Round One – Match 6 – Mensans v. Bloggers
Right then, lets get the most serious business out of the way. I’ll give Mensans a 7 out of 10 on the exotic team nameometer, and Bloggers a 6. Both teams lose points a little from being , well, exactly what it says on the tin. The Mensans are all members of the famous society for people with a demonstrably high I.Q. Quizzer Paul Murphy and John Paines flanked captain Martyn Smith. Across the studio sat the Bloggers. They were Chris Rubery , Steve Perkins, and captain Ruth Deller. If you’re thinking to yourself, well, I bet he was supporting the Bloggers, being as he is himself a blogger, all I can tell you is that you clearly know me too well by now.
Round One – What’s the Connection ?
The Mensans won the toss and elected to go first. They went with Water, and for their pains got pictures of Raymond Blanc – Vivaldi ( The red Priest – colours perhaps ?) – Frankie Valli and the boys – ah, I know, and a pizza. 4 seasons, of course- Raymond’s gaff being the Manoir aux Quatre Saisons. Nice point earned there. The Bloggers picked Eye of Horus and got a terrific connection . Powder : Blue – Water : Red – Foam: Cream – at which they twigged that this was the contents of different coloured fire extinguishers. Black :Co2 would complete it. Lovely connection, and 2 good points. Mensans took 2 reeds, and got Mr. Freese, Mr. Dahl, Mr. Magnol and Mr. Fuchs. I’ll be honest, I never twigged until Leonard Fuchs came out, but neither team saw it in studio conditions – all have plants named after them. The Bloggers, looking to build on their early lead, took Lion. 240 tolars , 5.95 markkas, 1936 lire and 0.79 punt were all they had to work on. Currencies , obviously. They plumped for all being equivalent to a pound. Close, but the cigar went to the Mensans, who knew that each was equivalent to a euro at the time when those countries adopted the euro. Lovely connection again. The Mensans showed their mettle with the dreaded music bonus. They recognised Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps, and Say , Say , Say. Yes, it may look easy when its written down, but try doing it when you listen to them in the studio. They earned a good three points by having the courage of their convictions to go for it. Bloggers then took horned viper, and here was my Moment At Home Of The Week. When 1923 FA Cup Final flashed up I shouted “White Horse “ ! No, I wouldn’t have gambled in the studio. Still, TV Theme by Jacky confirmed it. D’you remember that old series about the white horses of the Carmargue ? Used to be on kids TV every holiday, along with Robinson Crusoe. Ah, now there WAS a TV theme ! – Sorry, I just went a little All Our Yesterdays for a moment there. Back to the show. Even Foam crested waves couldn’t give it to the Bloggers. The Mensans got it. That was enough to give them a lead of 6 points to 2 at the end of the round.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?
The Mensans took the viper by the horns and for their trouble were given G on a blue background, E on a pink one, and H on a yellow one. They worked out we were dealing with Trivial Pursuit categories, but not which should come next. The Bloggers knew it would be A and L on brown. Good bonus. Two reeds gave bloggers one of those which you can’t believe that its right , but there’s only one thing it might be. Translunar – interplanetary – Interstellar, they were sure must be followed by Intergalactic. As indeed it was. The Mensans found a nice one behind lion. Alexander the Great was followed by Aristotle. They knew, I think that Aris taught Alex, and working back, he was taught by Plato, who was taught by the star of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Keanu Reev- I mean Mr. So-Crates. They took Plato to be certain, and indeed it was. Nice link back. Ah, the poor young Bloggers found this behind twisted flax. Mice – Madeleine – Gabriel. They had, I think its fair to say, not an earthly. The slightly older Mensans knew we were in Bagpuss country here, but which came next in order of waking up. If it’s a Bagpuss question I ALWAYS say Professor Yaffle , and this was right in this case for the Mensans. Again, they could have gambled early on their next set. Eye of Horus revealed Maria – Joseph, and here they knew it, but took Nancy and Oliver to be sure. Yes, it was those Andrew Lloyd Webber/Graham Norton shows, Britain’s Got Dorothy, or some such. A shame that both teams could see that Tamar – Severn and Forth were all bridges, but not that the longest of the set of single span suspension bridges would be the magnificent Humber Bridge. So the Mensans still led by 11 to 5.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
All change as the Bloggers got first choice and plumped for Lion. Methodically they unravelled a set of parts of a tooth, and then a set of places in the Ukraine. With not a huge amount of time remaining they solved the last two sets – Democracy – Benefactors, Noises Off and Copenhagen, which they knew were a set of plays by Michael Frayn – pretty good shout that one – and Marengo, Nelson – Traveller and Bucephalus, a set of famous horses. 10 points at any stage of the game can make a hell of a difference. Whatever happened the Mensans couldn’t possibly increase their lead before the vowels.
They had a great go at maintaining it though. I don’t now if all Mensa members are this good and quick at unravelling these puzzles, but the boys made pretty short work of untangling the four sets. They found May – Taylor – Mercury and Deacon – members of Queen. Then Zodiac – Prefect – Transit and Scorpio – Ford models -. Then Priest – Bishop – Pastor and Cantor – all religious offices. This then left them with Telescoping – Power – Harmonic and Fourier. I didn’t have a clue. They had a decent stab with scales of measurement, and Victoria gave them another go, but to no avail. They are all mathematical series. Fair enough. So the lead was reduced slightly, and going into the final round it was Mensans 18, and Bloggers 15.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
Now, the bloggers had solved the whole wall in less than the allotted time, and the Mensans had been even quicker. So a long final round looked likely. The first set, Terms in Criminal Law, saw one wrong buzz from the Bloggers, but they managed two correct ones, to the Mensans' 1. People with millions of twitter followers was very much to the Bloggers taste, and they took it 3 – 1. The Bloggers were then superb on Dependencies, and took the lot . They enjoyed that so much they did the same with Races. Game pretty much over, but to finish off they took three points on films starring married actors. I’m sorry to use this phrase , Mensans, but they were blown away by the Bloggers’ onslaught. A fantastic performance on the vowels, reminiscent of the brilliant Epicureans from match 1. The final score was a win for the Bloggers by 30 to 19.
