Anne Hegerty, our newest Chaser, has just informed me that we have to wait until this Friday for her first show as Chaser. Well, it is a lady's prerogative to keep a gentleman waiting.
One other thing she pointed out to me, which I must admit that I didn't notice, is that the tweak for this series is that the ladders in the individual contestants' rounds are actually one rung shorter. If they stick with the amount that they have won they now only have to answer 5 questions correctly, rather than 6. Which should result in more contestants going through to the Final Chase if they play cannily. This certainly seemed to be the case tonight.
If I knew how to programme it, I would be setting the DVD recorder for Friday's show now.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Alan Coombs
I received the sad news today that one of my best quiz friends throughout the last 20 years, and a truly great quizzer, Alan Coombs, passed away yesterday.
If you’re not part of the South Wales quiz community, then I don't know that you ever knew of him, but within this community he was a figure who received total respect. In many ways Alan was my first quiz mentor. He was the first truly great quizzer that I ever met. In 1988 I was first introduced to the world of the pub quiz by another friend, Neville. I found that I wasn’t bad, and within a few weeks I was invited to play for the club in the quiz team in the Port Talbot League. I won’t lie to you, I fancied myself a bit as a quizzer. That’s when I first met and played alongside Alan. Alan, who was still in his pomp as a quizzer then, was awesome. Whenever you walked into a pub to play a league match, or a charity quiz, and Alan was with you, the other players in the room would seem to wilt. Mentally they were usually beaten before the start of the match. And if Alan was playing they were invariably beaten by the end of the match. Alan was that good. In my early years I used to look at Alan and think – if I can ever come close to being that good, then that’ll do for me.
As well as being an awesome quizzer, Alan was great company as well. He was one of very few people I have known for whom the phrase ‘nobody had a bad word to say about him’ was in no way hyperbole. It was through Alan that I was invited to make my first ever appearance in a TV quiz, where through his influence I was drafted onto a team for “Come And Have A Go If You Think You’re Smart Enough’. We didn’t win the show, but I look back on that weekend we spent in London, Alan, his wife Alison, myself and the other members of the team as one of my most enjoyable experiences in TV quizzing.
My deepest condolences go to Alison, and to all of Alan’s family, and to all of his friends from both the quizzing community and outside, of whom there were many. Tomorrow night John, who was Alan’s friend and team mate for even longer than I was, and I will be in Cowbridge, and even though it’s a school night, I hope nobody will blame me if I raise a glass in his memory and say God Bless you Alan. Thank you for being a friend all these years. Rest in Peace.
If you’re not part of the South Wales quiz community, then I don't know that you ever knew of him, but within this community he was a figure who received total respect. In many ways Alan was my first quiz mentor. He was the first truly great quizzer that I ever met. In 1988 I was first introduced to the world of the pub quiz by another friend, Neville. I found that I wasn’t bad, and within a few weeks I was invited to play for the club in the quiz team in the Port Talbot League. I won’t lie to you, I fancied myself a bit as a quizzer. That’s when I first met and played alongside Alan. Alan, who was still in his pomp as a quizzer then, was awesome. Whenever you walked into a pub to play a league match, or a charity quiz, and Alan was with you, the other players in the room would seem to wilt. Mentally they were usually beaten before the start of the match. And if Alan was playing they were invariably beaten by the end of the match. Alan was that good. In my early years I used to look at Alan and think – if I can ever come close to being that good, then that’ll do for me.
As well as being an awesome quizzer, Alan was great company as well. He was one of very few people I have known for whom the phrase ‘nobody had a bad word to say about him’ was in no way hyperbole. It was through Alan that I was invited to make my first ever appearance in a TV quiz, where through his influence I was drafted onto a team for “Come And Have A Go If You Think You’re Smart Enough’. We didn’t win the show, but I look back on that weekend we spent in London, Alan, his wife Alison, myself and the other members of the team as one of my most enjoyable experiences in TV quizzing.
My deepest condolences go to Alison, and to all of Alan’s family, and to all of his friends from both the quizzing community and outside, of whom there were many. Tomorrow night John, who was Alan’s friend and team mate for even longer than I was, and I will be in Cowbridge, and even though it’s a school night, I hope nobody will blame me if I raise a glass in his memory and say God Bless you Alan. Thank you for being a friend all these years. Rest in Peace.
Return of The Chase
Tonight saw the return of the 2009 Lammy award winner for the Best New Quiz Show - The Chase. You’ll maybe remember that I’m not the greatest fan of Divided. I think its needlessly mean, and gameplay is too slow - just my opinion and feel free to disagree. So I welcomed this show back with pleasure. I will come clean, I did know that my friend Anne Hegerty has joined the Chasers, and although she wasn’t on duty in tonight’s show, I can assure you that any contestants who think they’ll get an easier run against Anne than against Shaun or Mark had better think again !
