Quizzing has brought me a number of good things in the last two decades, but I would have to say that the best thing it has brought me has been some wonderful friends. If you’re a regular you may recall me mentioning my dear friend, the late Allan Coombs on more than one occasion. Allan used to say that the best question you can ask is the one which makes people go “D’oh! I should have known that!’ when you give the answer. I can certainly see where he was coming from with that. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s the best kind of question you can BE asked, though. I will admit that I’m extremely fond of being asked the kind of question where you don’t actually know the answer, but you can use what you do know to help you work out what you don’t.
Yes, I am in danger of rhapsodizing over another win in the club last night. Well, that’s a danger I am willing to face. We’ve been going through a good patch at the club this year, but as they say, form is just temporary. Brian’s quiz last night was another cracker, a testing quiz in many ways, and absolutely none the worse for that. There were a couple of questions where I was pleased with myself for dredging up the answers. Before I get to them, though, there was this question -
Where was world champion welterweight boxer José Napoles born?
I should probably explain that while I can in no rational way defend it, boxing is one of my favourite sports, and I have read voraciously on the subject, and still watch it whenever I can. So often when I hear the words ‘the next one is on boxing’ then I think – ho hum, here we go. I’ll tell you why. You always hope on a banker subject that it’s going to be a real stinker, because it could well be points in the bank for you, but nothing for anybody else. But most of the time, certainly when it comes to boxing, the questions aren’t going to be at specialist level, and have to be easy enough to give non-fans a shot at an answer. Now at least with this question, you had to know a bit about José Napoles, who, despite being a great, great boxer from the 70s, is certainly not as high up in the general consciousness as the following Leonard – Duran – Hearns and Hagler era, and certainly nowhere near as high up as the heavyweights who were contemporaneous with him. Then even if you do know about Napoles, you have to know that although he fought out of Mexico, he was in fact born in Cuba. Nice question.
Back to the ‘memory dredgers’. There were these two -
Which was the world’s first atomic powered surface ship?
Now, I’m sure that the majority of readers will have given the answer straightaway, but we were really struggling, until I had a mental flashback of the name ‘Lenin’ from a page in, I think, the Pears Quiz Companion. Correct answer. The other was,
Which TV serial from 1985, scripted by Troy Kennedy Martin, featured Yorkshire detective Ronald Craven?
Had Brian given a little more information – eg – which starred Bob Peck and Joe Don Baker – or even that it featured a character called something like Darius Jedberg (Baker’s character) - or that the theme was written by Eric Clapton – or that it was remade as a film with Mel Gibson in 2010 - then I’d probably have had it a little quicker. As it was, the only thing which came to mind from the mid-80s was Edge of Darkness. Correct.
A couple of good ‘dredgers’ like this will always put me in a good mood. But then to top off the evening, we had this one, which is the sort of question to which I was referring earlier.
In German football, what is called an Elfmeter?
For all I know this is a dead easy question which has been doing the rounds for a while, but I have certainly not heard it before. I didn’t know, and German is not one of my languages, but I know enough of the absolute basics to know that elf is German for 11. So essentially we have something called an 11-metre. The only thing that occurred which was likely to be called an ‘eleven metre’ was a penalty kick. Correct.
Well, it’s back from the sublime to the ridiculous next week, since it’s my turn to be QM again. Again, if you’re a regular you may recall me mentioning the annual MayDay in Melincryddan Quiz. This is the annual quiz which made me a born again quizzer in 1995. I won’t bore you with the details all over again, but suffice it to say that it is an event which is dear to my heart, not least because the trophy was renamed the David Clark Mastermind 2007 Trophy, and I’ve been question master for the last three or four years, and have already been ‘booked’ for 2015. While I’m on the subject, many congratulations to Jan Dacey, Sian Thomas and all the rest of the winning team who maintained a very high score throughout all the rounds and won going away from the field. Brian did ask whether I was going to recycle this quiz in the club next week, but no, I’m not going to recycle it – different quizzes, different formats, different clientele – I’m sure you know what I mean.
