OK , as you can see, back from Spain – yes, a lovely time , thanks for asking – and so without further ado here are the answers to those ten questions from Irene Thomas’ The Almost Impossible Quiz Book : -
1) Who went off to France in a fury on 12th December 1936 ?
In 1936, the Duke of Windsor, previously King Edward VIII, departed the UK for France . He was on board HMS Fury.
2) When was Gruoch’s husband apparently menaced by trees ?
Gruoch was the real name of the wife of Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s play he is told that he will never be defeated until Great Birnham Wood comes up to his castle at Dunsinane. It is reported to him by a servant that this is indeed happening. Actually its only Malcolm’s army using camouflage.
3) How was a combination of a colour, a loaf, and an almanac connected with a niece of George IV ?
Tricky one. The neice of George IV was the daughter of his brother Edward Duke of Kent, Alexandrina Victoria – later Queen Victoria. Saxe is a light blue colour with a tinge of grey. Coburg is a type of loaf. The almanac de Gotha is the one which contained details of all eligible princesses in protestant northern Europe during the mid 19th century – a bit like a horse breeder’s catalogue really. When Victoria married Albert, she married into the family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ( She was already a member of the family through her mother, though. )
4) Where might you find an English soup of very little worth ?
In an Italian restaurant, zuppa inglesi – literally English soup – is the term used for trifle.
5) How are Peter, Owen, Billy and Albert related to a chimney sweep ?
Peter Grimes, Owen Wingrave, Billy Budd and Albert Herring were all composed by Benjamin Britten, as was The Little Sweep
6) How did Aristides Psairotis’ grove of olive trees become eternally English in 1915 ?
Mr. Psairotis owned the olive grove on Scyros where Rupert Brooke was buried. Brooke had written
“If I should die, think only this of me
There is some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. “
7) A pelican was admitted in 1812, a badger in 1848, and a beaver in 1859. To what ?
The pelican is the emblem of the US State ofLouisiana, admitted to the Union in 1812, the badger of Wisconsin, admitted in 1848, and the beaver Oregon – 1859.
8) Which men of straw gave their name to an Italian opera ?
I Pagliacci is correctly translated as The Clowns, but it can also mean mattresses stuffed with straw.
9) Whose arms have three legs ?
Obvious really. It’s the Isle of Man. However give yourself a bonus mark if you also said Sicily , since amazingly the emblem of Sicily also has 3 legs !
10) The one in Messina is a storm in a teacup, while the one in Vienna promises like for like. What are they ?
Yes, its Shakespeare. Much Ado About Nothing is set in Messina while Measure for Measure is set in Vienna.
Alright, you maybe wouldn’t want to be asked something like these in a quickfire round, but just look at the satisfaction you get out of unravelling a question like these.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
TV Watch - University Challenge
University Challenge - First Round Match 7 - Christ's Cambridge v. Liverpool University
Let me begin with an apology to the teams from Newnham Cambridge and Southampton, who contested last week’s show. I was unable to review it since I was in Spain. Anyone who would like to read a review of the show can find a very good one in Weaver’s Week – just click on the link.
Weaver's Week
So to business. Last night’s show pitted Christ’s Cambridge against Liverpool. Christ’s, originally set up in the 15th century for the training of Grammar school teachers according to JP, were represented by Charles Darwin, Earl Mountbatten, Sacha Baron Cohen and John Milton– oh no, sorry, these were some of the famous alumni. The current Christ’s team were Jack Belloli, Joe Walmswell, and Alexander Greaves, all from Greater London, and captain Natasha Simonova, most definitely not a Londoner, originally from Moscow. As for Liverpool University, it originated with just 45 students, although now numbers more than 20,000. Representing Liverpool tonight were Carol Anne Duffy, Stella Rimmington, Patricia Routledge – sorry, I’ve done it again. The real Liverpool team are Andrew Dobrzanski, Daniel Jamieson, Dave Macleod and captain Chris Murphy.
On with the show. Captain Simonova of Christ’s showed that she meant business with an early buzz for the first starter. As soon as JP mentioned “Stendahl” she confidently answered “The Red and The Black “. Lovely to see a question follow in the first set of bonuses about William Shockley – I was asked something similar in my first GK round in the 2007 Mastermind SOBM. Neither team fancied lutra lutra – it’s the latin term for the otter. The next starter was one of those North American sports teams questions. The Toronto Maple leafs and the Edmonton Oilers will have given it to quite a few of those watching at home, but both teams showed admirable nerve in waiting for JP to say “ in which WINTER sport ? “ Quickest on the buzzer was Mr. Greaves of Christ’s. Only on UC could you get a bonus round on fictional pigs – very pleased with myself for remembering that the pig in Dr. Doolittle was Gub Gub, and that the Empress of Blandings was a Berkshire. Oh well, little things please little minds , they do say.
A good interruption from Chris Murphy, identifying the word dolly from several definitions brought Liverpool their first points. A set of bonuses on Savonarola, and Liverpool themselves were on a roll-a , picking up 2 bonuses. Natasha Simonova picked up her second starter by identifying an invented writing system from The Lord of The Rings.Christ’s took a full set of bonuses on these. I recognised Klingon, and guessed the first set was from StarWars, but missed the quasi-heiroglyphs from Stargate. Christ’s didn’t, though, getting their first full set of the contest. Liverpool were straight back in with the next starter. JP described a route taken by an academic between certain European cities, and Andrew Dobrzanski buzzed in impressively quickly having worked out the route was equivalent to a letter N. I would have got there in the end, but nowhere near as quickly as that. A set of bonuses followed on biological pigments, and again, Liverpool got 2 out of 3 of them.
