Sunday 30 March 2014

The Week Ahead

I'm off out in about half an hour. Last week John and I found another Sunday quiz that we quite liked, in Bridgend, which is brilliant news, because we made up our minds some time ago not to go to the Twelve Knights more than once a fortnight. Now, we don't win every time we play, but we've won the majority, and by quite large margins in a few cases. So rather than court displeasure, or even outright hostility, we invoked our time honoured once a fortnight rule, which has served us well in the past. We decided to jettison the previous pub we alternated with the knights because a) although home made, there had been a succession of , erm, not great quizzes (and I quote what was said to me - No you cannot have a point for listing San Marino as a country which has a border with Italy, mate, because it does not.)b) The landlady asked me to compile a quiz for the pub. Look, I do feel bad about this, especially after my comments in this very blog praising pubs that avoid buying in quizzes and make their own, but . . . oh, what's the point in lying about it, I just didn't want to do it for them.I don't want to get precious about this, but the people in the quiz, as nice as they are, are none of them quizzers, and writing the kind of quiz to work in that venue would be a chore. Well, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

As it is, this coming Thursday is my first turn to do the quiz for the rugby club for what seems like quite a long time. I'm grateful to Brian for this. What with the French Trip, and the GCSE controlled assessments marking, moderation and sample to sort out - my first time as Subject Leader - I would always have been struggling for time. Yesterday I put a few hours in, and it's ready. I can't vouch for the quality, but it's the best I could do at the time. I'll let you know how it goes down on Thursday. Speaking of which, it's been a pleasure this year that we seem to be more competitive down the club than we've been for a couple of years. For example, last week Brian of ours was question master, and Lemurs were missing Terry, one of their star players, and we won fairly well. Even this week, when Lemurs had what I think was a full team, though I can't be sure, and even though we were short of Brian, question master again, and John we managed to keep the margin of defeat down to a couple of points. As a consequence, with this kind of competition I'm irresistibly reminded of my early years at the club in the mid 90s, where we used to go head to head every week with a formidable team of John, and my dear old mate Allan, and Doug, who also sadly passed away a couple of years ago. When I started they would win a good 7 out of every 10 quizzes, but we got better, and it got closer, and a win against the boys was enough to keep a smile on my face for most of the next week.

Tomorrow is the first Monday since early January that I have no League or Cup game in Bridgend to go to. I won't lie, it makes a bit of a hole in my quizzing schedule, but at least there is the prospect of starting going to Newport again. Nobody does a quiz quite like Trevor Parry - I just wish Newport was about half an hour closer.

Wherever you're playing, have a good week yourself.

Brain of Britain 2014 Grand Final Preview

Well, before I begin my well meaning, and in all probability misguided prognostications, lets have a look at how each of the finalists have done to get here in the first place: -



Looking at that, you might be forgiven for thinking that it is all fairly clear cut. Azeez looks like the outsider, having an average several points below the other conmpetitors. On paper you can't squeeze a cigarette paper between Mark and David, while Dag looks like the favourite. Now, don't misunderstand my point - I am not saying that this is not the way it is going to turn out. It certainly seems the most likely outcome, all things considered. However BoB is, not to put to fine a point on it, a funny old game, and it is most certainly not played on paper.

For one thing, by the time you get to the final you can't bank on having a clear advantage on the buzzer for the bonuses. Now, OK, you can't win BoB on bonuses alone, but in a tight game they can make all the difference. There is a proportion of questions that come out during each contest which seem to me to be out and out stoppers, that is, questions to which maybe none of the competitors might reasonably be expected to answer. If you get a run of three or four of these as your starters, then you're sunk, and it can happen.

Well, one thing we can say, as can be said every year, is that anyone good enough to get to the final would be a worthy winner. Yes, Dag looks to be the favourite, and if he does win, then it will be well deserved. However I am loath to rule out the chances of both Mark and David, formidable quizzers in their own right. Azeez, I don't know as a quizzer, but the fact that he made it to the final beating a quizzer like Dave Taylor tells you all you need to know. Gentlemen, I wish you all the best of luck, and look forward to what has every possibility of being a great contest.

Saturday 29 March 2014

News Questions

In the news

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


1. Iwao Hakamada
2. Tessa Ross
3. Christina Sciuccia
4. Salford City FC
5. Jude Metcalf
6. Jens Stoltenburg
7. Joanne Milne
8. The Winter Soldier
9. Red Issue
10. Consciously Uncoupling
11. Nick Ferrari
12. Boris Berezhovsky
13. Shigeru Ban
14. Patrice Wymore
15. Peter Oakley
16. Massimo Cellini
17. Shereka Fab-Ann Marsh
18. I’m scared of you sometimes
19. Laura Massaro

In Other News

1. President Obama hosted his first official visit from which Head of State last week?
2. Turkey tried to block both Twitter and which other site last week?
3. The Tate Gallery were advised to hand over a painting by which artist which was revealed to have been looted by Nazis during World War II?
4. Netherlands failed to beat South Africa by how many runs in the world T20?
5. Where did French farmers herd sheep in protest over the EU Common Agricultural Policy last week?
6. Who is to face an additional charge of indecent assault?
7. How long did it take for the tickets for the Kate Bush tour to sell out completely?
8. Which US Actor has signed to play Winston Churchill in a new film?
9. Which of Rupert Murdoch’s children has been appointed co chairman of news International and Fox?
10. Which golf club has agreed to take a vote on allowing women?
11. What was the score in the Manchester derby between City and Utd. ?
12. A coalition of writers protested against which prison rules?
13. Government health advisers promoted which practice last week?
14. The DG of the BBC announced a new era in what last week?
15. Which team won the Bundesliga with 7 games to spare?
16. What was the score between Swansea City and Arsenal?
17. There has been much criticism in Formula One over what feature of the cars this week?
18. The 75th anniversary issue of the Dalesman announced what as the greatest ever icon of Yorkshire?
19. A camera that went to the moon was sold for almost half a million pounds last week. Which make of camera was it?
20. A school in which city will be the first to teach English as a foreign language?
21. What was the score in el Classico?
22. A new set of stamps bearing people who all made their mark in Britain was issued last week. What else links all of the people on the stamps?
23. Whose extradition to South Africa to face trial was set for the 7th April?
24. Which famous boxing manager, promoter and matchmaker passed away last week?
25. Which US state was affected by a devastating mudslide last week?

Brain of Britain - Semi Final Four

Two of the biggest guns are already through to next week’s final. Number 1 and number 3 on my unofficial table, Dag Griffiths and David Hesp had won their semis. Robert Charlesworth, number 2 on the list, had fallen to David’s sword in their semi. So the highest scoring qualifier for our final heat, then was Mark Grant. The full line up was : -
Peter Almond
Mark Grant
Peter Watson
Gareth Williams


I’ll be honest, Gareth Williams was the only one who was within five points of Mark’s first round score, and without wishing to curse Mark with support, anything other than a win for him would have been an upset.

Peter took one, but didn’t know the first major battle on the western front in World War I was Mons. I was a little surprised Mark missed out on the bonus, answering Ypres, which gave Peter a bonus. Mark was given five good quizzers’ questions, with no obvious ridiculous stopper, and he duly took the set for a full 6 points. Consider the gauntlet duly laid down. Peter W. took a good three points, but the first female PM of Turkey did for him, and gave a timely bonus to Peter A. Gareth took one, but nobody knew that Enemy from Space was the American title for the film Quatermass the Second (I thought it was actually called Quatermass 2. In fact I was sure it was). So the first round revealed that everyone looked competitive, but Mark was going away from the pack. In round two Peter A dropped a point he could and should have had. When you hear the words Ferdinand Porsche and 1930s, you don’t just say Volkswagen. You say Volkswagen Beetle, just as Mark did for the bonus. Mind you, I may be wrong, but it occurs that maybe the original car was maybe just called the Volkswagen when it first appeared. It’s another of those borderline adjudications which can happen – sometimes you gotta have the full address and postcode, while sometimes you’re allowed to be in the neighbourhood. Mark didn’t know that the bloodhound is also known as the St. Hubert hound. Neither did I, although I had it from the description, as did Peter Watson. He didn’t know who wrote “The Shrimp and the Anemone” for his own starter, which let Gareth in with L.P. Hartley. Who did not, as it happens, also write “Fly Fishing” (ask your parents if you don’t understand that reference). Gareth didn’t know that buskins are worn on the feet. Peter W. took that. A good round for him, as it turned out, for now he was only one point behind Mark. Peter A. answered his first three, but missed out on the rather chestnutty question asking - who was the first Russian ruler to assume the title of tsar? Peter W. won the buzzer race to give the answer of Ivan IV (the Terrible). Remember I said that Mark wasn’t given any nasty ridiculous stopper in his first set? Well he was given one for his third starter. The Egypt Cup is apparently presented at the end of the tournament to the next hosts of the tournament. Fair enough. Are you surprised that nobody knew it? I wasn’t. Peter W. had two possible answers when he was asked about a description by Harold Nicholson of a Nobel Prize winning writer. He zigged with Galsworthy, Mark zagged with Kipling for the bonus. Kipling was always a better bet, since he would have had dealings with Nicholson through writing the script for the very first King’s Christmas broadcast. Gareth didn’t know about the Study of the Mafia, Mark did, and that extended his lead to two points.

For the Beat the Brains interval, the first question asked the team what Charles Wright 2001, which it became compulsory for motorists to use in 2001 actually was. Nobody knew that it is a font which has to be used on registration plates in the UK. Fair enough. The second was a sitter about Gatsonides, the inventor of the speed camera.