Well played to both teams. A fascinating match, in which neither team let themselves down at all. Good show.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
TV Watch - University Challenge
University Challenge – Round 1 Match 14 – Merton, Oxford v. St. John’s Cambridge
Here we are then, after golf – stopped – play , at the end of the first round. For our two teams the stakes were clear, anything over 155, and you’re in the next round. Mind you, both teams were keen to cement their place as of right, by winning the show. Lets start with Merton. One of the more venerable colleges in England’s green and pleasant land, Merton was founded in 1264. Considerably younger were the four team members, Tim Coleman, Verity Parkinson, Kim Al-Hourani and captain Tom Hudson. St. John’s College, who reached the semis a couple of years ago as I recall, began life as a hospital. Tonight’s team were Elliott Bennett-Spragg, Caroline Tecks, Barratt Wilson and captain James Orr. On with the show, then, and let the devil take the hindmost.
The first question was a tricky - how many British Prime Ministers were there between the outbreak of world war II, and the surrender of Japan . Ah, yes, don’t forget Clement Atlee . Tom Hudson remembered him, and took first blood. 2 out of 3 bonuses followed. James Orr of St. John’s took the next starter, identifying a battlefield description as belonging to Bosworth. Bonuses on the state of Nevada gave them a clean sweep, and a slight lead. Neither team managed the next starter. Apparently 1 joule = 10 million ergs. Fair enough. I didn’t know it, neither did Barratt Wilson or Tom Hudson, who both chanced their arms on this one. Worth a shot, anyway. There was a lovely starter on Shakespeare next. Which is the highest ordinal number to appear in the title of a Shakespeare play ? Henry VIII I yelled, quite forgetting that he wrote a popular little number called Twelfth Night as well. Tim Coleman took that one. One out of 3 bonuses on the mistresses of French kings was taken. The picture starter followed. This showed a representation of part of a London Underground map drawn to scale, and nobody managed to identify the station shown. Never mind. Neither team knew that it was his depiction of Lenin in Diego Rivera’s Rockefeller Plaza murals that caused them to be removed. Mr. Wilson, who had been flexing his buzzer finger several times so far cut in with the answer to the next starter, knowing that subjunctive, indicative etc are the moods of verbs. Given the 3 tube map bonuses St. John’s swept up the lot. I knew that RKO studios made stars out of King Kong, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although not in the same film, but neither team got it. Barratt Wilson took the next starter on some thing to do with angles of incidence and angles of reflection. Well, he knew what JP was talking about anyway. 3 bonuses taken thank you very much, and St. John’s led at the 10 minute mark by 65 to 35.
Merton then had a little bit of a deficit to pull back, and Tim Coleman began by taking a starter on the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. I suppose its probably better than bad fiction in sex. 2 bonuses were taken on cricket. Elliot Bennett-Spragg took a good starter by identifying a definition of the word sibyl, and I was able to quote-a-long-a-Paxman with lines spoken by Lady Macbeth. 1 bonus taken. The music starter followed, with a track from a film soundtrack, which required the name of the artist and the film. St. John’s got the film, Trainspotting, but plumped for leathery old insurance salesman Iggy Pop when they should have gone for Underworld. Kim Al-Hourani knew it, and they gratefully took 2 out of the 3 bonuses on the same film soundtrack. They missed Heaven 17, plumping for Human League – from which group I think Heaven 17 had actually split some time earlier. A miscue from Mr. Wilson on a maths/biology starter let in Tom Hudson, and one bonus on the Dambusters gave Merton a slight lead. The skipper followed this up with his knowledge of Japanese Knotweed. A full set of bonus meant they were keeping the pedal to the metal. Still the indefatigable Barratt Wilson struck right back, recognising Hooke’s Law when he heard it. 3 bonuses on Ancient European languages kept them motoring at full speed themselves. James Orr recognised the picture starter as king Edward VII, and 1 bonus on other people who died in 1910 meant that they were back in the lead. At the 20 minute mark St. John’s had a reduced lead of 120 to 110.
Going into the last part of the quiz both teams had an excellent chance of making it past the total needed to progress. Mr. Wilson was too quick for his own good, answering about a statue found on a greek island. Tim Coleman knew it was the Venus di Milo. Bonuses followed on Thomas Hardy. As a coincidence, Thomas Hardy was the answer that St. John’s gave to the picture of Mark Twain in the picture bonuses, but I digress. Another clean sweep of bonuses followed. Neither team got the next starter, but James Orr impressed me by knowing Berlins as the Riga-born British philosopher. 1 bonus followed. Goodness, but this was a good match. Next question, and it was Tom Hudson who buzzed incorrectly, and Barratt Wilson, waiting this time, came in with ‘nicotine’ , which impressed JP, who to be honest seemed to be enjoying this match as much as I was. Only 1 bonus on opera was taken, but it was enough to edge St. John’s into the lead again. However James Orr buzzed too early on the name of a son of Poseidon, and Merton knew it was Triton. 1 out of 3 bonuses put them on the brink of at least the repechage round. James Orr made amends by taking the next starter, and 2 out of 3 bonuses guaranteed them at least one more match in this year’s competition. Barratt Wilson came in too early for the next starter, but Tim Coleman knew John Knox, and so Merton were also through. The small matter of the winning the game remained. Barratt Wilson identified Plaster of Paris, but we were on the very cups of the gong. When it went, as the smoke cleared we could see that Merton had just edged it by 180 to 175.
Congratulations both teams. Not quite the tightest finish this series, but a good contest between two good teams. Well played !
Well, that completes the first round. Watch this space for my now traditional review of the first round, and preview of the second in the next few days.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
My favourite Paxman moment tonight was illustrative of the way he gets awfully protective about people taking liberties with Shakespeare. When St. John’s dithered over the Lady Macbeth lines he snapped
“These are FAMOUS quotes ! You either know them, or YOU don’t – give us an answer !”
I also enjoyed the way that he baited Tom Hudson, asking for more when Tom had already given him a perfectly acceptable answer, then letting him have the point ,
“Yeah , you can have it !”
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle only took one wicket in his first class cricket career. Mind you, it was that of Dr. W.G. Grace !
Here we are then, after golf – stopped – play , at the end of the first round. For our two teams the stakes were clear, anything over 155, and you’re in the next round. Mind you, both teams were keen to cement their place as of right, by winning the show. Lets start with Merton. One of the more venerable colleges in England’s green and pleasant land, Merton was founded in 1264. Considerably younger were the four team members, Tim Coleman, Verity Parkinson, Kim Al-Hourani and captain Tom Hudson. St. John’s College, who reached the semis a couple of years ago as I recall, began life as a hospital. Tonight’s team were Elliott Bennett-Spragg, Caroline Tecks, Barratt Wilson and captain James Orr. On with the show, then, and let the devil take the hindmost.
