In The News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Orbital Services Corp.
2. Rui Costa
3. Wilson Kipsang
4. Mad About The Boy
5. ‘Stephen Ward’
6. Johnny Greaves
7. Liam Adams
8. Amanda Hutton
9. Oskarsholm Nuclear Plant
10. Ron Hogg
11. Ni Zhaoxing
12. The Kill List
13. Lampedusa
14. Ronan Farrow
15. Sebastian Ogier
16. Simon Burns
17. Miriam Carey
In Other News
1. A famous lighthouse from which TV series was saved by Australian firefighters?
2. Which city hosted the Conservative Party Conference?
3. Who criticized Health Club members?
4. The Olympic Torch began its journey to which city?
5. What was the score, and who were the teams in the American Football match at Wembley last week?
6. Which team are English women’s football league champions?
7. Who is the new president of the MCC?
8. What was the score between Liverpool and Sunderland?
9. – and Spurs and Chelsea?
10. – Man City and Aston Villa?
11. – Man Utd. and West Brom?
12. Who escaped a ban for scratching during the Spurs v. Chelsea match?
13. Who was sacked as Derby County Manager?
14. Which 60s and 70s children’s TV series is to be remade?
15. Which two popes will be officially canonized at the end of April 2014?
16. Who took Channel 4 to an industrial tribunal last week over claims he was sacked through ageism?
17. Which stadium closed for the last time last Monday?
18. Who is the new head coach of Derby County?
19. Who introduced George Osborne at the Conservative Party Conference?
20. Who ruled himself out of the running to become Director of England cricket teams for the ECB?
21. In county cricket’s first division, who had the highest batting average?
22. – and who took the most wickets?
23. What was the score between Chelsea and Steau Bucharest?
24. – and Celtic and Barcelona?
25. Which paper said that Ralph Milliband hated Britain, upsetting his son Ed?
26. Who was given the all clear after prostate surgery?
27. There were protests in Newport over plans to destroy which mural?
28. Name the three brothers in the England Rugby League World Cup squad
29. What was the score between Arsenal and Napoli?
30. Who was kicked out of his seat amongst home fans for celebrating Cardiff City’s goal at Craven Cottage?
31. Who had the best batting average in cricket’s division two?
32. – and who took the most wickets ?
33. Which former Wimbledon finalist announced his retirement from tennis?
34. David Cameron announced plans to cut benefits for which group?
35. A public survey voted whom as the most influential British engineer?
36. Who denounced UKIP as racist?
37. Which author died aged 66?
38. An as yet unnamed character is to be killed off in which TV series?
39. What was the score between Man Utd. and Shakhtar Donetsk?
40. – and Man city and Bayern Munich?
41. Which jockey broke his ankle last week?
42. Which poem by Dylan Thomas did Prince Charles record for National Poetry Day?
43. Which company apologized to Kevin Pietersen over suggestions that he may have tampered with Hot Spot?
44. Which African country left the Commonwealth last week?
45. Tony Blair has been retained to help which country in its bid for entry to the EU?
46. What was the score between Spurs and Anzhi Makhachkala
47. – and Swansea and St. Gallen?
48. – and Wigan and N.K.Maribor?
49. Which veteran MP announced that he will be standing again in 2015?
50. Who is rewriting Jane Austen’s “Emma”?
51. Which Asian country qualified for their first ever cricket world cup finals?
Answers
Who or what are the wollogin and why have they been in the news?
1. The first private company to send a supply ship to the International Space Station
2. Winner of world cycling road race championship
3. Broke the world record for the Marathon in Berlin. New record – 2:03:23
4. New Bridget Jones novel in which Mark Darcy is killed off
5. New Andrew Lloyd Webber musical
6. Boxer who retired after 100 fights, having won 4
7. Brother of Gerry Adams, accused of raping daughter
8. Found guilty of manslaughter of son Hamzah Khan, after keeping his mummified body for two years
9. Shut down by a huge swarm of jellyfish
10. Durham Police and Crime Commissioner under investigation for allegedly accepting benefits to which he was not entitled
11. Chinese businessman who announced his plans to rebuild the Crystal Palace
12. New novel by Frederick Forsyth
13. Island off which boat carrying hundreds of African migrants sank with large loss of life
14. Son of Mia Farrow – she announced that Frank Sinatra could have been his father
15. World Rally Driving champion
16. Resigned position as Transport minister to stand for Deputy Speaker
17. Driver who crashed barriers near the White House, then was chased by police and shot
In Other News
1. Home and Away
2. Manchester
3. Duncan Bannatyne
4. Sochi
5. Minnesota Viking – 34 – Pittsburgh Steelers 27
6. Liverpool
7. Mike Gatting
8. 3 - 1
9. 1 - 1
10. 3 – 2 to Villa
11. 2 – 1 to West Brom
12. Fernando Torres
13. Nigel Clough
14. Thunderbirds
15. John XXIII and John Paul II
16. John McCrirrick
17. Don Valley Stadium
18. Steve McLaren
19. Karren Brady
20. Andrew Strauss
21. Joe Root
22. Graham Onions
23. 4 - 0
24. 1 – 0 Barcelona
25. Daily Mail
26. Billy Connolly
27. The Chartist Mural ( it’s very good too )
28. Sam, Tom and George Burgess
29. 2 - 0
30. Neil Kinnock
31. Simon Katich
32. Alan Richardson
33. David Nalbandian
34. Under 25s
35. Alexander Graham Bell
36. Michael Heseltine
37. Tom Clancy
38. The Simpsons
39. 1 - 1
40. 3 – 1 to Bayern Munich
41. Frankie Dettori
42. Fern Hill
43. Specsavers
44. Gambia
45. Albania
46. 2 - 0
47. 1 - 0
48. 3 - 1
49. Kenneth Clarke
50. Alexander McCall Smith
51. Afghanistan
Friday, 11 October 2013
University Challenge Round One - Heat Thirteen
St. John’s, Oxford v. Downing, Cambridge
We come, then to our last two matches of the first round, after which we will have met all of this year’s teams, including the eventual champions. The first of tonight’s teams, representing St. John’s, Oxford consisted of Ted Elgar, Tom Finch, Tom Salt and their captain Jonathan Lane. Their opposition, from Downing, Cambridge, were Tom Claxton, Georgina Phillips, Tom Rees and captain John Morgan. Oxbridge match again? Well, we’ve been well served by these matches so far this series, so the omens were good.
Tom Claxton knew that Gotland is an island in the Baltic. There was a nice set of bonuses straightaway on things Simon Schama says that every school child should know. One of these fell to Downing. Ted Elgar identified a quotation from an 1857 French novel as having been taken from Madame Bovary – a good shout. One of those old chestnut subjects which somehow nobody ever seems to like in a quiz gave them bonuses on boys’ names , and the office of national statistics. They weren’t easy, and St. John’s too only managed one of their first set of bonuses. John Morgan took the next starter, knowing that the statute law revision act of 1863 repealed some of the provisions of Magna Carta. The bonuses saw me get a rare correct answer on Physics, knowing that Newton was the 2nd Lucasian Professor. In fact I had 2, knowing the Royal Mint as well. I didn’ t have a clue about the deceleration one, mind you, although Downing did to take a full set. Something about joules and balls and kinetic energy saw Tom Rees supply the correct answer to earn a set of bonuses on vanilla. Downing had the same two that I had. This brought up a picture starter that was right up my street, a map of shipping forecast areas, in which Dover had been left blank. John Morgan was the first to buzz in with the correct answer. More of the same followed as bonuses, of which Downing managed one. Georgina Philips had a good early buzz for the next starter about a publication on the city of Rome. One bonus on sets of brothers capped a pretty successful first ten minutes for Downing, who led by 90 to 15.