Back to the contest, and for the fourth round Peter A. answered his first, but incorrectly ascribed Karelia and another region to Finland. The buzzer race this time was won by Mark who supplied Russia. He took care of a tricky music starter, and a second question, before falling to Kenneth Graham, which went to Peter A. Peter W. was unlucky to miss out on the WWII code based on Navajo, going for Mohawk instead. Mark took the bonus. Gareth, asked for a very tall German steeple, understandably went for Cologne, but the description made it clear that it was Ulm, and Mark took the bonus. So what with his own answers, and the bonuses, Mark now had a more impressive lead of 7, with 14. In round five Peter A had a nasty stopper to start with the Finsen Unit. I haven’t heard of it – which doesn’t mean anything – and none of the others could take a bonus. Mark didn’t know that fimbriations on flags are narrow strips or borders placed alongside wider strips of other colours. Fair enough. Peter W., like so many good BoB contestants, fell at the first sight of a popular culture question, failing to identify the theme music of Starsky and Hutch. Mark missed it as well, allowing Peter A. in for the bonus. Gareth took his first 2, but the old chestnut of Goat Island did for him and gave Mark a bonus. Which meant that he still led, now by 15 to 8. Peter A. answered his first two, but didn’t know the 2012 film “Noah” was halted due to Hurricane Sandy. No bonus for anyone there. Mark didn’t know that Tau is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Me neither. That’s the sort of question you feel you ought to know the answer to, but don’t. Peter W. didn’t know that caboc cheese is traditionally rolled in oatmeal. Peter A. took the bonus. Gareth missed a chestnutty starter, not knowing that the hedge sparrow is also called the dunnock. Mark was in for that one.

Going into the final round, Mark led with 16 to 11. Theoretically he could lose. It is possible to score 9 points in a single round. It looked unlikely though. Peter A. answered his first two, but the Witch of Agnesi did for everyone. It’s a mathematical curve apparently. Mark took a couple, but didn’t know that 4 dots and a dash add up to 4 in morse code. Peter W. didn’t know that the Train in the clouds begins its journey in Argentina. Nobody had it. Gareth took one, but didn’t know that a member of a kibbutz is a kibbutznik. Peter A. had that. So the last three rounds saw Peter A. continually coming back at Mark and cutting the lead, but in the end not quickly anough. Mark won by three points, and takes his place in what is looking like a very competitive, high class final lineup. More about that in a later post. Well played gentlemen, and congratulations Mark – good luck in the Grand Final.

The Details

Peter Almond – 14
Mark Grant - 17
Peter Watson - 7
Gareth Williams - 6


University Challenge - First Semi Final

Trinity, Cambridge v. Manchester

Matthew Ridley, Filip DrnovÅ¡ek Zorko, Richard Freeland and Ralph Morley left Christ Church, Oxford team and Peterhouse, Cambridge trailing in their wake in the first two rounds. They won their place in the semis without a blemish on their record by beating SOAS after they had defeated a fine Manchester team in the first quarter final match. Both SOAS and Manchester fought their way through to the semis after that setback. The Manchester team of Ed Woudhuysen, Joe Day, Jonathan Collings and their captain Elizabeth Mitchell bounced back from their titanic struggle against Trinity in the first quarter final to put out both Cardiff and our own Southampton teams. For their pains this earned them a rematch against Trinity. In my semi-final preview last week I stuck my neck out and predicted that if these two teams met in the semi, then we’d have a Trinity v. Somerville Final. Kiss of death to Trinity? Well. . .

The first starter was a bit of a dear old friend. As soon as the name “Arnold Toynbee” issued forth from JP’s lips I shouted ‘Industrial Revolution!’, since that was the answer when I was asked the same question in my Mastermind semi. There was a great buzzer race. You could see Joe Day slam his buzzer down, but to no avail, since Matthew Ridley was there a fraction of a second earlier. This earned Trinity a set of bonuses on the song Rule Britannia. These were all answered correctly, and initial impressions were that Trinity looked in pretty good nick. Filip DrnovÅ¡ek Zorko revealed a twitchy buzzer finger, though, by coming in too eaqrly for the next starter. Given the full question it became obvious that the name wanted was Sir Thomas More, and Jonathan Collings, Manchester’s buzzmeister supreme in previous matches, took that one. US state governors brought another ten points, and it was all square on the scoreboard. Elizabeth Mitchell was in very quickly for the next starter, linking pea with an overcoat worn by sailors. Synthetic elements of the periodic table saw me take a lap of honour around the sofa for knowing Flerovium and Livermorium. Manchester had that one. They had one other as well, which I was nowhere near. Ed Woudhuysen recognized a passage from T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland for Manchester’s third consecutive starter. Poems which include lines in latin followed, and I recognized Thomas Wyatt’s Whoso List To Hunt for the second, and I would imagine everyone recognized Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est for the last. Manchester had that one. Richard Freeland pulled back some valuable points for Trinity, with Borromean rings. Nope, me neither. A set of bonuses on Ancient Near-Eastern deities saw them getting their Baals mixed up with their Molochs, but they still managed one. Ralph Morley knew that the Plantagenets were also known as the Angevins. BTW, there is a fine documentary series on Monday nights on BBC4 about that remarkable dynasty, which ends on Monday. Two bonuses on British birds with similar names brought them to the 55 point mark at the 10 minute stage, which made them level with Manchester. We had a good match from these two teams last time they met, and they were providing us with some excellent fare in this match as well.

Ralph Morley buzzed too early for the next starter, and once again Manchester benefited from having the full question, to identify the Great Divide on the Rocky Mountains. George Bernard Shaw wrote a huge amount that was highly quotable, and I’ll be honest, like Manchester I could only get the last one. The next question was about a Carnot engine (?) and Filip courted disaster by buzzing in then hesitating before giving the correct answer. He duly received the usual Paxman wigging, but crucially had earned the points and the crack at the bonuses. Maths did nothing for me, but Trinity took the first two equations and then some very nifty footwork by Richard Freeland brought them the third as well. I think that for the next starter Ralph Morley confused my cousin Richard Cobden with William Cobbett. Jonathan Collings, Manchester’s cool head and steadying hand so far in this match, took that one. A full set of bonuses on the dialect word ‘frit’ gave them a 20 point lead. Jonathan Collings extended the lead by recognizing the work of Delius for the music starter. 2 bonuses extended their lead to 20 points. There was plenty of time still to go, but by keeping cool heads when uncertain, and going hell for leather for the buzzer when they were certain, Manchester were taking the fight to Trinity, and giving them all the fight they could handle. Jonathan Collings pushed his team further ahead by knowing the Ijsselmeer. It seemed inevitable that they would continue the policy of making 20 point increments to their score with each visit to the table, and indeed they did, taking two bonuses on economics. Jonathan Collings took the next starter, correctly identifying the phrase cock – a – hoop from its supposed derivations. Bonuses on the work of the historian Lisa Jardine brought two correct answers for the by now traditional 20 points. Now Manchester led by 80. The elastic joining the two teams was still intact, but it was being stretched towards its limits. Ralph Morley showed admirable composure, buzzing early to identify that The Bishop of Rome has no jurisdiction over the Church of England. Two bonuses on pictures of mythological figures brought the gap back to 60 at the 20 minute mark, but couldn’t disguise the fact that Manchester had taken a signigicant advantage during this second third of the contest, and they led by 155 to 95.

Right then. Last time these two teams met it was a turbo charged last five minutes or so from Trinity that proved decisive. Neither team recognized a portrait of Sir Walter Scott, so the bonuses rolled over to the next starter. Richard Freeland risked an early buzz to identify the word genus as used in topology, and he was right to do so. Three more portraits of Scottish writers followed, and they were all correctly identified, including, incidentally, J.M. Barrie, who grew up as a near neighbour of my great, great, great grandparents in Kirriemuir, as it happened. What do you mean irrelevant? Manchester had been so disciplined up to this point, but Joe Day, tempted by what looked like a slow ball, couldn’t resist buzzing early for the author of the Crucible, Arthur Miller, when the question was actually a lot more cryptic than that. It wanted the literary work that connected a miller, a British explorer killed in Hawaii in 1789 – you’ve got it now, haven’t you? The Canterbury Tales. Ralph Morley waited until the end of the question and then despatched it to the boundary. Biology bonuses didn’t fall for Trinity, but even so the gap was down to the point where a full set would give Trinity the lead. Joe Day wasn’t ready to concede the lead, though, and he answered the next starter about the discovery of Helium. Bonuses on French towns and cities either on or close to the Greenwich Meridian saw us both take a full set, and the gap was stretched to 45 points – which meant it would take more than one visit to the table for Trinity to take the lead. Richard Freeland – who was having a great match – came in early to identify John Masefield’s “Sea Fever”. A UC special set on words made from any of the letters of the word winsome followed, and Trinity disposed of these in double quick time. Nobody knew that National Parks occupy about 9% of the total area of England.Matthew Ridley knew that the Yalu River forms much of the border between the People’s Republic of China and North Korea. Trinity, again wasting no time, took two bonuses on Kings of Scotland. This brought the scores level. “Next team that scores wins” I sagely predicted to nobody in particular. Filip had it with Caravaggio, and for the first time in what seemed like ages Trinity had the lead. Certainly the momentum was theirs, and it really felt like shades of the quarter final where a turbo charged finish had brought them home. Two bonuses took them 20 points ahead, with 2 minutes to go. Nothing was decided yet. Ralph Morley took the next starter, on the abbreviation OS, to ensure that Manchester would need at least two starters to take the lead. Trinity would have been forgiven for a little bit of time wasting at this point, but no – bonuses on the nicknames of Prime Ministers were answered in the twinkling of an eye, and Oliver Twist-like the team held out its metaphorical bowl and asked for more. And got them as well, when Richard Freeland correctly answered parallelepiped for the next starter. Maybe it was my imgagination, but it looked like Filip rubbed his hands together with glee when JP announced that the US Electoral college was the subject for the next set. He certainly had all of the answers. That sealed it. There just wasn’t time left for Manchester. Neither team knew the Anti Comintern Pact. Filip knew the chestnutty fact that three countries in Mainland Africa have Portuguese as an official language. There was time for one correct answer to a bonus on Japanese history, and then the contest was ended by the gong.

A word or two of consolation for Manchester. With the burden of being the team going for an unprecedented hat trick of consecutive series wins, this team have proven themselves worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with their predecessors. I may well be proven wrong, but I think that the only team able to beat them will go on to win the series. This team, Trinity, once again showed that they have character and resilience to go with their knowledge. A thrilling contest, once again worthy of a Grand Final. Speaking of which, gentlemen, I wish you the very best of luck, and hope that I haven’t cursed you by tipping you.

Jeremy Paxman Watch


You could tell that this was a serious match and a potentially great one, since JP was on his best behaviour, the sort we normally see him produce in the final. In fact there was nothing at all to note until his telling off of Filip for that hesitation on a starter. That was all, and frankly, if that isn’t the indicator of a match of the highest quality, then I don’t know what is.

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


The chaffinch is the UKs second most common breeding bird.