The first question was a tricky - how many British Prime Ministers were there between the outbreak of world war II, and the surrender of Japan . Ah, yes, don’t forget Clement Atlee . Tom Hudson remembered him, and took first blood. 2 out of 3 bonuses followed. James Orr of St. John’s took the next starter, identifying a battlefield description as belonging to Bosworth. Bonuses on the state of Nevada gave them a clean sweep, and a slight lead. Neither team managed the next starter. Apparently 1 joule = 10 million ergs. Fair enough. I didn’t know it, neither did Barratt Wilson or Tom Hudson, who both chanced their arms on this one. Worth a shot, anyway. There was a lovely starter on Shakespeare next. Which is the highest ordinal number to appear in the title of a Shakespeare play ? Henry VIII I yelled, quite forgetting that he wrote a popular little number called Twelfth Night as well. Tim Coleman took that one. One out of 3 bonuses on the mistresses of French kings was taken. The picture starter followed. This showed a representation of part of a London Underground map drawn to scale, and nobody managed to identify the station shown. Never mind. Neither team knew that it was his depiction of Lenin in Diego Rivera’s Rockefeller Plaza murals that caused them to be removed. Mr. Wilson, who had been flexing his buzzer finger several times so far cut in with the answer to the next starter, knowing that subjunctive, indicative etc are the moods of verbs. Given the 3 tube map bonuses St. John’s swept up the lot. I knew that RKO studios made stars out of King Kong, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although not in the same film, but neither team got it. Barratt Wilson took the next starter on some thing to do with angles of incidence and angles of reflection. Well, he knew what JP was talking about anyway. 3 bonuses taken thank you very much, and St. John’s led at the 10 minute mark by 65 to 35.
Merton then had a little bit of a deficit to pull back, and Tim Coleman began by taking a starter on the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. I suppose its probably better than bad fiction in sex. 2 bonuses were taken on cricket. Elliot Bennett-Spragg took a good starter by identifying a definition of the word sibyl, and I was able to quote-a-long-a-Paxman with lines spoken by Lady Macbeth. 1 bonus taken. The music starter followed, with a track from a film soundtrack, which required the name of the artist and the film. St. John’s got the film, Trainspotting, but plumped for leathery old insurance salesman Iggy Pop when they should have gone for Underworld. Kim Al-Hourani knew it, and they gratefully took 2 out of the 3 bonuses on the same film soundtrack. They missed Heaven 17, plumping for Human League – from which group I think Heaven 17 had actually split some time earlier. A miscue from Mr. Wilson on a maths/biology starter let in Tom Hudson, and one bonus on the Dambusters gave Merton a slight lead. The skipper followed this up with his knowledge of Japanese Knotweed. A full set of bonus meant they were keeping the pedal to the metal. Still the indefatigable Barratt Wilson struck right back, recognising Hooke’s Law when he heard it. 3 bonuses on Ancient European languages kept them motoring at full speed themselves. James Orr recognised the picture starter as king Edward VII, and 1 bonus on other people who died in 1910 meant that they were back in the lead. At the 20 minute mark St. John’s had a reduced lead of 120 to 110.
Going into the last part of the quiz both teams had an excellent chance of making it past the total needed to progress. Mr. Wilson was too quick for his own good, answering about a statue found on a greek island. Tim Coleman knew it was the Venus di Milo. Bonuses followed on Thomas Hardy. As a coincidence, Thomas Hardy was the answer that St. John’s gave to the picture of Mark Twain in the picture bonuses, but I digress. Another clean sweep of bonuses followed. Neither team got the next starter, but James Orr impressed me by knowing Berlins as the Riga-born British philosopher. 1 bonus followed. Goodness, but this was a good match. Next question, and it was Tom Hudson who buzzed incorrectly, and Barratt Wilson, waiting this time, came in with ‘nicotine’ , which impressed JP, who to be honest seemed to be enjoying this match as much as I was. Only 1 bonus on opera was taken, but it was enough to edge St. John’s into the lead again. However James Orr buzzed too early on the name of a son of Poseidon, and Merton knew it was Triton. 1 out of 3 bonuses put them on the brink of at least the repechage round. James Orr made amends by taking the next starter, and 2 out of 3 bonuses guaranteed them at least one more match in this year’s competition. Barratt Wilson came in too early for the next starter, but Tim Coleman knew John Knox, and so Merton were also through. The small matter of the winning the game remained. Barratt Wilson identified Plaster of Paris, but we were on the very cups of the gong. When it went, as the smoke cleared we could see that Merton had just edged it by 180 to 175.
Congratulations both teams. Not quite the tightest finish this series, but a good contest between two good teams. Well played !
Well, that completes the first round. Watch this space for my now traditional review of the first round, and preview of the second in the next few days.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
My favourite Paxman moment tonight was illustrative of the way he gets awfully protective about people taking liberties with Shakespeare. When St. John’s dithered over the Lady Macbeth lines he snapped
“These are FAMOUS quotes ! You either know them, or YOU don’t – give us an answer !”
I also enjoyed the way that he baited Tom Hudson, asking for more when Tom had already given him a perfectly acceptable answer, then letting him have the point ,
“Yeah , you can have it !”
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle only took one wicket in his first class cricket career. Mind you, it was that of Dr. W.G. Grace !
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Preparation and Dropped Bankers
If you’re a long time reader you may recall me saying in the past how much I’d love to play properly in the highly respected Bridgend Quiz League, rather than just guesting. This Autumn my wish has come true, as I’ve been invited to play for the Llangewydd Arms , promoted from the second division last year after a well earned second place. We had our first league match last week.
I’m not going to go on about the match. However what I did want to say was to make an observation which has occurred to me in the last few days. I’m not going to lie to you. I’m a lazy quizzer. I really don’t prepare for quizzes. I tend to say to myself that I go to so many quizzes, and I set quizzes quite regularly, and this serves me well enough for preparation. Most of the quizzes I take part in are social pub quizzes, so its fair enough. However embarking on a league season gave me some pause for thought. It’s a good 5 years or so since I played in a league quiz week in , week out, but that’s not so long ago that I’ve forgotten about the differences between league quizzes and social quizzes. There are things which you know you can get away without knowing in a social quiz, which you really have to know in a league quiz – because if the opposition have been preparing properly they will definitely know it as well.
Cut to the chase. Last weekend I spent quite a bit of time learning some stuff I’d picked out as being the sort of thing we’d need to be up to speed with. I shan’t bore you with the details, but amongst other things a lot of more recent political and sport stuff seemed to be a good place to start.
