Manchester v. St. George’s, London
Put in simple terms this was a straight shootout. The winning team would go through to the semis, and the other team wouldn’t. Both teams looked impressive throughout the whole competition, right up until their last match. The Manchester team of David Brice, Adam Barr, Debbie Brown, and captain Richard Gilbert defeated Imperial in their first quarter, but were gunned down by the much fancied UCL team in the qualification match. As for the St. George’s team of Shashank Shivahi, Alexander Suebsaeng, Sam Mindel and captain Rebecca Smoker, they comfortably won their first quarter against Pembroke, Cambridge, before losing their own qualification match against New College, Oxford. Who do you pick for the win? Well, the fact is that you’re never going to get rich by continually betting on Manchester’s opponents, and my honest opinion was that they might have just a slight edge.
It looked good for St. George’s when Alexander Suebsaeng correctly identified King George V as the 1910 patron of the Royal Philatelic Society. Bonuses followed on International Relations . I’ve got some cousins in Australia myself. No points were taken. Now, there was a nice little UC special for the next starter. We were asked to multiply the number of carats in pure gold by the number of Martian Moons and then divide it by the atomic number of beryllium. 12! I shouted after a second or two. what’s more, I was right – being 24 by 2 divided by 4. Pressure of being in the studio in front of an audience, but neither team managed it. The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau came next. Hopefully they never made that into one of those nasty little films starring Robin Asquith. Captain Richard Gilbert of Manchester was first in for that one. A bonus set on Peterborough yielded a further 2 correct answers, and the lead. Adam Barr was going to have a very productive evening, and he opened his account , knowing that it is “Alice in Wonderland” which begins with Alice tired of the fact that her sister is engrossed in a book that doesn’t have any pictures. Bonuses on the essays of Virginia Woolf saw Manchester being asked to identify the writers to whom she was referring. Again, two correct answers ensued. Alexander Suebsaeng came in too early on the next starter on a French dynasty, losing 5, and allowing Richard Gilbert in with the Merovingians. One suspects the St. George’s team would have quite liked the bonus set on diseases that followed. Manchester certainly liked them, taking a full set. The picture starter showed us a map and several institutions marked upon it. It was the impressive Manchester skipper who won the buzzer race to identify that these were in fact the Ivy League Universities. For the bonuses Manchester had to identify 3 of them in particular, but managed just one. Neither took the next, a Maths thing about a car’s acceleration. Which meant that at the ten minute mark Manchester had a comfortable lead, showing comfortably the faster buzzer fingers. The score at this point was 75 – 5.
Manchester again won the buzzer race for the next starter, with Adam Barr knowing about pollen causing an allergic reaction. This brought Manchester a set of bonuses on Socialism. They took the first and also the third. Sam Mindel finally stopped the rot for St. George’s, buzzing early to give the correct answer that the pendolino trains tilt to allow them to corner at high speed. The team looked relieve to get a set of bonuses, even if they were on terminology in the design industry.They took a full set, and the score looked a lot healthier for the medics now. Sam Mindel did the trick again with the next starter, answering that it was Gerard Manley Hopkins who wrote “Glory be to God for dappled things.” This brought up a set of shorter words that can be made using any of the 8 letters of the word doggerel. This sort of bonus set always gives a team a good chance of a full set, I feel. St. George’s felt so too, taking their second consecutive full set. The gap, which had stood at 90 points a few minutes ago was now down to what looked like a far more manageable 40. It shrank further when Alexander Suebsaeng correctly answered that the cycle race, the Giro di Lombardia, ends at Lake Como. The bonuses on Geometry didn’t really help though, and I felt for Sam Mindel who said “This is beyond me”. They’re all beyond me, Sam!. The music starter gave us a burst of Borodin, and nobody recognized it. Neither did any team get vitamin B2. Shashank Shivaji jumped in too early for the next starter. I’d say that he recognized the start of the American Declaration of Independence, but a rush of blood to the head saw him answer Lincoln, allowing David Brice in with the right answer. That’s the thing about chasing a large gap. You can’t sit back on your buzzer, but at the same time you can’t afford a mistake either. Manchester thus earned the music bonuses. By answering with the name “Rimsky Korsakov” to each one they secured a correct answer on the last. The gap was now back up to 50 points. Adam Barr knew that Ralph Nader wrote “Unsafe at any speed” Manchester couldn’t capitalize much with a bonus set on decades of the 20th century, taking only the last. Sam Mindel won the buzzer race for the next starter, knowing that a biofilm on the surface of teeth is plaque. Mineralogy bonuses cut the lead by a further ten points. Nobody knew that Pericles has scenes on a ship, in a brothel, and in a number of mid eastern cities. Tyre among the list of cities was the clue. Adam Barr had a very good early buzz with the Fresnel lens. Bonuses on Harold Pinter brought them another 5 points. So at the 30 minute mark, for all of St. George’s honest endeavor, the gap had only shrunk by ten points in the last ten minutes, as Manchester led by 140 to 80.
The second picture starter showed us the three women who shared the 2011 Nobel Peace prize. Sam Mindel took that one. For the bonuses there were pictures of three more women who had won Nobel Prizes, they just had to name woman and prize. They didn’t manage any of them, although they knew Marie Curie. There was a terrific early buzz from Adam Barr on the next starter. Given the city of Anaheim in California he immediately buzzed in to say that the third in the sequence would be Paris. Yes, Disney theme park locations – Orlando coming second. JP was impressed. The set of bonuses seemed like that pub game – name 6 famous Belgians. Well, they only needed to name three, and each one was commemorated with a station on the Brussels Metro. We both took the first one, and the third one. For the next starter I knew that Axum is in Ethiopia, and so did Alexander Suebsaeng. The mammalian lymphatic system sounded like the sort of thing that medical students should know, and indeed they did. The gap was now down to 45, and there were just over 4 minutes to go in the contest. Sam Mindel, who played so well in this match for his team, buzzed in early to say that ENIAC had set a record for calculating the value of pi to 2000 places. Battles of the English Civil War and the counties in which they took place yielded nothing. With maybe three minutes left the gap was down to 35. Richard Gilbert steadied his team, taking the next starter knowing that Saudi Arabia is the only country to be a member of both the G20 and The Arab League. London Museums brought me a full set, but Manchester managed 2. At this stage of the game it looked like this would be enough. However Sam Mindel knew that a halogen has 5 of something in its outer subshell. Well, it was something like that. I loved the set of garden birds. A good fifteen years ago one of the teams in the Neath Quiz League started giving scientific names of British birds every time it was their turn to set a quiz. So I learned a shedload of them, and knew all of the three bonuses asked. There was nothing in the names to help you guess if you didn’t know, and unfortunately St. George’s didn’t know. Adam Barr knew that Barbara Hepworth was born in Wakefield. I had my second full set in a row with Scientists who give their names to elements of the periodic table. Manchester knew them too, and this took them to 200 points. The game looked over, especially when Debbie Brown knew that you can have sooty and arctic terns, amongst others. I’ve always felt that it’s a shame that there’s not a funny tern, but there you go. Charlotte Amalie gave the team the Virgin Islands, but they zigged with British when they should have zagged with US. No points were taken. David Brice knew that there are 16 corners on a tesseract, or 4D hypercube. Believe it or not I guessed that one myself. The gong sounded before we had a chance to hear any of a set of bonuses on Royal Dynasties. Manchester had won by 220 to 135, and I don’t think that anyone could argue that they hadn’t earned their place in the semis. Bad luck St. George’s, but you gave a very good account of yourselves throughout the series.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP seems to be mellowing. Sometimes he seems content just to get on with the game – often in the Grand Final – and this was one such match. There was a slight chuckle when Manchester were asked for which John Fowles novel had Pinter written the screenplay for the film adaptation, and answered “Deliverance”, but he refrained from passing comment, even though he thought it was funny. Then he commiserated with some sincerity when St. George’s took Marie Curie and one of the prizes she won. “Bad Luck” he said, and sounded as if he meant it too.