So at the 10 minute mark Christ’s led by 60 to 40. On paper there was hardly anything in it. There were signs, though, that Christ’s might have an advantage in terms of buzzer reaction speed. Joe Walmswell was very quickly in with the name of the body that makes up over 90% of the mass of our solar system – the Sun. A good set of bonuses on the Kochel system – by which the works of Mozart are catalogued – followed, and Christ’s impressively answered each of them with barely a hesitation. Signs perhaps that they were smoothly moving through the gears. Captain Simonova took the next starter, and three bonuses on the events leading up to the start of the English Civil War were all gratefully taken. Christ’s now were through the 100 points barrier, and hurtling towards 200, as Miss Simonova interrupted correctly , identifying a Walter Pater quote as referring to the Mona Lisa. This impressed JP , who suddenly didn’t seem quite so inclined to pick holes in her pronunciation. He was even more impressed when in one of their bonuses the team actually gave more than he wanted about the current name of a nuclear accelerator facility in Tennessee – “That is absolutely correct – “ Well, don’t sound so surprised ! Joe Walmswell followed his captain’s lead by taking the next starter, identifying the word terminator from a series of definitions. Two correct bonuses from a set of three meant that Christ’s had now scored 90 unanswered points.
Neither team managed to identify song and singer in the music starter. Chris Murphy knew it was Bob Dylan, and did exactly the right thing in having a punt on The Times They Are A Changing. Not right , unfortunately. Mind you, Christ’s didn’t recognise “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall “. Neither team identified the peyote as being of the cactus family, but Dave Macleod of Liverpool made no mistake answering that Hilary Mantell was the author of , amongst others, Wolf Hall. Liverpool were given three cover versions of the Dylan song to identify. Sadly they didn’t manage any of the bonuses. Then we were back to business as usual as Natasha Simonova continued her fine buzzer form correctly identifying a European aristocrat as the current leading member of the Royal Stuart family. Just as impressive as Christ’s buzzing was their conversion rate of bonuses into points. It didn’t seem to matter a great deal whatever subjects were asked, they always seemed to answer at least 2, and often all three of each.
Neither team identified Owen as the poet behind a quotation, although Liverpool came close with Sassoon. Christ’s took the next , with Mr. Walmswell identifying the Bay of Bengal. A set of acronyms on astronomical acronyms followed. JP seemed to become more impressed with Natasha Simonova as the game went on. She correctly buzzed in on a picture starter, identifying the year in which three photographs were taken as 1960. It IS 1960 ! our Jeremy bellowed. For once they dropped 2 bonuses, only correctly identifying the last one that showed the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing .
We were well past the 20 minute mark by now, and poor Liverpool, who had been subdued not by any great failing of their own, but by Christ’s heavy artillery on the buzzer, were only 5 points more to the good. The match was essentially over, and it would take an exceptional last few minutes to put them in reach of the repechage. Christ’s , though, having passed though 200 seemed to have their eye on the 300 barrier, as they answered the next starter by identifying the subtitle of Darwin’s “On The Origin of Species “. Well, since Darwin was the captain of Christ’s 1828 University Challenge semi finalists I should jolly well think so ! Actually at this point the foot seemed to be coming off the gas pedal a little with regards to the bonuses, since they didn’t get one of them. Alexander Greaves made up for it by taking the next starter, and earning a set of bonuses on castles and palaces in Germany. Normal service was resumed with Christ’s taking 3 out of 3.
At this late stage Natasha Simonova for once did actually get a starter wrong. In a very nice literary starter, the teams were asked “Claudius in Shakeseare’s Hamlet, and Edward Murdstone in Dickens’ David Copperfield, stood in which relation to the title character ? “ Christ’s skipper buzzed in with “Uncle “. Ah, there’s the rub. Claudius was Hamlet’s uncle, but nasty old Murdstone wasn’t David’s. They were both stepfathers. It didn’t put her off her step one little bit. She correctly took the next starter identifying that wikipedia has the word ‘search’ in 6 different languages on its homepage. The game was almost over, but I was pleased to see Daniel Jamieson of Liverpool correctly buzz in to identify a Churchill quote as referring to appeasers. Its too my shame that in their set of bonuses I didn’t know that Bruce Robinson made the film “Withnail and I “. One bonus took their score to 60.
A great UC starter followed. “Which form of precipitation occurs through the concatenation of the symbols for tin oxygen and tungsten ? “ Yeah, given enough time we could see that it would be snow – sn – tin – o – oxygen and w – tungsten. But we wouldn’t , most of us, have got it as quickly as Joe Walmswell. I did actually know the three bonuses on lanthanoids – thanks sporcle ! Christ’s were at 280 when Alexander Greaves buzzed in to correctly spell Connecticut. How much time remained ? Not enough to get them quite to 300. Not enough for any bonuses at all. The final result was a win for Christ’s by 290 to 60. No harsh words for Liverpool from JP , who merely said that the questions didn’t fall well for them. I’d say it possibly had more to do with the fact that Christ’s were so good on the buzzer. Very hard luck that. Its early days in the competition, but you have to say that this Christ’s team look very impressive. Joe Walmswell and especially captain Natasha Simonova have set themselves quite a standard to live up to in the next round. A team to watch, I think.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Not a lot to report this week. Indeed, I'm really sorry that I missed last week when Newnham were on. Last year JP seemed particularly smitten with the Newnham team as I recall. Still, I digress.
When asked to name two of the 5 members whose arrest Charles Ist sought, captain Simonova tried to offer Pym and Hampden. “Who ? !” sniffed our Jeremy, seizing the opportunity to highlight a slight mispronunciation . “ Pym and Hamp – TON ? Well, I think I’ll accept it , I think it was just a misunderstanding between the two of you. “
On the Bob Dylan covers, JP seemed rather upset that Liverpool didn’t recognise the Bryan Ferry version, saying “Amazing – how quickly these people fade !” JP a secret Roxy Music fan ? Who would have ever thought it ?
Interesting Fact That I Did Not Already Know Of The Week
Liverpool University is actually the one where the term ‘red brick university ‘ comes from.
Let me begin with an apology to the teams from Newnham Cambridge and Southampton, who contested last week’s show. I was unable to review it since I was in Spain. Anyone who would like to read a review of the show can find a very good one in Weaver’s Week – just click on the link.