Friday 28 March 2014

Answers to News Questions

In the news

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


1. Ebbsfleet
2. Daniel Ricciardo
3. Stephen Benn
4. Geraint Thomas
5. L’Wren Scott
6. Aaron Parfitt
7. Robert Halfon
8. Justin Casquego
9. Theresa Turrion Borallo
10. Free Being Me
11. Stuart Hogg
12. Peter Tapsell
13. Dr. Dhanuson Dharmasena
14. Clifton, Derbyshire

In Other News

1. What was the result of the vote in the Crimea?
2. What was the score in the North London football derby?
3. and between Chelsea and Villa?
4. What was the result of the Scottish League Cup final?
5. What happened to Mo Farah in the New York Half Marathon?
6. What was the score between Liverpool and Man Utd.?
7. Who actually won the Australian GP?
8. Which Australian bowler has been ruled out of the world T20?
9. How many medals in total did Team GB win in the Winter Paralympics?
10. Which team won the LV Cup?
11. Which Oscar winner received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
12. Which former Tv chef and Freeman of the City of London passed away aged 66?
13. Which US city suffered an early morning earthquake?
14. Which team did Ireland beat in their first World T20 game?
15. Which two british heavyweight boxers will fight for the right to challenge Wladimir Klitshcko for his world title?
16. How many sides will the new £1 coin have?
17. Who announced he is to quit his own chat show?
18. Afghanistan got their first ever World T20 win against which country?
19. Sam Warburton announced that injuries will count him out of Wales Summer RU tour to where?
20. What was the champions league score between Chelsea and Galatasaray?
21. What were the two Bs on the much ridiculed Conservative Party advert this week?
22. Which cheese was the winner of the 2014 world cheese championships?
23. It was announced that the National Theatre is to stage a new play by whom?
24. Which vaccine is to be made free to all children?
25. Who was chosen as the person most deserving of having a portrait in the National Portrait Gallery by viewers of the One Show? His portrait was unveiled last week.
26. What are Twitter considering phasing out?
27. What was the core between Spurs and Benfica?
28. – and Man Utd and Olympiakos?
29. Which rugby tournament will be replaced next year?
30. With which coach did Andy Murray split last week?
31. In which part of greater Manchester did thieves tunnel 50 years into a Tesco Express to get at the cash machine?
32. Which library announced it will work with a Japanese company to digitize 3000 rare manuscripts?
33. Which country is hosting the World T20?
34. Which change did the world governing body for hockey announce last week?
35. Which two ministers denied dozing during the budget speech last week? 36. Which 97 year old is releasing a new album?
37. Who returned to the West End stage aged 88 last week?
38. who was given the dreaded vote of confidence by QPR?
39. Which footballer’s father was cleared of a racist incident at the Old Bailey last week?
40. Starbucks announced that it will sell what in its outlets across the US?
41. Who announced she will be playing concerts in August and September, causing her website to break down through sudden demand for information from fans?
42. Lizzie Yarnold had an open top bus ride through her home town to celebrate her Winter Olympic Gold medal. Which town?
43. Which team will Man Utd face in the Champions League ¼ finals?
44. – and which team will Chelsea face?
Answers

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


1. New Garden City announced,
2. Red Bull driver, disqualified from 2nd place in Australian GP after fuel flow irregularities, - Red bull are appealing against this.
3. Oldest son of the late Tony Benn, who inherits the title Viscount Stansgate which his father renounced.
4. British cyclist, in the lead going into the last stage of Paris-Nice, denied overall win by a bad fall.
5. Girlfriend of Mick Jagger, committed suicide last week.
6. Blackpool schoolboy allegedly excluded for asking for more homework.
7. MP challenged over alleged links to a Ukrainian businessman
8. 16 year old who climbed to the top of the World Trade Centre in new York.
9. Norland nanny for Prince George of Cambridge
10. New badge available to Girl Guides
11. Scottish rugby union full back sent off for foul play against Wales, given a three week ban.
12. Longest serving MP , Father of the House, has announced he will stand down in 2015.
13. First person to be prosecuted in UK for female genital mutilation
14. Derbyshire village with Britain’s first automated village shop

In other news

1. In a result which has been criticized by western nations, the Crimea voted to secede to Russia
2. 1 – 0 to Arsenal
3. 1 – 0 to Villa
4. Aberdeen bt Inverness Caledonian Thistle
5. He came second, but collapsed at the finish line
6. 3 – 0 to Liverpool
7. Nico Rosberg
8. Mitchell Johnson
9. 6
10. Exeter Chiefs
11. Kate Winslet
12. Clarissa Dickson Wright
13. Los Angeles
14. Zimbabwe
15. Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora
16. 12 – remember the old threepenny bit?
17. Alan Titchmarsh
18. Hong Kong
19. South Africa
20. 2 – 1 Chelsea (3 – 1 aggregate)
21. Beer and Bingo
22. Emmenthal
23. Tom Stoppard
24. Meningitis B
25. Simon Weston
26. # and @
27. 2 – 2 ( 5 – 3 to Benfica on aggregate)
28. 3 – 0 Man Utd.
29. Heineken Cup
30. Ivan Lendl
31. Eccles
32. Vatican Library
33. Bangladesh
34. It will change from 2 halves of 35 minutes, to 4 fifteen minute quarters
35. Pickles and Hunt
36. Dame Vera Lynn
37. Angela Lansbury
38. Harry Redknapp. Better dig out that CV, Harry.
39. John Terry
40. Wine and Beer
41. Kate Bush
42. Sevenoaks
43. Bayern Munich
44. Paris St. Germain

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Bridgend and District Quiz League - Season 2013/14

I don’t go out of my way to upset people. It doesn’t mean that I don’t ever upset people, but it’s rarely, if ever, my intention. Sorry, I’d better explain that.

I have been a proud member of the Bridgend Quiz League for four seasons now, but you might well have noticed that I don’t often post about the experience – certainly nothing like as often as I write about the Thursday night quizzes in the Rugby club, or even some of the Sunday night quizzes that I play in. This is partly because when you write about things such as quizzes, sometimes , without ever meaning to, you can end up saying things which upset people from other teams, or even your own team. If you do well in a particular match and you write about it then you can come across as being arrogant and big headed. Alright, I can be arrogant and big headed, but I don’t necessarily want to ram it down people’s throats in print. On the other hand, if things don’t go so well in a particular match and you write about it then you can come across as a whinger and a bad sport. Again, both of these accusations can be levelled at me, but I don’t particularly want to flaunt it. In the rugby club it’s different. Like me or lump me, people know what I’m like, and at least I set a quiz there on a regular basis, to make up for it, if you like. Conversely, on a Sunday night people don’t often know me, so it doesn’t matter so much anyway. So there we are. I’m not saying that I think all, any or some of the players in the league even read LAM – to be honest, I have no idea – but you never know. The less you write, the less you have to apologise for.

For all that, though, it would be remiss of me not to write a few lines about the climax of the season last night. Bridgend is a good league, and there are some useful teams, some very useful teams, and some good teams in the first division. Which makes it something of an achievement that in the last three seasons my team, the Llangewydd Arms, has won the League championship and Cup double each time. We completed our League season a fortnight ago, and won the league for the fourth consecutive occasion, winning 13 out of 14 matches. I’ll come to the match we lost shortly, because bizarrely this was for me the most memorable match of the league season. Then last night we contested the cup final, against Tondu Railway Club - one of the aforementioned good teams in the League – and played well enough to retain the cup. All in all it’s been another great season, and I must pay tribute to the other four players who have made up the team during the season – John, Brian, Neil and Gail. Very well played one and all.

In my very first year we had a 100% season, winning all of our league and cup matches. Apparently it had never happened in the league before, and we have certainly never managed to do it since. That’s hardly surprising when you consider the strength of the other teams in the league. Throughout the season you know that at least one team is going to have a really good night against you, when they find the questions suit them, and maybe they have a little bit of the rub of the green, and you’re going to struggle, and maybe even get beaten. It happens – on average once a year for us. Well, this season it was our away match against the Nomads. Before our current team came together four years ago, the Nomads were the number one team. They won a huge number of league and cup doubles themselves, and were the team everyone else had to beat . . . but couldn’t. Our period of success coincided with the Nomads losing at least one very fine player, and they finished 2nd, 3rd and joint 3rd in the last three seasons. It’s a strange quirk of fate, but every year that I’ve played in the league, we have also ended up drawn to play the Nomads in either the quarter final or the semifinal of the cup. All of which means that since me joining the team, up until our away match this season, we had played them no fewer than 10 times, and won all of them.

It looked at the start of that match that we were on our way to an 11th. The format of the normal league quiz in Bridgend is that in round 1, both teams face the same 32 questions, to which answers are written down. We had a small lead after this round. The next 8 questions are individual questions, four of which go to each team, who take turns to pick numbers between 1 and 8. One member of the team may answer two questions, and two others one, or all four members take one question each. The wheels started coming off there and then. I would say that we had one really difficult individual question, but our others were quite gettable. Trouble was, it was the Nomads who were getting them. We had the wrong team members nominated to answer them, and the Nomads were hitting every question, theirs and ours, to the boundary. I think it was either all square after this round, or the Nomads had a slight lead.

The last ten questions are pairs of team A and B questions. Now, on the other occasions we’ve lost, I’ve thought in my heart of hearts that we have had a bit of bad luck with the run of the questions, or the comparative level of the pairings of questions, and ended up losing close matches we might have won. Not this time. This time there was no other word for it. The Nomads were brilliant. It wasn’t that we were picking wrong answers from a range of options. . . in many cases we just didn’t have a Scooby. In fact, if anything we benefitted from getting the easier one from an unbalanced pair at least once. But the answers they came up with on the night were superb. They thrashed us by 10 points.

I never have and never would kick a cat, or other animal, but it was once said to me ‘I can tell when you’ve lost a quiz because you come home in your ‘kick-the-cat’ mood’ and there is an element of truth in this. On the evening we lost to the Nomads, though, for some reason I didn’t feel like that. I suppose it was the fact that they played so well, and I always respect any team who legitimately play us off the park in any quiz. The fact that we played as well as we could on the night helped. The most we could have scored, bearing in mind the limitations of our knowledge might have been another 4 points, which wouldn’t have brought us close to the Nomads’ total. Also I have two mates who play for the Nomads now, for Barry, honorably mentioned in this very blog on more than one occasion, joined them this season. I’m happy for Barry and Steve – and actually for the other guys in the Nomads as well - because I know how excited they will have been about putting in a performance like that, and I’d like to think that the fact it was us they thrashed would have made it even sweeter.