He even passed up the chance to rub salt into St. George’s wounds, hailing them as a very entertaining team, and reminding them that there is no shame in going out in the quarter finals. well, there’s no actual shame in going out in any of the rounds, for that matter, but nonetheless it was a nice thing to say.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
You can get plaque on your lawn as well as your teeth.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Sunday, 31 March 2013
A round up and a wee rant
I sit here in the comfort of the oft mentioned Clark sofa, reflecting on what was quite a week, quiz wise. Last Sunday John and I scraped home by a point in the Dyffryn Arms . Then on Monday night we had the finale of the Bridgend Quiz League season. The regular league season finished the week before, but this was the Cup Final and the AGM. In the final we played the Crown A from Maesteg. The lads beat us in our home match in the regular season last year, and very nearly beat us in the away match in the regular season this year, when we only scraped home by a point by answering the last two questions correctly. So they were certainly not opponents to ever be taken lightly. It was a very tight contest, up until the roll up round. The format of the cup means that about two thirds of the way through the contest you get the roll up round where each side gets a set of 5 questions. You can stick after answering any one of them. Get all five right, and you get 2 for each answer and a two point bonus. Get any wrong, and you get nothing. Because we were in the lead, the lads knew they had to go for more answers than we had – and unfortunately they went an answer too far. That meant that we were able to go on and win the contest.
With regards to the AGM, you may have read the post that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about demoralizing other teams. I did raise the issue at the AGM . The teams there assured us that no, they don’t feel demoralized, and if anything the presence of one team who have won the double three years in a row, and have outscored other teams on the majority of weeks in the season acts as a spur, rather than a deterrent. That’s actually terrific – I’d like to think that’s how I’d feel if the shoe was on the other foot. But I still felt it was an issue that I should raise because there had been that comment in the local paper. I think one of the chaps there misunderstood the point I was trying to make, since he made a point of saying that we’re not unbeatable – no arguments from me about that one – and seemed rather annoyed that I’d brought the issue up. Well, I didn’t want to upset anyone, but if you don’t put these things on the table, and you don’t talk about them, then you just don’t know if you have a problem or not. I rest my case, me lud. Whatever the case, I have to say that I think it was a great 40th Anniversary season for the league – many congratulations and thanks to the committee and everyone involved for that.
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How do you gauge whether your quiz is going down well or not? It can be difficult to tell. It was my turn again in the club on Thursday. I filled in with 3 quizzes during my stint as de facto organizer while Brian was ill, but he’s back at the helm now, which means that the number of quizzes I have to do won’t be so many now. That’s fine by me. I enjoy being question master and compiling the quizzes, but I’m just happy to fit in as and when needed. Time was that I wanted to do it every week, but as Sam Goldwyn is supposed to have said, we’ve all passed a lot of water since then. Still, as I say, it was my quiz on Thursday. It’s always difficult to gauge how well people have enjoyed it, because people will always tell you they did. They’re polite like that. I do tend to keep an eye on the scores , because people never complain that a quiz is too easy. so if the scores are a little higher than normal, well, that’s not a bad sign at all. If they’re a little lower – well, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s lead balloon time, but it’s worth taking note of. I believe that it went down OK. Using the scores as an indicator , the first few rounds were maybe a point or two harder than usual, and the last four rounds a point or two easier, so I think it evened out.
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While we’re on the subject of the quiz on Thursday night, if you do a pub quiz with, how should I put it, a more . . . mature clientele, sooner or later you’re going to experience this. You finish your quiz, announce the final scores, congratulate the winners and start to tidy away the papers, and then you see one of the punters approaching the table with a gleam in his eye. This will invariably be a fringe player of a fringe team. You just know that he – for it is invariably a he - is going to take issue with one of your questions. It doesn’t matter how reputable your sources are, or how carefully you checked your answer, he KNOWS his little piece of knowledge and he is going to trot it out in front of you come hell or high water. He doesn’t give a monkey’s that you just don’t CARE. He never even stops to think that you have dedicated several hours of your life to putting the quiz together and then asking the questions all so that he and everyone else can enjoy an evening’s entertainment for which they are not asked to pay even one copper coin of the realm. Nothing is going to stop him putting you in your place. One such pillock approached me at the end of the quiz, a huge grin on his chops like he thought he was doing me a huge favour, and he said,”I’ve got a piece of information for you.”
Grrrr!
I’m afraid I was what Basil Fawlty described as “a trifle brusque”. –“Look, “ I said,” they all come out of books. I don’t make them up off the top of my head. If you think the answer’s wrong, I’m sorry, but that’s the answer in the book.” Inevitably he replied that no, he didn’t mind(he did mind) he didn’t blame me (he did) and that he wasn’t complaining (he was), but he wanted me to know the information about that specific question. It’s not uncommon that you get to this point, where your complete lack of interest in what he wants to tell you becomes obvious, that some of them start offering to bring you in evidence to prove their point - passages from books, newspaper clippings, notes from their mum, you name it. Now, the response you want to give when they start doing this in a quiz where the result honestly makes no difference because there are no prizes or points at stake is, “ Look, how sad are you? In case you haven’t noticed. . . I don’t care! You lost by 12 points! It wouldn’t have made any bleedin’ difference! Let it go and leave me alone.” The response you actually give, because you are a moral coward who is scared of upsetting people – well I am, anyway, - is , “Oh, you don’t need to do that. But you have to understand I have to go on the sources that I have etc. etc. “ Which is normally enough to send them away , happy in the knowledge that they have scored some kind of moral victory.
Well, I didn’t exactly do that on Thursday. To be honest I got a little annoyed with the air that the bloke was putting on and just walked away from him as he was getting to the – I’ll bring you a note from my mum to prove it- stage. I know it’s rude, but to be honest, had I stayed I would have said something a lot ruder. Maybe I should just put a notice on the QM’s table saying –"Please don’t try to tell me I have got something wrong after the quiz, because a ‘sod off’ often offends." -
Happy Easter!
With regards to the AGM, you may have read the post that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about demoralizing other teams. I did raise the issue at the AGM . The teams there assured us that no, they don’t feel demoralized, and if anything the presence of one team who have won the double three years in a row, and have outscored other teams on the majority of weeks in the season acts as a spur, rather than a deterrent. That’s actually terrific – I’d like to think that’s how I’d feel if the shoe was on the other foot. But I still felt it was an issue that I should raise because there had been that comment in the local paper. I think one of the chaps there misunderstood the point I was trying to make, since he made a point of saying that we’re not unbeatable – no arguments from me about that one – and seemed rather annoyed that I’d brought the issue up. Well, I didn’t want to upset anyone, but if you don’t put these things on the table, and you don’t talk about them, then you just don’t know if you have a problem or not. I rest my case, me lud. Whatever the case, I have to say that I think it was a great 40th Anniversary season for the league – many congratulations and thanks to the committee and everyone involved for that.
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How do you gauge whether your quiz is going down well or not? It can be difficult to tell. It was my turn again in the club on Thursday. I filled in with 3 quizzes during my stint as de facto organizer while Brian was ill, but he’s back at the helm now, which means that the number of quizzes I have to do won’t be so many now. That’s fine by me. I enjoy being question master and compiling the quizzes, but I’m just happy to fit in as and when needed. Time was that I wanted to do it every week, but as Sam Goldwyn is supposed to have said, we’ve all passed a lot of water since then. Still, as I say, it was my quiz on Thursday. It’s always difficult to gauge how well people have enjoyed it, because people will always tell you they did. They’re polite like that. I do tend to keep an eye on the scores , because people never complain that a quiz is too easy. so if the scores are a little higher than normal, well, that’s not a bad sign at all. If they’re a little lower – well, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s lead balloon time, but it’s worth taking note of. I believe that it went down OK. Using the scores as an indicator , the first few rounds were maybe a point or two harder than usual, and the last four rounds a point or two easier, so I think it evened out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
While we’re on the subject of the quiz on Thursday night, if you do a pub quiz with, how should I put it, a more . . . mature clientele, sooner or later you’re going to experience this. You finish your quiz, announce the final scores, congratulate the winners and start to tidy away the papers, and then you see one of the punters approaching the table with a gleam in his eye. This will invariably be a fringe player of a fringe team. You just know that he – for it is invariably a he - is going to take issue with one of your questions. It doesn’t matter how reputable your sources are, or how carefully you checked your answer, he KNOWS his little piece of knowledge and he is going to trot it out in front of you come hell or high water. He doesn’t give a monkey’s that you just don’t CARE. He never even stops to think that you have dedicated several hours of your life to putting the quiz together and then asking the questions all so that he and everyone else can enjoy an evening’s entertainment for which they are not asked to pay even one copper coin of the realm. Nothing is going to stop him putting you in your place. One such pillock approached me at the end of the quiz, a huge grin on his chops like he thought he was doing me a huge favour, and he said,”I’ve got a piece of information for you.”