Tom Claxton lost five points through an early buzz on the description of a national flag, which allowed Tom Finch to correctly identify it as that of Russia. New entries to the OED provided St. John’s with two correct answers. There was a lovely starter to follow – in addition to alpha and omega five Greek letters have five letter names ending in A – name four. You could choose from delta – gamma – theta – kappa – sigma. Tom Finch missed out by slipping lambda into his list. Tom Claxton took it. Biology bonuses only brought 5 more points, but that was enough to take Downing to 100. Tom Rees knew that a Paris railway station and an 1805 battle were both called Austerlitz – as indeed was Fred Astaire, which I believe would have been the last part of the question. For their bonuses Downing knew that the smallest natural number with 7 letters in its spelled name, and the number of players in a gaelic football team, is fifteen. They did the same with an American football team, but not an Aussie Rules one. (Love Aussie Rules – fabulous game to watch.) For the music starter Tom Finch’s identification of the instrument playing as an oboe was almost instantaneous. I thought that St. John’s were unfortunate only to get one of the bonuses on other instruments right. Tom Rees knew that Herbert Spencer – and not Charles Darwin – coined the phrase Survival of the Fittest. Bonuses on pairs of words with the same pronunciation but different spellings promised much, and delivered a full set, and a rare well done from JP. Now – how about this one. Asked about the discovery of a tri atomic doohickey in the atmosphere of Venus, I answered ozone, and got it right! Only because I know that ozone is O3, so it wasn’t quite lap of honour round the living room time(but I came close). Tom Rees had it, and earned a set of bonuses on science. What was going on with the Science questions in this show? I had the full set of these, as did Downing. To be fair they didn’t embark upon the lap of honour that I did at this point, which was probably very wise of them. Ted Elgar recognized a synopsis of The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, and earned a set of bonuses on false friends in other languages. One was taken. Avatar, swastika and karma were all originally words in Sanskrit, as Tom Finch was quick to point out for the next starter. 2 bonuses on Archaeology were enough to take their score to 85 against Downing’s 175. Game over, methought, but a spectacular last few minutes might just push St. John’s towards the repechage.
Tom Claxton knew that Queen Margaret of Anjou was Shakespeare’s She Wolf of France. Algebra, or somesuch followed, which seemed very much to Downing’s liking and they earned another well done from JP for taking a full set. Now, I have never seen the Fat Duck in Bray ( I’ve never seen the thin one for that matter either – boom boom) but I guessed that the photo for the next starter was just that. As did Tom Rees. More photos of famous restaurants didn’t prove quite so simple, and I had none, while Downing didn’t do much better. Ted Elgar was in too quickly for the next starter, where it paid to wait until the words Beethoven’s Eroica were given, whence it became obvious that it was 1st, 2nd and 3rd we were dealing with. That was the first starter to be missed by both teams. A good buzz from Tom Claxton saw him identify Slovenia as the next in a sequence of countries bordering Austria. Bonuses on English rivers brought them 10 points more. Believe it or not – I had another science starter right. To be fair, if you’re asking for a law about electricity, and you mention resistance, then you’ve always got a shout with Ohm’s. John Morgan had it the same time that I did. 2 bonuses on Haydn symphonies kept the tempo of the Downing march steady. Nobody knew that Dryden called Ben Jonson the Vergil of elaborate writing. Neither team could quite work out that 118 years separated the Battle of Bosworth from the death of the last Tudor monarch. Tom Claxton knew that bi valves and gastropods are molluscs. Bonuses on films again brought another ten points. To be honest the chance of making the repechage had passed St. John’s by at this stage, so I was glad that Ted Elgar recognized a series of works by John Ruskin to push them to the brink of triple figures at least. Now they got a set of Physics bonuses I didn’t get, but at least St. John’s had one of them. Tom Finch pushed St. John’s into triple figures by winning the buzzer race to spell aberration. 10 more points on shared names in literature took them to their finishing score of 115. The gong halted the contest before the end of the next starter. Downing had won comprehensively with 260, and are yet another team to watch in the 2nd round.
Jeremy Paxman watch
The first JP moment was probably missed by all bar seasoned Paxman watchers, but there was just a quick flash of the trademark old fashioned look as Downing offered Orkneys instead of Viking on the shipping areas bonuses.
It was a long wait for anything else of note. After the restaurant bonuses JP snorted “Why on earth you’re expected to know that I’ve no idea!” Well, quite.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Gustav Holst’s brother was a Hollywood actor.
We come, then to our last two matches of the first round, after which we will have met all of this year’s teams, including the eventual champions. The first of tonight’s teams, representing St. John’s, Oxford consisted of Ted Elgar, Tom Finch, Tom Salt and their captain Jonathan Lane. Their opposition, from Downing, Cambridge, were Tom Claxton, Georgina Phillips, Tom Rees and captain John Morgan. Oxbridge match again? Well, we’ve been well served by these matches so far this series, so the omens were good.
Tom Claxton knew that Gotland is an island in the Baltic. There was a nice set of bonuses straightaway on things Simon Schama says that every school child should know. One of these fell to Downing. Ted Elgar identified a quotation from an 1857 French novel as having been taken from Madame Bovary – a good shout. One of those old chestnut subjects which somehow nobody ever seems to like in a quiz gave them bonuses on boys’ names , and the office of national statistics. They weren’t easy, and St. John’s too only managed one of their first set of bonuses. John Morgan took the next starter, knowing that the statute law revision act of 1863 repealed some of the provisions of Magna Carta. The bonuses saw me get a rare correct answer on Physics, knowing that Newton was the 2nd Lucasian Professor. In fact I had 2, knowing the Royal Mint as well. I didn’ t have a clue about the deceleration one, mind you, although Downing did to take a full set. Something about joules and balls and kinetic energy saw Tom Rees supply the correct answer to earn a set of bonuses on vanilla. Downing had the same two that I had. This brought up a picture starter that was right up my street, a map of shipping forecast areas, in which Dover had been left blank. John Morgan was the first to buzz in with the correct answer. More of the same followed as bonuses, of which Downing managed one. Georgina Philips had a good early buzz for the next starter about a publication on the city of Rome. One bonus on sets of brothers capped a pretty successful first ten minutes for Downing, who led by 90 to 15.
Tom Claxton lost five points through an early buzz on the description of a national flag, which allowed Tom Finch to correctly identify it as that of Russia. New entries to the OED provided St. John’s with two correct answers. There was a lovely starter to follow – in addition to alpha and omega five Greek letters have five letter names ending in A – name four. You could choose from delta – gamma – theta – kappa – sigma. Tom Finch missed out by slipping lambda into his list. Tom Claxton took it. Biology bonuses only brought 5 more points, but that was enough to take Downing to 100. Tom Rees knew that a Paris railway station and an 1805 battle were both called Austerlitz – as indeed was Fred Astaire, which I believe would have been the last part of the question. For their bonuses Downing knew that the smallest natural number with 7 letters in its spelled name, and the number of players in a gaelic football team, is fifteen. They did the same with an American football team, but not an Aussie Rules one. (Love Aussie Rules – fabulous game to watch.) For the music starter Tom Finch’s identification of the instrument playing as an oboe was almost instantaneous. I thought that St. John’s were unfortunate only to get one of the bonuses on other instruments right. Tom Rees knew that Herbert Spencer – and not Charles Darwin – coined the phrase Survival of the Fittest. Bonuses on pairs of words with the same pronunciation but different spellings promised much, and delivered a full set, and a rare well done from JP. Now – how about this one. Asked about the discovery of a tri atomic doohickey in the atmosphere of Venus, I answered ozone, and got it right! Only because I know that ozone is O3, so it wasn’t quite lap of honour round the living room time(but I came close). Tom Rees had it, and earned a set of bonuses on science. What was going on with the Science questions in this show? I had the full set of these, as did Downing. To be fair they didn’t embark upon the lap of honour that I did at this point, which was probably very wise of them. Ted Elgar recognized a synopsis of The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, and earned a set of bonuses on false friends in other languages. One was taken. Avatar, swastika and karma were all originally words in Sanskrit, as Tom Finch was quick to point out for the next starter. 2 bonuses on Archaeology were enough to take their score to 85 against Downing’s 175. Game over, methought, but a spectacular last few minutes might just push St. John’s towards the repechage.
Tom Claxton knew that Queen Margaret of Anjou was Shakespeare’s She Wolf of France. Algebra, or somesuch followed, which seemed very much to Downing’s liking and they earned another well done from JP for taking a full set. Now, I have never seen the Fat Duck in Bray ( I’ve never seen the thin one for that matter either – boom boom) but I guessed that the photo for the next starter was just that. As did Tom Rees. More photos of famous restaurants didn’t prove quite so simple, and I had none, while Downing didn’t do much better. Ted Elgar was in too quickly for the next starter, where it paid to wait until the words Beethoven’s Eroica were given, whence it became obvious that it was 1st, 2nd and 3rd we were dealing with. That was the first starter to be missed by both teams. A good buzz from Tom Claxton saw him identify Slovenia as the next in a sequence of countries bordering Austria. Bonuses on English rivers brought them 10 points more. Believe it or not – I had another science starter right. To be fair, if you’re asking for a law about electricity, and you mention resistance, then you’ve always got a shout with Ohm’s. John Morgan had it the same time that I did. 2 bonuses on Haydn symphonies kept the tempo of the Downing march steady. Nobody knew that Dryden called Ben Jonson the Vergil of elaborate writing. Neither team could quite work out that 118 years separated the Battle of Bosworth from the death of the last Tudor monarch. Tom Claxton knew that bi valves and gastropods are molluscs. Bonuses on films again brought another ten points. To be honest the chance of making the repechage had passed St. John’s by at this stage, so I was glad that Ted Elgar recognized a series of works by John Ruskin to push them to the brink of triple figures at least. Now they got a set of Physics bonuses I didn’t get, but at least St. John’s had one of them. Tom Finch pushed St. John’s into triple figures by winning the buzzer race to spell aberration. 10 more points on shared names in literature took them to their finishing score of 115. The gong halted the contest before the end of the next starter. Downing had won comprehensively with 260, and are yet another team to watch in the 2nd round.