Actually I’ll tell you another thing I won’t be doing in the quiz on Thursday. I was having a chat with a quiz mate a couple of days ago, and we were talking about those questions which are impossible to answer the way that they are worded. For example – which is the world’s largest snake? Alright, we all know that the question master is going to give the answer – the anaconda – and it’s not necessarily wrong. But it’s not necessarily right, either. For the anaconda, as you know, is the heaviest snake. The reticulated python, though, is the longest. Which did he mean? Probably the heaviest. . . only you can’t be absolutely certain, can you?
So as I say, we were discussing such things, and one of us – I can’t remember who – suggested trying to write a whole quiz made up entirely of such questions. The idea isn’t without its appeal. It would certainly be a novel way of trying to put a quiz together for the club. But there’s the rub. When you put together a quiz for the club, you’re doing it to give people an evening’s entertainment – not to show off how clever you are (or otherwise), and not for your own amusement. So that one has been put on the back burner for now.
Friday, 9 May 2014
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
The Link - and not the Weakest one either
Thanks goodness for the iplayer. 2 o’clock on a weekday is not a good time for me. Time alone will tell whether it is a good time for BBC’s new daytime quiz show, The Link. Any quiz show that asks contestants to find links between supposedly random items is going to draw comparisons with Only Connect, and is inevitably going to suffer by comparison. One thinks of last year’s The Common Denominator on Channel Four, for example, which I thought wasn’t actually a bad little show, although it came and went pretty much unmourned, and dare I say it, unnoticed by the majority. So let me say from the start, The Link isn’t Only Connect. That’s on BBC4 on Monday evenings, and if you don’t watch it, you should.
What about The Link then? Well, the basic idea is that we start with three teams of pairs. The host, Mark ‘I’ll get me coat’ Williams, of the Fast Show of Blessed Memory, asks a series of questions. Teams have to buzz in to give the answer. The first answer will be the first item of a connected set. The team who answer it get a guess at the connection. If they are right – well, I’ll tell you about that in a minute. If not, we take the next question on the buzzer – up to a maximum of 4 clues. Now, in this first round, the teams are playing for a set of various amounts of prize money, which dangle on the screen, connected to the top of it by 1 to 6 links. If a team get a link on the first clue, they can cut 4 lines of their choice, and they don’t all have to be from the same amount. Once all the lines to a prize amount are cut, it falls into the pot of the team who cut the last line. Got that? So, we play on until the last link is cut, then the team with the lowest amount of money are out.
Right, in the second round, both teams carry through the amount of money that they have won so far. This is then connected to the top of the screen by 6 lines. They take it in turns to identify to win a number of lines they can cut. So a very hard set earns 4, and an easy set earns one. First team to cut the last link to their own cash take it through to the final. The others leave with nothing. In the final, the cash won is divided up into several amounts – starting very small, but getting progressively larger. For each amount they have to identify the links in much bigger sets. This is not a team effort – they have to take it in turns, and there is only 60 seconds in which to do it. After each amount the team can bail out and take what they get. That’s it.
Let’s make a few observations, then. The first thing I noticed was that on Monday afternoon’s show, Hywel of the team who came second looked awfully like Hywel Carver of the Board Gamers, Only Connect Champions. He did say he had studied at Cambridge, while our Hywel represented UCL on University Challenge – still, I really on balance think that it was Hywel Carver. Had he already won OC when he went on this? Who knows. Now, a show like this stands or falls on its questions and its links. Alright, it’s maybe not Only Connect, but nonetheless I thought that there were some very good, interesting sets, and the play-along-at-home factor was high. The connections were not always obvious at all – for example – Ohio – San Franciso. You got it yet? I hadn’t. I needed the third – Gone With the Wind to know it was Clark Gable. Born in Ohio, made a film called San Francisco. None of the teams actually had that one. Not bad for a daytime show, eh? As for the FAQ (Faffing About Quotient) well, yes, there was a little bit more of that than I’d ideally like, but that’s just me, and it certainly wasn’t excessive for the genre. I did think that there wasn’t a noticeable amount of difference between the difficulty levels of the different sets in the second round, but again, it is all in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. Mark Williams is a dry old sort, and lingering affection for the Fast Show means I am unable to be at all critical about him.