Tonight then, featured among the challengers none other than my friend, Mastermind Grand Finalist Les Morrell. Well done for getting onto the show, Les. Well done to the producers as well for allowing on a quality contestant as well. More about that a little later.
Gameplay seemed very much as I remembered it from last year. Each one of four contestants plays in turn to see if they can make it into the team for the Final Chase. They are asked 1 minute of quickfire questions, and given £1000 for each one they answer correctly. Then they meet the Chaser for the show, and their total is put onto a ladder. The total they have won is a couple of steps below where the Chaser starts from. If they elect to start from the next step up they get offered a higher amount, and if they elect to go from one lower, then they play for a reduced, and often much reduced amount. Both challenger and Chaser answer the same questions simultaneously. Correct answers take you one step down the ladder, and incorrect ones leave you where you are.
Tonight’s Chaser was Mastermind champion 2004 Shaun Wallace. Shaun, who is the only Humphrys era champion I don’t know either personally, or via the interweb, is pretty much perfect for this game. He has a certain warmth about him, and his little digs at the contenders are said with a twinkle in the eye and a tongue in the cheek. He took a while to hit form tonight, though. 3 challengers managed to make it to the bottom of the ladder, and even though none of them took the gamble of going for the highest amount, the £16,000 they carried through to the final chase was certainly a nice little earner. Who was sent packing in the first round ? Unfortunately it was Les. Host Bradley Walsh made a couple of comments about Les being a Mastermind Grand Finalist, and Les certainly carried the highest amount through onto the ladder, a cool £14,000. However, and I have to speak as I find, of all the sets of questions I think he was given the hardest . Not that it necessarily makes any difference, since Shaun had exactly the same set of questions, and he got more of them right which is why he caught Les. Still, I think Les would have certainly fancied his chances a lot more if he’d had any of the other three sets. Just coincidence , or the producers hedging their bets ? Lets say that it was just bad luck.
So on to the best reason to watch the show, The Final Chase. You know how it works. The contenders are asked to answer two minutes of quickfire questions. There were three people in the final team, and so they started 3 steps along the ladder . For each question they were asked they had to buzz in, and either offer an answer or pass. The challengers received no penalty for wrong answers. The Chaser then, being set a target, had to catch them in his own 2 minutes. If the Chaser gave a wrong answer, then the clock would stop, and it would be offered to the team, and if they answered correctly, then the Chaser was put back a step. However, offsetting this was the fact that the Chaser did not have to buzz in to give an answer. We know from last year that keeping out of reach of the Chaser can be done, but it ain’t easy. For tonight’s team it was made harder by the fact that the best quizzer among them was probably the one who was already sitting in Hospitality. They scored 19, but as we saw last year, the Banker never pays out for anything less than 20, and preferably more than that. Shaun was ahead of the clock by the minute mark, and yes, he got a couple wrong, but the result was never in doubt.
Look, it is what it is , right ? It’s a teatime show, and its not University Challenge, Only Connect or Mastermind. It is entertaining, though, and I like it. If you’re thinking , well, I would say that since two of the Chasers are my friends, and the other one, Shaun, is someone whom I would like to be my friend, well, yes, I would. But thankfully I can say this without my nose growing at all. I liked the show last year, and I liked it again tonight. I said last year that I think it’s a better pro-am format than Eggheads – which is not meant as a reflection on the Eggheads themselves, merely on the format of the show – and I stick by that. I’m looking forward to seeing Anne’s first run as Chaser, which I’m guessing will be either tomorrow or Wednesday. Bring it on !
Tonight then, featured among the challengers none other than my friend, Mastermind Grand Finalist Les Morrell. Well done for getting onto the show, Les. Well done to the producers as well for allowing on a quality contestant as well. More about that a little later.
Gameplay seemed very much as I remembered it from last year. Each one of four contestants plays in turn to see if they can make it into the team for the Final Chase. They are asked 1 minute of quickfire questions, and given £1000 for each one they answer correctly. Then they meet the Chaser for the show, and their total is put onto a ladder. The total they have won is a couple of steps below where the Chaser starts from. If they elect to start from the next step up they get offered a higher amount, and if they elect to go from one lower, then they play for a reduced, and often much reduced amount. Both challenger and Chaser answer the same questions simultaneously. Correct answers take you one step down the ladder, and incorrect ones leave you where you are.