Jeremy Paxman watch
The first JP moment was probably missed by all bar seasoned Paxman watchers, but there was just a quick flash of the trademark old fashioned look as Downing offered Orkneys instead of Viking on the shipping areas bonuses.
It was a long wait for anything else of note. After the restaurant bonuses JP snorted “Why on earth you’re expected to know that I’ve no idea!” Well, quite.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Gustav Holst’s brother was a Hollywood actor.
Saturday, 5 October 2013
In The News
In The News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Orbital Services Corp.
2. Rui Costa
3. Wilson Kipsang
4. Mad About The Boy
5. ‘Stephen Ward’
6. Johnny Greaves
7. Liam Adams
8. Amanda Hutton
9. Oskarsholm Nuclear Plant
10. Ron Hogg
11. Ni Zhaoxing
12. The Kill List
13. Lampedusa
14. Ronan Farrow
15. Sebastian Ogier
16. Simon Burns
17. Miriam Carey
In Other News
1. A famous lighthouse from which TV series was saved by Australian firefighters?
2. Which city hosted the Conservative Party Conference?
3. Who criticized Health Club members?
4. The Olympic Torch began its journey to which city?
5. What was the score, and who were the teams in the American Football match at Wembley last week?
6. Which team are English women’s football league champions?
7. Who is the new president of the MCC?
8. What was the score between Liverpool and Sunderland?
9. – and Spurs and Chelsea?
10. – Man City and Aston Villa?
11. – Man Utd. and West Brom?
12. Who escaped a ban for scratching during the Spurs v. Chelsea match?
13. Who was sacked as Derby County Manager?
14. Which 60s and 70s children’s TV series is to be remade?
15. Which two popes will be officially canonized at the end of April 2014?
16. Who took Channel 4 to an industrial tribunal last week over claims he was sacked through ageism?
17. Which stadium closed for the last time last Monday?
18. Who is the new head coach of Derby County?
19. Who introduced George Osborne at the Conservative Party Conference?
20. Who ruled himself out of the running to become Director of England cricket teams for the ECB?
21. In county cricket’s first division, who had the highest batting average?
22. – and who took the most wickets?
23. What was the score between Chelsea and Steau Bucharest?
24. – and Celtic and Barcelona?
25. Which paper said that Ralph Milliband hated Britain, upsetting his son Ed?
26. Who was given the all clear after prostate surgery?
27. There were protests in Newport over plans to destroy which mural?
28. Name the three brothers in the England Rugby League World Cup squad
29. What was the score between Arsenal and Napoli?
30. Who was kicked out of his seat amongst home fans for celebrating Cardiff City’s goal at Craven Cottage?
31. Who had the best batting average in cricket’s division two?
32. – and who took the most wickets ?
33. Which former Wimbledon finalist announced his retirement from tennis?
34. David Cameron announced plans to cut benefits for which group?
35. A public survey voted whom as the most influential British engineer?
36. Who denounced UKIP as racist?
37. Which author died aged 66?
38. An as yet unnamed character is to be killed off in which TV series?
39. What was the score between Man Utd. and Shakhtar Donetsk?
40. – and Man city and Bayern Munich?
41. Which jockey broke his ankle last week?
42. Which poem by Dylan Thomas did Prince Charles record for National Poetry Day?
43. Which company apologized to Kevin Pietersen over suggestions that he may have tampered with Hot Spot?
44. Which African country left the Commonwealth last week?
45. Tony Blair has been retained to help which country in its bid for entry to the EU?
46. What was the score between Spurs and Anzhi Makhachkala
47. – and Swansea and St. Gallen?
48. – and Wigan and N.K.Maribor?
49. Which veteran MP announced that he will be standing again in 2015?
50. Who is rewriting Jane Austen’s “Emma”?
51. Which Asian country qualified for their first ever cricket world cup finals?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Orbital Services Corp.
2. Rui Costa
3. Wilson Kipsang
4. Mad About The Boy
5. ‘Stephen Ward’
6. Johnny Greaves
7. Liam Adams
8. Amanda Hutton
9. Oskarsholm Nuclear Plant
10. Ron Hogg
11. Ni Zhaoxing
12. The Kill List
13. Lampedusa
14. Ronan Farrow
15. Sebastian Ogier
16. Simon Burns
17. Miriam Carey
In Other News
1. A famous lighthouse from which TV series was saved by Australian firefighters?
2. Which city hosted the Conservative Party Conference?
3. Who criticized Health Club members?
4. The Olympic Torch began its journey to which city?
5. What was the score, and who were the teams in the American Football match at Wembley last week?
6. Which team are English women’s football league champions?
7. Who is the new president of the MCC?
8. What was the score between Liverpool and Sunderland?
9. – and Spurs and Chelsea?
10. – Man City and Aston Villa?
11. – Man Utd. and West Brom?
12. Who escaped a ban for scratching during the Spurs v. Chelsea match?
13. Who was sacked as Derby County Manager?
14. Which 60s and 70s children’s TV series is to be remade?
15. Which two popes will be officially canonized at the end of April 2014?
16. Who took Channel 4 to an industrial tribunal last week over claims he was sacked through ageism?
17. Which stadium closed for the last time last Monday?
18. Who is the new head coach of Derby County?
19. Who introduced George Osborne at the Conservative Party Conference?
20. Who ruled himself out of the running to become Director of England cricket teams for the ECB?
21. In county cricket’s first division, who had the highest batting average?
22. – and who took the most wickets?
23. What was the score between Chelsea and Steau Bucharest?
24. – and Celtic and Barcelona?
25. Which paper said that Ralph Milliband hated Britain, upsetting his son Ed?
26. Who was given the all clear after prostate surgery?
27. There were protests in Newport over plans to destroy which mural?
28. Name the three brothers in the England Rugby League World Cup squad
29. What was the score between Arsenal and Napoli?
30. Who was kicked out of his seat amongst home fans for celebrating Cardiff City’s goal at Craven Cottage?
31. Who had the best batting average in cricket’s division two?
32. – and who took the most wickets ?
33. Which former Wimbledon finalist announced his retirement from tennis?
34. David Cameron announced plans to cut benefits for which group?
35. A public survey voted whom as the most influential British engineer?
36. Who denounced UKIP as racist?
37. Which author died aged 66?
38. An as yet unnamed character is to be killed off in which TV series?
39. What was the score between Man Utd. and Shakhtar Donetsk?
40. – and Man city and Bayern Munich?
41. Which jockey broke his ankle last week?
42. Which poem by Dylan Thomas did Prince Charles record for National Poetry Day?
43. Which company apologized to Kevin Pietersen over suggestions that he may have tampered with Hot Spot?
44. Which African country left the Commonwealth last week?
45. Tony Blair has been retained to help which country in its bid for entry to the EU?
46. What was the score between Spurs and Anzhi Makhachkala
47. – and Swansea and St. Gallen?
48. – and Wigan and N.K.Maribor?