Alright, I’ve only seen one show. Yet normally one show is enough to convince me that I’m not impressed with a new daytime quiz game show, so I’ll make no bones about this. I like The Link. There, I’ve said it, a daytime quiz show that I would go out of my way to watch. I enjoyed this far more than any first programme of a daytime quiz show since, well, probably since Pointless. It has very good play along at home potential, and I can only hope that it finds its audience, or its audience finds it, and that it will continue after this first series. Moving it to teatime on rotation with other established favourites would be a step in the right direction.
What about The Link then? Well, the basic idea is that we start with three teams of pairs. The host, Mark ‘I’ll get me coat’ Williams, of the Fast Show of Blessed Memory, asks a series of questions. Teams have to buzz in to give the answer. The first answer will be the first item of a connected set. The team who answer it get a guess at the connection. If they are right – well, I’ll tell you about that in a minute. If not, we take the next question on the buzzer – up to a maximum of 4 clues. Now, in this first round, the teams are playing for a set of various amounts of prize money, which dangle on the screen, connected to the top of it by 1 to 6 links. If a team get a link on the first clue, they can cut 4 lines of their choice, and they don’t all have to be from the same amount. Once all the lines to a prize amount are cut, it falls into the pot of the team who cut the last line. Got that? So, we play on until the last link is cut, then the team with the lowest amount of money are out.
Right, in the second round, both teams carry through the amount of money that they have won so far. This is then connected to the top of the screen by 6 lines. They take it in turns to identify to win a number of lines they can cut. So a very hard set earns 4, and an easy set earns one. First team to cut the last link to their own cash take it through to the final. The others leave with nothing. In the final, the cash won is divided up into several amounts – starting very small, but getting progressively larger. For each amount they have to identify the links in much bigger sets. This is not a team effort – they have to take it in turns, and there is only 60 seconds in which to do it. After each amount the team can bail out and take what they get. That’s it.
Let’s make a few observations, then. The first thing I noticed was that on Monday afternoon’s show, Hywel of the team who came second looked awfully like Hywel Carver of the Board Gamers, Only Connect Champions. He did say he had studied at Cambridge, while our Hywel represented UCL on University Challenge – still, I really on balance think that it was Hywel Carver. Had he already won OC when he went on this? Who knows. Now, a show like this stands or falls on its questions and its links. Alright, it’s maybe not Only Connect, but nonetheless I thought that there were some very good, interesting sets, and the play-along-at-home factor was high. The connections were not always obvious at all – for example – Ohio – San Franciso. You got it yet? I hadn’t. I needed the third – Gone With the Wind to know it was Clark Gable. Born in Ohio, made a film called San Francisco. None of the teams actually had that one. Not bad for a daytime show, eh? As for the FAQ (Faffing About Quotient) well, yes, there was a little bit more of that than I’d ideally like, but that’s just me, and it certainly wasn’t excessive for the genre. I did think that there wasn’t a noticeable amount of difference between the difficulty levels of the different sets in the second round, but again, it is all in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. Mark Williams is a dry old sort, and lingering affection for the Fast Show means I am unable to be at all critical about him.
Alright, I’ve only seen one show. Yet normally one show is enough to convince me that I’m not impressed with a new daytime quiz game show, so I’ll make no bones about this. I like The Link. There, I’ve said it, a daytime quiz show that I would go out of my way to watch. I enjoyed this far more than any first programme of a daytime quiz show since, well, probably since Pointless. It has very good play along at home potential, and I can only hope that it finds its audience, or its audience finds it, and that it will continue after this first series. Moving it to teatime on rotation with other established favourites would be a step in the right direction.