Grrrr!
I’m afraid I was what Basil Fawlty described as “a trifle brusque”. –“Look, “ I said,” they all come out of books. I don’t make them up off the top of my head. If you think the answer’s wrong, I’m sorry, but that’s the answer in the book.” Inevitably he replied that no, he didn’t mind(he did mind) he didn’t blame me (he did) and that he wasn’t complaining (he was), but he wanted me to know the information about that specific question. It’s not uncommon that you get to this point, where your complete lack of interest in what he wants to tell you becomes obvious, that some of them start offering to bring you in evidence to prove their point - passages from books, newspaper clippings, notes from their mum, you name it. Now, the response you want to give when they start doing this in a quiz where the result honestly makes no difference because there are no prizes or points at stake is, “ Look, how sad are you? In case you haven’t noticed. . . I don’t care! You lost by 12 points! It wouldn’t have made any bleedin’ difference! Let it go and leave me alone.” The response you actually give, because you are a moral coward who is scared of upsetting people – well I am, anyway, - is , “Oh, you don’t need to do that. But you have to understand I have to go on the sources that I have etc. etc. “ Which is normally enough to send them away , happy in the knowledge that they have scored some kind of moral victory.
Well, I didn’t exactly do that on Thursday. To be honest I got a little annoyed with the air that the bloke was putting on and just walked away from him as he was getting to the – I’ll bring you a note from my mum to prove it- stage. I know it’s rude, but to be honest, had I stayed I would have said something a lot ruder. Maybe I should just put a notice on the QM’s table saying –"Please don’t try to tell me I have got something wrong after the quiz, because a ‘sod off’ often offends." -
Happy Easter!
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Mastermind Grand Final Preview
Well, weren’t those semifinals full of surprises? I’ll be honest, if you’d twisted my arm and asked me to write a list of 6 predicted finalists based on prior knowledge and/or first round performance it wouldn’t have borne a huge amount of similarity to this one. Just goes to show how much I know. Let’s have a look at the table, then, shall we?
The Details
There’s two things I want to say about this table. Firstly, aren’t those semifinal performances close? No less than 5 scores of 21. The other was only 2 points less. The last figure represents the semifinal GK score. Now, secondly, we have to remember that these were 2 minute rather than 2 and a half minute rounds, but even so, with the exception of John Savage, nobody managed to get into the teens. John, you’ll remember, came from fifth at half time to win his semi on the back of that GK round. Does that give him an advantage going into the final? Maybe so. However in both first round and semi he didn’t post a massive score in the specialist round. If he’s trailing at halfway he may find it too much of a gap to make up at this stage. Andrew scored a magnificent 19 on GK in the first round heat. I did say in my preview that I have a sneaking suspicion that harder GK rounds are prepared for the semis, and maybe the final sees them revert to the same level as the first round. In which case Andrew seems like a decent shout to run well. I haven’t mentioned Didier Bruyère yet. Didier is a very highly ranked quizzer – but he has the handicap of playing in what is not his own first language. Which makes it all the more remarkable what he has achieved so far. Does this mean that he can’t win the final though? Absolutely not. Sian West, Paul Whitaker, and Aidan McQuade all scored as well as John and Andrew in their semis. Sian West could well become our first lady champion since Nancy in 2009, although I will say that her round of 14 on GK in the first round heat worries me a little. The same caveat applies even more for Paul and Aidan, who scored respectively 12 and 9 in their first round GK.
Alright then, for what it’s worth, this is what I think. I see Andrew, John and Didier being on the podium, although I wouldn’t like to say which step each will be standing upon. However this series has been so full of surprises that anyone could do it. I congratulate each contender on reaching the final and wish good luck to all of them.
The Details
| Name | 1st total | 1st passes | Semi total | Semi pass | Semi GK |
| John Savage | 25 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 13 |
| Paul Whittaker | 27 | 2 | 21 | 2 | 10 |
| Didier Bruyère | 27 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 10 | Andrew Frazer | 35 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 10 |
| Sian West | 26 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 11 |
| Aidan McQuade | 24 | 6 | 21 | 1 | 10 |
There’s two things I want to say about this table. Firstly, aren’t those semifinal performances close? No less than 5 scores of 21. The other was only 2 points less. The last figure represents the semifinal GK score. Now, secondly, we have to remember that these were 2 minute rather than 2 and a half minute rounds, but even so, with the exception of John Savage, nobody managed to get into the teens. John, you’ll remember, came from fifth at half time to win his semi on the back of that GK round. Does that give him an advantage going into the final? Maybe so. However in both first round and semi he didn’t post a massive score in the specialist round. If he’s trailing at halfway he may find it too much of a gap to make up at this stage. Andrew scored a magnificent 19 on GK in the first round heat. I did say in my preview that I have a sneaking suspicion that harder GK rounds are prepared for the semis, and maybe the final sees them revert to the same level as the first round. In which case Andrew seems like a decent shout to run well. I haven’t mentioned Didier Bruyère yet. Didier is a very highly ranked quizzer – but he has the handicap of playing in what is not his own first language. Which makes it all the more remarkable what he has achieved so far. Does this mean that he can’t win the final though? Absolutely not. Sian West, Paul Whitaker, and Aidan McQuade all scored as well as John and Andrew in their semis. Sian West could well become our first lady champion since Nancy in 2009, although I will say that her round of 14 on GK in the first round heat worries me a little. The same caveat applies even more for Paul and Aidan, who scored respectively 12 and 9 in their first round GK.
Alright then, for what it’s worth, this is what I think. I see Andrew, John and Didier being on the podium, although I wouldn’t like to say which step each will be standing upon. However this series has been so full of surprises that anyone could do it. I congratulate each contender on reaching the final and wish good luck to all of them.
News Questions
In the news
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Pervez Musharraf
2. Boris Berezhovsky
3. Eddie Mair
4. The Meaningful Easter Egg Co.
5. Car Share
6. Criterium International
7. Mallissa Venice Noel
8. Amanda Knox
9. Arnold Palmer International
10. Kim Barnett
11. Clive Mantle
12. Norman Baker
13. Sir Jonathan May
14. Jade Anderson
15. Martha Jane Fox
16. Nigel Adkins
17. James Holmes
In Other News
1. Last week which city was revealed as the best value European city for a short break?
2. The leader of which central African country was ousted last week?
3. Last week a blue plaque was unveiled to commemorate which London institution?
4. Which brand of chocolate bar was recalled due to pieces of plastic being found in some?
5. Which famous church was presented with new bells last week?
6. Who defied team orders to gain a better place on the podium in the Malaysian GP, and who obeyed team orders, and didn’t get a place on the podium in the same race?
7. Scotland defeated Sweden in the final of which world championship last week?
8. Who won the FA Trophy Final
9. In a Gadget Show poll, what came out as the top innovation disaster of all time?
10. Which railway opened a line to East Grinstead, connecting with the National Rail Network last week?
11. Which US university was last week stripped of several national quiz titles?
12. What was the venue for the friendly between Brazil and Russia last week?
13. What was the final score in the Hong Kong World Sevens Final?
14. Which two British cities are on the shortlist for the European Green Capital of 2015?
15. What was the result of the final test between England and New Zealand?
16. What was the score in the Brazil v. Russia friendly?
17. What was abolished by Home Secretary Theresa May last week for being not fit for purpose?
18. Who announced that he is quitting as an MP to take up a new post in the USA?
19. Which comedian announced that he would like to run as London Mayor in 2020?
20. What was the score between England and Montenegro?
21. – and between Wales and Croatia?