Of course, in the match itself, none of my carefully prepared answers were required ! What was even more galling was that we dropped points on subjects I would normally expect to be bankers – Greek Mythology – National Flags – American Geography. That’s the way it goes. I still think there’s a good bet that some of the stuff I worked on last week and this week again will bring us some points before the season ends. However, that’s not quite where the story ends. In all 3 social quizzes I’ve played in since this time last week, at least one of the things I learned has come up. Which is a nice bonus, but not why I did it in the first place !
I thoroughly enjoyed the match on Monday, and our opponents proved themselves to be a very good team, and genuinely nice people as well.
I’m not going to go on about the match. However what I did want to say was to make an observation which has occurred to me in the last few days. I’m not going to lie to you. I’m a lazy quizzer. I really don’t prepare for quizzes. I tend to say to myself that I go to so many quizzes, and I set quizzes quite regularly, and this serves me well enough for preparation. Most of the quizzes I take part in are social pub quizzes, so its fair enough. However embarking on a league season gave me some pause for thought. It’s a good 5 years or so since I played in a league quiz week in , week out, but that’s not so long ago that I’ve forgotten about the differences between league quizzes and social quizzes. There are things which you know you can get away without knowing in a social quiz, which you really have to know in a league quiz – because if the opposition have been preparing properly they will definitely know it as well.
Cut to the chase. Last weekend I spent quite a bit of time learning some stuff I’d picked out as being the sort of thing we’d need to be up to speed with. I shan’t bore you with the details, but amongst other things a lot of more recent political and sport stuff seemed to be a good place to start.
Of course, in the match itself, none of my carefully prepared answers were required ! What was even more galling was that we dropped points on subjects I would normally expect to be bankers – Greek Mythology – National Flags – American Geography. That’s the way it goes. I still think there’s a good bet that some of the stuff I worked on last week and this week again will bring us some points before the season ends. However, that’s not quite where the story ends. In all 3 social quizzes I’ve played in since this time last week, at least one of the things I learned has come up. Which is a nice bonus, but not why I did it in the first place !
I thoroughly enjoyed the match on Monday, and our opponents proved themselves to be a very good team, and genuinely nice people as well.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Mastermind First Round - Heat 8/24
Sacrilege this may be, but my wife Mary is not a fan of Mastermind. However, she is away at the moment, staying with her mum in Spain while her stepfather is in hospital. You don’t need to know that, but at least it meant that I could watch Mastermind in the comfort of my front room for once. I was eagerly awaiting tonight’s show since I knew that we’d be seeing LAM reader Brian Pendreigh tonight . Brian however was drawn to go fourth in the first round, so lets look at the competition first.
Vicky Versaci answered questions on The Hannibal Lecter Novels of Thomas Harris. Tonight was one of those nights when I achieved my aim of answering at least one question in each of the specialist rounds. Mind you, this was only because I’ve seen “The Silence of the Lambs “ a couple of times – I’ve never read any of the books. Vicky did rather better than this. On 4 points she hit a mini pass spiral which rather took the wind out of her sails, and although she pulled herself out of it she didn’t really get a huge amount of momentum going. Never mind, she reached respectability with double figures.
The History of Alcatraz was the interesting subject offered by second contender Paul Philpot. This looked on the surface to be the kind of unusual subject where you’d expect the contender to be extremely well prepared, and to be fair Paul didn’t disappoint on this score. He was going great guns – very fast answers without a hint of a wrong ‘un anywhere, until just the one answer tripped him up in the second half of the round. Not to worry, he mentally picked himself up, dusted himself off, and completed the round at top speed. 17 is a great score – well done.
I’ll admit it, I have a soft spot for British comedy films from the 50s through the 70s, so I was looking forward to Carole Symonds’ round on The Carry On Films. We last saw this as a subject when Sally Lindsay won her Celebrity Mastermind show a year or two ago. Carole obviously knew her stuff, but I’m afraid that nerves were rather her undoing. For example, when she was asked the name of Hengist Pod’s wife in the very finest of the films, Carry On Cleo, she knew the character was played by Sheila Hancock, but couldn’t remember the character’s name – inevitably Senna. She did remember enough to gain 8 points – not a huge total, but not one to be ashamed of either.
At last Brian. Now, being realistic, Brian was going to be good on General Knowledge, so there would be no need to panic if he couldn’t match Paul’s score. His subject was the Beatles – ah, another great subject. Although having said that , there has been so much written and said about them, that the amount of work it must take covering all the angles and any potential questions is mind bogging. Brian didn’t quite manage a perfect round, but it was extremely good. 15 and no passes put him handily placed at Paul’s shoulder, as we progressed to the General rounds.
Carole was already out of the running, to be fair. I thought that her general questions were very fair, but I’m afraid that she made rather heavy going of it. She added another 7 to her score to make a total of 15. Vicky had a two point advantage over Carole at the halfway stage, but she needed all of this, as nerves and a pass spiral ate into her time in a big way. She knew a lot more than she answered, as she ruefully showed when John gave her the answers to her passes. She took her total to 16.
Brain returned to the chair, and what followed was a performance straight out of the top drawer. The highest scores in a 2 and a half minute GK round we have seen before were the 19 scored by Jesse Honey, and the 20 scored by Pat Gibson in the Champions final. The highest score in a GK round of this series so far had been LAM reader Paul Steeples’ 17. Brian equalled Pat’s record with 20. It was a fabulous round, answers snapped out with no hesitation, no time wasted on the ones he didn’t know which produced the 2 passes. Some great answers, but just as impressive was not dropping a point on any bread and butter either. Brian , that was magnificent !
Not that the show was officially over yet, but in all honesty the chances of having two contenders who could perform like that on the same show seemed slim. Paul returned to the chair, and he certainly started brightly enough. However I’m afraid that the enormity of the task ahead of him seemed to adversely affect his performance. He was becalmed on 21 for what seemed like a very long time. The win slipped away very quickly, and it became less and less likely he’d manage to get enough to get on the semi final board. That’s a shame, but at least he takes away the memory of a very fine Specialist performance.
As for Brian, you have to say that Scotland has found in him a contender who shows every sign of giving them a very good run for their money this year. Many, many congratulations !