Monday, 5 May 2014
Only Connect - Round One - Match Four
Erstwhile Athletes v. Record Collectors
Your friendly neighbourhood reviewer was faced with a heart rending choice to make for this match. On the one hand we had the Erstwhile Athletes with our own Daniel Fullard, proprietor of the Quiz Addict blog, and 3rd place in the CIU National Finals last year, and in the other corner our own Rach ‘Cherryade’ Neiman, of University Challenge, Mastermind, and the Fifteen to One Grand Final. To whom, then, should I give support – or put it another way – whom should I curse with my support? You may recall I had a similar dilemma during the last series of Brain of Britain, where Rachael came out on top out of the two on that particular occasion. Well, since I couldn’t reasonably be impartial, then the only other thing I could reasonably do was to be totally partial to both teams.
Of course, it wasn’t just about Dan and Rach. The Erstwhile Athletes also consisted of Brendan Curtis, and captain Chris Curtis. I don’t know Brendan and Chris so well, but as I always say, you don’t get mugs on Only Connect. As for the Record Collectors, well, you may well be familiar with the names Adam Barr, and Richard Gilbert. Yes, they are the same Adam and Richard who won the 2013 series of University Challenge. Now wouldn’t that make a story if they went on to win OC as well? Well, there’s a long way to go before we start worrying about that. So let’s look at how this show went.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
Having won the right to choose first, the RCs opted to go first. Behind the Eye of Horus they found E – which could have been a huge number of things – Increase note by half. This meant nowt to me, but already the RCs were sniffing around the connection, and Rachael even suggested the right answer. They took another – Scoreless ball – which at last gave me a clue, thinking about scoring in cricket, and then the last clue – sentence terminator – confirmed it, as in a single dot. Yes, OK, they had maybe passed up on the chance to get a 3 pointer, but then it is vital in the early stages to make sure that you get points on the board, and they’d done that. Two Reeds brought the Athletes into play. Now, again the first two clues – Saint Didacus of Alcalá – and – Holy Sacrament – meant little to me. However when you put – The Angels – and – St. Francis , well, then the penny dropped. Look at the Spanish Originals of each, and you have cities in California. Neither team managed that one. Oh, I was disappointed when Rachael chose not to voice the second vowel of horned viper, but she doubtless knew what she was doing. Given – I’ve finished my vault – I’m not saying I would have gambled in the studio, but I couldn’t help wondering if this was about having both arms raised. – You have six runs seemed to confirm it, and – I surrender – removed any trace of doubt. Once again playing safe, the RCs took – I’m Dancing to YMCA before giving the right answer. The Athletes took Lion, and I took a definite 5 pointer. You see, I loved the Roadrunner cartoons when I was a nipper. So when – acceleratti incredibilis – came up I am afraid that I had it straightaway. The Aths took – velocitus tremenjus – speedipus rex (genius!) and birdibus zippibus, and then gave the right answer. I recall Wile E. Coyote as ‘Eatius birdius’ – put Victoria said he was eatius sloppius, so I must be mistaken. The RCs took their last of the round with water and the pictures. Now, I thought they dealt with these impressively. Joe Root was followed by Jarvis Cocker with Pulp, and they plumped correctly for parts of a tooth. Good shout. The Aths finished the round with twisted flax which gave them the music set. I didn’t recognize the opera bit to start, nor the second, but when that Artic Monkeys song about that scummy man was followed by Roxanne I guessed we were dealing with what me grannie used to refer to euphemistically as ‘ladies of the evening’. Why my grandmother was ever talking about that subject in the first place escapes me for now. The Aths just couldn’t quite see it, but the RCs were happy to take the bonus. This gave them a lead of 6 – 1.