22. Which rugby team lost their appeal against lost points following fielding an ineligible player?
23. What was the score in the Republic of Ireland v. Austria clash?
24. What was the score between Scotland and Serbia?
25. Who used the c word to describe the Environment Secretary following his support for a badger cull and foxhunting?
26. PETA called for an end to which sport last week?
27. Parts of which structure were removed to make way for a building project last week?
28. Which company pulled out of their sponsorship of the iTV drama “Broadchurch”?
29. Which band announced they will be playing Glastonbury this year?
30. A new type of vaccine against what was announced last week?
31. Whose deportation was once again refused by the courts last week?
32. Who announced that her athletics career is probably now over due to a long standing foot injury?
33. Which cycle race will be run for the first time in 20 years this summer?
34. Where was an X Factor audition held where only one auditionee turned up at first?
35. The search for whom was called off last week?
36. It was announced that a drink nicknamed tramp juice is to be made revived. What is its real name?
37. Which actor died aged 65?
38. How long did it take astronauts to reach the International Space Station this week?
39. Parents in Swansea are being offered £100 to stop using what?
40. The heart unit in which hospital was controversially closed last week?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Pervez Musharraf
2. Boris Berezhovsky
3. Eddie Mair
4. The Meaningful Easter Egg Co.
5. Car Share
6. Criterium International
7. Mallissa Venice Noel
8. Amanda Knox
9. Arnold Palmer International
10. Kim Barnett
11. Clive Mantle
12. Norman Baker
13. Sir Jonathan May
14. Jade Anderson
15. Martha Jane Fox
16. Nigel Adkins
17. James Holmes
In Other News
1. Last week which city was revealed as the best value European city for a short break?
2. The leader of which central African country was ousted last week?
3. Last week a blue plaque was unveiled to commemorate which London institution?
4. Which brand of chocolate bar was recalled due to pieces of plastic being found in some?
5. Which famous church was presented with new bells last week?
6. Who defied team orders to gain a better place on the podium in the Malaysian GP, and who obeyed team orders, and didn’t get a place on the podium in the same race?
7. Scotland defeated Sweden in the final of which world championship last week?
8. Who won the FA Trophy Final
9. In a Gadget Show poll, what came out as the top innovation disaster of all time?
10. Which railway opened a line to East Grinstead, connecting with the National Rail Network last week?
11. Which US university was last week stripped of several national quiz titles?
12. What was the venue for the friendly between Brazil and Russia last week?
13. What was the final score in the Hong Kong World Sevens Final?
14. Which two British cities are on the shortlist for the European Green Capital of 2015?
15. What was the result of the final test between England and New Zealand?
16. What was the score in the Brazil v. Russia friendly?
17. What was abolished by Home Secretary Theresa May last week for being not fit for purpose?
18. Who announced that he is quitting as an MP to take up a new post in the USA?
19. Which comedian announced that he would like to run as London Mayor in 2020?
20. What was the score between England and Montenegro?
21. – and between Wales and Croatia?
22. Which rugby team lost their appeal against lost points following fielding an ineligible player?
23. What was the score in the Republic of Ireland v. Austria clash?
24. What was the score between Scotland and Serbia?
25. Who used the c word to describe the Environment Secretary following his support for a badger cull and foxhunting?
26. PETA called for an end to which sport last week?
27. Parts of which structure were removed to make way for a building project last week?
28. Which company pulled out of their sponsorship of the iTV drama “Broadchurch”?
29. Which band announced they will be playing Glastonbury this year?
30. A new type of vaccine against what was announced last week?
31. Whose deportation was once again refused by the courts last week?
32. Who announced that her athletics career is probably now over due to a long standing foot injury?
33. Which cycle race will be run for the first time in 20 years this summer?
34. Where was an X Factor audition held where only one auditionee turned up at first?
35. The search for whom was called off last week?
36. It was announced that a drink nicknamed tramp juice is to be made revived. What is its real name?
37. Which actor died aged 65?
38. How long did it take astronauts to reach the International Space Station this week?
39. Parents in Swansea are being offered £100 to stop using what?
40. The heart unit in which hospital was controversially closed last week?
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news?
1. The Next Day
2. Simon Brodkin
3. Tommy Smith
4. Junior Bradshaw and Kevin Liverpool
5. Wallace Hartley
6. Lindsey Vonn
7. Sir Nicholas Houghton
8. Daisy Morris
9. Malala Yousafzai
10. Michael Appleton
11. Steve Walsh
12. Calypso Nash
13. Laurence Graff
14. Sybil Christopher
15. Ye Wocheng
16. Lillian Mort
17. Trinity Leeds
18. Pietro Mennea
19. Ketchup Clouds
20. Sir Michael Wilshaw
21. Chinua Achebe
In Other News
1. What was the score in the 6 Nations decider – Wales v. England ( sob ) ?
2. How many hours a day does the average Brit spend watching TV according to figures released last week?
3. Who scored his 200th goal for Chelsea last week?
4. Which team won the Grand Slam in the women’s 6 Nations
5. Who won the Australian Grand Prix?
6. What was the score between Spurs and Fulham (sob) ?
7. What was the score between Everton and Man City?
8. Where was a plaque to Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison unveiled last week?
9. Which strain of flu was announced as becoming resistant to Tamiflu last week?
10. David Cameron announced that there will be a Royal Charter on what?
11. Which 92 year old TV actor passed away last week?
12. Who caused criticism for withdrawing from the England Football squad last week?
13. Who represented Britain at the Papal Inauguration last week?
14. Which long running show was announced as being axed by Channel Four last week?
15. Which measure was defeated in the Parliament of Cyprius last week?
16. Which former England star was banned for 20 months for drink driving?
17. Which toy company is building its first factory in China?
18. Christine Lagarde’s home in Paris was raided last week. why?
19. Which TV personality was re – arrested last week as part of a police investigation into sex abuse allegations?
20. Which author died aged 69 last week?
21. It was claimed last week that what has finally left the Solar system?
22. Tom Watson took which measure for the next Ryder Cup?
23. Who said she was taking a break from tennis, then swiftly changed her mind?
24. Who received a 3 week ban after being cited during the 6 nations matches last week?
25. Which member of the Royal Family suffered a stroke last week?
26. Who admitted a longstanding relationship with one of his accusers last week?
27. What date will the Scottish Independence vote take place?
28. Who rejected an offer to become manager of Reading FC last week?
29. Which team finally agreed a deal to move into the London 2012 Stadium?
30. What was announced as the most popular biscuit in the House of Commons last week?
31. The biggest zipline in the Northern Hemisphere was opened where last week?
32. Who is the new chairman of the FA?
33. What was the score in the England v. San Marino match?
34. What was the score between Wales and Scotland?
35. Who was awarded Player of the 6 Nations?
Answers
Who or What are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. New album by David Bowie- his first number 1 album for 20 years
2. Comedian best known for Lee Nelson. Invaded pitch as his character Jason Bent before Man City v. Everton
3. Former amateur jockey who won the National on jay Trump – passed away last week
4. In court for their plot to kill Joss Stone
5. Bandleader who went down with the Titanic. Doubts have been cast over the authenticity of a violin in auction claimed to be his.
6. US Skier dating Tiger Woods
7. New head of the UK Armed Forces
8. Girl who has had a dinosaur named after her
9. Shot by the Taliban for asking for education for girls – last week had her first day at a British school
10. Sacked as manager of Blackburn Rovers after very short time in the job
11. IRB referee in Wales v. England 6 Nations match. England have complained to IRB about his refereeing of the scrums.
12. Oxford University librarian sacked for letting pupils make a Harlem Shake video in St. Hilda’s college library. Students have protested over the sacking.
13. He bought the original of Tretchikoff’s “Chinese Girl” for almost £1 million
14. Richard Burton’s first wife, passed away last week.
15. 12 year old Chinese golfer, youngest to qualify for European court.
16. 74 year old banned from watching Pyle RFC for 3 matches for ‘bad behaviour’
17. New shopping centre opened in Leeds
18. Olympic 1980 men’s 200m champion , passed away
19. Winner of Waterstones’ Children’s Book Prize
20. Head of OFSTED – NUT has called for him to resign
21. The Father of African Literature – passed away last week.
In Other News
1. 30 - 3
2. 4.2 hours
3. Frank Lampard
4. Ireland
5. Kimi Raikonnen – driving a Lotus
6. 0 - 1
7. 2 - 0
8. The site of the former Apple Boutique, Baker Street
9. Swiss Flu
10. Press freedom/ restriction
11. Frank Thornton
12. Rio Ferdinand
13. The Duke of Gloucester
14. Time Team
15. Tax on Bank Deposits
16. Peter Shilton
17. Lego
18. An investigation into alleged embezzlement
19. Jim Davidson
20. James Herbert
21. The Voyager satellite
22. Cut the captain’s picks from 4 to 3
23. Heather Watson
24. Brian O’Driscoll
25. The Duke of Kent
26. Keith O’Brien
27. September 18th, 2014
28. Gus Poyet
29. West Ham Utd.
30. Jaffa Cakes ( strictly speaking a cake and not a biscuit !)
31. Snowdonia
32. Greg Dyke
33. 8 - 0
34. 2 - 1
35. Leigh Halfpenny of Wales
Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news?