Weaver's Week
So to business. Last night’s show pitted Christ’s Cambridge against Liverpool. Christ’s, originally set up in the 15th century for the training of Grammar school teachers according to JP, were represented by Charles Darwin, Earl Mountbatten, Sacha Baron Cohen and John Milton– oh no, sorry, these were some of the famous alumni. The current Christ’s team were Jack Belloli, Joe Walmswell, and Alexander Greaves, all from Greater London, and captain Natasha Simonova, most definitely not a Londoner, originally from Moscow. As for Liverpool University, it originated with just 45 students, although now numbers more than 20,000. Representing Liverpool tonight were Carol Anne Duffy, Stella Rimmington, Patricia Routledge – sorry, I’ve done it again. The real Liverpool team are Andrew Dobrzanski, Daniel Jamieson, Dave Macleod and captain Chris Murphy.
On with the show. Captain Simonova of Christ’s showed that she meant business with an early buzz for the first starter. As soon as JP mentioned “Stendahl” she confidently answered “The Red and The Black “. Lovely to see a question follow in the first set of bonuses about William Shockley – I was asked something similar in my first GK round in the 2007 Mastermind SOBM. Neither team fancied lutra lutra – it’s the latin term for the otter. The next starter was one of those North American sports teams questions. The Toronto Maple leafs and the Edmonton Oilers will have given it to quite a few of those watching at home, but both teams showed admirable nerve in waiting for JP to say “ in which WINTER sport ? “ Quickest on the buzzer was Mr. Greaves of Christ’s. Only on UC could you get a bonus round on fictional pigs – very pleased with myself for remembering that the pig in Dr. Doolittle was Gub Gub, and that the Empress of Blandings was a Berkshire. Oh well, little things please little minds , they do say.
A good interruption from Chris Murphy, identifying the word dolly from several definitions brought Liverpool their first points. A set of bonuses on Savonarola, and Liverpool themselves were on a roll-a , picking up 2 bonuses. Natasha Simonova picked up her second starter by identifying an invented writing system from The Lord of The Rings.Christ’s took a full set of bonuses on these. I recognised Klingon, and guessed the first set was from StarWars, but missed the quasi-heiroglyphs from Stargate. Christ’s didn’t, though, getting their first full set of the contest. Liverpool were straight back in with the next starter. JP described a route taken by an academic between certain European cities, and Andrew Dobrzanski buzzed in impressively quickly having worked out the route was equivalent to a letter N. I would have got there in the end, but nowhere near as quickly as that. A set of bonuses followed on biological pigments, and again, Liverpool got 2 out of 3 of them.
So at the 10 minute mark Christ’s led by 60 to 40. On paper there was hardly anything in it. There were signs, though, that Christ’s might have an advantage in terms of buzzer reaction speed. Joe Walmswell was very quickly in with the name of the body that makes up over 90% of the mass of our solar system – the Sun. A good set of bonuses on the Kochel system – by which the works of Mozart are catalogued – followed, and Christ’s impressively answered each of them with barely a hesitation. Signs perhaps that they were smoothly moving through the gears. Captain Simonova took the next starter, and three bonuses on the events leading up to the start of the English Civil War were all gratefully taken. Christ’s now were through the 100 points barrier, and hurtling towards 200, as Miss Simonova interrupted correctly , identifying a Walter Pater quote as referring to the Mona Lisa. This impressed JP , who suddenly didn’t seem quite so inclined to pick holes in her pronunciation. He was even more impressed when in one of their bonuses the team actually gave more than he wanted about the current name of a nuclear accelerator facility in Tennessee – “That is absolutely correct – “ Well, don’t sound so surprised ! Joe Walmswell followed his captain’s lead by taking the next starter, identifying the word terminator from a series of definitions. Two correct bonuses from a set of three meant that Christ’s had now scored 90 unanswered points.
Neither team managed to identify song and singer in the music starter. Chris Murphy knew it was Bob Dylan, and did exactly the right thing in having a punt on The Times They Are A Changing. Not right , unfortunately. Mind you, Christ’s didn’t recognise “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall “. Neither team identified the peyote as being of the cactus family, but Dave Macleod of Liverpool made no mistake answering that Hilary Mantell was the author of , amongst others, Wolf Hall. Liverpool were given three cover versions of the Dylan song to identify. Sadly they didn’t manage any of the bonuses. Then we were back to business as usual as Natasha Simonova continued her fine buzzer form correctly identifying a European aristocrat as the current leading member of the Royal Stuart family. Just as impressive as Christ’s buzzing was their conversion rate of bonuses into points. It didn’t seem to matter a great deal whatever subjects were asked, they always seemed to answer at least 2, and often all three of each.
Neither team identified Owen as the poet behind a quotation, although Liverpool came close with Sassoon. Christ’s took the next , with Mr. Walmswell identifying the Bay of Bengal. A set of acronyms on astronomical acronyms followed. JP seemed to become more impressed with Natasha Simonova as the game went on. She correctly buzzed in on a picture starter, identifying the year in which three photographs were taken as 1960. It IS 1960 ! our Jeremy bellowed. For once they dropped 2 bonuses, only correctly identifying the last one that showed the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing .
We were well past the 20 minute mark by now, and poor Liverpool, who had been subdued not by any great failing of their own, but by Christ’s heavy artillery on the buzzer, were only 5 points more to the good. The match was essentially over, and it would take an exceptional last few minutes to put them in reach of the repechage. Christ’s , though, having passed though 200 seemed to have their eye on the 300 barrier, as they answered the next starter by identifying the subtitle of Darwin’s “On The Origin of Species “. Well, since Darwin was the captain of Christ’s 1828 University Challenge semi finalists I should jolly well think so ! Actually at this point the foot seemed to be coming off the gas pedal a little with regards to the bonuses, since they didn’t get one of them. Alexander Greaves made up for it by taking the next starter, and earning a set of bonuses on castles and palaces in Germany. Normal service was resumed with Christ’s taking 3 out of 3.
At this late stage Natasha Simonova for once did actually get a starter wrong. In a very nice literary starter, the teams were asked “Claudius in Shakeseare’s Hamlet, and Edward Murdstone in Dickens’ David Copperfield, stood in which relation to the title character ? “ Christ’s skipper buzzed in with “Uncle “. Ah, there’s the rub. Claudius was Hamlet’s uncle, but nasty old Murdstone wasn’t David’s. They were both stepfathers. It didn’t put her off her step one little bit. She correctly took the next starter identifying that wikipedia has the word ‘search’ in 6 different languages on its homepage. The game was almost over, but I was pleased to see Daniel Jamieson of Liverpool correctly buzz in to identify a Churchill quote as referring to appeasers. Its too my shame that in their set of bonuses I didn’t know that Bruce Robinson made the film “Withnail and I “. One bonus took their score to 60.