So that was the League season, 2013-14. Thanks to everyone involved, it was a hell of a lot of fun. Any sour notes? Well, actually, yes, just the one, but it has nothing to do with the league itself or any of the other teams. Our home venue hasn’t any of the useful little side rooms which some of the venues have, which make quizzing easy and a pleasure. Up until the end of January we had our own little corner, which was reserved every home game, and at least shielded us from the worst of the noise from the bar. Since January, though, this has been made off limits to us, and we’re stuck in another corner, right in the main area. Oh, and the pub has started doing a Monday night music quiz as well. While the league quiz is on. Unfortunately this coincided with a set of circumstances that meant we had a run of 4 or 5 home games on the trot as well. To say it’s far from ideal would be a huge understatement. Such is life.

Saturday 22 March 2014

University Challenge - Semi Final Preview

Right, now, I fully accept that I don't actually know who has been drawn against whom, and so this could have an effect on the outcomes. Bearing that in mind, I would speculate that the two unbeaten teams, Trinity and Somerville will be kept apart.
It does create the complication that Trinity have already beaten both of the other two teams in the mix, Manchester and SOAS, so maybe they will put Trinity and Somerville together. I don't know that this would be very fair, but it could happen. Let's have a look at the form guide, then.



My unofficial table just shows each team's score in each of their matches so far. Granted it gives you no idea of either how strong the opposition were, nor how many points were scored against them in each match. Still, it does at least give us a measure of each team's strength relative to each other. I don't want to burden Trinity with the tag of favourites for the final, but I'm afraid that they are. So let's suppose a couple of situations. Working on the principle that Trinity and Somerville are kept apart, if Trinity play Manchester in the semi, then it will be a good match, but I'd have to go for a Trinity v. Somerville final, with Somerville being too strong for SOAS, in my opinion. However, if Trinity get drawn against SOAS, then it becomes more difficult to predict. After all, the average scores for both Somerville and Manchester are very similar. Manchester have only been beaten by Trinity, remember, and they have a very strong tradition in UC in recent years. In fact, a Somerville v. Manchester match would probably be a real cracker. There's nothing in it, but there's just a chance that if Trinity get SOAS in the semi, then it might well be a Trinity v. Manchester final. If, on the other hand, Trinity and Somerville are drawn together, then it's still a Trinity v. Manchester final.Probably.

Well, you've probably noticed that I don't fancy SOAS at all. Sorry guys, but if it's any consolation, I am rarely right in my prognostications, and as underdogs you have absolutely nothing to lose. Good luck to all the teams involved.

In the News

In the news

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


1. Ebbsfleet
2. Daniel Ricciardo
3. Stephen Benn
4. Geraint Thomas
5. L’Wren Scott
6. Aaron Parfitt
7. Robert Halfon
8. Justin Casquego
9. Theresa Turrion Borallo
10. Free Being Me
11. Stuart Hogg
12. Peter Tapsell
13. Dr. Dhanuson Dharmasena
14. Clifton, Derbyshire

In Other News

1. What was the result of the vote in the Crimea?
2. What was the score in the North London football derby?
3. and between Chelsea and Villa?
4. What was the result of the Scottish League Cup final?
5. What happened to Mo Farah in the New York Half Marathon?
6. What was the score between Liverpool and Man Utd.?
7. Who actually won the Australian GP?
8. Which Australian bowler has been ruled out of the world T20?
9. How many medals in total did Team GB win in the Winter Paralympics?
10. Which team won the LV Cup?
11. Which Oscar winner received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
12. Which former Tv chef and Freeman of the City of London passed away aged 66?
13. Which US city suffered an early morning earthquake?
14. Which team did Ireland beat in their first World T20 game?
15. Which two british heavyweight boxers will fight for the right to challenge Wladimir Klitshcko for his world title?
16. How many sides will the new £1 coin have?
17. Who announced he is to quit his own chat show?
18. Afghanistan got their first ever World T20 win against which country?
19. Sam Warburton announced that injuries will count him out of Wales Summer RU tour to where?
20. What was the champions league score between Chelsea and Galatasaray?
21. What were the two Bs on the much ridiculed Conservative Party advert this week?
22. Which cheese was the winner of the 2014 world cheese championships?
23. It was announced that the National Theatre is to stage a new play by whom?
24. Which vaccine is to be made free to all children?
25. Who was chosen as the person most deserving of having a portrait in the National Portrait Gallery by viewers of the One Show? His portrait was unveiled last week.
26. What are Twitter considering phasing out?
27. What was the core between Spurs and Benfica?
28. – and Man Utd and Olympiakos?
29. Which rugby tournament will be replaced next year?
30. With which coach did Andy Murray split last week?
31. In which part of greater Manchester did thieves tunnel 50 years into a Tesco Express to get at the cash machine?
32. Which library announced it will work with a Japanese company to digitize 3000 rare manuscripts?
33. Which country is hosting the World T20?
34. Which change did the world governing body for hockey announce last week?
35. Which two ministers denied dozing during the budget speech last week? 36. Which 97 year old is releasing a new album?
37. Who returned to the West End stage aged 88 last week?
38. who was given the dreaded vote of confidence by QPR?
39. Which footballer’s father was cleared of a racist incident at the Old Bailey last week?
40. Starbucks announced that it will sell what in its outlets across the US?
41. Who announced she will be playing concerts in August and September, causing her website to break down through sudden demand for information from fans?
42. Lizzie Yarnold had an open top bus ride through her home town to celebrate her Winter Olympic Gold medal. Which town?
43. Which team will Man Utd face in the Champions League ¼ finals?
44. – and which team will Chelsea face?

Brain of Britain - Semi Final 3

Monday’s line up pitted

Marcus Cavalier
Robert Charlesworth
David Hesp
Ian Orriss


Some names to conjure with there. A quick glance at our unofficial table shows Robert and David, on 24 and 23 respectively, as two of the very highest scoring qualifiers – 2 and 3 on the table. Ian had a highly respectable 17, and Marcus was a repechage slot winner. All of which gave this semi something of the look of a ‘group of death’.

Marcus began the contest with a correct answer, but didn’t know that Delius, Hockney and Priestley were all born in Bradford. That’s the kind of chestnut you need to be able to get in BoB, and indeed it was David who got it. Robert despatched his first two to the boundary without a second glance. His third was a tricky quote from an African-American entertainer. Paul Robeson was a good shout, but Sammy Davies Jr. from David Hesp was a better one. David didn’t know that Dumbo is also the name of an area of New York. Me neither. Robert had that one. It’s from Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Good one, though a nasty little bugger to get for a starter. Ian didn’t guess that since Indira Gandhi was assassinated in the mid 80s, it was a reasonable guess that she would be the Indian PM after whom a canal was named at that time. Robert had that bonus, to ensure a lead of two points with 4.

Marcus had his first three, a good show that, but maybe could have got the word Mockingbird for mimus polyglottus, given the clue that it featured in the title of the 1960 pulitzer prize winning novel. That bonus fell to Robert. In his own set he got a yorker for his starter, and indeed nobody knew the legend that Julius Caesar built the Tower of London. He didn’t. Given a chance to make an inroad into Robert’s lead, David answered 5 in a row for a bonus. These weren’t all gimmes either by any stretch of the imagination. Ian didn’t know that the Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge belongs to St. John’s College. A good round for David, who turned a 2 point deficit to a 3 point lead, and all the indications were that the 2 biggest guns, Robert and David, were going to be contesting the win in this one.

Marcus didn’t know that Show Me Heaven was sung by Maria McKee. Ian had a bonus there. MIPS did for Robert in his starter, and nobody had million instructions per second. David didn’t know the major port of Caracas. Neither did any of us. Ian saw his chance to narrow the gap, and took a couple, being stopped in his tracks by the diet of the marabou stork. It’s carrion, apparently. This meant that the scores of the two leaders had remained static.

All of which led us into the beat the brains interval. The first of these questions asked which regular member of the Carry Ons was nominated for an Academy Award. Great question – it was Jim Dale, who wrote the lyrics for the song Georgie Girl. They missed that, and so did I. Asked which of the actors cast as the Doctor in Doctor Who has won an Academy Award, they knew that the present incumbent Peter Capaldi has a directing Oscar.

Back to the contest then. Marcus couldn’t do anything with hipsometers. Nobody knew that they measure altitude. Robert got his score moving again with his first, but missed a chance with the Invergordon Mutiny, which David took. His own set saw him take one, but he didn’t know that 4 Stuart monarchs were born in St. James’ Palace. Tricky, that. Ian took one, but didn’t know Chichen Itza, which was another David bonus. His lead had stretched further, and was looking ominous. Marcus didn’t know that Sherlock Holmes was an amateur beekeeper. David snapped that one up. Robert needed a good set to get back onto David’s tail, but his starter, on wireworms did for him. Nasty question. David sailed blithely on with a good three, but didn’t know about a munsel tree. Me neither. It’s used to classify colours. Fair enough. Ian was given a quotation from one of my favourite writers, the great Bill Bryson – we used to build civilisations, now we build – what? Nobody ( but me) knew it was shopping malls. This meant that David now led with 15 to Robert’s 6, and with all due respect to the other fine contestants, the match was as good as over.

So to the last round. Marcus probably should have known that Pomfret (or Pontefract) Cakes are made from licorice root. Robert took the bonus. He didn’t know that Fort Sumter protected the city of Charleston, and David did, which summed up the contest really. For his own set he didn’t know that the state of Prussia was abolished in 1947. To finish the contest, then, Ian should have known probably that K denotes radio stations west of the Mississippi in the USA. David had that, to cap a fine and convincing win. Good luck in the Grand Final. For the record the final scores were : -

Marcus Cavalier - 4
Robert Charlesworth - 7
David Hesp - 18
Ian Orriss - 4

University Challenge - final sudden death quarter final

SOAS v. Queens University, Belfast

What a wonderful, unpredictable series this has been. Going into the quarter final stage, based on their first couple of performances you’d have said that SOAS were looking good for a semi spot, while Queen’s University would be home before the postcard. Yet here we are, either standing on the threshold of the semi, or drinking in the Last Chance saloon, depending on whether you are of the glass half empty or glass half full persuasion. SOAS’ team of 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. However the might of Trinity overwhelmed them in their first quarter final. No shame in that. The Queens team of Suzanne Cobain, Gareth Gamble, Alexander Green and their skipper Joseph Greenwood had kept winning, without ever looking like one of the favourites, until they encountered Southampton in their first match of the quarters. Gypsy Rose Clark confidently predicted that they would lose their second against Clare, Cambridge, which they promptly won. Now, on paper you still had to fancy SOAS for this one, but I had the sneaking feeling that Queens still had a few surprises left to dish out.