1. The Next Day
2. Simon Brodkin
3. Tommy Smith
4. Junior Bradshaw and Kevin Liverpool
5. Wallace Hartley
6. Lindsey Vonn
7. Sir Nicholas Houghton
8. Daisy Morris
9. Malala Yousafzai
10. Michael Appleton
11. Steve Walsh
12. Calypso Nash
13. Laurence Graff
14. Sybil Christopher
15. Ye Wocheng
16. Lillian Mort
17. Trinity Leeds
18. Pietro Mennea
19. Ketchup Clouds
20. Sir Michael Wilshaw
21. Chinua Achebe
In Other News
1. What was the score in the 6 Nations decider – Wales v. England ( sob ) ?
2. How many hours a day does the average Brit spend watching TV according to figures released last week?
3. Who scored his 200th goal for Chelsea last week?
4. Which team won the Grand Slam in the women’s 6 Nations
5. Who won the Australian Grand Prix?
6. What was the score between Spurs and Fulham (sob) ?
7. What was the score between Everton and Man City?
8. Where was a plaque to Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison unveiled last week?
9. Which strain of flu was announced as becoming resistant to Tamiflu last week?
10. David Cameron announced that there will be a Royal Charter on what?
11. Which 92 year old TV actor passed away last week?
12. Who caused criticism for withdrawing from the England Football squad last week?
13. Who represented Britain at the Papal Inauguration last week?
14. Which long running show was announced as being axed by Channel Four last week?
15. Which measure was defeated in the Parliament of Cyprius last week?
16. Which former England star was banned for 20 months for drink driving?
17. Which toy company is building its first factory in China?
18. Christine Lagarde’s home in Paris was raided last week. why?
19. Which TV personality was re – arrested last week as part of a police investigation into sex abuse allegations?
20. Which author died aged 69 last week?
21. It was claimed last week that what has finally left the Solar system?
22. Tom Watson took which measure for the next Ryder Cup?
23. Who said she was taking a break from tennis, then swiftly changed her mind?
24. Who received a 3 week ban after being cited during the 6 nations matches last week?
25. Which member of the Royal Family suffered a stroke last week?
26. Who admitted a longstanding relationship with one of his accusers last week?
27. What date will the Scottish Independence vote take place?
28. Who rejected an offer to become manager of Reading FC last week?
29. Which team finally agreed a deal to move into the London 2012 Stadium?
30. What was announced as the most popular biscuit in the House of Commons last week?
31. The biggest zipline in the Northern Hemisphere was opened where last week?
32. Who is the new chairman of the FA?
33. What was the score in the England v. San Marino match?
34. What was the score between Wales and Scotland?
35. Who was awarded Player of the 6 Nations?
Answers
Who or What are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. New album by David Bowie- his first number 1 album for 20 years
2. Comedian best known for Lee Nelson. Invaded pitch as his character Jason Bent before Man City v. Everton
3. Former amateur jockey who won the National on jay Trump – passed away last week
4. In court for their plot to kill Joss Stone
5. Bandleader who went down with the Titanic. Doubts have been cast over the authenticity of a violin in auction claimed to be his.
6. US Skier dating Tiger Woods
7. New head of the UK Armed Forces
8. Girl who has had a dinosaur named after her
9. Shot by the Taliban for asking for education for girls – last week had her first day at a British school
10. Sacked as manager of Blackburn Rovers after very short time in the job
11. IRB referee in Wales v. England 6 Nations match. England have complained to IRB about his refereeing of the scrums.
12. Oxford University librarian sacked for letting pupils make a Harlem Shake video in St. Hilda’s college library. Students have protested over the sacking.
13. He bought the original of Tretchikoff’s “Chinese Girl” for almost £1 million
14. Richard Burton’s first wife, passed away last week.
15. 12 year old Chinese golfer, youngest to qualify for European court.
16. 74 year old banned from watching Pyle RFC for 3 matches for ‘bad behaviour’
17. New shopping centre opened in Leeds
18. Olympic 1980 men’s 200m champion , passed away
19. Winner of Waterstones’ Children’s Book Prize
20. Head of OFSTED – NUT has called for him to resign
21. The Father of African Literature – passed away last week.
In Other News
1. 30 - 3
2. 4.2 hours
3. Frank Lampard
4. Ireland
5. Kimi Raikonnen – driving a Lotus
6. 0 - 1
7. 2 - 0
8. The site of the former Apple Boutique, Baker Street
9. Swiss Flu
10. Press freedom/ restriction
11. Frank Thornton
12. Rio Ferdinand
13. The Duke of Gloucester
14. Time Team
15. Tax on Bank Deposits
16. Peter Shilton
17. Lego
18. An investigation into alleged embezzlement
19. Jim Davidson
20. James Herbert
21. The Voyager satellite
22. Cut the captain’s picks from 4 to 3
23. Heather Watson
24. Brian O’Driscoll
25. The Duke of Kent
26. Keith O’Brien
27. September 18th, 2014
28. Gus Poyet
29. West Ham Utd.
30. Jaffa Cakes ( strictly speaking a cake and not a biscuit !)
31. Snowdonia
32. Greg Dyke
33. 8 - 0
34. 2 - 1
35. Leigh Halfpenny of Wales
University Challenge - Quarter Final Elimination Match
Pembroke College Cambridge v. King's College Cambridge
Right, despite JP’s opening comments the implications of this match were simple. Win and you go through to a final qualification match for a place in the semis. Lose and you leave with nothing. In this all Cambridge match Pembroke, represented by Robert Scanes, Emily Maw, Jemima Hodkinson and their captain Tom Foxall were well beaten by St. George’s. In their own first quarter final match King’s, represented by Curtis Gallant, Amber Ace, our own James Gratrex and captain Fran Middleton had allowed New College Oxford to sprint off to a big lead, before just failing to reel them in. On paper, a difficult match to call.
Tom Foxall buzzed too early on the first question, Losing Pembroke five. The question gave a series of terms all linked by the word classical, as our own James Gratrex knew. This earned King’s bonuses on the year 1565. They answered 2 correctly, the same two that I answered, as it happened. Curtis Gallant buzzed early on Prime Ministers of Australia, and earned a set on culinary herbs for his pains. Only one was answered, but King’s were for once making a blitz start. Nobody knew about Kevlar for the next starter, nor did they know that it was mary Queen of Scots who was the British monarch executed in 1587. Maw buzzed in too early on the next starter on Geometry, losing 5, which allowed James G. in with the correct answer of hyperbola. Recent works on Economics did nothing for me, and I’m afraid they did nothing for King’s either. Didn’t matter. They were in the lead, and it was a lead that was growing. For the picture starter we saw a former flag of Iraq. Former flags – great idea for a set, but the set was going to have to wait, because nobody got it. Me neither, sad to say. Tom Foxall got his team off the mark by recognising titles of novels by Italo Calvino. The only work by Calvino I’ve ever read is a very beautiful short story called “A sign in space”. I digress. This brought Pembroke back to zero, and earned them the former flag bonuses. I thought they id brilliantly to get the first of these, Macedonia. Fran Middleton knew that it was JMW Turner who said “If I could find anything blacker than black I’d use it” . Yes, and if my Auntie had . . . This earned bonuses on the parody - The History of England – written by Jane Austen when she was 15 years old, from which the team had to guess the names of the monarchs to which she was referring.I picked out Edward IV and Richard III, while King’s managed just the latter. This was enough to give them a healthy looking lead of 60 points to 5 at the ten minute mark.