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Yes, the round two of doom. Well, maybe not quite, but it’s still tougher by far than the first. Two Reeds , starting with 401: Weather forecaset maps, they quickly worked out was going to lead to a sequence of pages from Ceefax (for our younger readers, that’s what they used to call the internet back in the Dark Ages) but they couldn’t quite work out what 101 would be. The Aths had it with 101: News Headlines, and the fightback was underway. For their own next set they chose Lion. Now, I was very pleased with myself for working this out after 2 clues – Al and Joe, then John and John. I said then – if the next is John and Sarah, then the next after that is Mitt and Paul. Unsuccessful presidential/vice presidential tickets in successive US elections. It was, and they were. Neither team could see that one. The RCs again chose horned viper with unvoiced 2nd vowel. I think I might just have had a five pointer here. With a lower case red e I speculated on ebay, and ended with green y. When blue b and yellow a followed that was proved to be right. This left the Aths to choose twisted flax. This was a decidedly tricky set. Henry V, was followed by Edward Vi. Any chance of it being a historical connection went out of the window when Harriet VII followed. The key for me was counting the number of letters in Harriet. This led me to suggest Michelle VIII, which would have been fine, although the example given was Victoria VIII. The roman numerals simply refere to ascending numbers of letter in the name. Simple once you’ve been told, but very tricky otherwise. Neither team saw it. With only two sets left in the round the RCS plumped for Eye of Horus. Rim was followed by Felloe – no good for me, but when spoke came I plumped for hub. The RCs had the connection, but went for axle, allowing the Aths in for the bonus. They were left with water. Bridge offered too many possibilities, but the next clue – Skat – brought me back a bad flashback. My best mate at Uni, KD Johnson, was a German graduate who’d picked up that game during his time studying in Germany. One afternoon he tried to teach it to me, along with a German girl who was staying in the hall. They were both experienced players, and I’d never heard of it, and just couldn’t grasp it. Thankfully it was not strip Skat. I plumped for Patience as the answer, and Cribbage for the last clue confirmed these were 4, then 3, then 2 player games. The Aths took the point with Solitaire. Which meant that the score at the end of the round was 8 -5 to the RCs.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Athletes picked Lion, and they saw a set of dolls early doors, but never quite isolated them. Fried dough products they did untangle with yum-yums – churro – Berliner and Beignet. A set of tips – PG – Q – Felt and Wing – followed. However they just couldn’t untangled the last two. When faced with Jemima – Macavity – Asparagus and Victoria they did get that they were cats from Cats, and this left Hamble – Looby Loo – Raggedy Ann and Madeleine for the dolls. 6 points.
The RCs did untangle all four lines. They saw areas of east London with Whitechapel – Beckton – Mile End and Bow, though they were a while working it out. Words which can follow Eton – Mess – Crop – Boating Song and Wall Game came a little later. They knew that there was a set of England goalkeepers there, but waited to try to work out what the last line would be. In the end they isolated Seamen – Banks – Flowers and Stepney, which left Five – Keys – Balloons – Bananas, which all come in bunches. So this gave the RCs a very useful lead of 18 – 11 going into the last round.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
It was a tough ask for the Aths, but they set about it with some style. The first set were all 18th century inventions. They fell 3 – 1 to the Aths. 14 – 19. Perfumes and the houses that make them went 3 – 0 to the Aths. 17 – 19. Songs from Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor watsitsname fell 3 – 1 to the Aths. All square at 20 points apiece, and right at this moment your money would be riding on the Aths. Well, the next category was things a naughty child might say. Richard of the RCS took the first. The Aths knew what the 2nd was, but a cruelly misplaced consonant lost them a point, and when it was correctly answered by the RCs, they were 3 points behind with hardly any time to go. With the wind back in their sails the RCs went on to get A bigger boy made me do it – and my personal favourite – the dog ate my homework.
Very bad luck Athletes. A splendid fightback, and I wish you the very best of luck in your next round. Congratulations to the Record collectors, and again, best of luck in your next show. Well played all.
Your friendly neighbourhood reviewer was faced with a heart rending choice to make for this match. On the one hand we had the Erstwhile Athletes with our own Daniel Fullard, proprietor of the Quiz Addict blog, and 3rd place in the CIU National Finals last year, and in the other corner our own Rach ‘Cherryade’ Neiman, of University Challenge, Mastermind, and the Fifteen to One Grand Final. To whom, then, should I give support – or put it another way – whom should I curse with my support? You may recall I had a similar dilemma during the last series of Brain of Britain, where Rachael came out on top out of the two on that particular occasion. Well, since I couldn’t reasonably be impartial, then the only other thing I could reasonably do was to be totally partial to both teams.