After an incorrect interruption from Queens, James Figueora knew that the Gorbals Goebbels was an epithet applied to the character Malcolm Tucker. Destroyed artworks provided SOAS with a further 2 correct answers. Peter McKean was in early for the next starter, which required the knowledge that Crete was once owned by Venice. Cassini – he of the division – provided SOAS with a further 2 correct answers. A fantastic early buzz from Alxander Green brought Queens back into the black, as he correctly extrapolated carbon dioxide from half a question. Chancellors of the Exchequer promised a lot, and delivered two correct answers. They missed out on Sir Stafford Cripps. Apparently Churchill used to call him “Christ and Carrots”. I didn’t know that. I did know that Churchill once said of him, “There but for the grace of God goes God.” Quality. James Figueroa made an incorrect interruption on the next starter. He took the leap of faith that “Trey Parker and Matt Stone” would inevitably lead to the answer “South Park”. A couple of years ago it would have definitely been the case. However since then they created the musical “The Book of Mormon”, and this was what was required. Alexander Green had that. Films of 1973 was a fine set for an old codger like me, but the youngsters of Queens faltered on “Electraglide in Blue”. The picture starter showed the crest of the FBI. Nobody had it. A collection of books which were all published posthumously was recognized by Maeve Weber. This earned the bonuses on crests of other Intelligence Agencies. SOAS managed 2 of the three. So on the cusp of the ten minute mark SOAS led by 55 to 30. A close match, and both teams looked as if they were throwing all caution to the wind in jumping for the buzzer at the earliest opportunity. That’s my kind of team.

Cliometrics is a term I’ve never heard of, but Peter McKean had it. Sadly, this was the first question I’d dropped all night. It wouldn’t be the last. Animal viruses soon provided my first dropped bonus as well. SOAS again took two bonuses from their set. For the next one Luke Vivian-Neal buzzed in too early to identify the Polish Corridor, created in 1919 to give Poland a coastline. That gave Alexander Green the chance to come in with the correct answer. This brought Queens a set of bonuses on Prussian Generals, which yielded a few laughs but no points. Joseph Greenwood knew that Sosigenes invented the Julian Calendar. This brought Queens what looked like a more fruitful set on Shakespeare, but they were unable to convert, thus risking the wrath of Paxman, who often takes it as a personal insult when a team doesn’t get Shakespeare bonuses right. The music starter played us a little Elgar, which was identified by Peter McKean. Three pieces of instrumental classical music associated with the sea brought SOAS 2 bonuses, which meant that they scored as much in one starter and bonuses, and Queens had scored in their previous two starters and bonuses. A mathsy-chemistry-y thing followed. Whatever it was, 5 cm cubed was the correct answer, and Gareth Gamble had it. One bonus was taken this time, and you started to feel that Queens, who were making a real fight of it, and giving SOAS all the problems they could handle, might live to rue the number of bonuses they were missing. Luke Vivian-Neal knew that the river which makes up the last four letters of the common name of lagopus lagopus is ouse – as in grouse. Sets of 4 ideas brought SOAS a welcome full set. Approaching the 20 minute mark this meant that they led with 110 to 65. Still close, but the indications were that they might continue to just gently pull away from Queens.

A UC special asking for similar words saw Peter McKean make a rare error, buzzing in to give just one of them. Alexander Green, that snapper up of unconsidered trifles, gave the other one as well – compote and compost. At this stage Queens pulled a full set of bonuses on Presidents of the Royal Society out of the hat, and the gap was down to 20 – less than a full set. The gap narrowed further when Joseph Greenwood recognized the Betty Boothroyd puppet from Spitting Image. Three more puppets, or sets of puppets from the show brought a grateful Queens team another full set. Which put them in the lead by 5. Peter McKean was having none of that, and buzzed extremely early on the roman festival of Saturnalia. A terrific bonus on names that end with a unique letter for their category followed. This means, for example, Polk – who was the only US president to date whose name ended with a K. Two correct answers brought SOAS a narrow lead of 15 points. Suzanne Cobain buzzed extremely early to identify the description of the flag of Hungary for the next starter, and Queens were right behind SOAS again. Words that can be made using any of the letters from the word whimsical. Queens took all three, and the battle of wills – and buzzer fingers – continued. Suzanne Cobain took her second starter in a row identifying salt as the commodity sharing its name with a set of talks between USA and USSR. The summation of infinite series meant nothing to me, which didn’t matter, but they also meant nothing to Queens, which did. Their lead which they’d worked so hard to achieve, stood at a precarious 20. Luke Vivian-Neal wiped out half of the lead by giving the correct answer of Pius to the name of a group of Popes. One bonus on National Parks wiped out half of what remained. A starter question about Hadrian’s Wall was right up Peter McKean’s via, and he grabbed the lead for his team. Bonuses on the King James Bible enabled them to stretch their own lead to 20, and the last few grains in the hourglass were falling irresistibly southwards. Maeve Weber lost 5 points to a headstrong, speculative buzz about the Big Bang, but Queens couldn’t capitalize. Joseph Greenwood returned the favour, offering the gardens of Versailles for the Tuileries with the next starter. Peter McKean didn’t get it, but we were so close to the gong it surely wouldn’t matter. Indeed it didn’t. SOAS ran out winners by 165 to 145, and well done to them. As for Queens, what a fabulous fighting team they have proven to be. Nobody could have complained if one other starter had gone their way, and they’d come away with a win. Queens, you go away able to say that you came within a whisker of the semis.

Jeremy Paxman Watch


Our hero started early this week. When Joseph Greenwood supplied the answer “Alastair Campbell” for the first starter which required the name of the fictional Malcolm Tucker, firstly he issued a wheezy laugh, which he only just prevented from developing into a full Muttley, then after James Figueroa gave the correct answer he added , “Right, you get the full set of bonuses . . . and a write for libel goes to you Queens.”

On the Scharnhorst question, a despairing Joseph Greenwood concocted the name “Von Keisling”, which earned a scornful “von What?!!” When they offered another speculative punt, for the second of the set he asked, incredulously, “Are you just making these up?” You think, Jez? What the hell else are you supposed to do if you don’t know the answer? At least when Joseph Greenwood admitted that this was exactly what they were doing he commended their honesty.
JP unneccessarily corrected Luke Vivian Neil’s answer to the –ouse question “It’s usually pronounced ooze” he sniffily informed us. Not when it’s part of the word ‘grouse’ it ain’t, matey!

JP got in a good aside when introducing the Spitting Image bonuses, “other regular targets of Spitting Image, all of whom are now Lords or Knights . . . you know how it is in the UK.” Boom boom!

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

Sosignenes invented the Julian Calendar.

Friday 21 March 2014

Answers to News Questions

News Questions

These are a mixture of questions about last week’s news and the week before’s

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

1. David Meyler
2. Ricky Burns
3. Alan Resnais
4. Luke Shaw
5. Mollie Smitten Downes
6. Children of the Universe
7. Lupita Nyong’o
8. Steve Keeley
9. Nicholas Jacobs
10. Misao Okawa
11. Jamie Edwards
12. Katarina Johnson-Thompson
13. Richard Kilty
14. William Clay Ford
15. MH370
16. Ricky
17. Cressida Bonas
18. Kelly Gallagher and Charlotte Evans
19. George Saunders
20. Amanda Rodgers
21. Jezki
22. Barry Gerraghty
23. Steven Power
24. Uli Hoeness

In Other News

1. Which central American country was shaken by a 6.4 earthquake?
2. Which MP called for an amnesty for soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday
3. Who recorded the song ‘Happy’ which went to the number 1 slot three times?
4. Who controversially said that he would have been captain of England for 10 years if he had been white?
5. Which iconic advertising brand logo has been dropped?
6. What was the final score in the Capital One cup final?
7. Who scored a 147 break when winning the Welsh Open snooker?
8. Which film won the Best Picture Oscar?
9. Which well loved actress was revealed to have a condition similar to Alzheimers?
10. Why was Nick Grimshaw rushed to hospital during a live Radio One broadcast?
11. Who joined ITV’s Daybreak?
12. What gaffe did Pope Francis inadvertently make?
13. Who won the Best Actor Oscar?
14. – and the best supporting actor?
15. And the Best Actress?
16. And the Best director?
17. What was Alan Pardew officially charged with by the FA?
18. Which former welsh international quit Cardiff Blues as Director of rugby?
19. Who announced his retirement from test cricket?
20. What is the name of the Birmingham City largest shareholder found guilty of money laundering in Hong Kong?
21. What was named the world’s most expensive city?
22. A 30,000 year old what was revived a fortnight ago?
23. The Farage v. Clegg cagefight debate was scheduled for which radio station?
24. According to the TES what is ranked as the world’s number one university?
25. Which BBC channel is being removed to the iplayer?
26. Which broadcaster quit the Radio 4 show Front Row for personal reasons?
27. Who was restored as Scotland’s rugby union captain following his controversial omission from the previous matches?
28. What was the score between Wales and Iceland?
29. Who were warned that they might have to relocate to England if Scotland votes for independence?
30. Who said “I’m a normal person, not Superman”?
31. What was the score between Scotland and Poland?
32. In the 6 nations, what was the score between England and Wales?
33. – and Scotland and France?
34. – and Ireland and Italy?
35. What was the outcome of the FA Cup match between Wigan and Man City?
36. Which West African country announced that it is to drop English as an official language?
37. Which former MP was in court accused of sexually assaulting 7 men?
38. Which former Z Cars actor passed away aged 83?
39. How long did it take for 60,000 tickets for Groves v. Froch II to sell out at Wembley?
40. What mishap befell the countdown to the Commonwealth Games clock in Glasgow?
41. What was the result of the North Korean elections?
42. Which England batsman was ruled out of the world T20?
43. What was the result of the Arsenal v. Bayern Munich Champions League 2nd leg match?
44. NHS prescriptions are set to rise in England by how much?
45. Bob Crow passed away. He was the leader of which union?
46. Which long lasting musical is set to close in May?
47. Chris Powell was sacked as manager of which London club?
48. The FA have voted to allow the use of what in FA Cup matches?
49. Which celebrity chef announced he will be leaving the BBC ?
50. The PM of New Zealand announced a referendum to be held on which issue?
51. For how many matches was Alan Pardew banned?
52. Which sportsman is to make a guest appearance in The Archers?
53. Which Banksy image was altered and projected onto Nelson’s Column to mark the third anniversary of the start of the Syrian conflict?
54. What was the score between Man City and Barcelona?
55. Which event of World War II has its 70th anniversary this month?
56. Which designer opened his first London boutique?
57. Which former footballer was arrested and cautioned for common assault?
58. What was the score between Spurs and Benfica?
59. How many changes were made to the Welsh rugby union team following defeat by England?