James knew that the christian name George was shared by two presidents inaugurated two centuries, plus or minus one year apart. Washington and Bush Snr. The good old Shipping Forecast came next, with sets of areas, and the one they surrounded being needed. The team didn’t fancy this but at least managed one with Cromarty.Curtis Gallant knew that Darwin had also made observations of mockingbirds as well as Galapagos finches. A very good early buzz that – and if you want to demoralize your opposition who are already watching you recede into the distance, then that’s the way to do it. Bonuses on ancient peoples increased the lead by another ten. Nobody knew that Chekov once said that Medicine was his wife, and Literature was his mistress. I wonder if Captain Kirk knew? Sorry – cheap joke. Neither team knew it, but sadly Pembroke buzzed in too early and lost 5. I really don’t blame them. There was time left to bridge the gap, but when you’re being beaten to the buzzer then you have to throw caution to the winds and go for it. Amber Ace recognized a quotation from King Lear. I’ll be honest, the distribution bonuses did nowt for me, nor for King’s for that matter. Oh dear, the dreaded “Pembroke there’s still plenty of time to get going “ came next. I know that he only means to be kind, but you know you’re really up against it when JP feels that he has to say something like this to you.On with the music starter. James recognized Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring very quickly. The bonuses were on other émigré composers.On the third we were treated to what I’m sure was a little excerpt of Nina Simone – one of my all time favourite singers. It didn’t help King’s though, as they didn’t get any of the bonuses. Never mind – they had a lead of over 100 points. Amber Ace knew that the kaleidoscope takes its name from greek words meaning beautiful form. A good UC set of bonuses on pairs of words whereby one letter from the first was doubled to get the second – moping and mopping being one. 2 were taken. A physicsy sort of thing came next, and Robert Scanes had it. Once again Pembroke were on the march. Their set of bonuses were on ballet and they managed one for pas de chat. Tom Foxall knew that if Mount Arthur and Mount Owen aren’t in Australia, as offered by King’s, then they must be in New Zealand. He was right, and this earned Pembroke some bonuses on the subject of neuro pharmocology. Pembroke took the whole set, and the gap was now less than 100 points. This raised the distinct possibility of a comeback, and a grandstand finish. Jemima Hodkinson took the next starter on the heraldic office of pursuivant, which made this seem even more likely. A full set of bonuses on odes further narrowed the gap, to 70 points at the twenty minute mark, thus showing just how important it is to take your bonuses when you get the chance.
The second picture starter showed part of a picture from a title page of a book. It absolutely screamed out William Blake – but which collection of poems. Jemima Hodkinson chanced her arm with Songs of Innocence and Experience, and she was right. Three more illuminations from this collection were offered as bonuses, with the team being asked which poems they illustrated. I was pleased with myself for getting “London” and “The Sick Rose”, while Pembroke missed these, but got “The Poison Tree” which I missed. The gap was down to 55. Robert Scanes was in too early for the next starter, asking what fruit botryoidal rocks resemble. I had it knowing that grapes suffer sometimes from a disease with a similar name. Robert Scanes recognized a political organization dedicated to ending Moroccan control of Western Sahara. Italian composers didn’t offer a great deal. I knew opera buffa and The Barber of Seville, but Pembroke failed to score. Pembroke were throwing everything including the kitchen sink at each starter now, but lost five for an early buzz on the next starter. King’s didn’t fancy their chances, so didn’t have a punt at shoo-fly pie. Tom Foxall knew that the French Third Republic began in 1871 and ended in 1940. Gothic literature saw them make the easy mistake of confusing Radcliffe’s “The Mysteries of Udolpho” with Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto”. They took one bonus. The gap was down to 40. They were clawing it back, but not quickly enough, and desperately needed a full set to give them a turbo boost and a chance of winning. Robert Scanes did the first part by getting the next starter, correctly answering that the VC was inaugurated during the 1850s. Physical Principles didn’t help them that much, though, since they only managed one. Which incidentally took the gap down to 25. A fulls et would bring the two sides absolutely level. It seemed like an awfully long time since King’s had taken a starter. Squeaky bum time, to quote Sir Alex Ferguson. Fran Middleton did the necessary for her team, knowing that the atomic number of magnesium is 12. A nice set of bonuses on prominent people with Paris metro stations named after them gave King’s another 5 points. Robert Scanes knew that the Royal Observatory moved to Herstmonceux Castle. Books by US Presidents didn’t offer a great deal, though, with Pembroke only taking one . Robert Scanes, who had had a brilliant 10 minutes, answered the next starter correctly with electro negativity. Amber Ace held her head in her hands. Bonuses on place names which all ended with the same three letters were heartbreakingly unforgiving, and so the gap remained at 15. The gong was on standby. Asked which name has been used most often by the Pope, Curtis Gallant was first to try his arm with Paul. No dice. Tom Foxall tried Leo. Nope – it was John. The gong sounded, and Curtis Gallant raised his arms – in triumph or relief ? Probably both. Very bad luck Pembroke, but congratulations on a terrific fightback. Hold your heads high after that one. But well done Jim and King’s ! Good luck in your final quarter final match.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
He was in a funny old mood in this show, was JP. He sniffed in mock indignation “You don’t know the Greek for bedbug – I’m astonished !”
When offered the name “Richard Blanchflower” for one economics bonus asking for an American economist he was rather dismissive “Noooooo – he’s British anyway.” Stop showing off Jez.
When James offered “Cromarty” for two successive shipping forecast bonuses he was right on the second go, leading JP to mutter “You’ve no idea where it is, have you?!”
On the Chekov starter Fran Middleton offered Ibsen for the Russian author, then realized what she’d done and started to correct herself, but JP cut in with “No no, you’re QUITE wrong!” he was chuckling, but let’s be honest, this one certainly wasn’t in the same class as Inspector Clouseau earlier in the series.
I thought he was rather nasty in saying to Amber Ace, when she offered pear for the botyroidal starter “No, I’m amazed! You’re a classicist, aren’t you?!” Yes she is, but you, sir are no gentleman!
Finally, after coming so close to tying the match at the end, poor old Pembroke had salt rubbed in their wounds with JPs words “You know, if you’d have got off to a better start you might have won that.” I refer you to my previous comment about my auntie.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
The herb coriander takes its name from the Greek for bedbug, since its scent was believed to resemble that of crushed bedbugs. which begs the question – what were the ancient Greeks doing crushing bedbugs in the first place?
Right, despite JP’s opening comments the implications of this match were simple. Win and you go through to a final qualification match for a place in the semis. Lose and you leave with nothing. In this all Cambridge match Pembroke, represented by Robert Scanes, Emily Maw, Jemima Hodkinson and their captain Tom Foxall were well beaten by St. George’s. In their own first quarter final match King’s, represented by Curtis Gallant, Amber Ace, our own James Gratrex and captain Fran Middleton had allowed New College Oxford to sprint off to a big lead, before just failing to reel them in. On paper, a difficult match to call.
Tom Foxall buzzed too early on the first question, Losing Pembroke five. The question gave a series of terms all linked by the word classical, as our own James Gratrex knew. This earned King’s bonuses on the year 1565. They answered 2 correctly, the same two that I answered, as it happened. Curtis Gallant buzzed early on Prime Ministers of Australia, and earned a set on culinary herbs for his pains. Only one was answered, but King’s were for once making a blitz start. Nobody knew about Kevlar for the next starter, nor did they know that it was mary Queen of Scots who was the British monarch executed in 1587. Maw buzzed in too early on the next starter on Geometry, losing 5, which allowed James G. in with the correct answer of hyperbola. Recent works on Economics did nothing for me, and I’m afraid they did nothing for King’s either. Didn’t matter. They were in the lead, and it was a lead that was growing. For the picture starter we saw a former flag of Iraq. Former flags – great idea for a set, but the set was going to have to wait, because nobody got it. Me neither, sad to say. Tom Foxall got his team off the mark by recognising titles of novels by Italo Calvino. The only work by Calvino I’ve ever read is a very beautiful short story called “A sign in space”. I digress. This brought Pembroke back to zero, and earned them the former flag bonuses. I thought they id brilliantly to get the first of these, Macedonia. Fran Middleton knew that it was JMW Turner who said “If I could find anything blacker than black I’d use it” . Yes, and if my Auntie had . . . This earned bonuses on the parody - The History of England – written by Jane Austen when she was 15 years old, from which the team had to guess the names of the monarchs to which she was referring.I picked out Edward IV and Richard III, while King’s managed just the latter. This was enough to give them a healthy looking lead of 60 points to 5 at the ten minute mark.