Tonight’s Chaser was Mastermind champion 2004 Shaun Wallace. Shaun, who is the only Humphrys era champion I don’t know either personally, or via the interweb, is pretty much perfect for this game. He has a certain warmth about him, and his little digs at the contenders are said with a twinkle in the eye and a tongue in the cheek. He took a while to hit form tonight, though. 3 challengers managed to make it to the bottom of the ladder, and even though none of them took the gamble of going for the highest amount, the £16,000 they carried through to the final chase was certainly a nice little earner. Who was sent packing in the first round ? Unfortunately it was Les. Host Bradley Walsh made a couple of comments about Les being a Mastermind Grand Finalist, and Les certainly carried the highest amount through onto the ladder, a cool £14,000. However, and I have to speak as I find, of all the sets of questions I think he was given the hardest . Not that it necessarily makes any difference, since Shaun had exactly the same set of questions, and he got more of them right which is why he caught Les. Still, I think Les would have certainly fancied his chances a lot more if he’d had any of the other three sets. Just coincidence , or the producers hedging their bets ? Lets say that it was just bad luck.
So on to the best reason to watch the show, The Final Chase. You know how it works. The contenders are asked to answer two minutes of quickfire questions. There were three people in the final team, and so they started 3 steps along the ladder . For each question they were asked they had to buzz in, and either offer an answer or pass. The challengers received no penalty for wrong answers. The Chaser then, being set a target, had to catch them in his own 2 minutes. If the Chaser gave a wrong answer, then the clock would stop, and it would be offered to the team, and if they answered correctly, then the Chaser was put back a step. However, offsetting this was the fact that the Chaser did not have to buzz in to give an answer. We know from last year that keeping out of reach of the Chaser can be done, but it ain’t easy. For tonight’s team it was made harder by the fact that the best quizzer among them was probably the one who was already sitting in Hospitality. They scored 19, but as we saw last year, the Banker never pays out for anything less than 20, and preferably more than that. Shaun was ahead of the clock by the minute mark, and yes, he got a couple wrong, but the result was never in doubt.
Look, it is what it is , right ? It’s a teatime show, and its not University Challenge, Only Connect or Mastermind. It is entertaining, though, and I like it. If you’re thinking , well, I would say that since two of the Chasers are my friends, and the other one, Shaun, is someone whom I would like to be my friend, well, yes, I would. But thankfully I can say this without my nose growing at all. I liked the show last year, and I liked it again tonight. I said last year that I think it’s a better pro-am format than Eggheads – which is not meant as a reflection on the Eggheads themselves, merely on the format of the show – and I stick by that. I’m looking forward to seeing Anne’s first run as Chaser, which I’m guessing will be either tomorrow or Wednesday. Bring it on !
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Mastermind Grand Final Preview
I am fully aware that I got it wrong last year . Mind you, when you look what Ian did in Brain of Britain I don’t think that anyone could seriously blame me for picking him as favourite for last year’s final. Still, that was then and this is now.
One factor that complicates things for me is that the semis this year were run in a different format to the heats, so comparisons between the two rounds so far may be less helpful. So bearing that in mind, lets have a look at the 6 finalists.
In previous years we have seen finals where a number of the contenders have been people who are not , by their own admission, serious quizzers, who have entered just to see how well they can do. None of our finalists this year fit that description. All of them have a quiz pedigree. So none of them can be lightly dismissed.
First to win her place in the semi final was Kathryn Johnson. Kathryn is a great quizzer, very well known and highly respected on the circuit. Hers was the pick of the performances in the first round, where she achieved the magical 30 points. Scores of 15 and 16 this year on general knowledge make her one of two players who I feel will just be too strong for the other contenders. Her aggregate GK score of 31 is higher than any other contender in the series. In fact, I have a feeling that it may come down to how Kathryn performs on specialist. If she has a lead after round one, then it will be extremely difficult for anyone to overtake her. Prediction – sorry to sit on the fence here, but champion or runner-up.
Barbara Thompson won the semi which I never got to see. Barbara is former Brain of Britain Champion, so she knows all about dealing with the pressure of a Grand final. As I say, I did not see her semi final because of the BBC messing about, but looking at her scores I have to say that I think that she may well find herself falling just a little bit short. 13 and 12 are both good GK scores, and yet you can’t help feeling that she is going to need two or three more to give herself a realistic chance of beating some fearsome competitors.The MM/BOB double is a hard one to pull off. Prediction – not on the podium
David Buckle is another seasoned TV campaigner. Like Barbara he has done well on GK in both rounds, but again, I feel he will need to find another two or three points from somewhere on GK to give him a realistic chance of holding off the biggest guns. His semi saw him improve on his first round score, and that was with a shorter specialist round, so he has the ability. Prediction – not on the podium.