The Details
Current Highest Scoring Runners-Up
Anne Skillen - 30 -7
James Collenette - 29 - 2
Ian Packham - 27 – 7
Chris Harrison - 26 - 1
Laura Humphreys 25 – 4
Simon Martin 25 – 6
Vicky Versaci answered questions on The Hannibal Lecter Novels of Thomas Harris. Tonight was one of those nights when I achieved my aim of answering at least one question in each of the specialist rounds. Mind you, this was only because I’ve seen “The Silence of the Lambs “ a couple of times – I’ve never read any of the books. Vicky did rather better than this. On 4 points she hit a mini pass spiral which rather took the wind out of her sails, and although she pulled herself out of it she didn’t really get a huge amount of momentum going. Never mind, she reached respectability with double figures.
The History of Alcatraz was the interesting subject offered by second contender Paul Philpot. This looked on the surface to be the kind of unusual subject where you’d expect the contender to be extremely well prepared, and to be fair Paul didn’t disappoint on this score. He was going great guns – very fast answers without a hint of a wrong ‘un anywhere, until just the one answer tripped him up in the second half of the round. Not to worry, he mentally picked himself up, dusted himself off, and completed the round at top speed. 17 is a great score – well done.
I’ll admit it, I have a soft spot for British comedy films from the 50s through the 70s, so I was looking forward to Carole Symonds’ round on The Carry On Films. We last saw this as a subject when Sally Lindsay won her Celebrity Mastermind show a year or two ago. Carole obviously knew her stuff, but I’m afraid that nerves were rather her undoing. For example, when she was asked the name of Hengist Pod’s wife in the very finest of the films, Carry On Cleo, she knew the character was played by Sheila Hancock, but couldn’t remember the character’s name – inevitably Senna. She did remember enough to gain 8 points – not a huge total, but not one to be ashamed of either.
At last Brian. Now, being realistic, Brian was going to be good on General Knowledge, so there would be no need to panic if he couldn’t match Paul’s score. His subject was the Beatles – ah, another great subject. Although having said that , there has been so much written and said about them, that the amount of work it must take covering all the angles and any potential questions is mind bogging. Brian didn’t quite manage a perfect round, but it was extremely good. 15 and no passes put him handily placed at Paul’s shoulder, as we progressed to the General rounds.
Carole was already out of the running, to be fair. I thought that her general questions were very fair, but I’m afraid that she made rather heavy going of it. She added another 7 to her score to make a total of 15. Vicky had a two point advantage over Carole at the halfway stage, but she needed all of this, as nerves and a pass spiral ate into her time in a big way. She knew a lot more than she answered, as she ruefully showed when John gave her the answers to her passes. She took her total to 16.
Brain returned to the chair, and what followed was a performance straight out of the top drawer. The highest scores in a 2 and a half minute GK round we have seen before were the 19 scored by Jesse Honey, and the 20 scored by Pat Gibson in the Champions final. The highest score in a GK round of this series so far had been LAM reader Paul Steeples’ 17. Brian equalled Pat’s record with 20. It was a fabulous round, answers snapped out with no hesitation, no time wasted on the ones he didn’t know which produced the 2 passes. Some great answers, but just as impressive was not dropping a point on any bread and butter either. Brian , that was magnificent !
Not that the show was officially over yet, but in all honesty the chances of having two contenders who could perform like that on the same show seemed slim. Paul returned to the chair, and he certainly started brightly enough. However I’m afraid that the enormity of the task ahead of him seemed to adversely affect his performance. He was becalmed on 21 for what seemed like a very long time. The win slipped away very quickly, and it became less and less likely he’d manage to get enough to get on the semi final board. That’s a shame, but at least he takes away the memory of a very fine Specialist performance.
As for Brian, you have to say that Scotland has found in him a contender who shows every sign of giving them a very good run for their money this year. Many, many congratulations !
The Details
| Vicky Versaci | The Hannibal Lecter Novels of Thomas Harris | 10 - 6 | 6 – 7 | 16 – 13 |
| Paul Philpot | The History of Alcatraz | 17 - 0 | 7 - 5 | 24 – 5 |
| Carole Symonds | The Carry On Films | 8- 0 | 7 - 4 | 15 – 4 |
| Brian Pendreigh | The Beatles | 15 - 0 | 20 - 2 | 35 – 2 |
Current Highest Scoring Runners-Up
Anne Skillen - 30 -7
James Collenette - 29 - 2
Ian Packham - 27 – 7
Chris Harrison - 26 - 1
Laura Humphreys 25 – 4
Simon Martin 25 – 6
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
TV Watch - Only Connect
Round One – Match 5 – Fantasy Writers v. Bridge Players
Yes, tonight another team who scored highly on the Exotic-team–ometer, as Victoria introduced us to the Fantasy Writers. All of them , as the team name suggests, are Fantasy Writers. Geoff Rhyman and Liz Williams – whom I think Victoria described as a witch – flanked captain Paul Cornell, who has written for Doctor Who. We are not worthy ! Slightly less exotic were their opponents, the Bridge Players. Chris Cooper and Tim Dickinson made up the team with captain Nick Smith, who confidently asserted that bridge combines individual skills and teamwork . Can’t argue with that, but would it make a difference in an ongoing Only Connect situation ?
Round One – What’s the Connection ?
The Writers kicked off tonight. You can believe this or not, but I had an inkling that the connection was Brutus when the first clue Mythological first king of Britain came up. I’d never have had the guts to go for it until the second clue – Jean’s On came up. The team rightly said this was a one hit wonder for David Dundas, but it was the company being advertised, not the singer required. Popeye’s nemesis and Assassin of Julius Caesar completed it. 1 point, but its better to be cautious and get a point, than to be headstrong and get none. The Players began with twisted flax, and were given Miss Scarlet – not sure – then Blue Ball in Croquet – had a clue at this point – then Women and Children first , at which point I was certain, and so were the Players that these were all things that go first. 2 points thank you very much. The Writers liked the look of eye of Horus, and let Philip II of Spain and Simon Bolivar come up, and then had a rush of blood to the head, guessing that they were all kings of countries where they were not born. Incorrect , I’m afraid, which gave the Players Christopher Columbus and Juan de Bermudez. They were close, but didn’t quite get that they all had countries named after them. No bonus. Still, it was their own go next, and they opted for two reeds. The dreaded music connection. They guessed all were connected with Australia – again not a million miles away from the connection, but not close enough. The Writers knew that the last piece of music was Brazil, and correctly gave the answer they were all countries. Hmm – bit of a theme going on in this round ? Pure coincidence, I’m sure. The Writers took the Lion, and received pictures of a Pfennig, and Norman Bates in the film Psycho. I think they had the connection now, but took another ppicture pto pbe psure. A pterodactyl confirmed that these were all words beginning with a silent p – as in bath . I’m here all week, ladies and gents. The Players were left with water, and revealed monocaine – Helmet of Perseus – Siefried’s Cloak – and James Bond’s Aston Martin in Die Another Day. Yes, they all turn invisible, or turn the user invisible, which they knew, for a point. By the end of the round the Writers led by 4 to the Players’ 3
Round Two – What comes Fourth ?