Of course, it wasn’t just about Dan and Rach. The Erstwhile Athletes also consisted of Brendan Curtis, and captain Chris Curtis. I don’t know Brendan and Chris so well, but as I always say, you don’t get mugs on Only Connect. As for the Record Collectors, well, you may well be familiar with the names Adam Barr, and Richard Gilbert. Yes, they are the same Adam and Richard who won the 2013 series of University Challenge. Now wouldn’t that make a story if they went on to win OC as well? Well, there’s a long way to go before we start worrying about that. So let’s look at how this show went.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
Having won the right to choose first, the RCs opted to go first. Behind the Eye of Horus they found E – which could have been a huge number of things – Increase note by half. This meant nowt to me, but already the RCs were sniffing around the connection, and Rachael even suggested the right answer. They took another – Scoreless ball – which at last gave me a clue, thinking about scoring in cricket, and then the last clue – sentence terminator – confirmed it, as in a single dot. Yes, OK, they had maybe passed up on the chance to get a 3 pointer, but then it is vital in the early stages to make sure that you get points on the board, and they’d done that. Two Reeds brought the Athletes into play. Now, again the first two clues – Saint Didacus of Alcalá – and – Holy Sacrament – meant little to me. However when you put – The Angels – and – St. Francis , well, then the penny dropped. Look at the Spanish Originals of each, and you have cities in California. Neither team managed that one. Oh, I was disappointed when Rachael chose not to voice the second vowel of horned viper, but she doubtless knew what she was doing. Given – I’ve finished my vault – I’m not saying I would have gambled in the studio, but I couldn’t help wondering if this was about having both arms raised. – You have six runs seemed to confirm it, and – I surrender – removed any trace of doubt. Once again playing safe, the RCs took – I’m Dancing to YMCA before giving the right answer. The Athletes took Lion, and I took a definite 5 pointer. You see, I loved the Roadrunner cartoons when I was a nipper. So when – acceleratti incredibilis – came up I am afraid that I had it straightaway. The Aths took – velocitus tremenjus – speedipus rex (genius!) and birdibus zippibus, and then gave the right answer. I recall Wile E. Coyote as ‘Eatius birdius’ – put Victoria said he was eatius sloppius, so I must be mistaken. The RCs took their last of the round with water and the pictures. Now, I thought they dealt with these impressively. Joe Root was followed by Jarvis Cocker with Pulp, and they plumped correctly for parts of a tooth. Good shout. The Aths finished the round with twisted flax which gave them the music set. I didn’t recognize the opera bit to start, nor the second, but when that Artic Monkeys song about that scummy man was followed by Roxanne I guessed we were dealing with what me grannie used to refer to euphemistically as ‘ladies of the evening’. Why my grandmother was ever talking about that subject in the first place escapes me for now. The Aths just couldn’t quite see it, but the RCs were happy to take the bonus. This gave them a lead of 6 – 1.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Yes, the round two of doom. Well, maybe not quite, but it’s still tougher by far than the first. Two Reeds , starting with 401: Weather forecaset maps, they quickly worked out was going to lead to a sequence of pages from Ceefax (for our younger readers, that’s what they used to call the internet back in the Dark Ages) but they couldn’t quite work out what 101 would be. The Aths had it with 101: News Headlines, and the fightback was underway. For their own next set they chose Lion. Now, I was very pleased with myself for working this out after 2 clues – Al and Joe, then John and John. I said then – if the next is John and Sarah, then the next after that is Mitt and Paul. Unsuccessful presidential/vice presidential tickets in successive US elections. It was, and they were. Neither team could see that one. The RCs again chose horned viper with unvoiced 2nd vowel. I think I might just have had a five pointer here. With a lower case red e I speculated on ebay, and ended with green y. When blue b and yellow a followed that was proved to be right. This left the Aths to choose twisted flax. This was a decidedly tricky set. Henry V, was followed by Edward Vi. Any chance of it being a historical connection went out of the window when Harriet VII followed. The key for me