Les Morrell made my week when he won his semi final. I’ve told before how we met on the day that both of our first round heats were recorded in the 2007 SOBM. So I’ll be cheering him on from the Clark sofa. I won’t be burdening him with the Clark tip, though. In another year, with a different field of finalists, Les would be up there with my favourites. However the line up this year is as gifted as I remember for many a long year. To be in with a chance Les will have to match or surpass his best GK performance from the first round in 2007. So , with regret, my head overrules my heart and predicts – possible third, yet more likely off the podium.
Mark Grant is the only one of the 6 finalists to have competed in a Mastermind Grand Final before. Mark was runner up to Pat in 2005. Can he go one better this year ? Of course he can. Yet will he ? The only thing that worries me about Mark’s chances is the inconsistency between his first round GK performance, scoring 10, and his brilliant semi performance scoring 14. There is no worry over his specialist round – he always prepares brilliantly and scores extremely highly. This means that I am confident to predict 3rd place, but make no mistake, if Mark has a flyer in GK he could win.
All of this means that if you’ve been paying attention you’ll have worked out that I believe that Jesse Honey is the other player I think most likely to win. His performance in the semi was amazing. 16 on GK equalled the best score of the series. 14 on specialist was an exceptional score for a 90 second round. 30 in total equalled the highest score of the series. To be honest, that score off 3 and a half minutes of questions is really a hall of fame score. If it wasn’t for the fact that he is facing such a formidable quizzer as Kathryn in the same show, Jesse would be my outright favourite. As it is – Prediction – Series Champion or runner up.
I could be completely wrong, of course. Any of these quizzers could win. However I think that we’re going to have to see a fantastic score in order for one of them to beat all of the others. Can’t wait !
One factor that complicates things for me is that the semis this year were run in a different format to the heats, so comparisons between the two rounds so far may be less helpful. So bearing that in mind, lets have a look at the 6 finalists.
In previous years we have seen finals where a number of the contenders have been people who are not , by their own admission, serious quizzers, who have entered just to see how well they can do. None of our finalists this year fit that description. All of them have a quiz pedigree. So none of them can be lightly dismissed.
First to win her place in the semi final was Kathryn Johnson. Kathryn is a great quizzer, very well known and highly respected on the circuit. Hers was the pick of the performances in the first round, where she achieved the magical 30 points. Scores of 15 and 16 this year on general knowledge make her one of two players who I feel will just be too strong for the other contenders. Her aggregate GK score of 31 is higher than any other contender in the series. In fact, I have a feeling that it may come down to how Kathryn performs on specialist. If she has a lead after round one, then it will be extremely difficult for anyone to overtake her. Prediction – sorry to sit on the fence here, but champion or runner-up.
Barbara Thompson won the semi which I never got to see. Barbara is former Brain of Britain Champion, so she knows all about dealing with the pressure of a Grand final. As I say, I did not see her semi final because of the BBC messing about, but looking at her scores I have to say that I think that she may well find herself falling just a little bit short. 13 and 12 are both good GK scores, and yet you can’t help feeling that she is going to need two or three more to give herself a realistic chance of beating some fearsome competitors.The MM/BOB double is a hard one to pull off. Prediction – not on the podium
David Buckle is another seasoned TV campaigner. Like Barbara he has done well on GK in both rounds, but again, I feel he will need to find another two or three points from somewhere on GK to give him a realistic chance of holding off the biggest guns. His semi saw him improve on his first round score, and that was with a shorter specialist round, so he has the ability. Prediction – not on the podium.
Les Morrell made my week when he won his semi final. I’ve told before how we met on the day that both of our first round heats were recorded in the 2007 SOBM. So I’ll be cheering him on from the Clark sofa. I won’t be burdening him with the Clark tip, though. In another year, with a different field of finalists, Les would be up there with my favourites. However the line up this year is as gifted as I remember for many a long year. To be in with a chance Les will have to match or surpass his best GK performance from the first round in 2007. So , with regret, my head overrules my heart and predicts – possible third, yet more likely off the podium.
Mark Grant is the only one of the 6 finalists to have competed in a Mastermind Grand Final before. Mark was runner up to Pat in 2005. Can he go one better this year ? Of course he can. Yet will he ? The only thing that worries me about Mark’s chances is the inconsistency between his first round GK performance, scoring 10, and his brilliant semi performance scoring 14. There is no worry over his specialist round – he always prepares brilliantly and scores extremely highly. This means that I am confident to predict 3rd place, but make no mistake, if Mark has a flyer in GK he could win.