Twisted flax had been kind to the Players in round one, so the Writers chanced their collective arm with it to start the second round. Chowsingha , then Triceratops, then bull convinced them we were looking at a 4 horned beast , a three horned beast, and a two horned one, so the last picture would be a unicorn, or any one horned beast. Irrefutable logic, which earned a point. The players took the Lion, and were given EHF and SHF to start. They were sensible to wait for the next one. Obviously the 4th would be VHF or UHF , but which ? Well, UHF came next, which meant they secured 1 point with the other. The Writers got a lovely set next, seemingly easy, yet a real potential pitfall. April – June and September appeared. They offered January, worked out by a mathematical formula of increasing gaps, but no. The Players had seen that we had three of the months from – 30 days hath September . So the last in the year would be November. 1 bonus. The Players took the horned viper, and were given 20 H in a T , 8 S in a H, and 14 P in a S. It was only at this point that I cottoned on, and so did the players, realising that 16 ounces in a pound would give you 16 o in a p. 1 point earned for patience there. The Writers, who’d been struggling to make an impact in this round, took two reeds , and were given pictures of a baby and a letter M, a christening and a letter T, a wedding and a letter W. They knew it was to do with Solomon Grundy, but not what came next. The Players did though, and snapped up another bonus. Which left them to mop up the last set under the eye of Horus. 4th Indonesia I think gave them a clue. 3rd USA strengthened it, and 2nd India confirmed it. This was countries with the largest populations, and 1st would be China. Another point, and by the end of the round now the Players led by 11 points to 6. Good round.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
With the wind in their sails the Players tackled the wall carefully. Quickly unravelled were a line of Dark – Fine – Beaux and Martial , all of which can be suffixed with the word Arts. Later on they untangled Jester – Morris Dancer – Sleigh and Swiss Cow, all of which have bells on. Pull the other one. Sorry. At the death they untangled the last two sets. Cutaway - Noddy – Wide and Talking Head gave them all names for camera shots or angles. However they failed to see the connection between Edmonds – Bickle – Housego and Fry. This was my d’oh moment of the show. I knew that Travis Bickle was from Taxi Driver , that Fred Housego was a taxi driver when he won Mastermind, and that Stephen Fry drives a taxi. Did I see the connection ? Did I heck . Still, 7 points was a good return for the Players, and meant that even if the Writers got a maximum, they would still lead into the vowels.
The Writers got the water wall. Very early on they saw a set of battles, but never unravelled the right combination of them before the end of the round. They did untangle Wall – 42nd – Lafayette and Canal as streets in New York City. Good shout. Time ran out before the other lines were solved. When the wall was resolved they saw that Ernst – Hastings – Clifford and Miller are or were all Max. The battles they had seen but not solved were Sedan – Gettysburg – Balaclava – Waterloo. However Dogs – Country – Wire and Top of the Class escaped them. You can go to each of them. Yes, easy when its explained to you. This left the Writers with a mountain to climb, as they trailed by 10 points to the Players’ 18.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The game wasn’t over, since the gap could be bridged, but it would take a huge effort on the buzzer. The first category was Invertebrates. Both teams buzzed incorrectly once, but this was a lot more damaging to the Writers than the Players, who at least also got two correct answers. Things that can be capped followed, and the Players were happy to take three of these. Fiction set in Australia didn’t seem to please either team, and only the Writers managed a point. To no avail, since Victoria only had time to announce the next set – Weather Phenomena – as the round ended. The final score was a comfortable win to the Bridge Players by 23 to 11. Hard lines to the Writers, but beaten by a good team, I think its fair to say. Good show – especially welcome since University Challenge was cancelled yesterday due to some golf tournament in Newport.
Yes, tonight another team who scored highly on the Exotic-team–ometer, as Victoria introduced us to the Fantasy Writers. All of them , as the team name suggests, are Fantasy Writers. Geoff Rhyman and Liz Williams – whom I think Victoria described as a witch – flanked captain Paul Cornell, who has written for Doctor Who. We are not worthy ! Slightly less exotic were their opponents, the Bridge Players. Chris Cooper and Tim Dickinson made up the team with captain Nick Smith, who confidently asserted that bridge combines individual skills and teamwork . Can’t argue with that, but would it make a difference in an ongoing Only Connect situation ?
Round One – What’s the Connection ?
The Writers kicked off tonight. You can believe this or not, but I had an inkling that the connection was Brutus when the first clue Mythological first king of Britain came up. I’d never have had the guts to go for it until the second clue – Jean’s On came up. The team rightly said this was a one hit wonder for David Dundas, but it was the company being advertised, not the singer required. Popeye’s nemesis and Assassin of Julius Caesar completed it. 1 point, but its better to be cautious and get a point, than to be headstrong and get none. The Players began with twisted flax, and were given Miss Scarlet – not sure – then Blue Ball in Croquet – had a clue at this point – then Women and Children first , at which point I was certain, and so were the Players that these were all things that go first. 2 points thank you very much. The Writers liked the look of eye of Horus, and let Philip II of Spain and Simon Bolivar come up, and then had a rush of blood to the head, guessing that they were all kings of countries where they were not born. Incorrect , I’m afraid, which gave the Players Christopher Columbus and Juan de Bermudez. They were close, but didn’t quite get that they all had countries named after them. No bonus. Still, it was their own go next, and they opted for two reeds. The dreaded music connection. They guessed all were connected with Australia – again not a million miles away from the connection, but not close enough. The Writers knew that the last piece of music was Brazil, and correctly gave the answer they were all countries. Hmm – bit of a theme going on in this round ? Pure coincidence, I’m sure. The Writers took the Lion, and received pictures of a Pfennig, and Norman Bates in the film Psycho. I think they had the connection now, but took another ppicture pto pbe psure. A pterodactyl confirmed that these were all words beginning with a silent p – as in bath . I’m here all week, ladies and gents. The Players were left with water, and revealed monocaine – Helmet of Perseus – Siefried’s Cloak – and James Bond’s Aston Martin in Die Another Day. Yes, they all turn invisible, or turn the user invisible, which they knew, for a point. By the end of the round the Writers led by 4 to the Players’ 3
Round Two – What comes Fourth ?