James knew that the christian name George was shared by two presidents inaugurated two centuries, plus or minus one year apart. Washington and Bush Snr. The good old Shipping Forecast came next, with sets of areas, and the one they surrounded being needed. The team didn’t fancy this but at least managed one with Cromarty.Curtis Gallant knew that Darwin had also made observations of mockingbirds as well as Galapagos finches. A very good early buzz that – and if you want to demoralize your opposition who are already watching you recede into the distance, then that’s the way to do it. Bonuses on ancient peoples increased the lead by another ten. Nobody knew that Chekov once said that Medicine was his wife, and Literature was his mistress. I wonder if Captain Kirk knew? Sorry – cheap joke. Neither team knew it, but sadly Pembroke buzzed in too early and lost 5. I really don’t blame them. There was time left to bridge the gap, but when you’re being beaten to the buzzer then you have to throw caution to the winds and go for it. Amber Ace recognized a quotation from King Lear. I’ll be honest, the distribution bonuses did nowt for me, nor for King’s for that matter. Oh dear, the dreaded “Pembroke there’s still plenty of time to get going “ came next. I know that he only means to be kind, but you know you’re really up against it when JP feels that he has to say something like this to you.On with the music starter. James recognized Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring very quickly. The bonuses were on other émigré composers.On the third we were treated to what I’m sure was a little excerpt of Nina Simone – one of my all time favourite singers. It didn’t help King’s though, as they didn’t get any of the bonuses. Never mind – they had a lead of over 100 points. Amber Ace knew that the kaleidoscope takes its name from greek words meaning beautiful form. A good UC set of bonuses on pairs of words whereby one letter from the first was doubled to get the second – moping and mopping being one. 2 were taken. A physicsy sort of thing came next, and Robert Scanes had it. Once again Pembroke were on the march. Their set of bonuses were on ballet and they managed one for pas de chat. Tom Foxall knew that if Mount Arthur and Mount Owen aren’t in Australia, as offered by King’s, then they must be in New Zealand. He was right, and this earned Pembroke some bonuses on the subject of neuro pharmocology. Pembroke took the whole set, and the gap was now less than 100 points. This raised the distinct possibility of a comeback, and a grandstand finish. Jemima Hodkinson took the next starter on the heraldic office of pursuivant, which made this seem even more likely. A full set of bonuses on odes further narrowed the gap, to 70 points at the twenty minute mark, thus showing just how important it is to take your bonuses when you get the chance.
The second picture starter showed part of a picture from a title page of a book. It absolutely screamed out William Blake – but which collection of poems. Jemima Hodkinson chanced her arm with Songs of Innocence and Experience, and she was right. Three more illuminations from this collection were offered as bonuses, with the team being asked which poems they illustrated. I was pleased with myself for getting “London” and “The Sick Rose”, while Pembroke missed these, but got “The Poison Tree” which I missed. The gap was down to 55. Robert Scanes was in too early for the next starter, asking what fruit botryoidal rocks resemble. I had it knowing that grapes suffer sometimes from a disease with a similar name. Robert Scanes recognized a political organization dedicated to ending Moroccan control of Western Sahara. Italian composers didn’t offer a great deal. I knew opera buffa and The Barber of Seville, but Pembroke failed to score. Pembroke were throwing everything including the kitchen sink at each starter now, but lost five for an early buzz on the next starter. King’s didn’t fancy their chances, so didn’t have a punt at shoo-fly pie. Tom Foxall knew that the French Third Republic began in 1871 and ended in 1940. Gothic literature saw them make the easy mistake of confusing Radcliffe’s “The Mysteries of Udolpho” with Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto”. They took one bonus. The gap was down to 40. They were clawing it back, but not quickly enough, and desperately needed a full set to give them a turbo boost and a chance of winning. Robert Scanes did the first part by getting the next starter, correctly answering that the VC was inaugurated during the 1850s. Physical Principles didn’t help them that much, though, since they only managed one. Which incidentally took the gap down to 25. A fulls et would bring the two sides absolutely level. It seemed like an awfully long time since King’s had taken a starter. Squeaky bum time, to quote Sir Alex Ferguson. Fran Middleton did the necessary for her team, knowing that the atomic number of magnesium is 12. A nice set of bonuses on prominent people with Paris metro stations named after them gave King’s another 5 points. Robert Scanes knew that the Royal Observatory moved to Herstmonceux Castle. Books by US Presidents didn’t offer a great deal, though, with Pembroke only taking one . Robert Scanes, who had had a brilliant 10 minutes, answered the next starter correctly with electro negativity. Amber Ace held her head in her hands. Bonuses on place names which all ended with the same three letters were heartbreakingly unforgiving, and so the gap remained at 15. The gong was on standby. Asked which name has been used most often by the Pope, Curtis Gallant was first to try his arm with Paul. No dice. Tom Foxall tried Leo. Nope – it was John. The gong sounded, and Curtis Gallant raised his arms – in triumph or relief ? Probably both. Very bad luck Pembroke, but congratulations on a terrific fightback. Hold your heads high after that one. But well done Jim and King’s ! Good luck in your final quarter final match.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
He was in a funny old mood in this show, was JP. He sniffed in mock indignation “You don’t know the Greek for bedbug – I’m astonished !”
When offered the name “Richard Blanchflower” for one economics bonus asking for an American economist he was rather dismissive “Noooooo – he’s British anyway.” Stop showing off Jez.
When James offered “Cromarty” for two successive shipping forecast bonuses he was right on the second go, leading JP to mutter “You’ve no idea where it is, have you?!”
On the Chekov starter Fran Middleton offered Ibsen for the Russian author, then realized what she’d done and started to correct herself, but JP cut in with “No no, you’re QUITE wrong!” he was chuckling, but let’s be honest, this one certainly wasn’t in the same class as Inspector Clouseau earlier in the series.
I thought he was rather nasty in saying to Amber Ace, when she offered pear for the botyroidal starter “No, I’m amazed! You’re a classicist, aren’t you?!” Yes she is, but you, sir are no gentleman!
Finally, after coming so close to tying the match at the end, poor old Pembroke had salt rubbed in their wounds with JPs words “You know, if you’d have got off to a better start you might have won that.” I refer you to my previous comment about my auntie.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
The herb coriander takes its name from the Greek for bedbug, since its scent was believed to resemble that of crushed bedbugs. which begs the question – what were the ancient Greeks doing crushing bedbugs in the first place?
Friday, 29 March 2013
Mastermind - Semi Final 6
Well, by a process of elimination we knew that tonight’s contenders for the last place in the Grand Final were going to be
Nell Whiteway - =16th on my table
Gregory Spiller - =4th on my table
John Savage - =26th
Marcus Hake - = 15th
Colin Daffern - =4th
Well, we’ve seen already in this set of semi finals that relative performance in the first round really doesn’t amount to a whole hill of beans as you might say. So whoever was going to win was anybody’s guess.
Nell Whiteway won heat 20 with a great round on Arthur Ransome’s “Swallows and Amazons” and a solid rather than spectacular round on General Knowledge. Tonight she was answering questions on a subject which was much more to my liking – Yes, Minister – a sitcom which was as practically perfect in every way as a piece of television is ever likely to get. As such I was disappointed to only get 4 answers . This suggests to me that maybe this was a tough set of questions, in which case it makes Nell’s 9 points look even better. A good round, but she looked unlikely to have the kind of serious lead she’d had at the halfway stage in her first round match.
It’s a hell of a long time since we watched Gregory Spiller win heat one, way back in August. He answered on Fawlty Towers (see my previous comment about Yes, Minister) back then. The Rebus novels of Ian Rankin provided his specialist subject tonight. I’m afraid that I’ve never read any, but I knew that the novels are set in Edinburgh, so that brought me my one point. Gregory managed a very good 10 points on this round – seriously, in a 90 second round you have to go like the clappers to get into double figures. Good round.
John Savage scored 11 on his first round specialist subject of Celtic FC. That hadn’t given him the halftime lead, but he romped home with a good GK round. Once again, he didn’t match the highest specialist round. Tonight he was answering on Nazi Germany 1933 – 1945. 8 put him two behind Gregory and 1 behind Nell. That was by no means a disaster, but it meant that his GK round needed to be a good one to give him a shout.
Like John , Marcus Hake had answered on a sporting specialist subject in his first round heat. Back then he answered on the Ashes since 1981. In a complete change of pace tonight he offered the Novels of Haruki Murakami. Again, I have to admit that I have never read any, and this time none of the questions offered any help to the non reader, and so I left the lists with my tail between my legs, and no points. As had Nell, Marcus fell just one short of double figures. Like the previous three contenders, Marcus attempted every question as well. 4 rounds down, and we had yet to see our first pass. Good quizzing, that.
Colin Daffern, the last semi finalist of this series, has been this way before, having been a semi finalist in Geoff’s 2006 series. You may remember he fought out that splendid duel with Roger Canwell in heat 17, scoring a fantastic 19 on GK in the process. This followed on the heels of a round of 13 on The Life and Career of Michael Foot. He did proportionately better on tonight’s specialist round. Setting off at a cracking pace, Colin rattled splendidly through his round on the Glastonbury Festival, picking up 11 points and once again , no passes as he did so.