49. Which veteran MP announced that he will be standing again in 2015?
50. Who is rewriting Jane Austen’s “Emma”?
51. Which Asian country qualified for their first ever cricket world cup finals?
Only Connect - Round One -Match Two
Globetrotters v. Board Gamers
The Globetrotters then, were Michael Reeve, Suda Perera and their captain was Chris Clough. Noen of them were known to me before the show, but one thing you know about Only Connect is that there are no mugs on the show. As for the Board Gamers, though, well Michael Wallace has already been good enough to leave a comment on the previous show here on LAM. I’m sure that many people will have recognised his teammates Hywel Carver , and in particular skipper Jamie Karran, as members of a very good and very entertaining UCL team of semi-finalists in the 2011/12 series of University Challenge. So whatever happened the Trotters were going to have their work cut out for them, it seemed.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Trotters put the Gamers in first, and they chose Lion. The music lurked behind it. They offered colours after all four, which was accepted, although shades of red and pink was the actual wording of the connection – Ruby Turner – Rose Royce – Pink etc. The Trotters opted for eye of Horus, and found Büsingen: Switzerland – Monaco:France – Berwick: Scotland and Swansea: England. Personally, I thought that Berwick: Scotland was the giveaway in this set. Suda Perera worked out too late that these are football teams who play in a league in a different country. Much kudos to Jamie Karran for voicing the second vowel in Horned Viper, but jet propelled unicycle – dehydrated boulders – invisible paint and iron bird seed gave them little reward. The Trotters didn’t have it either. In my head I was saying Looney Tunes, but I’ll admit it, I hadn’t quite pursued the thought as far as products of the Acme company used by Wile E. Coyote. Ah, poor Wile E! For me, one of the ultimate metaphors for the human condition, however I digress. Twisted flax brought 1968 Black Power Salute Athletes. Right, I thought – Tommie Smith John Carlos – holding shoes on podium – bowing heads, raised fist in black gloves. The second clue – Curley in “Of Mice and Men” made it clear we were dealing with single glove wearers. The Trotters took the third – Freddy Krueger, and had the answer after this. The Gamers took Two Reeds and we saw The World : 1804 – Facebook:2012 – Africa :2009 and China:1982. They didn’t have it. This is actually a great connection, and I was nowhere near it until the last clue. The Trotters could see that these were things, and the years when they reached a population of a billion. Great set. Water showed the Trotters pictures of people who bore titles in their names to which they were not entitled. This gave the Trotters a lead of 4 – 1.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
I hadn’t really been on song during round one, but started to pick up a bit in round two. Lion gave the Gamers 4: Parade’s End – 5: Forsyte Saga and they , as did I , though they should look for a series of books comprising of 7, such as Harry Potter, Good shout. Horned Viper ( unvoiced? Not sure) gave the Trotters Fred Dineage TV show ( How) – IPC Media Celebrity Magazine – (Now ) and both of us offered cow at this point. How Now Brown Cow. Again, kudos to the setter – lovely set that. Eye of Horus gave the Gamers diagrams of graphs. I didn’t get it, but Michael explained it perfectly and took it off two. Twisted Flax gave the Trotters Flight – Shaft – and they went for head. The Gamers didn’t have it – any darter would have told you it was point. I used to play for the Duke of Cambridge in Lewisham and had it off two. Water gave the Gamers Adenine – and they discussed this one a lot before going for thymine. A brilliant five point answer – these are the bases of DNA or RNA, apparently. Pictures remained behind two reeds for the Trotters. We saw a courtroom scene – Kevin Peitersen, a vinyl record – or LP ( and here I had it. ) – so an MP would be next. Well worked out. The Trotters had increased their score to 9, but the 5 pointer had worked wonders for the Gamers, who now led with 12 points.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Trotters played first with the Lion wall. Like me they saw a set of Beautiful South songs quickly, isolating Perfect 10 – 36D – Rotterdam and A little time. Ford cars followed – Galaxy – Kuga – Escort and Fiesta. Almost immediately they untangled the other two lines, finding Parker Brothers – Mayfair – Waddingtons and Ravensburger, who all manufacture board games, leaving French – Brazilian – Hollywood and Playboy – which are all bkini waxes, apparently. The sneaky thing that Victoria pointed out about this wall was that it also contained a false set – of ‘adult’ magazines. Nasty.
The Water wall presented the Gamers with more of a problem, They knew there was a set of punk/New Wave bands, and a set of jars as well, but just couldn’t untangle any of the lines. Cole – Marr – Simpson and Oakley were all BBC political editors – Bell – Augusta Westland – Sikorsky and Westland all manufacture helicopters – Kilner – Leyden – Canopic and Jam were the jars, leaving the bands – Clash – damned – Buzzcocks – Undertones. So they salvaged 4 points by knowing the connections, but it left them behind the Trotters to the tune of 19 – 16.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The first set Irish novelists fell 3 – 1 to the Gamers. This cut the deficit to a single point. Ranks in the British Army went two apiece. Phrases used in letting adverts fell 4- 0 to the Gamers, and sadly the Trotters dropped a point, which gave the Gamers a 3 point lead. Sweet and Savoury Biscuits only had time for one, and it fell to the Gamers. This gave them the win by 21 – 26.
Well played both. I’m very glad that the Gamers won, but I’m also glad that the Trotters aren’t out either – they’re a good team who could still do very well in the competition.
The Globetrotters then, were Michael Reeve, Suda Perera and their captain was Chris Clough. Noen of them were known to me before the show, but one thing you know about Only Connect is that there are no mugs on the show. As for the Board Gamers, though, well Michael Wallace has already been good enough to leave a comment on the previous show here on LAM. I’m sure that many people will have recognised his teammates Hywel Carver , and in particular skipper Jamie Karran, as members of a very good and very entertaining UCL team of semi-finalists in the 2011/12 series of University Challenge. So whatever happened the Trotters were going to have their work cut out for them, it seemed.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Trotters put the Gamers in first, and they chose Lion. The music lurked behind it. They offered colours after all four, which was accepted, although shades of red and pink was the actual wording of the connection – Ruby Turner – Rose Royce – Pink etc. The Trotters opted for eye of Horus, and found Büsingen: Switzerland – Monaco:France – Berwick: Scotland and Swansea: England. Personally, I thought that Berwick: Scotland was the giveaway in this set. Suda Perera worked out too late that these are football teams who play in a league in a different country. Much kudos to Jamie Karran for voicing the second vowel in Horned Viper, but jet propelled unicycle – dehydrated boulders – invisible paint and iron bird seed gave them little reward. The Trotters didn’t have it either. In my head I was saying Looney Tunes, but I’ll admit it, I hadn’t quite pursued the thought as far as products of the Acme company used by Wile E. Coyote. Ah, poor Wile E! For me, one of the ultimate metaphors for the human condition, however I digress. Twisted flax brought 1968 Black Power Salute Athletes. Right, I thought – Tommie Smith John Carlos – holding shoes on podium – bowing heads, raised fist in black gloves. The second clue – Curley in “Of Mice and Men” made it clear we were dealing with single glove wearers. The Trotters took the third – Freddy Krueger, and had the answer after this. The Gamers took Two Reeds and we saw The World : 1804 – Facebook:2012 – Africa :2009 and China:1982. They didn’t have it. This is actually a great connection, and I was nowhere near it until the last clue. The Trotters could see that these were things, and the years when they reached a population of a billion. Great set. Water showed the Trotters pictures of people who bore titles in their names to which they were not entitled. This gave the Trotters a lead of 4 – 1.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
I hadn’t really been on song during round one, but started to pick up a bit in round two. Lion gave the Gamers 4: Parade’s End – 5: Forsyte Saga and they , as did I , though they should look for a series of books comprising of 7, such as Harry Potter, Good shout. Horned Viper ( unvoiced? Not sure) gave the Trotters Fred Dineage TV show ( How) – IPC Media Celebrity Magazine – (Now ) and both of us offered cow at this point. How Now Brown Cow. Again, kudos to the setter – lovely set that. Eye of Horus gave the Gamers diagrams of graphs. I didn’t get it, but Michael explained it perfectly and took it off two. Twisted Flax gave the Trotters Flight – Shaft – and they went for head. The Gamers didn’t have it – any darter would have told you it was point. I used to play for the Duke of Cambridge in Lewisham and had it off two. Water gave the Gamers Adenine – and they discussed this one a lot before going for thymine. A brilliant five point answer – these are the bases of DNA or RNA, apparently. Pictures remained behind two reeds for the Trotters. We saw a courtroom scene – Kevin Peitersen, a vinyl record – or LP ( and here I had it. ) – so an MP would be next. Well worked out. The Trotters had increased their score to 9, but the 5 pointer had worked wonders for the Gamers, who now led with 12 points.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Trotters played first with the Lion wall. Like me they saw a set of Beautiful South songs quickly, isolating Perfect 10 – 36D – Rotterdam and A little time. Ford cars followed – Galaxy – Kuga – Escort and Fiesta. Almost immediately they untangled the other two lines, finding Parker Brothers – Mayfair – Waddingtons and Ravensburger, who all manufacture board games, leaving French – Brazilian – Hollywood and Playboy – which are all bkini waxes, apparently. The sneaky thing that Victoria pointed out about this wall was that it also contained a false set – of ‘adult’ magazines. Nasty.
The Water wall presented the Gamers with more of a problem, They knew there was a set of punk/New Wave bands, and a set of jars as well, but just couldn’t untangle any of the lines. Cole – Marr – Simpson and Oakley were all BBC political editors – Bell – Augusta Westland – Sikorsky and Westland all manufacture helicopters – Kilner – Leyden – Canopic and Jam were the jars, leaving the bands – Clash – damned – Buzzcocks – Undertones. So they salvaged 4 points by knowing the connections, but it left them behind the Trotters to the tune of 19 – 16.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The first set Irish novelists fell 3 – 1 to the Gamers. This cut the deficit to a single point. Ranks in the British Army went two apiece. Phrases used in letting adverts fell 4- 0 to the Gamers, and sadly the Trotters dropped a point, which gave the Gamers a 3 point lead. Sweet and Savoury Biscuits only had time for one, and it fell to the Gamers. This gave them the win by 21 – 26.