A great UC starter followed. “Which form of precipitation occurs through the concatenation of the symbols for tin oxygen and tungsten ? “ Yeah, given enough time we could see that it would be snow – sn – tin – o – oxygen and w – tungsten. But we wouldn’t , most of us, have got it as quickly as Joe Walmswell. I did actually know the three bonuses on lanthanoids – thanks sporcle ! Christ’s were at 280 when Alexander Greaves buzzed in to correctly spell Connecticut. How much time remained ? Not enough to get them quite to 300. Not enough for any bonuses at all. The final result was a win for Christ’s by 290 to 60. No harsh words for Liverpool from JP , who merely said that the questions didn’t fall well for them. I’d say it possibly had more to do with the fact that Christ’s were so good on the buzzer. Very hard luck that. Its early days in the competition, but you have to say that this Christ’s team look very impressive. Joe Walmswell and especially captain Natasha Simonova have set themselves quite a standard to live up to in the next round. A team to watch, I think.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Not a lot to report this week. Indeed, I'm really sorry that I missed last week when Newnham were on. Last year JP seemed particularly smitten with the Newnham team as I recall. Still, I digress.
When asked to name two of the 5 members whose arrest Charles Ist sought, captain Simonova tried to offer Pym and Hampden. “Who ? !” sniffed our Jeremy, seizing the opportunity to highlight a slight mispronunciation . “ Pym and Hamp – TON ? Well, I think I’ll accept it , I think it was just a misunderstanding between the two of you. “
On the Bob Dylan covers, JP seemed rather upset that Liverpool didn’t recognise the Bryan Ferry version, saying “Amazing – how quickly these people fade !” JP a secret Roxy Music fan ? Who would have ever thought it ?
Interesting Fact That I Did Not Already Know Of The Week
Liverpool University is actually the one where the term ‘red brick university ‘ comes from.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Mastermind New Series
Yes, even in the sun drenched province of Valencia, vigilant Dave is ever alert to news of our favourite quizzes. This is very good news. The new series of Mastermind begins, unless I'm much mistaken, next week, on Friday for most regions, although as per usual God alone knows when BBC Wales will get around to showing it.
You know what I'm going to say, I'm sure. Every series of Mastermind has special interest for me. However this one even more than most, if such a thing were possible. For one thing I know just a few of the excellent quizzers who are taking part in this series, and that always adds a little something extra for me. Still, even if that were not the case we have the intriguing possibilities offered by the change in format for this season. Basically its what we saw in the Grand Final of Champion of Champions a couple of weeks ago - the normal two minutes of specialist questions, followed by a bumper two and a half minutes of general knowledge questions.
I won't lie to you, I have no special insight into why the changes have been made to the format. As you can understand Jon the Producer was exceptionally busy - well all the team were - when I saw him during the champ of champs series, so I didn't really get to discuss it with anyone. Perhaps the thinking behind it is that for many viewers the big thing is to answer along at home with the GK questions to see how many you can answer - I know that it always was with me. More GK questions, therefore, would mean more enjoyment for the viewer. Well, time will tell. It certainly produced a wonderful final of champ of champs. Its something I feel I'll be better able to comment on once we've seen it action a few more times.
Looking forward to it immensely.
You know what I'm going to say, I'm sure. Every series of Mastermind has special interest for me. However this one even more than most, if such a thing were possible. For one thing I know just a few of the excellent quizzers who are taking part in this series, and that always adds a little something extra for me. Still, even if that were not the case we have the intriguing possibilities offered by the change in format for this season. Basically its what we saw in the Grand Final of Champion of Champions a couple of weeks ago - the normal two minutes of specialist questions, followed by a bumper two and a half minutes of general knowledge questions.
I won't lie to you, I have no special insight into why the changes have been made to the format. As you can understand Jon the Producer was exceptionally busy - well all the team were - when I saw him during the champ of champs series, so I didn't really get to discuss it with anyone. Perhaps the thinking behind it is that for many viewers the big thing is to answer along at home with the GK questions to see how many you can answer - I know that it always was with me. More GK questions, therefore, would mean more enjoyment for the viewer. Well, time will tell. It certainly produced a wonderful final of champ of champs. Its something I feel I'll be better able to comment on once we've seen it action a few more times.
Looking forward to it immensely.
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Life without Quizzes
Sorry if you've been missing the reviews, and the usual vague ramblings about quiz life in general. I've been in Spain since Sunday, but only 8 days this time as opposed to the 4 weeks I spent last year, so normal service will be resumed on, or soon after Tuesday.
Last year it took me about three weeks, but I did eventually find a local quiz. I hated it. Actually let me qualify this comment. Obviously I'm exaggerating for effect, since almost any quiz is better than no quiz at all, but I didn't really enjoy it very much, mainly due to the fact that over half of it was made up of Family Fortunes type guessing questions. So I was dithering over whether I really wanted to go back to it this year. Well, that dilemma was soon settled. The bar where it took place is a victim of the credit crunch, so it seems, and has closed its doors in the 12 months that have passed since I was last here.
Now my mother in law and Mary's step dad do have British telly - but its really temperamental and there's only so much that you can get on it. Add to that the fact that the cardinal rule in pretty much every house I've ever lived in, and every home I've ever lodged is that she or he who controls the remote control decides on the evening's viewing, then I haven't seen any quizzes on TV either. They can't get BBC2 ! Can you imagine it ? A week without University Challenge ! Its not even as if the iplayer is available outside the UK either.
So, a week without quizzing, then. Even at Christmas, when there's no quizzes on in the pubs and clubs locally you can usually find some on the telly, even if its only celebrity versions of various shows. I'm well over the worst of it now. Only another three days, and I'll be back at my own laptop, and able to take my pick of the local quizzes should I so choose. You probably know me well enough to know that I will definitely so choose. But they do say that we should be able to draw something positive from even the most negative of experiences. So what have I learned from my week's enforced lay off ? Actually, not a lot. I already knew that I CAN live without quizzing - but I don't want to.