Twisted flax had been kind to the Players in round one, so the Writers chanced their collective arm with it to start the second round. Chowsingha , then Triceratops, then bull convinced them we were looking at a 4 horned beast , a three horned beast, and a two horned one, so the last picture would be a unicorn, or any one horned beast. Irrefutable logic, which earned a point. The players took the Lion, and were given EHF and SHF to start. They were sensible to wait for the next one. Obviously the 4th would be VHF or UHF , but which ? Well, UHF came next, which meant they secured 1 point with the other. The Writers got a lovely set next, seemingly easy, yet a real potential pitfall. April – June and September appeared. They offered January, worked out by a mathematical formula of increasing gaps, but no. The Players had seen that we had three of the months from – 30 days hath September . So the last in the year would be November. 1 bonus. The Players took the horned viper, and were given 20 H in a T , 8 S in a H, and 14 P in a S. It was only at this point that I cottoned on, and so did the players, realising that 16 ounces in a pound would give you 16 o in a p. 1 point earned for patience there. The Writers, who’d been struggling to make an impact in this round, took two reeds , and were given pictures of a baby and a letter M, a christening and a letter T, a wedding and a letter W. They knew it was to do with Solomon Grundy, but not what came next. The Players did though, and snapped up another bonus. Which left them to mop up the last set under the eye of Horus. 4th Indonesia I think gave them a clue. 3rd USA strengthened it, and 2nd India confirmed it. This was countries with the largest populations, and 1st would be China. Another point, and by the end of the round now the Players led by 11 points to 6. Good round.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
With the wind in their sails the Players tackled the wall carefully. Quickly unravelled were a line of Dark – Fine – Beaux and Martial , all of which can be suffixed with the word Arts. Later on they untangled Jester – Morris Dancer – Sleigh and Swiss Cow, all of which have bells on. Pull the other one. Sorry. At the death they untangled the last two sets. Cutaway - Noddy – Wide and Talking Head gave them all names for camera shots or angles. However they failed to see the connection between Edmonds – Bickle – Housego and Fry. This was my d’oh moment of the show. I knew that Travis Bickle was from Taxi Driver , that Fred Housego was a taxi driver when he won Mastermind, and that Stephen Fry drives a taxi. Did I see the connection ? Did I heck . Still, 7 points was a good return for the Players, and meant that even if the Writers got a maximum, they would still lead into the vowels.
The Writers got the water wall. Very early on they saw a set of battles, but never unravelled the right combination of them before the end of the round. They did untangle Wall – 42nd – Lafayette and Canal as streets in New York City. Good shout. Time ran out before the other lines were solved. When the wall was resolved they saw that Ernst – Hastings – Clifford and Miller are or were all Max. The battles they had seen but not solved were Sedan – Gettysburg – Balaclava – Waterloo. However Dogs – Country – Wire and Top of the Class escaped them. You can go to each of them. Yes, easy when its explained to you. This left the Writers with a mountain to climb, as they trailed by 10 points to the Players’ 18.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The game wasn’t over, since the gap could be bridged, but it would take a huge effort on the buzzer. The first category was Invertebrates. Both teams buzzed incorrectly once, but this was a lot more damaging to the Writers than the Players, who at least also got two correct answers. Things that can be capped followed, and the Players were happy to take three of these. Fiction set in Australia didn’t seem to please either team, and only the Writers managed a point. To no avail, since Victoria only had time to announce the next set – Weather Phenomena – as the round ended. The final score was a comfortable win to the Bridge Players by 23 to 11. Hard lines to the Writers, but beaten by a good team, I think its fair to say. Good show – especially welcome since University Challenge was cancelled yesterday due to some golf tournament in Newport.
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Only Connect - Interview with Victoria Coren
I've been keeping an eye on Jamie Miller's Quiz Genius site, and I was interested to see that he has bagged an interview with Victoria Coren - lucky man ! If you want to read it for yourself, then just follow this link
Quiz Genius - Only Connect Interview
Quiz Genius - Only Connect Interview
Friday, 1 October 2010
Mastermind - First Round Heat 7/24
Tonight’s show offered another enjoyably wide selection of specialist subjects. Being heat 7 as well it meant that for the first time this series we would see a runner up drop out of the running for a semi final slot.
Paul Hardy was the first to make his bid to secure a semi final place by right. He was answering on The Football World Cup 1970 – 2006. Now, if you take a subject where the field has been narrowed down like this you can bet your bottom dollar that the setters are really going to dig deep for some of the questions. Paul passed on the 3rd and 4th questions, and although he did pick up speed in the middle of the round you have to say that there seemed to be clear gaps in his knowledge of his subject. He finished with 8 points, and it looked unlikely that he would be pushing for a semi final slot after this. I did enjoy the question referring to Diana Ross missing the goal , and yet still managing to break it in two in an opening ceremony.
By way of a contrast Robin Seavill, our second contender, answered questions on the TV Plays of Alan Bennett. This is another quality subject. Robin clearly knew his subject, and kept the momentum throughout his round. He wasn’t quite perfect, and picked up a couple of wrong answers and a pass, but 14 was certainly a score to be reckoned with. Good round.
Chris Harrison’s subject was simply Bletchley Park. I think its famous enough by now that it probably needs no extra explanation. This was a difficult round for the casual viewer such as myself. I guessed the answer to the Station X question, but that was about it for me. Not so Chris. This was a round which a veteran would have been proud of. Slow answers were given to the first couple of questions, but after that there was no stopping Chris. An interesting point was that he was only giving surnames when asked for names, an old hand’s tactic that. A score of 15 was an excellent return on this round.
Completing the specialist round was vicar Steve Taylor, answering on U2. I have to say that I found Steve’s performance rather hypnotic. He kept nodding back and forward, almost rocking in his chair as the round progressed. It was a good round too, again, there were things he didn’t know, but these were spaced throughout the round. Careful plugging away brought him a good return of 13 points. So at the halfway mark three of our four contenders were still very much in it.
Paul Hardy was first back into the chair. He made the best start you could hope for in a GK round, by taking the first 5 questions on the bounce, and they certainly weren’t all gimmes, either. He pushed his score up to 15 in good time, but I’m afraid at this point he ran out of both steam and luck. When things don’t run for you, they just won’t run for you. In the end he added another 9 to his first round score to set the target at 17.