Well played both. I’m very glad that the Gamers won, but I’m also glad that the Trotters aren’t out either – they’re a good team who could still do very well in the competition.
University Challenge - Round One - Heat Twelve
Cardiff v. Exeter
Well, here we are coming towards the end of one of the best sets of first round matches for a good year or two. Cardiff, represented by Eleri Evans, Sara Caputo, Tom Parry-Jones and captain Roderick Lawford had to battle against support from the Clark sofa – well they were part of the defunct University of Wales with whom I did my PGCE. Their opposition, Exeter, were Tom Nelson, Finn Sharpe, Martin Gentile and their captain John Earle.
The first question started difficult, but got easier quickly as JP asked for the author of The Constant Gardener. John Earle won that buzzer race, and earned bonuses on wedding music. They answered one of the chestnuts – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but missed the other with Lohengrin, and the more difficult Prince of Denmark’s march. Tom Nelson too k the next starter identifying equivalents of LOL. A good shout that one. Not quite so good were the shouts they made about 20th century British Prime Ministers. They were gettable, but none were actually got. Neither team knew that it was Millais who painted Christ in the House of his Parents. Poor Finn Sharpe hadn’t quite listened to the question for the next. When asked for the Greek letter at the start of a set of words he offered ‘chiro’ – which was at the start of one of the words, but not the actual letter asked for. Tom Parry-Jones offered mu, but of course it was chi. The next question was about Buzzfeed. No, me neither, and nor did the two teams. Tom Parry-Jones was in for the next starter, asking for the sea lying between Australia and New Caledonia, the site of a major battle between US and Japanese navies, and supplied the correct answer of the Coral Sea. So far Exeter hadn’t done brilliantly with the bonuses that they’d been given, and so I asked myself how would Cardiff manage with their first set. Words deemed obsolete and excluded from smaller recent editions of the OED . I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of supererogate, but they could have had charabanc. The picture starter showed us the flag of an autonomous community of Spain. Tricky, since there are several to choose from. The word Oceano on the top suggested this was an overseas area, but neither team spotted this, and both suggested mainland areas, leaving the Canary Islands to go begging. So something of a nervy opening first ten minutes saw Exeter holding a narrow lead of 20 to 15.
Something about joules, amps and henrys saw neither team able to come up with the answer of a quarter. You pays yer money. Sar Caputo correctly identified a quotation about the State, to put Cardiff into the lead, and earn the set on flags, in this case flags with animals upon them. We both had Ecuador and a condor, missed Wyoming and a bison, and took Papua New Guinea and a Bird of Paradise. Eleri Evans won the buzzer race to say that Mars has the same spelling of the third person present of a verb meaning to spoil. Bonuses on solar eclipses in fiction made me put money on Twain’s Connecticut Yankee… being one of them. I lost, since it wasn’t. However I knew John Banville, which the team didn’t, and they knew Generation X, which I didn’t. We both knew King Solomon’s Mines. Sarah Caputo buzzed too early on one of those – in which decade starters, and lost 5. Exeter were unable to capitalize, not knowing that, among other things, A Tale of Two Cities was published in the 1850s. Tom Parry-Jones also had a case of twitchy buzzer finger, and lost five buzzing in too early for the mineral rubies and sapphires come from. Again, Exeter just couldn’t capitalize when given the whole question. It’s corundum, and a little bit of an old quiz chestnut, to be honest. I didn’t know novels by Angela Brazil, but I did know that Marc Almond sang with Soft Cell, and Hazel was a rabbit in Watership Down, so the linking foodstuff was nuts. The next question started waffling about something that sounded like Geometry , then took a swerve asking for the name of the legendary Queen of Carthage. Well, I don’t care, that gave me a rare Geometry question right. It also gave Finn Sharpe a rare starter for Exeter. I really enjoyed the set on parody religions, such as the ‘pastafarians’ . Respect to Exeter for managing two of those – I had Bertrand Russell, but the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and Pink Unicorn are new ones on me. For the music starter Sara Caputo quickly identified that Oh What a Beuatiful Morning was from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (don’t forget the exclamation mark). Bonuses on the locations of other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals brought them one more correct answer. To be fair knowing that Maine is the setting for Carousel was tricky, but they might well have got South Pacific. It was not to be. African Geography did not prove to be either team’s strong point, as neither could guess that the Orange River rises in the Lesotho Highlands. If Martin Gentile was guessing that Quebec produces 70% of the world’s maple syrup, it was a very good guess indeed, and it got Exeter moving again. They took full advantage with the first full set of the contest, this time on Botany. This put both teams level. Neither team knew that the faces of a dodecagon are pentagonal. Well, quite. A good early buzz from Tom Parry-Jones identified Alastair Cook as the youngest batsman to reach 7000 test runs. This put Cardiff back in the lead. Irrigation schemes provided them with another five points. AT the 20 minute mark they led by 75 to 60. Going on the evidence of what we’d already seen, the implications for both teams were quite simple. They had to win the show, because neither of them looked likely to get a repechage score.
John Earle started Exeter’s run for home by identifying a picture of the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi for the next starter. 3 more pictures of people given Soviet awards for peace followed and they took one of them. All square again. Roderick Lawford then began his team’s run for home, knowing that if it’s a piece of music, and it has the word rag in the title, then you just answer Scott Joplin. The first real UC special set of the night came next, with words that appear in the short English names of EU member states, for example spa and pain in Spain. These are the type of question which are usually gettable if you keep a clear head and think. So Love and Oven gave us Slovenia – Ire and Eland gave us Ireland and Man and Oman gave us Romania. Cardiff only took 1 – I thought it was strange that they worked out that Oman was part of it, then went for Germany. Neither team knew that Turkey is the world’s largest producer of hazlenuts. Eleri Evans knew a set of membranes that can be found in the ear. This brought Cardiff triple figures, and a full set of bonuses on radians meant that Exeter suddenly had a mountain to climb if they were to win. Tom Parry-Jones lost five points of Cardiff’s advantage by buzzing too early on the next starter which Finn Sharpe capitalized on by knowing the father of Linguistics. English towns whose names contain only 4 letters put them onto 95 points, and they were halfway up the mountain. Some Maths thing followed, and Eleri Evans was in very quickly with the correct answer. 1 bonus was taken on Mrs. Dalloway. Asked which 4 letter word ends the names of rivers that flow through Ipswich and Manchester Exeter had to get it right to have a chance, but they didn’t. Tom Parry-Jones had it with –well, and that was the game. Bonuses on 1413 followed. They had time for a couple, and then the gong put an end to what was an interesting show, but never a great match, I’m afraid. Neither team showed as wide or impressive a range of knowledge as some we’ve seen recently. Maybe we’ve been a little spoiled by the quality of some of the teams in recent weeks. Still, very well done Cardiff, winners by 145 to 95. Bad luck Exeter, that’s just the way it goes.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP started early. He rarely misses a chance to make a comment about politicians, and when Exeter suggested Alec Douglas-Home entered parliament in 1945 as the MP for Ormskirk he replied “I don’t think he ever darkened the door of Ormskirk.”
I thought JP was quite restrained for a lot of the show. When one of the Exeter team suggested the Nile as the river that rises in the Lesotho Highlands he merely favoured him with an old fashioned look, and refrained from passing the comment he might have made to a team who were doing better.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
555 in Thai , ASG in Swedish and MDR in French are equivalents of LOL, or Laughing out loud in English.
Well, here we are coming towards the end of one of the best sets of first round matches for a good year or two. Cardiff, represented by Eleri Evans, Sara Caputo, Tom Parry-Jones and captain Roderick Lawford had to battle against support from the Clark sofa – well they were part of the defunct University of Wales with whom I did my PGCE. Their opposition, Exeter, were Tom Nelson, Finn Sharpe, Martin Gentile and their captain John Earle.
The first question started difficult, but got easier quickly as JP asked for the author of The Constant Gardener. John Earle won that buzzer race, and earned bonuses on wedding music. They answered one of the chestnuts – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but missed the other with Lohengrin, and the more difficult Prince of Denmark’s march. Tom Nelson too k the next starter identifying equivalents of LOL. A good shout that one. Not quite so good were the shouts they made about 20th century British Prime Ministers. They were gettable, but none were actually got. Neither team knew that it was Millais who painted Christ in the House of his Parents. Poor Finn Sharpe hadn’t quite listened to the question for the next. When asked for the Greek letter at the start of a set of words he offered ‘chiro’ – which was at the start of one of the words, but not the actual letter asked for. Tom Parry-Jones offered mu, but of course it was chi. The next question was about Buzzfeed. No, me neither, and nor did the two teams. Tom Parry-Jones was in for the next starter, asking for the sea lying between Australia and New Caledonia, the site of a major battle between US and Japanese navies, and supplied the correct answer of the Coral Sea. So far Exeter hadn’t done brilliantly with the bonuses that they’d been given, and so I asked myself how would Cardiff manage with their first set. Words deemed obsolete and excluded from smaller recent editions of the OED . I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of supererogate, but they could have had charabanc. The picture starter showed us the flag of an autonomous community of Spain. Tricky, since there are several to choose from. The word Oceano on the top suggested this was an overseas area, but neither team spotted this, and both suggested mainland areas, leaving the Canary Islands to go begging. So something of a nervy opening first ten minutes saw Exeter holding a narrow lead of 20 to 15.