Come to think of it, there's not a lot more to add to that, really. Before I get accused of being an ungrateful so and so, I should probably stress that I've had a lovely week in all other respects. But come on - a week without quizzes ! See you on Tuesday.
Last year it took me about three weeks, but I did eventually find a local quiz. I hated it. Actually let me qualify this comment. Obviously I'm exaggerating for effect, since almost any quiz is better than no quiz at all, but I didn't really enjoy it very much, mainly due to the fact that over half of it was made up of Family Fortunes type guessing questions. So I was dithering over whether I really wanted to go back to it this year. Well, that dilemma was soon settled. The bar where it took place is a victim of the credit crunch, so it seems, and has closed its doors in the 12 months that have passed since I was last here.
Now my mother in law and Mary's step dad do have British telly - but its really temperamental and there's only so much that you can get on it. Add to that the fact that the cardinal rule in pretty much every house I've ever lived in, and every home I've ever lodged is that she or he who controls the remote control decides on the evening's viewing, then I haven't seen any quizzes on TV either. They can't get BBC2 ! Can you imagine it ? A week without University Challenge ! Its not even as if the iplayer is available outside the UK either.
So, a week without quizzing, then. Even at Christmas, when there's no quizzes on in the pubs and clubs locally you can usually find some on the telly, even if its only celebrity versions of various shows. I'm well over the worst of it now. Only another three days, and I'll be back at my own laptop, and able to take my pick of the local quizzes should I so choose. You probably know me well enough to know that I will definitely so choose. But they do say that we should be able to draw something positive from even the most negative of experiences. So what have I learned from my week's enforced lay off ? Actually, not a lot. I already knew that I CAN live without quizzing - but I don't want to.
Come to think of it, there's not a lot more to add to that, really. Before I get accused of being an ungrateful so and so, I should probably stress that I've had a lovely week in all other respects. But come on - a week without quizzes ! See you on Tuesday.
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Another terrific old Quiz Book
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Last week I got into a conversation about quiz books with a quizzing friend of mine. He’s a much younger guy than I am, although a brilliant quizzer in his own right, but he loves quiz books, and old quiz books as much as I do, and we were swapping notes about our favourites, best buys from boot sales , charity shops and the likes, and so on.
Fast forward to Thursday. I’ve mentioned my friend John before. A great quizzer, and great company, and we’ve been haunting some of the best pub quizzes between Swansea and Bridgend together for many years now. John is in the throes of redecorating, and he has made a serious, dare I say it, almost life changing decision. He is cutting down on his collection of quiz books.
“Surely it hasn’t come to this, John ? “ I asked, trying, Samaritan-like, to talk him out of this tragic resolution. Yet nothing would move him. If he hadn’t looked at a quiz book for five years, he decided, then it had to go. Which is where I really come into the story. John offered me the pick of any of them I wanted. Now, my conscience was fairly clear, since I had at least tried to talk him out of it.
After dropping my middle daughter Zara off at work in Cardiff I made my way round to John’s, and I will admit that I was rather excited about it. John has been collecting quiz books for much longer than I have, well over 30 years. Still, what I saw when he led me into the room where he had placed all the books that had to go it exceeded all my expectations. There were literally hundreds. I mean, I currently have between 2 and 3 hundred quiz books, but the ones he was chucking out dwarfed my whole collection. Even after I discounted those he was offering which I already own, the array was still highly impressive, and it took me the best part of a couple of hours to go through them. Part of the problem was that we kept stopping, and discussing the relative merits of various books and formats. Together we came up with a couple of rules of thumb regarding quizbooks – namely : -
Anything that calls itself The Best – The Biggest – The Ultimate – isn’t.
Anything that has a pint of beer on the front cover will have contents that are as unoriginal and lacking in imagination as the cover.
More expensive does not always mean better.
Cheaper often means worse.
Still, enjoyable as the discussion was, it wasn’t helping us sort through the books, and so we cracked on, and I took about 40 all told.
There were a couple of books that John was extremely keen for me to take with me. One of them is what I really wanted to tell you about today. I had never come across
“The Almost Impossible Quiz Book” by Irene Thomas before. If you’re too young to remember Irene Thomas , she was the first lady winner of Brain Of Britain, and a regular for many years on the Round Britain Quiz. You could say that she was a famous quizzer before there were any famous quizzers. So her quiz credentials are impeccable. Published by penguin in 1982, this book follows pretty much the same tack as Round Britain Quiz. If you’re not an aficionado of the series, basically regional teams of the great and the good are asked to unravel seemingly cryptic questions. Here’s a selection from the first few pages of the book : -
1) Who went off to France in a fury on 12th December 1936 ?
2) When was Gruoch’s husband apparently menaced by trees ?
3) How was a combination of a colour, a loaf, and an almanac connected with a niece of George IV ?
4) Where might you find an English soup of very little worth ?
5) How are Peter, Owen, Billy and Albert related to a chimney sweep ?
6) How did Aristides Psairotis’ grove of olive trees become eternally English in 1915 ?
7) A pelican was admitted in 1812, a badger in 1848, and a beaver in 1859. To what ?
8) Which men of straw gave their name to an Italian opera ?
9) Whose arms have three legs ?
10) The one in Messina is a storm in a teacup, while the one in Vienna promises like for like. What are they ?
Great questions, of the – Ah , I get it - variety when you know the answer. Like many of my favourite quiz books, something I could only use VERY sparingly for a pub quiz, but blimey, doesn’t it just beat asking people the more common name of Gravelly Hill Interchange into a cocked hat ! I’ll give you a few days to work on the answers – and if I can’t get to a PC while I’m in Spain, then I promise I’ll post the answers when I come back. Adios amigos.
