisis?

The 125^th anniversary of the birth of Agatha Christie took place in her birthplace. Where?

In the Champions League what was the score between Man Utd and PSV?

and Man City and Juventus?

and Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal?

and Cehlsea and Maccabi Tel Aviv?

Which England cricketer has been released by Essex?

Which new feature is Facebook going to introduce?

Whose secret chapel in Westminster Abbey was to be opened to the public?

Silvio Berlusconi has been refused entry to which country?

Which two former Cabinet ministers have been cleared of allegations of cash for access?

Which shadow cabinet minister has apologized for suggesting in the past that IRA members should be honoured?

What was won by How to boil an egg and the discovery that the interjection huh? Is part of a universal language?

Who opened the exhibition on Soviet Cosmonauts at the Science Museum in London?

Who was appointed permanent head of the England women’s netball team?

Which Wales and British and Irish Lions great was knighted?

What was the Europa League score between Spurs and Qarabag?

and Liverpool and Nordeaux?

and Celtic and Ajax?

What was announced by the Federal Reserve?

With which shadow minister is it alleged that Jeremy Corbyn had a ‘fling’ in their younger days?

Only Connect Series Eleven: Elimination Match

Collectors v. Mixologists

The collectors were, collectively, Daniel Nazarian, Anna Kirby-Hall, and captain Elliot Costi. In all honesty they weren’t great in their first round match, where they were quite comfortably beaten by the Railwaymen. On the other hand the Mixologists, Chris Beer, Ewan MacAulay and Sam Swift sowed good form in losing by a point to the distinctly useful Spaghetti Westerners. The form guide said the Gists looked by far the best bet for the win, but in a two horse race either team can win on their day.

                                               

Round One – What’s the Connection?

The Gists went first, and as a statement of intent asked for Hornèd Viper . Way to go, Sam. The Commitments’ Dean Fay. I might well have had a shy at a 5 pointer here – since I know that Dean was the saxophone player in the film/book. Maybe that was too simple and obvious. Spider Murphy didn’t mean owt to me. Zoot, though, the third, was the Muppet band’s sax player. If Bill Clinton came 4^th . . . Well, he didn’t, but Lisa Simpson worked just as well. It worked to salvage a point for the GIsts, and we moved to the Lects. They went for Eye of Horus, and their first clue was Palau. All I can tell you about Palau is that it has a simple national flag of a yellow sun on a blue field. Laos’ flag has a white disc/sun on a band of horizontal blue between two horizontal red stripes. So discs/suns on national flags was my guess. Bangladesh (red disc on green field) came third – and I guessed that Japan would be the most obvious for the 4^th. It was Daniel who clicked on the third clue, and when revealed the last actually was Japan. Both teams off and running then. Twisted Flax started with Darkness Visible. Right – it’s the title of a work by William Styron, which is a quotation from Paradise Lost. It’s also an oxymoron. I plaumped for titles of works which are quotations from other writers. So we might get ‘Tender is the Night’ for example. That looked to be blown out of the water by the second clue “The Dementors”. Sounded like Harry Potter to me, but then that’s my problem. A Bell Jar just as much screamed Sylvia Plath. Were these all, I wondered, autobiographical or semi autobiographical works about mental illness? The first and third were. A rush of blood to the head saw captain Sam offer things which contained vacuums. The last was a black dog. Now, I did know that this was the phrase that Sir Winston Churchill used to describe his periods of depression. And indeed, metaphors for depression was the answer as correctly given by the Lects. For their own clue they opted for Two Reeds, and received a picture set for their pains. In a weird echo of the UC picture set half an hour earlier we saw artists’ self-portraits, including Frida Kahlo (looking nothing like Kate Winslet, Jez was right). Lion gave the Gists the music, and a set of pirates gradually revealed itself for a point. What a lovely little set the water set was. I didn’t know the Department of Camembert cheese. I did know that Reno is the Biggest Little City in the World, and Nero – and anagram of Reno, was emperor from 54 AD to 68. I had it by this time, but Mr. Rubik – Erno – confirmed it. The Lects didn’t get it, and neither did the Gists. Sorry guys – you missed a trick there. After round one the Lects led by 5 – 2, making a mockery of the afore mentioned form guide.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth?