Something about joules, amps and henrys saw neither team able to come up with the answer of a quarter. You pays yer money. Sar Caputo correctly identified a quotation about the State, to put Cardiff into the lead, and earn the set on flags, in this case flags with animals upon them. We both had Ecuador and a condor, missed Wyoming and a bison, and took Papua New Guinea and a Bird of Paradise. Eleri Evans won the buzzer race to say that Mars has the same spelling of the third person present of a verb meaning to spoil. Bonuses on solar eclipses in fiction made me put money on Twain’s Connecticut Yankee… being one of them. I lost, since it wasn’t. However I knew John Banville, which the team didn’t, and they knew Generation X, which I didn’t. We both knew King Solomon’s Mines. Sarah Caputo buzzed too early on one of those – in which decade starters, and lost 5. Exeter were unable to capitalize, not knowing that, among other things, A Tale of Two Cities was published in the 1850s. Tom Parry-Jones also had a case of twitchy buzzer finger, and lost five buzzing in too early for the mineral rubies and sapphires come from. Again, Exeter just couldn’t capitalize when given the whole question. It’s corundum, and a little bit of an old quiz chestnut, to be honest. I didn’t know novels by Angela Brazil, but I did know that Marc Almond sang with Soft Cell, and Hazel was a rabbit in Watership Down, so the linking foodstuff was nuts. The next question started waffling about something that sounded like Geometry , then took a swerve asking for the name of the legendary Queen of Carthage. Well, I don’t care, that gave me a rare Geometry question right. It also gave Finn Sharpe a rare starter for Exeter. I really enjoyed the set on parody religions, such as the ‘pastafarians’ . Respect to Exeter for managing two of those – I had Bertrand Russell, but the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and Pink Unicorn are new ones on me. For the music starter Sara Caputo quickly identified that Oh What a Beuatiful Morning was from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (don’t forget the exclamation mark). Bonuses on the locations of other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals brought them one more correct answer. To be fair knowing that Maine is the setting for Carousel was tricky, but they might well have got South Pacific. It was not to be. African Geography did not prove to be either team’s strong point, as neither could guess that the Orange River rises in the Lesotho Highlands. If Martin Gentile was guessing that Quebec produces 70% of the world’s maple syrup, it was a very good guess indeed, and it got Exeter moving again. They took full advantage with the first full set of the contest, this time on Botany. This put both teams level. Neither team knew that the faces of a dodecagon are pentagonal. Well, quite. A good early buzz from Tom Parry-Jones identified Alastair Cook as the youngest batsman to reach 7000 test runs. This put Cardiff back in the lead. Irrigation schemes provided them with another five points. AT the 20 minute mark they led by 75 to 60. Going on the evidence of what we’d already seen, the implications for both teams were quite simple. They had to win the show, because neither of them looked likely to get a repechage score.
John Earle started Exeter’s run for home by identifying a picture of the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi for the next starter. 3 more pictures of people given Soviet awards for peace followed and they took one of them. All square again. Roderick Lawford then began his team’s run for home, knowing that if it’s a piece of music, and it has the word rag in the title, then you just answer Scott Joplin. The first real UC special set of the night came next, with words that appear in the short English names of EU member states, for example spa and pain in Spain. These are the type of question which are usually gettable if you keep a clear head and think. So Love and Oven gave us Slovenia – Ire and Eland gave us Ireland and Man and Oman gave us Romania. Cardiff only took 1 – I thought it was strange that they worked out that Oman was part of it, then went for Germany. Neither team knew that Turkey is the world’s largest producer of hazlenuts. Eleri Evans knew a set of membranes that can be found in the ear. This brought Cardiff triple figures, and a full set of bonuses on radians meant that Exeter suddenly had a mountain to climb if they were to win. Tom Parry-Jones lost five points of Cardiff’s advantage by buzzing too early on the next starter which Finn Sharpe capitalized on by knowing the father of Linguistics. English towns whose names contain only 4 letters put them onto 95 points, and they were halfway up the mountain. Some Maths thing followed, and Eleri Evans was in very quickly with the correct answer. 1 bonus was taken on Mrs. Dalloway. Asked which 4 letter word ends the names of rivers that flow through Ipswich and Manchester Exeter had to get it right to have a chance, but they didn’t. Tom Parry-Jones had it with –well, and that was the game. Bonuses on 1413 followed. They had time for a couple, and then the gong put an end to what was an interesting show, but never a great match, I’m afraid. Neither team showed as wide or impressive a range of knowledge as some we’ve seen recently. Maybe we’ve been a little spoiled by the quality of some of the teams in recent weeks. Still, very well done Cardiff, winners by 145 to 95. Bad luck Exeter, that’s just the way it goes.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP started early. He rarely misses a chance to make a comment about politicians, and when Exeter suggested Alec Douglas-Home entered parliament in 1945 as the MP for Ormskirk he replied “I don’t think he ever darkened the door of Ormskirk.”
I thought JP was quite restrained for a lot of the show. When one of the Exeter team suggested the Nile as the river that rises in the Lesotho Highlands he merely favoured him with an old fashioned look, and refrained from passing the comment he might have made to a team who were doing better.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
555 in Thai , ASG in Swedish and MDR in French are equivalents of LOL, or Laughing out loud in English.
Friday, 4 October 2013
Mastermind Round One - Heat 8
I always enjoy regular Mastermind anyway, but I’m enjoying this series. We saw a very good high quality contest last week, and we saw another one last night, overly long specialist questions notwithstanding.
Bel Freedman started off with the spy and sometime criminal Eddie Chapman. I would say that your enjoyment of this round depended a lot on whether or not you’ve either read or seen ‘Agent Zigzag’. I haven’t, so I answered which company manufactured the Mosquito aircraft – general knowledge question that one – and that was it for me. Bel managed double figures which is the mark of a good specialist round in this series, but her score of 10 would surely leave her with some work to do in the GK.
The History of Portsmouth FC is one of those subjects which is probably a lot harder than you might think. It seemed to me that more than the first half minute seemed to be almost exclusively about the 1920s, for instance. For the most part Peter Russell was more than equal to this, and steadily amassed a score of 11. I managed 2, by pure lucky guesses – in all honesty at the moment there is little chance of me taking the wiki challenge until the half term break.
Steven Broomfield offered us the most traditional MM specialist subject of the evening with the Battle of Balaklava. Now, as good as the previous two rounds had been, this was of another level entirely. 14 questions, and 14 correct answers. As someone who answered 5 specialist MM rounds in my time, and never managed a perfect one despite hours and hours of preparation for each, I can vouch for just how difficult a feat to achieve that is. This was surely the round of the night. Wasn’t it?
Michael McPartland has been this way before. A former competitor on Brian of Britain, he was also a member of the Footballers, who were 4th in the last but one series of Only Connect. Michael was also a semi-finalist in Mastermind 2010. So he certainly had plenty of experience to draw upon. Even so his specialist round, on Father Ted was outstanding. A terrific subject, one used by the great Pat Gibson during his victorious 2005 series, this saw Michael saw a perfect 15 from 15. I don’t think it would be possible to score any more highly on that round, with those questions, because Michael was answering extremely quickly.
With a five point deficit before her round started you have to say that Bel was probably just playing for pride with her GK round. In which case she actually made a pretty good job of it. She never panicked, and kept picking off the answers that she knew, and managed to get herself into the teens for the round. 23 was never going to win this particular heat, but it’s a respectable score, and showed that she competed. Peter Russell’s round I found rather more difficult than Bel’s, and than the two rounds which were to follow. Even despite this Peter managed to push his score on well. It required a good score to put the remaining contenders into the corridor of uncertainty, and his 16 for a total of 27 was just that. You fancied that it wouldn’t quite be enough, but even so it would certainly put him onto the repechage board. I am of course presuming that last year’s rules apply – the top 6 runner up scores regardless of whether 2nd , 3rd or 4th place in the heat all being eligible for the places.