was counting the number of letters in Harriet. This led me to suggest Michelle VIII, which would have been fine, although the example given was Victoria VIII. The roman numerals simply refere to ascending numbers of letter in the name. Simple once you’ve been told, but very tricky otherwise. Neither team saw it. With only two sets left in the round the RCS plumped for Eye of Horus. Rim was followed by Felloe – no good for me, but when spoke came I plumped for hub. The RCs had the connection, but went for axle, allowing the Aths in for the bonus. They were left with water. Bridge offered too many possibilities, but the next clue – Skat – brought me back a bad flashback. My best mate at Uni, KD Johnson, was a German graduate who’d picked up that game during his time studying in Germany. One afternoon he tried to teach it to me, along with a German girl who was staying in the hall. They were both experienced players, and I’d never heard of it, and just couldn’t grasp it. Thankfully it was not strip Skat. I plumped for Patience as the answer, and Cribbage for the last clue confirmed these were 4, then 3, then 2 player games. The Aths took the point with Solitaire. Which meant that the score at the end of the round was 8 -5 to the RCs.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Athletes picked Lion, and they saw a set of dolls early doors, but never quite isolated them. Fried dough products they did untangle with yum-yums – churro – Berliner and Beignet. A set of tips – PG – Q – Felt and Wing – followed. However they just couldn’t untangled the last two. When faced with Jemima – Macavity – Asparagus and Victoria they did get that they were cats from Cats, and this left Hamble – Looby Loo – Raggedy Ann and Madeleine for the dolls. 6 points.
The RCs did untangle all four lines. They saw areas of east London with Whitechapel – Beckton – Mile End and Bow, though they were a while working it out. Words which can follow Eton – Mess – Crop – Boating Song and Wall Game came a little later. They knew that there was a set of England goalkeepers there, but waited to try to work out what the last line would be. In the end they isolated Seamen – Banks – Flowers and Stepney, which left Five – Keys – Balloons – Bananas, which all come in bunches. So this gave the RCs a very useful lead of 18 – 11 going into the last round.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
It was a tough ask for the Aths, but they set about it with some style. The first set were all 18th century inventions. They fell 3 – 1 to the Aths. 14 – 19. Perfumes and the houses that make them went 3 – 0 to the Aths. 17 – 19. Songs from Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor watsitsname fell 3 – 1 to the Aths. All square at 20 points apiece, and right at this moment your money would be riding on the Aths. Well, the next category was things a naughty child might say. Richard of the RCS took the first. The Aths knew what the 2nd was, but a cruelly misplaced consonant lost them a point, and when it was correctly answered by the RCs, they were 3 points behind with hardly any time to go. With the wind back in their sails the RCs went on to get A bigger boy made me do it – and my personal favourite – the dog ate my homework.
Very bad luck Athletes. A splendid fightback, and I wish you the very best of luck in your next round. Congratulations to the Record collectors, and again, best of luck in your next show. Well played all.
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Ejector Seat
What is it about chairs and quiz shows? Obviously the most iconic quiz show chair of them all is the famous Mastermind Black Chair. In my opinion it was perfectly comfortable, and not as daunting as, say, being in another well-known quiz chair, the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire hotseat. Almost all the quiz shows I’ve ever appeared on involved answering questions while sitting in a chair – the only exception being my very first – Come And Have A Go If You Think You’re Smart Enough (we weren’t). So there’s nothing unusual about a show in which contestants sit in a chair and answer questions. The gimmick, for want of a better word, of ITV’s new daytime quiz show Ejector Seat is that the chair begins to move backwards when they answer incorrectly, and then when they reach the end of the track it tips them unceremoniously out of the show.
Alright, alright, you know that I’m rarely all that complimentary about new, mid prize range daytime quiz shows. I’m not the target audience in the first place. But I promise that I will try my best to give this a fair crack of the whip.