Steve Taylor followed, and had the chance to set a score which would put the fear of God into the opposition. Once again I found I was unable to take my eyes off him , his expressive face making it absolutely clear what he thought of each question. Quite often this was frustration, or amused resignation, as the round failed to be kind to him. He took the lead, but only managed to take his score up to 21, which surely would not be good enough.
Robin Seavill needed 8 to take the lead, but needed rather more to set a challenging enough target for Chris Harrison to aim at. This was a pretty good GK round. You’ll have noticed a developing theme in my reviews of this series so far , that of the importance of mental stamina in the GK round. Neither of the previous contenders had shown it, but Robin did. He missed a number of questions, yet, but kept picking off the answers he knew, and in the end added 13 to take his score to 27. Certainly enough to give Chris Harrison pause for thought.
For the first half minute or so it looked like Chris was going to walk it. Like Paul Hardy he picked off the first 5 questions, and was well ahead of the clock. Then the brakes seemed to come on. He was becalmed in the early 20s for a long time, and although he did manage to get going again, he was only clawing his way towards the target of 27. To put it into perspective, 27 would be enough, since he had significantly fewer passes than Robin. 25 . . . 26 . . The buzzer went, but John had started asking the question. If Chris got it, then he was through. Asked in which city Jane Austen had lived for a time, and in which parts of two novels , Persuasion and Northanger Abbey had been set, Chris answered Winchester. Oh, that’s a sensible suggestion, Chris. I think she was actually buried in Winchester cathedral. But the answer required was Bath. John Humphrys had certainly been feeling the tension, and he commiserated with Chris at the same time as congratulating Robin. Well played gents, and thanks for a very exciting finish.
The Details
Current Highest Scoring Runners-Up
Anne Skillen - 30 -7
James Collenette - 29 - 2
Ian Packham - 27 – 7
Chris Harrison - 26 - 1
Laura Humphreys 25 – 4
Simon Martin 25 - 6
Paul Hardy was the first to make his bid to secure a semi final place by right. He was answering on The Football World Cup 1970 – 2006. Now, if you take a subject where the field has been narrowed down like this you can bet your bottom dollar that the setters are really going to dig deep for some of the questions. Paul passed on the 3rd and 4th questions, and although he did pick up speed in the middle of the round you have to say that there seemed to be clear gaps in his knowledge of his subject. He finished with 8 points, and it looked unlikely that he would be pushing for a semi final slot after this. I did enjoy the question referring to Diana Ross missing the goal , and yet still managing to break it in two in an opening ceremony.
By way of a contrast Robin Seavill, our second contender, answered questions on the TV Plays of Alan Bennett. This is another quality subject. Robin clearly knew his subject, and kept the momentum throughout his round. He wasn’t quite perfect, and picked up a couple of wrong answers and a pass, but 14 was certainly a score to be reckoned with. Good round.
Chris Harrison’s subject was simply Bletchley Park. I think its famous enough by now that it probably needs no extra explanation. This was a difficult round for the casual viewer such as myself. I guessed the answer to the Station X question, but that was about it for me. Not so Chris. This was a round which a veteran would have been proud of. Slow answers were given to the first couple of questions, but after that there was no stopping Chris. An interesting point was that he was only giving surnames when asked for names, an old hand’s tactic that. A score of 15 was an excellent return on this round.
Completing the specialist round was vicar Steve Taylor, answering on U2. I have to say that I found Steve’s performance rather hypnotic. He kept nodding back and forward, almost rocking in his chair as the round progressed. It was a good round too, again, there were things he didn’t know, but these were spaced throughout the round. Careful plugging away brought him a good return of 13 points. So at the halfway mark three of our four contenders were still very much in it.
Paul Hardy was first back into the chair. He made the best start you could hope for in a GK round, by taking the first 5 questions on the bounce, and they certainly weren’t all gimmes, either. He pushed his score up to 15 in good time, but I’m afraid at this point he ran out of both steam and luck. When things don’t run for you, they just won’t run for you. In the end he added another 9 to his first round score to set the target at 17.
Steve Taylor followed, and had the chance to set a score which would put the fear of God into the opposition. Once again I found I was unable to take my eyes off him , his expressive face making it absolutely clear what he thought of each question. Quite often this was frustration, or amused resignation, as the round failed to be kind to him. He took the lead, but only managed to take his score up to 21, which surely would not be good enough.
Robin Seavill needed 8 to take the lead, but needed rather more to set a challenging enough target for Chris Harrison to aim at. This was a pretty good GK round. You’ll have noticed a developing theme in my reviews of this series so far , that of the importance of mental stamina in the GK round. Neither of the previous contenders had shown it, but Robin did. He missed a number of questions, yet, but kept picking off the answers he knew, and in the end added 13 to take his score to 27. Certainly enough to give Chris Harrison pause for thought.
For the first half minute or so it looked like Chris was going to walk it. Like Paul Hardy he picked off the first 5 questions, and was well ahead of the clock. Then the brakes seemed to come on. He was becalmed in the early 20s for a long time, and although he did manage to get going again, he was only clawing his way towards the target of 27. To put it into perspective, 27 would be enough, since he had significantly fewer passes than Robin. 25 . . . 26 . . The buzzer went, but John had started asking the question. If Chris got it, then he was through. Asked in which city Jane Austen had lived for a time, and in which parts of two novels , Persuasion and Northanger Abbey had been set, Chris answered Winchester. Oh, that’s a sensible suggestion, Chris. I think she was actually buried in Winchester cathedral. But the answer required was Bath. John Humphrys had certainly been feeling the tension, and he commiserated with Chris at the same time as congratulating Robin. Well played gents, and thanks for a very exciting finish.
The Details
| Paul Hardy | Football World Cup 1970 – 2006 | 8 – 5 | 9 – 8 | 17 – 13 |
| Robin Seavill | The TV Plays of Alan Bennett | 14 – 1 | 13 – 6 | 27 – 7 |
| Chris Harrison | Bletchley Park | 15 – 0 | 11 – 1 | 26 – 1 |
| Steve Taylor | U2 | 13 – 0 | 8 – 2 | 21 – 2 |
Current Highest Scoring Runners-Up
Anne Skillen - 30 -7
James Collenette - 29 - 2
Ian Packham - 27 – 7
Chris Harrison - 26 - 1
Laura Humphreys 25 – 4
Simon Martin 25 - 6
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