Answers

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


1. Hull player head butted by Newcastle Utd manager Alan Pardew
2. British boxer who lost his WBO lightweight title to Terence Crawford
3. Oscar winning film director who passed away aged 91
4. Footballer who allegedly cried when given the news that he had broken into the England squad
5. Selected to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.
6. Song she will be singing
7. Winner of Best Supporting actress Oscar for her role in 12 Years a A Slave
8. US TV reporter buried in snow during a live report
9. On trial for the murder of PC Keith Blakelock
10. World’s oldest person - 116
11. 13 year old who became the youngest person to build a working nuclear fusion reactor
12. British heptathlete who won silver in the long jump at the world indoor athletics championships
13. Winner of gold in men’s 60m at the world indoor athletics championships
14. Henry Ford’s last grandson, passed away aged 88. He was the youngest son of Edsel Ford, whose name is forever associated with Ford’s worst ever car, sadly.
15. Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared
16. Crufts Supreme Champion - poodle
17. Papers carried hints that she is about to become engaged to Prince Harry
18. GVs first ever winners of winter Paralympic gold medals – for the super G
19. American writer who won the first ever Folio Book Award
20. Woman who went to Croatia so that she could get married to her dog
21. Horse that won the Champion Hurdle
22. Rider who won on the mount that AP McCoy rejected
23. His face was partially reconstructed with parts made in a 3D printer
24. Former German international jailed for tax evasion

In Other News

1. Nicaragua
2. Peter Hain
3. Pharrell Williams
4. Sol Campbell
5. Captain Birdseye
6. Man City 3 – Sunderland 1
7. Ronnie O’Sullivan
8. 12 Years a Slave
9. Prunella Scales
10. He swallowed a shard of glass
11. Susanna Reid
12. He accidentally swore to a crowd
13. Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
14. Jared Leto ( same film)
15. Cate Blanchett ( Blue Jasmine)
16. Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
17. Improper Conduct
18. Phil Davies
19. Graeme Smith
20. Carson Yeung
21. Singapore
22. Virus
23. LBC
24. Harvard
25. BBC3
26. Mark Lawson
27. Ally Brown
28. 3 – 1 Wales
29. Banks
30. Pope Francis
31. 1 – 0 Scotland
32. 29 - 18
33. 19 - 17
34. 46 - 7
35. 2 – 1 to Wigan
36. Gambia
37. Nigel Evans
38. James Ellis
39. 90 minutes
40. It was started showing 128 days rather than 135 days
41. Kim Jong Un won with 100% of the vote
42. Joe Root
43. 1 - 1
44. 20p
45. RMT
46. We Will Rock You
47. Charlton Athletic
48. Plastic pitches
49. Michel Roux Jr.
50. Changing the flag
51. 7
52. Sir Bradley Wiggins
53. Girl With Balloon
54. 2 – 1 Barcelona
55. The Great Escape
56. Karl Lagerfeld
57. Eric Cantona
58. 3 – 1 Benfica
59. 6

Mastermind Semi Final 3

Another semi-final, then, as the Grand Final looms larger on the horizon. The run down of the contenders in tonight’s show, then, was as follows,
Ron Wood28 - 3
Richard Chaney28 - 4
Chloe Stone27 - 2
Rae Donaldson27 - 4
Roderick Cromar24 – 3


Pick the bones out of that! Very close on paper, and a look at the scores on GK doesn’t help that much, with Richard leading with 16, from Roderick and Ron on 15. Of course, I was rooting for LAM reader Roderick Cromar. Following his first round win, Roderick informed me that he is a former UC contestant, and is actually on the cover of the first UC quiz book of the Paxman era. So I had my hopes.

First though clergyman Ron Wood kicked off the show with Tutankhamun. There is a precedent for a clergyman winning a series before, since the Reverend Richard Sturch won the 1996 series. Ron’s subject was very much to my liking. As an impressionable nipper at the time of the 1972(?) British Museum Tutankhamun exhibition I’ve always been interested, and I managed 8 of these. Ron did better – 10 points off 90 seconds is really not to be sniffed at. He’d be in the shakeup in the second round.

Roderick answered on possibly the most underrated Prime Minister of the 20th century, Clement Atlee. Now, back in heat 20, answering on Sam Phillips and Sun Records, Roderick was 5 points behind at the halfway stage. I’m sure he didn’t want to have to come from so far back again this time. Still, while by no means having a poor round, he was unable to set the kind of score he would have been hoping for, and levelled out at 6.For the record I had 4 of these.

Charles M. Schultz gave Richard Chaney a comfortable ride into the semis back in Heat 6. Well, actually it was Richard’s GK round that did that, and enabled him to win with quite a bit to spare. Now, it’s been a long time, but I really liked James Herriot’s books when I first read them a long time ago, and they seem to have stuck. So much so that I had my joint highest score of the SS rounds with 8. Richard – well, I don’t know if it was nerves, or what, but the round seemed to go a bit Pete Tong, and he managed 5 on what were pretty fair questions. It can happen to the best of us.

Chloe Stone is an old hand at this game now. Back in 2010 she played in her first semi-final, the same semi, incidentally, which saw Jesse qualify for his final. Back then she scored 13 points on specialist. Well, I’m not being funny, but it would take a hell of a round for anyone to score that in a semi specialist round in this series. Tonight she answered on British History 1399 – 1485, and scored 9. Previous performances suggested that she might struggle to beat all of the others on GK.

Rae Donaldson won Heat 22 by the proverbial street, with a fine 13 on specialist, and 14 on GK. His specialist subject of the Life and works of Joseph Cornell brought an end to my specialist round scoring spree, which had seen me accumulate 25 points so far. Rae, on the other hand, showed all the opposition a clean pair of heels by scoring a faultless 11 points from 11 questions. OK, it only meant that he had a lead of a single point going into the GK, but in a tight semi-final every point can count.

Richard would have been hoping for redemption in his GK round. It didn’t happen for the first half minute at least, as he dropped points he could have had, judging by his expression. He did recover to start accumulating points quickly in the second half of the round, and in the end posted 9. It set the bar at 14, which unfortunately for him was not enough to pace the contenders yet to come within the corridor of uncertainty. Roderick came next. Now, you might remember how Roderick had to overhaul a significant lead to win his heat. Well, he began his GK round at top speed as if he was intending to do exactly the same thing in his semi. Then he continued his round at top speed as if he was intending on doing exactly the same thing. Then he finished his round at top speed as if he was intending on doing exactly the same thing. I’m not exaggerating. This was a terrific GK round. 14 was a quality score from this set of questions, and I had just a little feeling of déjà vu. OK, there was room for one of the other three to come in ahead, but each one of them, I felt sure, would have to negotiate the corridor of uncertainty first.

Chloe couldn’t do it. Last time she was in the semis she managed a score of 9, and that would not be enough tonight. She never seemed quite up with the clock after the first 20 seconds or so, and a couple of answers that refused to launch themselves from the tip of her tongue restricted her to 8 points Roderick would be no worse than third. Ron looked calm and collected as he returned for his own round. For half a minute you couldn’t pick a winner – it really looked neck and neck. The answers dried up a little though, and with the score on 19 time ran out. It was close, but now Roderick was guaranteed at least second place.

All that was standing between Roderick and a place in the Grand Final, then, was Rae Donaldson’s GK round. 9 would be enough for Rae, and that was doable, but no picnic. He began the round comfortably enough, answering what he knew, guessing and passing quickly what he didn’t. However with 20 seconds to go he was still some way short of the total, and had incurred enough passes that equaling Roderick’s 20 wouldn’t be enough. With the score on 19, the buzzer went as John asked the last question. Rae didn’t know the answer, and that was that.

Roderick – many congratulations! You are the king of the come back! Best of luck in the final, and I hope that you enjoy(ed) it as much as I enjoyed mine.