Now to the business end of the show. If Stephen Broomfield was within the corridor of uncertainty he certainly didn’t show it. It was a second 16 point GK round for the show, and a cracking performance. Kudos to the question setter who set the one about John Lennon’s Instant Karma. Stephen got into a rhythm very quickly, and I think that it was in order to retain his momentum that he passed on one of his questions. You had to fancy his chances of winning the heat, though, for 30 and 1 pass was the second best score of the whole series so far.
Well, for the second time in the show Michael McPartland had to respond to an excellent round, and for the second time in a row he did just that. There were two ways he could win the show. The first was to post his own score of 16 or better. Well, he didn’t quite manage that. The other way of winning was to score 15 without passing once. This was exactly what he did. His round always looked as if it would be there or thereabouts, but as the finishing line approached it did look as if it was going to be extremely close, as indeed it was.
Congratulations, Michael, and also well done to Stephen, since surely 30 will be good enough to put him through. The repechage table is starting to get very interesting though. The banker only pays 27s and over at the moment, and there’s still lots of shows to go.
The Details
Repechage Table
Steven Broomfield 30 – 1
Beth Webster 28 – 2
Ron Wood 28 – 3
=Carol O’Byrne 27 – 2
=Peter Russell 27 – 2
Andrew Teale – 27 – 5
Bel Freedman started off with the spy and sometime criminal Eddie Chapman. I would say that your enjoyment of this round depended a lot on whether or not you’ve either read or seen ‘Agent Zigzag’. I haven’t, so I answered which company manufactured the Mosquito aircraft – general knowledge question that one – and that was it for me. Bel managed double figures which is the mark of a good specialist round in this series, but her score of 10 would surely leave her with some work to do in the GK.
The History of Portsmouth FC is one of those subjects which is probably a lot harder than you might think. It seemed to me that more than the first half minute seemed to be almost exclusively about the 1920s, for instance. For the most part Peter Russell was more than equal to this, and steadily amassed a score of 11. I managed 2, by pure lucky guesses – in all honesty at the moment there is little chance of me taking the wiki challenge until the half term break.
Steven Broomfield offered us the most traditional MM specialist subject of the evening with the Battle of Balaklava. Now, as good as the previous two rounds had been, this was of another level entirely. 14 questions, and 14 correct answers. As someone who answered 5 specialist MM rounds in my time, and never managed a perfect one despite hours and hours of preparation for each, I can vouch for just how difficult a feat to achieve that is. This was surely the round of the night. Wasn’t it?
Michael McPartland has been this way before. A former competitor on Brian of Britain, he was also a member of the Footballers, who were 4th in the last but one series of Only Connect. Michael was also a semi-finalist in Mastermind 2010. So he certainly had plenty of experience to draw upon. Even so his specialist round, on Father Ted was outstanding. A terrific subject, one used by the great Pat Gibson during his victorious 2005 series, this saw Michael saw a perfect 15 from 15. I don’t think it would be possible to score any more highly on that round, with those questions, because Michael was answering extremely quickly.
With a five point deficit before her round started you have to say that Bel was probably just playing for pride with her GK round. In which case she actually made a pretty good job of it. She never panicked, and kept picking off the answers that she knew, and managed to get herself into the teens for the round. 23 was never going to win this particular heat, but it’s a respectable score, and showed that she competed. Peter Russell’s round I found rather more difficult than Bel’s, and than the two rounds which were to follow. Even despite this Peter managed to push his score on well. It required a good score to put the remaining contenders into the corridor of uncertainty, and his 16 for a total of 27 was just that. You fancied that it wouldn’t quite be enough, but even so it would certainly put him onto the repechage board. I am of course presuming that last year’s rules apply – the top 6 runner up scores regardless of whether 2nd , 3rd or 4th place in the heat all being eligible for the places.
Now to the business end of the show. If Stephen Broomfield was within the corridor of uncertainty he certainly didn’t show it. It was a second 16 point GK round for the show, and a cracking performance. Kudos to the question setter who set the one about John Lennon’s Instant Karma. Stephen got into a rhythm very quickly, and I think that it was in order to retain his momentum that he passed on one of his questions. You had to fancy his chances of winning the heat, though, for 30 and 1 pass was the second best score of the whole series so far.
Well, for the second time in the show Michael McPartland had to respond to an excellent round, and for the second time in a row he did just that. There were two ways he could win the show. The first was to post his own score of 16 or better. Well, he didn’t quite manage that. The other way of winning was to score 15 without passing once. This was exactly what he did. His round always looked as if it would be there or thereabouts, but as the finishing line approached it did look as if it was going to be extremely close, as indeed it was.
Congratulations, Michael, and also well done to Stephen, since surely 30 will be good enough to put him through. The repechage table is starting to get very interesting though. The banker only pays 27s and over at the moment, and there’s still lots of shows to go.
The Details
| Bel Freedman | Eddie Chapman | 10 - 3 | 13 - 1 | 23 - 4 |
| Peter Russell | The History of Portsmouth FC | 11 - 0 | 16 - 2 | 27 - 2 |
| Steven Broomfield | Battle of Balaklava | 14 - 0 | 16 - 1 | 30 - 1 |
| Michael McPartland | Father Ted | 15 - 0 | 15 - 0 | 30 - 1 |
Repechage Table
Steven Broomfield 30 – 1
Beth Webster 28 – 2
Ron Wood 28 – 3
=Carol O’Byrne 27 – 2
=Peter Russell 27 – 2
Andrew Teale – 27 – 5
Answers to News Questions
In The News
Who Or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Usagi
2. Tamiko Bolton
3. Oisin Murphy
4. Richard Whitehead
5. The Elms, Rottingdean
6. Sarah Outen
7. Michael Downey
8. Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum
9. Alice Oswald
10. Tony Martin
11. Emanuele Leo
12. Jake White
13. Charles Taylor
14. Lariam
15. Iain Dale
16. Samantha Lewthwaite
17. Robin Van Helsum
18. Arctic Sunrise
19. Thibault Hutin
20. Richie Humphreys
21. Dominic Sibley
22. Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
In Other News
1. Name the mall , the scene of the massacre by terrorists in Nairobi?
2. Who won the Tour of Britain?
3. Who won the German Election
4. Which became the first premier league football club to sponsor a university technical college?
5. Which city was the venue for the Labour Party Conference?
6. Which band were criticized for their tax arrangements?
7. What was the score between Man City and Man Utd?
8. –and Spurs and Cardiff?
9. Who was the first manager to be sacked in the Premier League this season?
10. Who won the Singapore GP?
11. Who became European Heavyweight Boxing Champion?
12. NHS regulators dropped cases into the conduct of senior medical staff where?
13. Which was the only British show to win an Emmy last week?
14. Which broadcaster admitted last week he has been lying about his age, and he is in fact almost 90?
15. Which entertainer faced charges in Westminster Magistrates Court last week?
16. Which team had the last 100% record in the English leagues?
17. Who is exhibiting at the Halcyon Gallery in November?
18. Who finally officially quit UKIP?
19. What government policy was branded Neo Victorian?
20. Which rugby player, having apologized to the Prime Minister last week was ruled out of the Autumn Tests by injury?
21. Which ‘Strictly’ judge revealed that he is due to have hip operations, and is looking forward to them?
22. Who resigned from the Booker Prize advisory committee over the changes announced in the last few weeks?
23. Which team won the American’s Cup, by which score?
24. The siege of Homs reached which unenviable milestone last week?
25. The so-called World’s Oldest Newspaper announced it is going digital only. what is it?
26. In the capital one cup, what was the score between Man Utd. and Liverpool?
27. – and Swansea and Birmingham City?
28. What sentence did Stephen Lee receive for match fixing snooker?
29. Who lost his attempt to recoup his costs from former employee Stella English?
30. What is The Rugby Champions Cup?
31. GB and Ireland’s top golfers have been accused of shunning which competition?
32. Which murder victim’s funeral took place last week?
33. Who left Blue Peter for BT Sport?
34. Why is Harvard University suing Havard School in Milton Keynes?
35. Warrington beat whom to reach the Super League Grand Final?
36. What was the score in the football match between England Women and Turkey?
37. Which former England cricketer has been appointed High Performance Coach in the Australian Centre of Excellence?
38. Which teams won and came second in the County championship? 39. Which teams are relegated from the County Championship? 40. Which teams are promoted from the second division of the county championship? 41. What topped a BBC poll to find the most popular film score of all time?