Friday, 6 August 2010
Mastermind Champion of Champions Grand Final
The first part of this post is taken from my journal of my involvement with Champion of Champions : -
I was pleasantly surprised that the school allowed me to leave at 12:30 today. Call time wasn’t until 6:15, so I wasn’t too worried about making it on time, so long as we didn’t get caught up in a huge tailback where the M5 joins the M6. This had happened in 2007 when I was driving up for my semi. Then, thankfully, I was staying overnight in Manchester before the show, so that didn’t matter. Navigator for the day was my daughter Jenniffer. I’ll be honest, since I’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, and understand what its all about I have actually found that I’m better on long journeys, and don’t experience the drowsiness I sometimes used to get. But at the moment I just don’t feel confident with it, and so I like to have someone accompany me on a long drive. We arrived in Manchester in plenty of time to go to Asda and stock up on supplies and cheap petrol for the return journey before reporting to the studios.
All 4 contestants, Pat, Jesse, Gavin and David were there already. It was lovely to catch up with all of them, but we didn’t have a great amount of time to talk, as the team wanted to brief them all for the show. With the best will in the world, the best thing you can do as stand – in is to keep out of the way and enjoy the show. Which I am glad to say I did.
The Magnificent 4 – plus 1. Left to right – Me, Pat Gibson, David Edwards, Jesse Honey, Gavin Fuller
We were a little late going into the studio. The Champion of Champions show was being recorded at the end of a day of recordings of regular Mastermind. As it happened a friend was in the last heat of the day to be recorded before the final. She explained that during the recording there had been such a colossal downpour that the studio had flooded ! I kid you not ! Still, once we actually got into the studio and the recording started it went as smoothly as I can ever remember any of the shows I’ve been in. There were a couple of retakes of John Humphrys presenting the trophy, but that honestly was it.
Speaking of the trophy, I was delighted to see that this too was a Caithness glass bowl, although I was peeved to hear John Humphrys describe it as a ‘modest’ bowl. You only say that because you haven’t got one, John !
First into the chair was Gavin Fuller. Gavin, looking extremely elegant in tuxedo and bow tie, was answering on HMS Warrior. For those who don’t know, HMS Warrior was the world’s first iron clad warship, and a ship in many ways ahead of its time. Gavin proved to be right on time with his answers, setting a massive 17 as the standard to beat. Only one question prevented it from being the perfect round.
Pat followed, this time offering us Great Mathematicians, which was certainly a huge contrast to his first round topic of the Disney/Pixar films. Maybe Pat was not as sartorially refined tonight as Gavin, but there was a reason. Pat confided to me that he’d somewhat overheated in our show, and was running no risk of that happening tonight. Pat’s lovely wife confided to me before the start of the show that the Great Mathematicians had turned out to be a truly massive subject. Well, massive or not, Pat never has a bad round in any quiz, and he didn’t have a bad one in this show. His 16 and no passes put him just one point behind, with General Knowledge still to come.
So our first Magnus and Humphrys champions had laid down the gauntlet, and the second Magnus champion picked it up. In a way its ironic that David Edwards followed Pat into the chair. The last time we saw these two sharing a studio they were duking it out in the final of last year’s Are You An Egghead. David too looked very smart in a grey suit, as he announced that his specialist subject was Count Rumford. You could have easily forgiven him if he’d been daunted having to follow two rounds of the caliber of Gavin’s and Pat’s, but David is made of the right stuff, and he too made a complex subject look easy, whacking in another tremendous score of 16.
Finally we had Jesse Honey. There were many beautifully symmetrical things about this final, and to these you could add the fact that two contenders had opted for more formal attire, and two went a little more casual. Jesse this time opted for open necked shirt but no tie. That completes the comments from our fashion department. Following Jesse’s breath taking record breaking specialist round in the heats, to say there was an air of expectancy as he made his way to the chair would be a bit of an understatement. In the heat Jesse had answered on international flags. Now Jesse was answering on Westminster Cathedral. That’s the Roman Catholic Cathedral, and not the more famous Westminster Abbey. In the 2010 regular series Grand Final Jesse scored 18 on Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. He came close to equaling that, but leveled out at 17 and 1 pass. We’ll come back to that.
During the interval John Humphrys paid tribute to a first round the like of which we’ve certainly not seen during his own tenure, and possibly never before either. The aggregate score of 66 would take some beating. Just as importantly, only one point separated the 4 champions. It literally was anybody’s game, and that’s the way it should be.
Pat returned to the chair first. Now, unlike the heats, in the final we were playing by the new rules, which give contenders 2 and a half minutes on General Knowledge. With great concentration, Pat went on to demolish his set of GK questions, scoring a massively impressive 20, to set the bar at 36 and no passes. It was a stunning round, with questions coming from all angles, and Pat just sending them straight back where they came from. Stunning to watch. Beat that. Well , with three of the contenders on no passes going into the round, a tie break was certainly not out of the question.
Well, they all tried. David returned to the chair, and I’m not sure that there was a huge amount of sympathy in John Humphhrys’ comment – yes, you may very well wince ! David didn’t make his own job any easier by missing the first question, but he got into a hell of a good run after that. He got slightly bogged down in the mid 20s, but then picked up speed again with a tremendous run towards the end of the round. By the time the buzzer went he had added a symmetrical 16 to take his score to 32.
Gavin next returned to the chair. If he could equal Pat’s 20, then he would go into outright lead. If he scored 19, then he and Pat would be tied, with only Jesse to go. Even in a 2 and a half minute round 19 is a fearsome target to have to contemplate.Gavin was going great guns until the score reached 25, then a couple of passes pulled him up slightly in his tracks. He rallied on what I felt was the set of GK questions I would least like to have been given myself, to add 15 to his score.
So it all rested with Jesse. I know that many people have seen this final as a shootout between Pat and Jesse. This is very unfair to both David and Gavin, either of whom might have won the series and become a worthy champion of champions. Still, only Jesse stood between Pat and the title now. Jesse too needed 20 points for an outright win. Lets come back to that pass. Jesse was in exactly the same position I had been in in the heat. I had outscored Pat by one point on specialist. However I had accrued a pass in doing so. That meant I had to equal Pat’s GK score. So it was for Jesse. He had to equal Pat’s GK score - 19 would mean a pass countback – and we already knew that Pat had none. 150 seconds later we knew. Jesse produced yet another amazing, stupendous, barnstorming GK round, almost, but not quite as good as Pat’s. He scored 19, and as he already had a pass going into the last round, that meant that there was only one winner, the great Pat Gibson.