The Details

Ron Wood Tutankhamun10 - 09 - 319 - 3
Roderick CromarLife and Career of Clement Atlee6 - 114 - 020 - 1
Richard ChaneyJames Herriot5 - 49 - 114 - 5
Chloe StoneEnglish History 1399 - 14859 - 28 - 217 - 4
Rae DonaldsonThe Life and Works of Joseph Cornell11 – 0 8 - 419 – 4

Saturday 15 March 2014

In the News

News Questions

These are a mixture of questions about last week’s news and the week before’s

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

1. David Meyler
2. Ricky Burns
3. Alan Resnais
4. Luke Shaw
5. Mollie Smitten Downes
6. Children of the Universe
7. Lupita Nyong’o
8. Steve Keeley
9. Nicholas Jacobs
10. Misao Okawa
11. Jamie Edwards
12. Katarina Johnson-Thompson
13. Richard Kilty
14. William Clay Ford
15. MH370
16. Ricky
17. Cressida Bonas
18. Kelly Gallagher and Charlotte Evans
19. George Saunders
20. Amanda Rodgers
21. Jezki
22. Barry Gerraghty
23. Steven Power
24. Uli Hoeness

In Other News

1. Which central American country was shaken by a 6.4 earthquake?
2. Which MP called for an amnesty for soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday
3. Who recorded the song ‘Happy’ which went to the number 1 slot three times?
4. Who controversially said that he would have been captain of England for 10 years if he had been white?
5. Which iconic advertising brand logo has been dropped?
6. What was the final score in the Capital One cup final?
7. Who scored a 147 break when winning the Welsh Open snooker?
8. Which film won the Best Picture Oscar?
9. Which well loved actress was revealed to have a condition similar to Alzheimers?
10. Why was Nick Grimshaw rushed to hospital during a live Radio One broadcast?
11. Who joined ITV’s Daybreak?
12. What gaffe did Pope Francis inadvertently make?
13. Who won the Best Actor Oscar?
14. – and the best supporting actor?
15. And the Best Actress?
16. And the Best director?
17. What was Alan Pardew officially charged with by the FA?
18. Which former welsh international quit Cardiff Blues as Director of rugby?
19. Who announced his retirement from test cricket?
20. What is the name of the Birmingham City largest shareholder found guilty of money laundering in Hong Kong?
21. What was named the world’s most expensive city?
22. A 30,000 year old what was revived a fortnight ago?
23. The Farage v. Clegg cagefight debate was scheduled for which radio station?
24. According to the TES what is ranked as the world’s number one university?
25. Which BBC channel is being removed to the iplayer?
26. Which broadcaster quit the Radio 4 show Front Row for personal reasons?
27. Who was restored as Scotland’s rugby union captain following his controversial omission from the previous matches?
28. What was the score between Wales and Iceland?
29. Who were warned that they might have to relocate to England if Scotland votes for independence?
30. Who said “I’m a normal person, not Superman”?
31. What was the score between Scotland and Poland?
32. In the 6 nations, what was the score between England and Wales?
33. – and Scotland and France?
34. – and Ireland and Italy?
35. What was the outcome of the FA Cup match between Wigan and Man City?
36. Which West African country announced that it is to drop English as an official language?
37. Which former MP was in court accused of sexually assaulting 7 men?
38. Which former Z Cars actor passed away aged 83?
39. How long did it take for 60,000 tickets for Groves v. Froch II to sell out at Wembley?
40. What mishap befell the countdown to the Commonwealth Games clock in Glasgow?
41. What was the result of the North Korean elections?
42. Which England batsman was ruled out of the world T20?
43. What was the result of the Arsenal v. Bayern Munich Champions League 2nd leg match?
44. NHS prescriptions are set to rise in England by how much?
45. Bob Crow passed away. He was the leader of which union?
46. Which long lasting musical is set to close in May?
47. Chris Powell was sacked as manager of which London club?
48. The FA have voted to allow the use of what in FA Cup matches?
49. Which celebrity chef announced he will be leaving the BBC ?
50. The PM of New Zealand announced a referendum to be held on which issue?
51. For how many matches was Alan Pardew banned?
52. Which sportsman is to make a guest appearance in The Archers?
53. Which Banksy image was altered and projected onto Nelson’s Column to mark the third anniversary of the start of the Syrian conflict?
54. What was the score between Man City and Barcelona?
55. Which event of World War II has its 70th anniversary this month?
56. Which designer opened his first London boutique?
57. Which former footballer was arrested and cautioned for common assault?
58. What was the score between Spurs and Benfica?
59. How many changes were made to the Welsh rugby union team following defeat by England?

Brain of Britain - Semi Final Two

Semi Final 2

No time to draw breath, my friends, for we have the second semi-final to discuss. This first semi pitted

Brian Daugherty
Gary Grant
Dag Griffiths
Alison Hardie


So this pretty much answered the question – which poor devils are going to have to face Dag in their semi? That’s unfair. For one thing it seems to be putting the crown on Dag’s head before the show began, which is a dangerous thing to do. Gary is a Mastermind champion and OC runner up, and Brian is a very experienced quizzer. Dag’s first round performance, though, was of the nature to suggest that if he hit that kind of form again in this show it could be a very long match for the others.

On with the show then. Brian benefitted from a nice couple of openers, but New York City’s Birdland did for him and everybody else. Gary got a nasty starter with Faraday’s constant, which nobody could take a bonus on. Dag took three on the bounce, but it was Brian who came in for a bonus with Plynlimon, the source of the Wye and the Severn. Alison took one, but didn’t know the Tunguska event. Gary was in for that to get himself off the mark. So far, Brian and Dag jointly led with 3 apiece. For his second set Brian got a nasty medical one on Albinism. Fair enough. Gary got another nasty little bugger to start with the term flummery. Dag missed his own first with Tarte Yvonne, the wife of De Gaulle. It pays to advertise. Gary had that. Alison got a, well, sorry, but it was a gimme to start, and she didn’t get it. Brian Daugherty won the buzzer race to tell her that Valentina Tereschkova was the first woman in space. That was enough to give him a one point lead. In the third round Brian probably should have dredged up the name of Ron Howard, originally from Happy Days. Dag snapped up that gift. Gary, having taken his first took a second as well, but couldn’t force the witangemot past the tip of his tongue. Alison had that. Dag took five in a row to establish his credentials and take the lead. Alison finished the round getting a really nasty one to start and had it with the Emperor Heliogabalus, and followed this up with another point. She missed a book about the US Civil War. That round had changed things. Dag now led with 10, while the others all trailed on 6.

For the beat the brains interval the first question asked them what Lily Maxwell became the first to do in November 1867. I didn’t have a Scooby , and the brains were guessing. They didn’t know she was the first woman to vote in a parliamentary election – it was a mistake and her vote was ruled void. For the second we had the chestnut about the first woman elected to the British parliament. A couple of the brains nearly jumped with Nancy Astor, first to actually take her seat in parliament, but Dag put them right with Baroness Markiewicz, who never took her seat.

Back to the contest. Brian didn’t know about coronation chicken, and that was one for Dag. Gary got a starter about the former name of Ljubljana. That was for Dag. For his own set he took a couple but didn’t know that Sicily was Rome’s first province. Alison had that. She didn’t know that Victor Fleming directed the Wizard of Oz, and won the Oscar for Gone With the Wind. Dag seemed home and dry by now, and even Russell said that the others needed full sets at this stage. Brian didn’t know the acronym PET. Gary did. He followed this up with one of his own, but didn’t know that Cromwell died of malaria. Dag accepted that bonus, and for his own set he rattled off three, but just couldn’t dredge up Mourning Becomes Electra. Brain took a good bonus with that one. Alison took one but didn’t know that Dead Man’s fingers is a species of coral. Dag had a lead of 14 by now.

Brian began the last round taking two, but didn’t know the Iguvine tablets. Alison had that. Gary didn’t know that three threes is the highest possible prial in three card brag. Dag had it. He missed his first, with rindopest. Alison had that. To finish the contest, Alison took one, but didn’t know Violette Szabo of Carve Her Name With pride fame. Inevitably Dag too that.

So Dag maintained with his magnificent form to march into the finals. Make no mistake, these were good quizzers he beat in this semi. No shame to any of them being beaten by a quizzer of this standing, on this kind of form. For the record the final scores were: -



Brian Daugherty - 8
Gary Grant - 6
Dag Griffiths - 22
Alison Hardie - 9


Brain of Britain - Semi Final One

Semi Final 1

This first semi pitted

Azeez Feshitan
Elizabeth Gore
Fiona Somerville
Dave Taylor


Looking at our unofficial table none of the highest scoring contenders from the first round were in this one. My money was on Dave Taylor, who’d had to contend with our own Gary Grant in his first round.

Azeez kicked offwith two on the bounce, but Wolfson college did for him and everyone else. Please with myself for getting that one. Liz Gore had two entertainment questions in a row for her first set, which she dispatched over the boundary rope. However the phrase voodoo economics escaped everyone. Fiona Somerville took one, but John Dalton gave Dave a bonus. For his own set Dave couldn’t remember the name of the first space station launched in 1971, going for Mir. Liz fell into the trap of answering Skylab – which was the first, indeed only American space station – but Salyut One preceded it. A brisk opening, then, which saw all the contenders off the mark. On with the second round, and Azeez again answered two fair question before falling on the third. I was pleased with myself for deconstructing the word ‘pantocrator’ to mean ruler of all. Dave was allowed ‘creator of all’ for a bonus. Liz took one, but didn’t know that Mt. Whitney, highest in the contiguous United States, is in California. I was a little surprised that the others seemed reluctant to come for a bonus on that, but Azeez had it. Fiona, asked for the poet who wrote the line ‘The Kraken Wakes’ , borrowed by John Wyndham for the title of a novel, couldn’t dredge up Tennyson, and I was rather surprised that nobody else did, given the amount of information in the question. This brought us back to Dave, who took his first, but fell into the trap of thinking that body canals will be in the ear. We had this one in the Bridgend league a few weeks ago, so I knew that the Haveresian canals are in your bones. So did Azeez. This had been a distinctly useful round for him, as he’d picked up 4 points to lead with 6 to 3.

Round three gave him the chance to extend this further. Mind you the first question on the instrument called an 808 gave him little chance. Nobody knew it is a drum machine. Liz was caught out by the lovely old chestnut that Gatwick Airport (well, the area that became the airport) hosted the Grand National in 1918. Azeez wasn’t going to let that one get away. Fiona probably should have known of the Apprentice Boys March for her starter. Azeez, whose ‘eye’ was certainly in at this stage of the contests again snapped up that unconsidered trifle. Dave, you have to say, let a gettable one get away when he missed out on Updike’s Eastwick for his first. Liz Gore had that one. Azeez now had a 4 point lead. He had the chance to increase it further, but couldn’t identify a series of streets in Nice. Fiona took that bonus. Liz took the opportunity to close the gap to Azeez with three good answers, but didn’t know that Lindow man was found in Cheshire. Azeez had that. Fiona added one, but Dave took a bonus on Jack Woolley from the Archers. For his own set Dave took his first, and for his second he knew that Catherine Morland was a Jane Austen character. Sadly he zigged with Mansfield Park, allowing Azeez in with Northanger Abbey. So even though he missed his own questions, bonuses meant that Azeez went into the Beat the Brains interval leading with 10 to Liz’s 7.

In the afore mentioned interval the brains were asked firstly – to name 4 British PMs who fought duels. Wellington was the first to spring to mind, as did George Canning. I was struggling after that as were the brains. The answers were Pitt the Younger and the Earl of Shelburne. Fair enough. The second question asked what the Godless College was. The brains had no idea. I knew, simply through the fact that JP nearly always mentions it when they are on UC, that the godless institution of Gower Street is University College, because when it was founded no specific religious affiliation was required of students or staff. So there.