Mo 20:00 suggested Monday at 8pm for the Gists. Tu 19:30 added nothing for me that I hadn’t got from the first clue. Captain Sam thought it was times that Eastenders is on. He said a wee prayer, then offered Fr. 20:00. The Lord helps those who watch Eastenders, apparently, since it was right. Good shout. Skipper Elliot fought back immediately by asking in his turn for Hornèd Viper too. Top man. Preston End suggested the word North to me. Stirlingshire suggested East. Working on that, Ham United or Bromwich Albion should do the trick. Not trying to be horrible, but sorry, the Lects picked a juicy wee plum with that giveaway. I’d still rather see an easy set like this than American Municipal Bankruptcies, mind you. Water showed us Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks. Then we had a spark plug. Then boxers sparring. So just something which showed a spa. Sam offered Leamington Spa, which did the trick. Twisted Flax gave the Lects 18 degrees; Astronomical dawn. Huh? Then 12 degrees nautical dawn. Huh huh? Six degrees civil dawn next. 0 degrees, Tony Orlandoan Dawn the answer then? (ask your parents). No, it was zero degrees sunrise, which was exactly the straw that Elliot grabbed at for the point. Lion then gave the Gists RN. Suggested Royal Navy, but then what? BQ didn’t help. KB was the last clue. Got it! Chess notation, so Rook – Knight – Bishop – Queen – King – Bishop – so NR – Knight – Rook. The Lects had that. So once again the form book was being given a good old British style 6 of the best, trousers down. To finish the round we had start of the 1929 Wall Street Crash. That would be Black Tuesday. So for a five pointer I suggested Start of Christmas shopping season – Black Friday. The Lects, again plucking something of a plum, took Sterling withdraws from ERM then Irish Deficit reaches 32% of GDP. Anna had already given the correct answer, but captain Elliot seemed a little fixated on Black Thursday for the Wall Street Crash. So they gave a wrong ‘un, enabling the Gists to take an unexpected bonus. Which meant that the Lects led by 11 – 8.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The Lects opted for Water. I could see Jeremies and Football club nicknames to start with. The Lects were wonderfully methodical with the Jeremies, and soon isolated Vine – Paxman – Kyle and Guscott. They saw the teams, but not that Irons were one of them, and Cubs weren’t. Anna saw a set of yards – court – grave – scrap and dock. That was as far as they got. When the wall was resolved – wolves – cubs – lies and cards looked like things you get a pack of – but they couldn’t see it. This left the football teams – black cats – saints – irons and bluebirds. They’d played well up to this point, but 5 points showed the first chink in their armour.

Lion gave the Gists Arabian ports with Dubai, Jeddah, Muscat and Aden. Merlot – Syrah – Pinot Noir and Semillon – all wine grapes - followed very quickly. I could see a set of words like Kuwait, which could be denoted by a single letter and a single figure – Q8. There were also K9 – E10 and B4. Pooch, hound, cur and mutt are all alternative words for dogs. 10 from 10, and maybe if the Lects had picked the plums in the second round, the Gists had the slightly easier wall in this. Didn’t matter. This gave them the lead – 18 – 16 – going into the last round. Anyone’s game.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

 A disastrous round for the Gists on things with spots saw the Lects take a full house, and to add insult to injury they lost a point for an incorrect buzz. Weirdly, the Gists then won the next round – film titles with the first letters changed – eg – Sad Max – 4 – 1! 3 – 1 to the Lects on 6 syllable words meant it was 22 all as we went into Manicure kit. Sam had the first – nail polish remover. And he had the second with cuticle nipper and that was it! Time was up. 24 – 22 to the Gists. Well, the form guide was right in as much as it predicted a win for the Gists, but I thought that the Lects had played miles better than in their first match, and could go with their heads held high.

Oh, and Jenny (producer) - I hope that your cold is on the mend. x 

University Challenge: Round One : Match 10

University of Reading v. Imperial, London

Welcome to tonight’s edition of the clothes show. Oops, sorry, University Challenge. Yes, no media gnashing of teeth over this show’s contenders after last week’s vestgate. Reading’s respectively dressed contenders were Macdonald Ukah, Jan Kamieniecki, Lewis Blackshaw and captain Sammie Buzzard. Imperial’s equally unspectacularly clothed crusaders were Ben Fernando, Ashwin Braude, Onur Teymur and skipper James Bezer. JP, on the other hand, was wearing an electric blue taffeta ball gown, a diamond encrusted tiara and a gimp mask. Not really – usual grey suit and mauve shirt and tie combination.