All of this means that if you’ve been paying attention you’ll have worked out that I believe that Jesse Honey is the other player I think most likely to win. His performance in the semi was amazing. 16 on GK equalled the best score of the series. 14 on specialist was an exceptional score for a 90 second round. 30 in total equalled the highest score of the series. To be honest, that score off 3 and a half minutes of questions is really a hall of fame score. If it wasn’t for the fact that he is facing such a formidable quizzer as Kathryn in the same show, Jesse would be my outright favourite. As it is – Prediction – Series Champion or runner up.
I could be completely wrong, of course. Any of these quizzers could win. However I think that we’re going to have to see a fantastic score in order for one of them to beat all of the others. Can’t wait !
Friday, 21 May 2010
Mastermind Semi Final 6/6
This set of semi finals came to an end last night, and I have to say that I have found them lean, mean, and thoroughly absorbing, despite the fact that the specialist rounds have been cut to 90 seconds.
Before we start, I think it worth saying that on Jenny Turner’s excellent Quizzlestick website it mentioned that there was an article in this week’s Radio Times that seemed to suggest that the good people of 21st Century Quiz are asked to produce GK rounds tailored to some extent to each competitor –the quote from one of the setters was -
“But if someone’s got a career in science they might have a slightly harder one in their general knowledge than someone who was a musician.”
Very interesting, that.
Tonight then saw the last five semi finalists take to the chair. They were : -
Jesse Honey
Chloe Stone
Peter Cowan
Ian Scott Massie
Ian Orris
LAM reader and one-time resident of Ealing, Jesse Honey won heat 13 back in January, answering questions on the London Borough of Wandsworth. Much fancied to do well tonight, Jesse this time was answering on the Life and Work of Antoni Gaudi. I have to admit that I’m a lover of Gaudi’s work myself, ever since a visit to the Sagrada Familia during a rainstorm several years ago. This didn’t mean that I could answer many of these questions. Jesse, however, made a mockery of the curse of the Clark sofa by having a perfect round of 14 from 14. Superb round.
In Heat 6, way back in October last year, we saw Chloe Stone clinch her place in the semis , answering on the Cazalet Novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard. Tonight she offered us British History from 1815 to 1914. Hello – I thought – chance of getting a few answers here, my boy. You know how it is. You want to answer at least one question right on every subject, although it doesn’t always happen. However there are some subjects where you fancy you could give it a good old lash. Without doubt some of these questions could have been asked in a GK round. Still I was pleased with my 9. Not as good as Chloe Stone’s 13 and 1 pass, though. Good performance.
Peter Cowan was runner up to Andrew Maclagan in Heat 14 in January, when he answered on Caesar’s Gallic Wars. Tonight he gave us The Pliocene and Galactic Milieu Novels of Julian May. I think they probably had to give the person who makes the captions overtime for that one. I will confess that I did once try to read “The Many Coloured Land “ many years ago, but found that it was not for me. Each to their own. Peter looked a little nervous in the chair, and passed on his first question, but then he was away. 11 is a good score in a 2 minute round, and in a 90 second round its even better. Well done, sir.
In October Ian Scott Massie was a close runner up to Andrew Warmington in Heat 7. Then he offered us the Life of Paul Nash. Tonight his subject was the films of Powell and Pressburger, another fine subject. Mr. Scott Massie started very confidently, snapping out his answers very quickly. However the fact is that this was a very wide subject, and although there were no passes and no pauses worth speaking about, a number of questions slipped through the net, and he ended with 8 points.
Finally came Ian Orris, conqueror of my friend Les Morrell back in Heat 3 in September. Well, Les has already claimed his spot in the Final, but Ian was going to have to go some to give himself a chance of joining him. In the first round, Ian answered on the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Tonight he went for King Henry IV. Cards on the table, I’ve always thought that Kings and Queens make good specialist subjects – I took George IV in my own semi final. This was a very good and confident performance. No unneccessary amplification of answers offered, and answers snapped out as quickly as possible. No surprise , then , that Ian managed a superb 14 .
So on to the General Knowledge. Down among the wines and spirits Ian Scott Massie returned to the chair first. 6 points behind in real terms, it looked a tall order. It was nice to see a nod to Brain of Britain in one of the questions. A fighting 11 took his score to 19. Peter Cowan may feel himself rather unlucky to have been in 4th after scoring 11, but these semis have shown some extremely well prepared contenders in the GK rounds. You can tell the World Cup is on its way since he was asked a question about the Jules Rimet Trophy. I’m afraid that nerves seemed to make him hesitate a couple of times in this round, but he still managed to take his score to 21.