Back to the contest and Azeez took his first, but the 2013 FA Cup final did for him and all others. Nobody knew that Ben Watson scored Wigan’s winning goal. Liz Gore didn’t know that Marshal Ney was shot in Switzerland, and Azeez had that little gem. Fiona didn’t know a German conductor, which gave Dave a bonus. With his own set he took a tricky first, but didn’t know some paintings by Hals. Azeez did, and his lead of 6 was already looking decisive. Especially since the next round was the last. To make absolutely certain he took his first three question on the bounce – nobody knew what a couple of german words meant for the fourth. Liz Gore missed her first, and then Fiona, who had a bonus on a question about a prism, took her first two. She gave Dave a bonus with Gerard Manley Hopkins. On his own set he took his first, but his second was a nasty little sod on the Manhattan Project, and that was that. Congratulations to Azeez Feshitan. He was a class act in this semi, and was fully deserving of his place in the final. Hard lines to the others, but well played all. For the record, the final scores were: -

Azeez Feshitan - 16
Elizabeth Gore - 7
Fiona Somerville - 5
Dave Taylor - 9

Friday 14 March 2014

Answers to News Questions

In the news

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


1. Elizabeth Thompson
2. Costadinos Contostavlos
3. Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
4. Joanna Dennehy
5. Stuart Hall
6. Airlander
7. Manuel Pellegrini
8. John Downey
9. Polly McCourt
10. Keith Wallace and James Glanville
11. Stephen Ward
12. Moazzam Begg
13. “I Can’t Sing”

In Other News

1. Which organization, which Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman one worked for, was criticized for its links with ‘paedophile groups’ last week?
2. What was Nicohlas Anelka’s punishment for his ‘quenelle’ gesture?
3. What was the Europa League score between Spurs and Dnipro?
4. – and Swansea and Napoli?
5. What have gondoliers in Venice agreed to take voluntarily?
6. The first café for what opened in London last week?
7. The Royal Mail announced new prices for first and second class stamps. What are they?
8. What were visible much further south in the UK than usual?
9. Britain’s hopes of large scale renegotiation of relationship with EU were dashed by whom?
10. Which 68 year old country and western singer signed up to play Glastonbury this year?
11. Which singer fainted on “Loose Women”?
12. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced which troubled NHS Trust was to be dissolved?
13. What was the score between Chelsea and Galatasaray?
14. – and Man Utd. And Olympiakos?
15. Whose trial was it ruled shall be televised?
16. Name the Ghostbusters costar and cowriter who passed away
17. Which super league rugby league team went into administration last week?
18. Jamaican sprinter who had her drug ban overturned on appeal after she proved her sample had been contaminated
19. Which game was ruled in a tribunal last week not to be a sport, despite being recognized as one by the IOC
20. Why was Dave Lee Travis in the news last week?
21. Where did a half tonne meteorite crash last week?
22. Name the England back row forward ruled out of the rest of the 6 Nations with an injury incurred against Ireland?
23. Name the other teams drawn in England’s group in the Euro qualifiers

Answers

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


1. Teacher whose beatings Sir Alex Ferguson said inspired him to greatness
2. N-Dubz’ Dappy – charged over nightclub incident
3. Lee Rigby’s killers, sentenced to spend rest of their lives in prison
4. Serial killer sentenced to spend the rest of her life behind bars
5. Former broadcaster pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and assault
6. UKs largest airship unveiled
7. Given two match touchline ban for criticizing referee
8. Hyde Park bombing suspect, whose trial collapsed after it was revealed that he had been sent a letter effectively giving him protection from prosecution
9. British woman who have birth in the street in New York
10. Met Police officers sacked over Andrew Mitchell plebgate affair
11. Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical to close after four months
12. Briton held for five years without charge in Guantanamo Bay arrested on Syria based terrorism charges
13. Spoof Talent Show musical written by Harry Hill, opening postponed for 48 hours


In Other News


1. National Council for Civil Liberties
2. Banned for five games and fined £80,000
3. 3 – 1 Spurs
4. 3 – 1 Napoli
5. Drug tests
6. Cats
7. 1st class is 62p, second class 53p
8. Aurora Borealis
9. Angela Merkel
10. Dolly Parton
11. Rebecca Ferguson
12. Mid - Staffordshire
13. 1 - 1
14. 2 – 0 Olympiakos
15. Oscar Pistorius
16. Harold Ramis
17. Bradford Bulls
18. Veronica Campbell Brown
19. Bridge
20. He is to face a retrial for 2 charges
21. On the moon
22. Billy Vunipola
23. Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino

University Challenge - sudden death quarter final

Southampton v. Manchester

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 in their first aurter final. They were outbuzzed and derailed by a rampant Somerville team, though, and needed to recover their momentum to make headway against a resurgent 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, but they dealt with Cardiff fairly comfortably in their second. On with the show.

First blood went to Jonathan Collings, who had proved so influential in their previous match. Early manuscripts provided another 10 points. Something Maths like about vectors proved ungettable to anyone. A number of places and names linked by the word castle fell to our own Richard. Bonuses on philosophy and religion provided 10 points to bring the teams level. Matt Loxham was very close on the next starter – offering the British Film Council, but Jonathan Collings knew that the official title is the BBFC. 5 points lost from Southampton’s total, and Manchester forged on with a bonus about my ancestral hometown of Dundee. The picture starter showed us the city of Munich, and Ed Woudhuysen knew that and the fact that the Treaty to which it gave its name happened in the 30s. This freed up a gettable series of bonuses asking for more locations and treaties and decades, and Manchester duly took two with Locarno and Potsdam. Elizabeth Mitchell identified a group of chemical thingies whose names were all derived from characters in La Boheme. The Sciences was the catch-all category for the next set of bonuses, and Manchester took the first two. I had been a good first ten minutes for Manchester. They weren’t away and clear, but were well ahead with 75 to 15. Southampton maybe at this stage were sitting on their buzzers a little, perhaps subconsciously subdued by the loss of five for an early buzz.

If you hear the name “John Polidori” you really have to answer ‘The Vampyr’, and after a while Jonathan Collings did just that for the next starter. Operas based on Greek Mythology brought Manchester another 10 points. For once the impressive Mr. Collings was in too early with the next starter. English and Welsh according to the 2011 census are the commonly spoken first languages in the UK, and he suggested that Urdu was next. Matt Loxham gave the correct answer of Polish. 19th century American presidents held out the promise of points, and they managed two on a set that were by no means gimmes. Joe Day opened his own account, knowing that the welsh poet of Yr Gododdin, and the architect of the NHS shared the name Aneurin. A set of bonuses on the Rossettis brought Manchester their first full set, and took them through the 100 point barrier. A long and complicated set of instructions from JP prefaced the music starter. Basically they had to add up all the numbers sung in a snatch of Manfred Mann’s 5-4-3-2-1. Nobody managed that. The bonuses rolled over, and Matt Loxham earned them for Southampton for knowing that the Dam on the Colorado River is named after Herbert Hoover. More adding up number totals in songs followed. 2 – 4 – 6- 8- Motorway , and Driving Away From Home escaped them, but they did manage to get the right total with 74 – 75. JP was impressed with that. Now, for all that, Southampton were trailing by some margin. At such a stage you have to make a decision. Do you sit back and let it happen, or do you go for it? Southampton, to their credit, seemed to have decided to go for it. Bob de Caux flew in for the next starter, asking about the end of a Dickens novel. He zigged with Barnaby Rudge, losing 5, and when the rest of the question was asked, and the name ‘Squeers’ given, Jonathan Collings knew it could only be Nicholas Nickleby. The psychology of emotion promised little, but Manchester managed to add another 5 points to their total. It was Richard who buzzed early on the next starter, which was a cryptic little devil, all pointing to the names of bridges over the Thames. It was like the mother ship calling me home, that question. Matt Loxham knew that E508 is potassium chloride, an alternative to salt in a low sodium diet. Good shout that. A full set of bonuses on landlocked countries took Southampton back up to 65 on the 20 minute mark. Manchester already had 125. Southampton could do it – they had proved that they could equal Manchester on the buzzer, but it was going to take correct answers, and a run of them at that.

They tried, there’s no doubt about that. For the next starter, asked which painter Ruskin championed Bob de Caux flew in, then hesitated before answering ‘Holman Hunt’. Not a daft answer by any means, for Ruskin certainly had complicated dealings with the PRB, Millais especially, but it was Turner, and all too easy for Jonathan Collings to sweep up the crumbs from that particular table. Space exploration gave them nothing. The next starter showed a caricature of Andrew Carnegie, and Ed Woudhuysen was first in for that. More caricatures of 19th and early 20th century figures in the USA brought 10 more points. Neither team knew that the 1880s saw the death of Gordon of Khartoum. Bob de Caux again went for it with the next, but it fell to Alison Mitchell to identify various meanings of the word contract. Two letter ‘scrabble words’ made an interesting, if somewhat inscrutable set. Gave nothing away. Jonathan Collings knew that the standard latin version of the Bible translated by St. Jerome is the Vulgate. Eastern Europe only provided 5 points, but it was more than enough. The lead was now 120, and there was nowhere near time enough left on the clock. Ed Woudhuysen knew that the British army surrendered at Yorktown in the War of Independence. Plants’ common names brought a full set that tok Manchester to 200. David Bishop knew Hephaestos moulded the first woman in Greek mythology. A UC special set on subjunctives in other languages allowed a full set to take Southampton to 80, and that was where it ended. Manchester won clearly by 200 to 80, and stepped over the threshold into the semi. As I’ve said before, nobody gets rich by betting against Manchester in UC. As for Southampton, very hard lines boys, but well done on your achievements this series. As for tonight, it didn’t quite work out, but you went down buzzing, and I’ve a lot of time for a team that can do that.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

In playful mood was JP in this show. Manchester skipper Alison Mitchell tentatively identified Brest Litovsk – scene of the eponymous world war one treaty signing – as Minks. “Miinnsskkk.” replied out hero, almost savouring the word for some rare or delicate flavor.

Mind you there was at least a flash of irritation as Bob de Caux buzzed early on the Turner question then hesitated before answering. JP hates that! It wasn’t quite a ‘do that again and I’ll smash yer teeth in’ moment, but it was certainly a warning.

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

In the 2011 census, Polish was the third most commonly spoken first language in the UK.