I loved the first two Adrian Mole books that I knew the answer to the first starter as soon as JP said the words “I was racked with sensuality” – and to be fair Lewis Blackshaw didn’t need too much more. He earned a set of bonuses on the historic counties of Scotland of which Reading answered 2. The second starter asked which element is 4^th heaviest of group one of the periodic table. Now, amazingly, I worked out that it would be potassium. It was a bit early for me to do a lap of honour round the living room, so I stayed seated as Ben Fernando gave the right answer for Imperial. Centenarians looked like a tricky set, but it provided one correct answer. James Bezer knew that susceptibility to hypnosis is rated on the Stanford Scale, and this gave the team a set of bonuses on Abel Tasman. I always prefer an able Tasman to a useless Tasman, me. Full house for Imperial. You sensed that it would favour Imperial when JP announced we’d be seeing a representation of a mathematical construction for the first picture starter, and you were right to do so, when Ben Fernando quickly gobbled up that it was something to do with Mandlebrot. Gesundheit. For the bonus set we had three more fractals. My mind went bye byes for a couple of minutes, but when it came back Imperial had earned 2 bonuses. Jan Kamieniecki knew that the IOC HQ is in Lausanne. Computer programming languages brought them one bonus. This was the third time in recent weeks that I’d heard a question focusing on the fact that Morrissey’s autobiography was published by Penguin Classics. Works by Tom Stoppard meant that by the 11 minute mark Imperial led by 80 – 35.

I didn’t understand the next question, but the answer was oogamy. Fair enough. Nobody else had it either. I guessed that Tanzimat referred to something which happened in the Ottoman Empire, as did Onur Teymur. Given three bonuses on volcanic eruptions Imperial managed two. For the music starter Onur Teymur identified a wee bit of Ludwig Van, and added one bonus. Jan Kamieniecki knew that Paisley shawls were named after the town west of Glasgow, and Reading managed two of the bonuses on Anglo Saxon rulers that followed. James Bezer knew the computing term defgramentation and came in with an early buzz to say so on the next starter. A full house on planetary astronomy impressed JP, and he awarded the team a relatively rare ‘well done’. Ben Fernando buzzed immediately that JP said PPP to give the answer purchasing power parity for the next starter, and it was starting to look very ominous for Reading. Boroughs of New York City brought 2 more correct answers. McDonald Ukah was the first to buzz in with the spelling of diphthong, and this brought them one bonus on people born in Bombay or Mumbai. For the second picture starter we saw Timothy Spall in the role of JMW Turner. James Bezer was the first to say so. More photos of actors playing notable artists brought one more bonus. Now at the ten minute mark Imperial were home and dry with 175, while on 70 Reading needed a huge effort to get into a repechage slot.

A good UC special starter saw Ben Fernando first to figure out that if you combine the initial letters of the capitals of Cuba and Croatia you get the symbol for hertz. They took one bonus on the Karakorum desert, but missed out on one by getting their Kublai mixed up with their Genghis. Ashwin Braude worked out that you can get from the Gulf of Guinea to the Med crossing a minimum of 3 countries. Reflexes only brought one point – and sadly none of the answers involved saying that a reflex is an only child who’s waiting in the park (ask your parents about that cultural reference). McDonald Ukah knew that the 2^nd emperor of Rome was Tiberius. A gentle set on the Book of Genesis followed – they took two but failed on that old quiz chestnut, the mighty hunter before the Lord, who of course is Nimrod.  When expressed as a hexadecimal, C is the letter of the alphabet represented by the number 12. Nope, me neither, but Ashwin Braude had it – pretty quickly too. Imperial picked up one bonus on the Bank Of England, but they really ought to have known that James Watt’s partner on the £50 note is Matthew Boulton. Their tails were well and truly up though, and none more so than Ashwin Braude. Who took another starter knowing that the landlocked country surrounded by a group of others that JP mentioned in South East Asia is Laos. They took one of three bonuses on DH Lawrence. Not a problem for them today, but we’ve seen how profligacy on the buzzers can catch up with you in later rounds. Ben Fernando knew that Mole Day is observed in commemoration of Avogadro’s Constant. Fair enough. A couple of chemistry bonuses took them over 250. That man Fernando knew that the summer triangle consists of Deneb, Altair and Vega. A 300 pointer didn’t look totally out of the question at this point. Repetitive place names took them to 275 – one full set away. Jan Kamieniecki stopped them from getting the next set by buzzing quickly to identify GB Shaw. 2 bonuses took Reading into 3 figures. James Bezer guessed that Poverty Bay was the site of James Cook’s first landing in New Zealand. That finished the game. Imperial were very comfortable winners by 285 to 110.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

JP kept his powder dry for most of the contest this week. Indeed it wasn’t until the second picture set, when Imperial suggested we were looking at a photograph of Kate Winslet playing Frida Kahlo. He did a very elaborate, slow and exaggerated double take before observing “It doesn’t look a bit like Frida Kahlo”. The double take on its own would probably have been funnier Jez.

Interesting Fact Of The Week That I Didn’t Already Know

Susceptibility to hypnosis is rated on the Stanford Scale.