42. Which 50s rock and roller passed away this week?
43. Who faced a court case for tax evasion in the small Spanish town of Gava this week?
44. Which two teams are playing each other this weekend in the annual Wembley gridiron game?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Typhoon which hit Hong Kong
2. Married US investor George Soros
3. Apprentice jockey who rode 4 winners in the same meeting at Ayr
4. Paralympian who completed a run from John O’Groats to Land’s End in 40 days
5. Former home of Rudyard Kipling, now on sale
6. Rowed solo from Japan to Alaska
7. Taking over as chief executive of LTA from January 2014
8. Pleaded guilty to drug smuggling in Peru – prosecution objected to plea
9. First poet to win the Warwick Prize for fiction
10. Winner of the world Cycling Time Trial championship – beating Sir Bradley Wiggins
11. First professional opponent of Olympic champion Anthony Joshua
12. Quit as coach of ACT Brumbies
13. Former Liberian politician sentenced to 50 years in jail for supplying Sierra Leonian rebels
14. Anti-malarial medicine banned by US forces, still being given to soldiers in British Army
15. Scuffled with a protestor in Brighton during Labour Party Conference week
16. The so-called “White Widow” wanted in a number of countries on terrorist charges
17. So-called “Forest Boy” given 150 hours community service
18. Greenpeace ship seized along with crew by Russian authorities accused of piracy
19. Martina Hingis’ estranged husband who claims he was beaten by her and her mother
20. New chairman of the PFA
21. Youngest ever double centurion in County Championship, scoring 242 for Surrey aged 18
22. Their trial for the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby was postponed until November.
In Other News
1. Westgate
2. Sir Bradley Wiggins
3. Angela Merkel
4. Spurs
5. Brighton
6. U2
7. 4 – 1 Man City 8. 1 – 0 Spurs
9. Paolo di Canio
10. Sebastian Vettel
11. Derek Chisora
12. Mid Staffs
13. The Hour
14. Nicholas Parsons
15. Rolf Harris
16. Leyton Orient
17. Bob Dylan
18. Godfrey Bloom MEP
19. Michael Gove’s Curriculum
20. Manu Tuilagi
21. Craig Revel-Horwood
22. Lady Antonia Fraser 23. Oracle Team USA. They won 9-8 after trailing to the New Zealand team by 8 -1, and one of the reasons for their success was bringing Sir Ben Ainslie on board as tactician.
24. 500 days
25. Lloyd’s List
26. 1 – 0 Man Utd.
27. 3 – 1 Birmingham, meaning that the holders are now out.
28. 12 year ban
29. Lord Sugar
30. English and French proposed alternative to Heineken Cup
31. Seve Cup
32. April Jones
33. Helen Skelton
34. Over their name, which they claim causes confusion because it is too similar to Harvard.
35. Huddersfield Giants
36. 8 - 0
37. Graham Hick
38. Durham are champions, and Yorkshire were second. 39. Derbyshire were second from bottom, and Surrey were bottom 40. Lancashire are Div 2 champions and Northants are also promoted. 41. Star Wars
42. Marvin Rainwater
43. Lionel Messi 44. Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings
Who Or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Usagi
2. Tamiko Bolton
3. Oisin Murphy
4. Richard Whitehead
5. The Elms, Rottingdean
6. Sarah Outen
7. Michael Downey
8. Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum
9. Alice Oswald
10. Tony Martin
11. Emanuele Leo
12. Jake White
13. Charles Taylor
14. Lariam
15. Iain Dale
16. Samantha Lewthwaite
17. Robin Van Helsum
18. Arctic Sunrise
19. Thibault Hutin
20. Richie Humphreys
21. Dominic Sibley
22. Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
In Other News
1. Name the mall , the scene of the massacre by terrorists in Nairobi?
2. Who won the Tour of Britain?
3. Who won the German Election
4. Which became the first premier league football club to sponsor a university technical college?
5. Which city was the venue for the Labour Party Conference?
6. Which band were criticized for their tax arrangements?
7. What was the score between Man City and Man Utd?
8. –and Spurs and Cardiff?
9. Who was the first manager to be sacked in the Premier League this season?
10. Who won the Singapore GP?
11. Who became European Heavyweight Boxing Champion?
12. NHS regulators dropped cases into the conduct of senior medical staff where?
13. Which was the only British show to win an Emmy last week?
14. Which broadcaster admitted last week he has been lying about his age, and he is in fact almost 90?
15. Which entertainer faced charges in Westminster Magistrates Court last week?
16. Which team had the last 100% record in the English leagues?
17. Who is exhibiting at the Halcyon Gallery in November?
18. Who finally officially quit UKIP?
19. What government policy was branded Neo Victorian?
20. Which rugby player, having apologized to the Prime Minister last week was ruled out of the Autumn Tests by injury?
21. Which ‘Strictly’ judge revealed that he is due to have hip operations, and is looking forward to them?
22. Who resigned from the Booker Prize advisory committee over the changes announced in the last few weeks?
23. Which team won the American’s Cup, by which score?
24. The siege of Homs reached which unenviable milestone last week?
25. The so-called World’s Oldest Newspaper announced it is going digital only. what is it?
26. In the capital one cup, what was the score between Man Utd. and Liverpool?
27. – and Swansea and Birmingham City?
28. What sentence did Stephen Lee receive for match fixing snooker?
29. Who lost his attempt to recoup his costs from former employee Stella English?
30. What is The Rugby Champions Cup?
31. GB and Ireland’s top golfers have been accused of shunning which competition?
32. Which murder victim’s funeral took place last week?
33. Who left Blue Peter for BT Sport?
34. Why is Harvard University suing Havard School in Milton Keynes?
35. Warrington beat whom to reach the Super League Grand Final?
36. What was the score in the football match between England Women and Turkey?
37. Which former England cricketer has been appointed High Performance Coach in the Australian Centre of Excellence?
38. Which teams won and came second in the County championship? 39. Which teams are relegated from the County Championship? 40. Which teams are promoted from the second division of the county championship? 41. What topped a BBC poll to find the most popular film score of all time?
42. Which 50s rock and roller passed away this week?
43. Who faced a court case for tax evasion in the small Spanish town of Gava this week?
44. Which two teams are playing each other this weekend in the annual Wembley gridiron game?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Typhoon which hit Hong Kong
2. Married US investor George Soros
3. Apprentice jockey who rode 4 winners in the same meeting at Ayr
4. Paralympian who completed a run from John O’Groats to Land’s End in 40 days
5. Former home of Rudyard Kipling, now on sale
6. Rowed solo from Japan to Alaska
7. Taking over as chief executive of LTA from January 2014
8. Pleaded guilty to drug smuggling in Peru – prosecution objected to plea
9. First poet to win the Warwick Prize for fiction
10. Winner of the world Cycling Time Trial championship – beating Sir Bradley Wiggins
11. First professional opponent of Olympic champion Anthony Joshua
12. Quit as coach of ACT Brumbies
13. Former Liberian politician sentenced to 50 years in jail for supplying Sierra Leonian rebels
14. Anti-malarial medicine banned by US forces, still being given to soldiers in British Army
15. Scuffled with a protestor in Brighton during Labour Party Conference week
16. The so-called “White Widow” wanted in a number of countries on terrorist charges
17. So-called “Forest Boy” given 150 hours community service
18. Greenpeace ship seized along with crew by Russian authorities accused of piracy
19. Martina Hingis’ estranged husband who claims he was beaten by her and her mother
20. New chairman of the PFA
21. Youngest ever double centurion in County Championship, scoring 242 for Surrey aged 18
22. Their trial for the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby was postponed until November.
In Other News
1. Westgate
2. Sir Bradley Wiggins
3. Angela Merkel
4. Spurs
5. Brighton
6. U2
7. 4 – 1 Man City 8. 1 – 0 Spurs
9. Paolo di Canio
10. Sebastian Vettel
11. Derek Chisora
12. Mid Staffs
13. The Hour
14. Nicholas Parsons
15. Rolf Harris
16. Leyton Orient
17. Bob Dylan
18. Godfrey Bloom MEP
19. Michael Gove’s Curriculum
20. Manu Tuilagi
21. Craig Revel-Horwood
22. Lady Antonia Fraser 23. Oracle Team USA. They won 9-8 after trailing to the New Zealand team by 8 -1, and one of the reasons for their success was bringing Sir Ben Ainslie on board as tactician.
24. 500 days
25. Lloyd’s List
26. 1 – 0 Man Utd.
27. 3 – 1 Birmingham, meaning that the holders are now out.
28. 12 year ban
29. Lord Sugar
30. English and French proposed alternative to Heineken Cup
31. Seve Cup
32. April Jones
33. Helen Skelton
34. Over their name, which they claim causes confusion because it is too similar to Harvard.
35. Huddersfield Giants
36. 8 - 0
37. Graham Hick
38. Durham are champions, and Yorkshire were second. 39. Derbyshire were second from bottom, and Surrey were bottom 40. Lancashire are Div 2 champions and Northants are also promoted. 41. Star Wars
42. Marvin Rainwater
43. Lionel Messi 44. Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings
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