Chloe Stone answered her first three GK questions very confidently, with no hint of the pass spiral she was to fall into. 4 passes later she managed to pull herself out, but the round was a desperate struggle for her. Having said that, you might think that 7 passes in a round indicates something of a train wreck, but it wasn’t. For all that she still added 9 to her score, and even took the lead with 22. So , with the full weight of the Clark tip hardly seeming a burden to him Jesse Honey returned, and zoomed through the questions for one of the finest GK rounds we’ve seen for a few years now. 16 points gave him 30 – as a matter of interest that’s higher than he scored in the first round, when he had 30 seconds longer on specialist. All of which didn’t just give Ian Orris a mountain to climb, it gave him Mount Everest. With K2 on top. Still he can be pretty pleased with the way that he went about it. Crisp and sharp answering brought him 11 points for 25.
Congratulations Jesse ! A stunning performance , which puts him right up among the favourites for the title. Since this completes the semis, we’ll be taking a look at all of the finalists, and seeing who gets burdened with the curse of the Clark sofa , in my preview which will appear within the next couple of days. Watch this space !
The Details
Before we start, I think it worth saying that on Jenny Turner’s excellent Quizzlestick website it mentioned that there was an article in this week’s Radio Times that seemed to suggest that the good people of 21st Century Quiz are asked to produce GK rounds tailored to some extent to each competitor –the quote from one of the setters was -
“But if someone’s got a career in science they might have a slightly harder one in their general knowledge than someone who was a musician.”
Very interesting, that.
Tonight then saw the last five semi finalists take to the chair. They were : -
Jesse Honey
Chloe Stone
Peter Cowan
Ian Scott Massie
Ian Orris
LAM reader and one-time resident of Ealing, Jesse Honey won heat 13 back in January, answering questions on the London Borough of Wandsworth. Much fancied to do well tonight, Jesse this time was answering on the Life and Work of Antoni Gaudi. I have to admit that I’m a lover of Gaudi’s work myself, ever since a visit to the Sagrada Familia during a rainstorm several years ago. This didn’t mean that I could answer many of these questions. Jesse, however, made a mockery of the curse of the Clark sofa by having a perfect round of 14 from 14. Superb round.
In Heat 6, way back in October last year, we saw Chloe Stone clinch her place in the semis , answering on the Cazalet Novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard. Tonight she offered us British History from 1815 to 1914. Hello – I thought – chance of getting a few answers here, my boy. You know how it is. You want to answer at least one question right on every subject, although it doesn’t always happen. However there are some subjects where you fancy you could give it a good old lash. Without doubt some of these questions could have been asked in a GK round. Still I was pleased with my 9. Not as good as Chloe Stone’s 13 and 1 pass, though. Good performance.
Peter Cowan was runner up to Andrew Maclagan in Heat 14 in January, when he answered on Caesar’s Gallic Wars. Tonight he gave us The Pliocene and Galactic Milieu Novels of Julian May. I think they probably had to give the person who makes the captions overtime for that one. I will confess that I did once try to read “The Many Coloured Land “ many years ago, but found that it was not for me. Each to their own. Peter looked a little nervous in the chair, and passed on his first question, but then he was away. 11 is a good score in a 2 minute round, and in a 90 second round its even better. Well done, sir.
In October Ian Scott Massie was a close runner up to Andrew Warmington in Heat 7. Then he offered us the Life of Paul Nash. Tonight his subject was the films of Powell and Pressburger, another fine subject. Mr. Scott Massie started very confidently, snapping out his answers very quickly. However the fact is that this was a very wide subject, and although there were no passes and no pauses worth speaking about, a number of questions slipped through the net, and he ended with 8 points.
Finally came Ian Orris, conqueror of my friend Les Morrell back in Heat 3 in September. Well, Les has already claimed his spot in the Final, but Ian was going to have to go some to give himself a chance of joining him. In the first round, Ian answered on the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Tonight he went for King Henry IV. Cards on the table, I’ve always thought that Kings and Queens make good specialist subjects – I took George IV in my own semi final. This was a very good and confident performance. No unneccessary amplification of answers offered, and answers snapped out as quickly as possible. No surprise , then , that Ian managed a superb 14 .
So on to the General Knowledge. Down among the wines and spirits Ian Scott Massie returned to the chair first. 6 points behind in real terms, it looked a tall order. It was nice to see a nod to Brain of Britain in one of the questions. A fighting 11 took his score to 19. Peter Cowan may feel himself rather unlucky to have been in 4th after scoring 11, but these semis have shown some extremely well prepared contenders in the GK rounds. You can tell the World Cup is on its way since he was asked a question about the Jules Rimet Trophy. I’m afraid that nerves seemed to make him hesitate a couple of times in this round, but he still managed to take his score to 21.