So John returned to the chair for his GK round. He desperately needed to hit the teens in order to give the other contenders pause for thought, and push them towards the corridor of uncertainty. Which was exactly what he managed to do. I’ve conjectured before that the hardest GK rounds you tend to get are in the semis. I know that in Magnus’ day, the great Boswell Taylor used to arrange it so that the GK rounds would be harder in the semis, then a little easier again in the final to speed things up and heighten the excitement. I don’t know if this is still the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. 21 looked vulnerable, and yet not easy. Game on.
Nell Whiteway fell behind on the clock fairly quickly, and really never looked like getting back on terms She retained admirable composure in the face of adversity, but by the end of the round she had only managed to raise her score to 15. Regardless of which she still has the knowledge that she was good enough to make it to the semi final, and that is an achievement in itself. Marcus Hake was able to give it more of a lash, but you could see the clock inexorably catching him up, then passing him. The buzzer came before the finish line, but at least he did make it into double figures for the round. His 10 put him on 19, close, but still a little short.
Gregory Spiller had a two point lead over John at the halfway stage. However John had very cleverly not passed. so in order to go into the outright lead, Gregory needed a round of 12 points. Even 11 and no passes would only bring him a tie break. Well, although he seemed just a little behind John on the clock, Gregory kept his calm, and kept answering. However there were passes along the way. He had scored 11, and John had begun asking the last question as the buzzer went. Oh, Gregory gave it a good go, but in the end he just didn’t know that the Lipari Islands are also called the Aeolian Islands, and so, albeit on pass countback, John’s lead was still intact, with only one contender left.
Colin needed 11 points to render pass countback irrelevant, and his tactic was fairly clear. Go like the clappers, and pass if the answer didn’t come quickly. It’s certainly a legitimate tactic. Based on the first 30 seconds of the round it looked as if he was going to make it with a little time to spare. At the minute mark he still looked ok. At the 90 second mark there were doubts. In particular a hesitation where he nearly gave the correct answer ‘sap’ before passing looked particularly costly. At the buzzer Colin obviously didn’t know if he’d quite done it – well, you don’t – John Humphrys made it pretty clear by reminding him sadly that he had so nearly given the correct answer to the sap question. Oh, John. Believe me, when you’re in Colin’s position, you really don’t want someone telling you this. However kindly it is meant I’m sure that it comes across as having your nose rubbed in it a little. For Colin had score 10, and his four passes meant that John had won.
Hard lines to all 4 runners up, especially Colin and Gregory who came so close, but many congratulations to John. From 5th at the halfway stage to first at the end of the show. Many congratulations on reaching the Grand Final, and the best of retrospective luck to you.
The Details
Nell Whiteway - =16th on my table
Gregory Spiller - =4th on my table
John Savage - =26th
Marcus Hake - = 15th
Colin Daffern - =4th
Well, we’ve seen already in this set of semi finals that relative performance in the first round really doesn’t amount to a whole hill of beans as you might say. So whoever was going to win was anybody’s guess.
Nell Whiteway won heat 20 with a great round on Arthur Ransome’s “Swallows and Amazons” and a solid rather than spectacular round on General Knowledge. Tonight she was answering questions on a subject which was much more to my liking – Yes, Minister – a sitcom which was as practically perfect in every way as a piece of television is ever likely to get. As such I was disappointed to only get 4 answers . This suggests to me that maybe this was a tough set of questions, in which case it makes Nell’s 9 points look even better. A good round, but she looked unlikely to have the kind of serious lead she’d had at the halfway stage in her first round match.
It’s a hell of a long time since we watched Gregory Spiller win heat one, way back in August. He answered on Fawlty Towers (see my previous comment about Yes, Minister) back then. The Rebus novels of Ian Rankin provided his specialist subject tonight. I’m afraid that I’ve never read any, but I knew that the novels are set in Edinburgh, so that brought me my one point. Gregory managed a very good 10 points on this round – seriously, in a 90 second round you have to go like the clappers to get into double figures. Good round.
John Savage scored 11 on his first round specialist subject of Celtic FC. That hadn’t given him the halftime lead, but he romped home with a good GK round. Once again, he didn’t match the highest specialist round. Tonight he was answering on Nazi Germany 1933 – 1945. 8 put him two behind Gregory and 1 behind Nell. That was by no means a disaster, but it meant that his GK round needed to be a good one to give him a shout.
Like John , Marcus Hake had answered on a sporting specialist subject in his first round heat. Back then he answered on the Ashes since 1981. In a complete change of pace tonight he offered the Novels of Haruki Murakami. Again, I have to admit that I have never read any, and this time none of the questions offered any help to the non reader, and so I left the lists with my tail between my legs, and no points. As had Nell, Marcus fell just one short of double figures. Like the previous three contenders, Marcus attempted every question as well. 4 rounds down, and we had yet to see our first pass. Good quizzing, that.
Colin Daffern, the last semi finalist of this series, has been this way before, having been a semi finalist in Geoff’s 2006 series. You may remember he fought out that splendid duel with Roger Canwell in heat 17, scoring a fantastic 19 on GK in the process. This followed on the heels of a round of 13 on The Life and Career of Michael Foot. He did proportionately better on tonight’s specialist round. Setting off at a cracking pace, Colin rattled splendidly through his round on the Glastonbury Festival, picking up 11 points and once again , no passes as he did so.
So John returned to the chair for his GK round. He desperately needed to hit the teens in order to give the other contenders pause for thought, and push them towards the corridor of uncertainty. Which was exactly what he managed to do. I’ve conjectured before that the hardest GK rounds you tend to get are in the semis. I know that in Magnus’ day, the great Boswell Taylor used to arrange it so that the GK rounds would be harder in the semis, then a little easier again in the final to speed things up and heighten the excitement. I don’t know if this is still the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. 21 looked vulnerable, and yet not easy. Game on.
Nell Whiteway fell behind on the clock fairly quickly, and really never looked like getting back on terms She retained admirable composure in the face of adversity, but by the end of the round she had only managed to raise her score to 15. Regardless of which she still has the knowledge that she was good enough to make it to the semi final, and that is an achievement in itself. Marcus Hake was able to give it more of a lash, but you could see the clock inexorably catching him up, then passing him. The buzzer came before the finish line, but at least he did make it into double figures for the round. His 10 put him on 19, close, but still a little short.
Gregory Spiller had a two point lead over John at the halfway stage. However John had very cleverly not passed. so in order to go into the outright lead, Gregory needed a round of 12 points. Even 11 and no passes would only bring him a tie break. Well, although he seemed just a little behind John on the clock, Gregory kept his calm, and kept answering. However there were passes along the way. He had scored 11, and John had begun asking the last question as the buzzer went. Oh, Gregory gave it a good go, but in the end he just didn’t know that the Lipari Islands are also called the Aeolian Islands, and so, albeit on pass countback, John’s lead was still intact, with only one contender left.
Colin needed 11 points to render pass countback irrelevant, and his tactic was fairly clear. Go like the clappers, and pass if the answer didn’t come quickly. It’s certainly a legitimate tactic. Based on the first 30 seconds of the round it looked as if he was going to make it with a little time to spare. At the minute mark he still looked ok. At the 90 second mark there were doubts. In particular a hesitation where he nearly gave the correct answer ‘sap’ before passing looked particularly costly. At the buzzer Colin obviously didn’t know if he’d quite done it – well, you don’t – John Humphrys made it pretty clear by reminding him sadly that he had so nearly given the correct answer to the sap question. Oh, John. Believe me, when you’re in Colin’s position, you really don’t want someone telling you this. However kindly it is meant I’m sure that it comes across as having your nose rubbed in it a little. For Colin had score 10, and his four passes meant that John had won.
Hard lines to all 4 runners up, especially Colin and Gregory who came so close, but many congratulations to John. From 5th at the halfway stage to first at the end of the show. Many congratulations on reaching the Grand Final, and the best of retrospective luck to you.
The Details
| Nell Whiteway | Yes Minister | 9 – 0 | 6 - 3 | 15 – 3 |
| Gregory Spiller | The Rebus Novels of Ian Rankin | 10 – 0 | 11 - 3 | 21 – 3 |
| John Savage | Nazi Germany 1933 - 1945 | 8 – 0 | 13 - 0 | 21 – 0 |
| Marcus Hake | The Novels of Haruki Murakami | 9 – 0 | 10 – 1 | 19 - 1 |
| Colin Daffern | The Glastonbury Festival | 11 – 0 | 10 - 4 | 21 – 4 |
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