On a personal note, I would have loved to have played in the final as well, but it was a privilege to be able to watch it live with the audience. I spoke to Jon Kelly, the producer, after the show, and he said how proud he is of this show, being the most remarkable Mastermind show he has ever been associated with. You won’t catch me disagreeing with that, Jon. Loved playing in the series, loved watching the series.
The Details
I was pleasantly surprised that the school allowed me to leave at 12:30 today. Call time wasn’t until 6:15, so I wasn’t too worried about making it on time, so long as we didn’t get caught up in a huge tailback where the M5 joins the M6. This had happened in 2007 when I was driving up for my semi. Then, thankfully, I was staying overnight in Manchester before the show, so that didn’t matter. Navigator for the day was my daughter Jenniffer. I’ll be honest, since I’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, and understand what its all about I have actually found that I’m better on long journeys, and don’t experience the drowsiness I sometimes used to get. But at the moment I just don’t feel confident with it, and so I like to have someone accompany me on a long drive. We arrived in Manchester in plenty of time to go to Asda and stock up on supplies and cheap petrol for the return journey before reporting to the studios.
All 4 contestants, Pat, Jesse, Gavin and David were there already. It was lovely to catch up with all of them, but we didn’t have a great amount of time to talk, as the team wanted to brief them all for the show. With the best will in the world, the best thing you can do as stand – in is to keep out of the way and enjoy the show. Which I am glad to say I did.
The Magnificent 4 – plus 1. Left to right – Me, Pat Gibson, David Edwards, Jesse Honey, Gavin Fuller
We were a little late going into the studio. The Champion of Champions show was being recorded at the end of a day of recordings of regular Mastermind. As it happened a friend was in the last heat of the day to be recorded before the final. She explained that during the recording there had been such a colossal downpour that the studio had flooded ! I kid you not ! Still, once we actually got into the studio and the recording started it went as smoothly as I can ever remember any of the shows I’ve been in. There were a couple of retakes of John Humphrys presenting the trophy, but that honestly was it.
Speaking of the trophy, I was delighted to see that this too was a Caithness glass bowl, although I was peeved to hear John Humphrys describe it as a ‘modest’ bowl. You only say that because you haven’t got one, John !
First into the chair was Gavin Fuller. Gavin, looking extremely elegant in tuxedo and bow tie, was answering on HMS Warrior. For those who don’t know, HMS Warrior was the world’s first iron clad warship, and a ship in many ways ahead of its time. Gavin proved to be right on time with his answers, setting a massive 17 as the standard to beat. Only one question prevented it from being the perfect round.
Pat followed, this time offering us Great Mathematicians, which was certainly a huge contrast to his first round topic of the Disney/Pixar films. Maybe Pat was not as sartorially refined tonight as Gavin, but there was a reason. Pat confided to me that he’d somewhat overheated in our show, and was running no risk of that happening tonight. Pat’s lovely wife confided to me before the start of the show that the Great Mathematicians had turned out to be a truly massive subject. Well, massive or not, Pat never has a bad round in any quiz, and he didn’t have a bad one in this show. His 16 and no passes put him just one point behind, with General Knowledge still to come.
So our first Magnus and Humphrys champions had laid down the gauntlet, and the second Magnus champion picked it up. In a way its ironic that David Edwards followed Pat into the chair. The last time we saw these two sharing a studio they were duking it out in the final of last year’s Are You An Egghead. David too looked very smart in a grey suit, as he announced that his specialist subject was Count Rumford. You could have easily forgiven him if he’d been daunted having to follow two rounds of the caliber of Gavin’s and Pat’s, but David is made of the right stuff, and he too made a complex subject look easy, whacking in another tremendous score of 16.
Finally we had Jesse Honey. There were many beautifully symmetrical things about this final, and to these you could add the fact that two contenders had opted for more formal attire, and two went a little more casual. Jesse this time opted for open necked shirt but no tie. That completes the comments from our fashion department. Following Jesse’s breath taking record breaking specialist round in the heats, to say there was an air of expectancy as he made his way to the chair would be a bit of an understatement. In the heat Jesse had answered on international flags. Now Jesse was answering on Westminster Cathedral. That’s the Roman Catholic Cathedral, and not the more famous Westminster Abbey. In the 2010 regular series Grand Final Jesse scored 18 on Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. He came close to equaling that, but leveled out at 17 and 1 pass. We’ll come back to that.
During the interval John Humphrys paid tribute to a first round the like of which we’ve certainly not seen during his own tenure, and possibly never before either. The aggregate score of 66 would take some beating. Just as importantly, only one point separated the 4 champions. It literally was anybody’s game, and that’s the way it should be.
Pat returned to the chair first. Now, unlike the heats, in the final we were playing by the new rules, which give contenders 2 and a half minutes on General Knowledge. With great concentration, Pat went on to demolish his set of GK questions, scoring a massively impressive 20, to set the bar at 36 and no passes. It was a stunning round, with questions coming from all angles, and Pat just sending them straight back where they came from. Stunning to watch. Beat that. Well , with three of the contenders on no passes going into the round, a tie break was certainly not out of the question.
Well, they all tried. David returned to the chair, and I’m not sure that there was a huge amount of sympathy in John Humphhrys’ comment – yes, you may very well wince ! David didn’t make his own job any easier by missing the first question, but he got into a hell of a good run after that. He got slightly bogged down in the mid 20s, but then picked up speed again with a tremendous run towards the end of the round. By the time the buzzer went he had added a symmetrical 16 to take his score to 32.
Gavin next returned to the chair. If he could equal Pat’s 20, then he would go into outright lead. If he scored 19, then he and Pat would be tied, with only Jesse to go. Even in a 2 and a half minute round 19 is a fearsome target to have to contemplate.Gavin was going great guns until the score reached 25, then a couple of passes pulled him up slightly in his tracks. He rallied on what I felt was the set of GK questions I would least like to have been given myself, to add 15 to his score.