Chloe Stone answered her first three GK questions very confidently, with no hint of the pass spiral she was to fall into. 4 passes later she managed to pull herself out, but the round was a desperate struggle for her. Having said that, you might think that 7 passes in a round indicates something of a train wreck, but it wasn’t. For all that she still added 9 to her score, and even took the lead with 22. So , with the full weight of the Clark tip hardly seeming a burden to him Jesse Honey returned, and zoomed through the questions for one of the finest GK rounds we’ve seen for a few years now. 16 points gave him 30 – as a matter of interest that’s higher than he scored in the first round, when he had 30 seconds longer on specialist. All of which didn’t just give Ian Orris a mountain to climb, it gave him Mount Everest. With K2 on top. Still he can be pretty pleased with the way that he went about it. Crisp and sharp answering brought him 11 points for 25.
Congratulations Jesse ! A stunning performance , which puts him right up among the favourites for the title. Since this completes the semis, we’ll be taking a look at all of the finalists, and seeing who gets burdened with the curse of the Clark sofa , in my preview which will appear within the next couple of days. Watch this space !
The Details
| Jesse Honey | The Life and Work of Antoni Gaudi | 14 – 0 | 16 - 0 | 30 – 0 |
| Chloe Stone | British History 1815 - 1914 | 13 - 1 | 9 - 7 | 22 -8 |
| Peter Cowan | The Pliocene and Galactic Milieu Novels of Julian May | 11 - 1 | 10 – 2 | 21 - 3 |
| Ian Scott Massie | The Films of Powell and Pressburger | 8 - 0 | 11 - 1 | 19 – 1 |
| Ian Orris | King Henry IV | 14 - 0 | 11 - 3 | 25 – 3 |
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
The Best of Questions, the worst of questions
Bless ‘em. Cast your mind back to when you were in school, if you will. I’m sure that you had atleast one teacher whom you knew if you could just get him – for invariably ‘twas a Sir rather than a Miss – talking about his hobby horse then he’d go waffling off on a tangent , and you’d save yourself minutes of graft . It all adds up over a year. Well, every now and then one of the little shavers at work tries this with me, by asking about the quiz shows and what have you. I had a cover lesson today – and for any teachers reading this wasn’t breaking Rarely Cover guidelines since it was a Year 11 lesson, and they are on Study Leave. During the lesson one of the children asked me a genuinely thought – provoking question : -
“Sir, what’s the best question you’ve ever been asked in a quiz ? “
I mean, how on earth can you possibly answer that ? I fobbed him off with something along the lines of ,
“If I’m at a quiz, then any question I get the right answer to is the best question. “ but I’ve been thinking about it since, and this just won’t do. For one thing my good friend and mentor Alan Coombs once said that the best questions aren’t actually the ones you know the answer to, they’re the ones you don’t know, but when you hear the correct answer you say “Of course ! I should have known that . “ He certainly has a point. Then there’s the question which you can’t answer, and yet the answer provides you with a useful tidbit of information which in some minuscule, yet heart warming way enriches you and enhances your understanding of Life, The Universe and Everything. Admittedly these are rather few and far between, and yet they do come up.
I won’t lie to you. I like questions which are clever in themselves as well. The best way I can explain it to you is to give you an example. Here’s a much loved one , which I’m sure you have all heard before : -
If Sunderland did it in 1979, and Villa did it in 1981, who did it in 1980 ?
The answer , of course, is Trevor Brooking. Alan Sunderland, Trevor Brooking, and Ricky Villa scored the winning goals in the FA Cup Finals in those years. The beauty of it is that at first you think Sunderland and Villa mean the two football clubs.
----------------------------------------------------------------
On the subject of good questions, we were asked one good question on Sunday night, and I’m afraid I fell foul of my old maxim – play the man and not the ball. John and I were asked this question –
Which medieval order displayed the cross of St. John on their shields ?
At once I scribbled down – The Knights Hospitaller. Then , fatally, I started to think about it. You see this was a pub quiz – a nice, social pub quiz. One of the teams features a former teammate of mine from the Dillwyn Arms team in the Swansea Independent Quiz League, but apart from that the rest of the players are just nice, ordinary members of the public. So I asked myself – based on my knowledge of what the question master usually asks , and based on the level of most of the players, is he really likely to want a fairly difficult answer like that ? I figured that he was more likely to want the answer – The Knights Templar, who, due to Da Vinci Code and all that are at least much more widely known of than the Hospitallers. So I changed it.
What I was ignoring was the fact that the question master compiles all of the questions for the quiz himself, and takes a bit – well, probably, a lot – of time and trouble over them. He is the kind of question master you want – but it does mean that if he asks a question it is extremely unusual for him not to have the correct answer. So of course, the answer was the Hospitallers. There’s not a great deal worse than getting a difficult question wrong when you know the correct answer, but deliberately didn’t put it down because you were trying to be too clever. To paraphrase the words of Frasier Crane at the end of each episode – scrambled egg all over my face .