So it all rested with Jesse. I know that many people have seen this final as a shootout between Pat and Jesse. This is very unfair to both David and Gavin, either of whom might have won the series and become a worthy champion of champions. Still, only Jesse stood between Pat and the title now. Jesse too needed 20 points for an outright win. Lets come back to that pass. Jesse was in exactly the same position I had been in in the heat. I had outscored Pat by one point on specialist. However I had accrued a pass in doing so. That meant I had to equal Pat’s GK score. So it was for Jesse. He had to equal Pat’s GK score - 19 would mean a pass countback – and we already knew that Pat had none. 150 seconds later we knew. Jesse produced yet another amazing, stupendous, barnstorming GK round, almost, but not quite as good as Pat’s. He scored 19, and as he already had a pass going into the last round, that meant that there was only one winner, the great Pat Gibson.
On a personal note, I would have loved to have played in the final as well, but it was a privilege to be able to watch it live with the audience. I spoke to Jon Kelly, the producer, after the show, and he said how proud he is of this show, being the most remarkable Mastermind show he has ever been associated with. You won’t catch me disagreeing with that, Jon. Loved playing in the series, loved watching the series.
The Details
| Gavin Fuller | HMS Warrior | 17 – 0 | 15 – 2 | 32 – 2 |
| Pat Gibson | Great Mathematicians | 16 – 0 | 20 – 0 | 36 - 0 |
| David Edwards | Count Rumford | 16 – 0 | 16 – 0 | 32 - 0 |
| Jesse Honey | Westminster Cathedral | 17 – 1 | 19 – 1 | 36 – 2 |
Mastermind Champion of Champions Grand Final Preview
Mastermind Champion of Champions – Grand Final Preview
Well this feels rather odd, writing a preview to an event for which I was actually in the audience. So I will not make any predictions, merely run an eye over performances in the heat, and say a little bit about the final subjects all four of our surviving champs have chosen.
First into the chair tonight will be 1993 champion Gavin Fuller. Gavin won heat 2, knocking out Elizabeth Horrocks, Shaun Wallace, and Chris Hughes, when he answered questions on Mike Oldfield. Gavin had the second highest specialist round of all the heats, when he scored a perfect 19. Certainly on the day, and speaking to people since, its generally reckoned that the GK rounds in heat 2 were tougher than the GK rounds in any of the other heats. Tonight Gavin will be answering on HMS Warrior.
Second to go will be 2005 champion Pat Gibson. Pat won heat 4, knocking out Patricia Owen, Leslie Grout, and me, when he answered questions on Pixar Animated films. Pat’s combined total of 30 and no passes was the second highest of the first round heats ( which incidentally made my score of 30 and 4 passes the third highest – look, come on, you don’t know me very well if you thought I wasn’t going to mention that one ! ) Pat carries a heavy burden of expectation into the final, having been one of the pre tournament favourites to win the title. Tonight Pat will be answering on Great Mathematicians – a frighteningly wide subject.
Going third will be 1990 champion David Edwards. David won heat 3, knocking out Richard Sturch, Andy Page and Nancy Dickmann. In the heat David answered questions on possibly my favourite specialist subject of the whole series, not including my own, in the shape of The Mystery of Rennes le Chateau. Tonight he will answer on Count Rumford. No, I didn’t know either. Count Rumford was an 18th / 19th century Anglo American physicist.
Last but not least, Jesse Honey. Jesse carried all before him in heat 1, setting a new all time record for a single 2 minute round with 23 on National Flags. As if that wasn’t enough he went on to beat his own record for a Humphrys era 4 minute total with 38, knocking out Jeremy Bradbrooke, Geoff Thomas and Stephen Allan in the process. When you add this to Jesse’s superlative performances in the semi and final earlier this year , you can see quite rightly that he goes into the final with a huge burden of expectation on his shoulders. Tonight Jesse answers questions on Westminster Cathedral – that’s the Roman Catholic Cathedral and not the Abbey.
Who will win ? I’m not going to tell you ! But I will tell you this, it is an absolutely wonderful show, which you really do not want to miss.
Well this feels rather odd, writing a preview to an event for which I was actually in the audience. So I will not make any predictions, merely run an eye over performances in the heat, and say a little bit about the final subjects all four of our surviving champs have chosen.
First into the chair tonight will be 1993 champion Gavin Fuller. Gavin won heat 2, knocking out Elizabeth Horrocks, Shaun Wallace, and Chris Hughes, when he answered questions on Mike Oldfield. Gavin had the second highest specialist round of all the heats, when he scored a perfect 19. Certainly on the day, and speaking to people since, its generally reckoned that the GK rounds in heat 2 were tougher than the GK rounds in any of the other heats. Tonight Gavin will be answering on HMS Warrior.
Second to go will be 2005 champion Pat Gibson. Pat won heat 4, knocking out Patricia Owen, Leslie Grout, and me, when he answered questions on Pixar Animated films. Pat’s combined total of 30 and no passes was the second highest of the first round heats ( which incidentally made my score of 30 and 4 passes the third highest – look, come on, you don’t know me very well if you thought I wasn’t going to mention that one ! ) Pat carries a heavy burden of expectation into the final, having been one of the pre tournament favourites to win the title. Tonight Pat will be answering on Great Mathematicians – a frighteningly wide subject.
Going third will be 1990 champion David Edwards. David won heat 3, knocking out Richard Sturch, Andy Page and Nancy Dickmann. In the heat David answered questions on possibly my favourite specialist subject of the whole series, not including my own, in the shape of The Mystery of Rennes le Chateau. Tonight he will answer on Count Rumford. No, I didn’t know either. Count Rumford was an 18th / 19th century Anglo American physicist.
Last but not least, Jesse Honey. Jesse carried all before him in heat 1, setting a new all time record for a single 2 minute round with 23 on National Flags. As if that wasn’t enough he went on to beat his own record for a Humphrys era 4 minute total with 38, knocking out Jeremy Bradbrooke, Geoff Thomas and Stephen Allan in the process. When you add this to Jesse’s superlative performances in the semi and final earlier this year , you can see quite rightly that he goes into the final with a huge burden of expectation on his shoulders. Tonight Jesse answers questions on Westminster Cathedral – that’s the Roman Catholic Cathedral and not the Abbey.
Who will win ? I’m not going to tell you ! But I will tell you this, it is an absolutely wonderful show, which you really do not want to miss.
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