“Sir, what’s the best question you’ve ever been asked in a quiz ? “
I mean, how on earth can you possibly answer that ? I fobbed him off with something along the lines of ,
“If I’m at a quiz, then any question I get the right answer to is the best question. “ but I’ve been thinking about it since, and this just won’t do. For one thing my good friend and mentor Alan Coombs once said that the best questions aren’t actually the ones you know the answer to, they’re the ones you don’t know, but when you hear the correct answer you say “Of course ! I should have known that . “ He certainly has a point. Then there’s the question which you can’t answer, and yet the answer provides you with a useful tidbit of information which in some minuscule, yet heart warming way enriches you and enhances your understanding of Life, The Universe and Everything. Admittedly these are rather few and far between, and yet they do come up.
I won’t lie to you. I like questions which are clever in themselves as well. The best way I can explain it to you is to give you an example. Here’s a much loved one , which I’m sure you have all heard before : -
If Sunderland did it in 1979, and Villa did it in 1981, who did it in 1980 ?
The answer , of course, is Trevor Brooking. Alan Sunderland, Trevor Brooking, and Ricky Villa scored the winning goals in the FA Cup Finals in those years. The beauty of it is that at first you think Sunderland and Villa mean the two football clubs.
----------------------------------------------------------------
On the subject of good questions, we were asked one good question on Sunday night, and I’m afraid I fell foul of my old maxim – play the man and not the ball. John and I were asked this question –
Which medieval order displayed the cross of St. John on their shields ?
At once I scribbled down – The Knights Hospitaller. Then , fatally, I started to think about it. You see this was a pub quiz – a nice, social pub quiz. One of the teams features a former teammate of mine from the Dillwyn Arms team in the Swansea Independent Quiz League, but apart from that the rest of the players are just nice, ordinary members of the public. So I asked myself – based on my knowledge of what the question master usually asks , and based on the level of most of the players, is he really likely to want a fairly difficult answer like that ? I figured that he was more likely to want the answer – The Knights Templar, who, due to Da Vinci Code and all that are at least much more widely known of than the Hospitallers. So I changed it.
What I was ignoring was the fact that the question master compiles all of the questions for the quiz himself, and takes a bit – well, probably, a lot – of time and trouble over them. He is the kind of question master you want – but it does mean that if he asks a question it is extremely unusual for him not to have the correct answer. So of course, the answer was the Hospitallers. There’s not a great deal worse than getting a difficult question wrong when you know the correct answer, but deliberately didn’t put it down because you were trying to be too clever. To paraphrase the words of Frasier Crane at the end of each episode – scrambled egg all over my face .
Monday, 17 May 2010
Only Connect Series 4 - Contestants needed
I had a nice email from Jenny Heap of Only Connect today, asking if I could help put the word out about series 4. Being a fan of the show, as you know, I'm only to happy to oblige. So here's the details that Jenny sent me : -
CONTESTANTS WANTED FOR ONLY CONNECT!
Only Connect; the quiz where general knowledge meets lateral thinking.
Presentable are looking for contestants for series four of their popular BBC Four quiz.
Teams of three will be pitted against each other to fight for the right to call themselves Only Connect champions!
To request an application email contestants@presentable.co.uk including a telephone number.
All entries must be received by no later than Midnight on Wednesday 9th June 2010
- so get your application in as soon as possible.
If you applied for a previous series, but were unsuccessful, you are welcome to apply again for the new series.
Auditions will be held in regional centres throughout the UK.
All applicants must be aged 18+ and U.K. residents.
Ok - its all pretty clear, isn't it ? If there's anything you're not sure of, then drop the good people of Only Connect a line at the email address above and I'm sure they can answer any questions you might have. Go on - I dare you !
CONTESTANTS WANTED FOR ONLY CONNECT!
Only Connect; the quiz where general knowledge meets lateral thinking.
Presentable are looking for contestants for series four of their popular BBC Four quiz.
Teams of three will be pitted against each other to fight for the right to call themselves Only Connect champions!
To request an application email contestants@presentable.co.uk including a telephone number.
All entries must be received by no later than Midnight on Wednesday 9th June 2010
- so get your application in as soon as possible.
If you applied for a previous series, but were unsuccessful, you are welcome to apply again for the new series.
Auditions will be held in regional centres throughout the UK.
All applicants must be aged 18+ and U.K. residents.
Ok - its all pretty clear, isn't it ? If there's anything you're not sure of, then drop the good people of Only Connect a line at the email address above and I'm sure they can answer any questions you might have. Go on - I dare you !
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