The show is hosted by Andi Peters. Now, if you are familiar with Mr. Peters and his oeuvre, then you won’t be expecting anything too cerebral, and nor should you. He’s there as a good, safe pair of hands who will be calm, natural, and not say anything to upset the audience. This is not a quiz show for great quizzers- well, to be brutally frank it isn’t really a show for quizzers at all - this is for ‘give-it-a-go-innit’ members of the public. I was pleasantly surprised that, when I played this on the ITV Player less than two minutes went by before we were off with the first round, and some of that was taken up with the opening credits. 6 players sit facing Andi. They are each in a lit up armchair, which is at the near end of a lit track. In round one Andi asks them a series of questions. They have to buzz in to answer. If they buzz in and answer correctly, happy days, they’re through to the next round. If they buzz in and answer incorrectly, though, you’re out, and we progress immediately to round 2. If five people answer correctly with no incorrect answers, then the player left behind is out. For the purposes of the show, this means that the chair slips rapidly back along the track, and then tips backwards a la the red chair on the Graham Norton show. Whether the player has to extricate him or herself from the clutches of the chair, or whether they are tipped back into some glorified Thunderbirds Tracey Island-esque chute which deposits them safely back into their dressing room, that we don’t get to see.
Now, Round Two is where the FAQ (Faffing About Quotient) starts to rise. Andi turns to each player in turn. After exchanging pleasantries (yawn yawn) he asks a question. If they get it right, they stay where they are, and he moves on to the next player. If they get it wrong the chair starts to move backwards. He keeps firing questions at them until they get one right, or until they are ejected, or until they press their panic button. Getting one right stops the chair. Once the chair reaches the end of the track, they are ejected. Once during the game a player can press a panic button. This stops the chair, and Andi gives them a sudden death multiple choice question. Get it right, and they are moved back a little way up the track. They get it wrong, and they are ejected. During this round I rather nastily kept hoping that the contestants would get the questions wrong, simply because it kept the chat down and the questions coming. We keep passing along the contestants until two of the contestants are ejected and we are down to 4, and the speed of the chair ramps up slightly as we go.
In the third round the three remaining players fight it out for a chance to get to the final. Basically it’s about buzzing in to answer a question. Let’s say the first person buzzes in correctly. Then the next two contestants fight out the next question. If one of them buzzes correctly , then the other starts moving backwards, and keeps doing so until they answer one correctly. And so on until just one remains. In the final round, the contestant has to face three rounds of questions without being ejected. Surviving one round brings £500. Two rounds - £1000, and three rounds - £10,000. By my reckoning you need to get perhaps three questions right in the first half dozen or so to guarantee £500. Basically, if you get your first two questions right, you’re pretty much laughing, because you don’t start moving back until you get one wrong.
Right then, let’s make a few observations before I give you my verdict. For the kind of show that it is you know that there’s going to be quite a bit of chat and you just have to accept that if you’re going to watch it. The gameplay itself is relatively simple, and this is a positive point. At the end of the day it is about answering more questions correctly than the other people, and that’s essentially what a quiz ought to be. The nature of the show is that it is rather stop-start, which means just as you’re getting up a decent head of steam on the questions they stop. As for the questions themselves, well, they’re for the average, non-quizzing public and as easy as you’d expect. Which never stopped the Weakest Link becoming very popular. I’ve only watched one show, but if the players on this one were typical, while I can see quite a lot of £500 and even £1000 pay outs, I think the production company won’t be writing too many cheques for £10,000.
So to my verdict, then. Altogether now – this particular subgenre of quiz show really isn’t my cup of tea – Ok, so allowing for that, and judging it for what it is rather than what it isn’t. For its type I really thought it was quite good. Negatives for me are the usual ones for this sort of thing, that it’s too long and there’s too much chat. Having said that, though, I can see it working among the ‘general knowledge really isn’t my subject’ crowd, which actually is probably the target audience. So even if it’s not the most difficult show in the world – and it isn’t – and even if this sort of thing isn’t my own particular cup of Darjeeling – I have to say that you have to give it some credit. As a show of its type, for its target audience, there’s been quite a few worse out there.
Alright, alright, you know that I’m rarely all that complimentary about new, mid prize range daytime quiz shows. I’m not the target audience in the first place. But I promise that I will try my best to give this a fair crack of the whip.
The show is hosted by Andi Peters. Now, if you are familiar with Mr. Peters and his oeuvre, then you won’t be expecting anything too cerebral, and nor should you. He’s there as a good, safe pair of hands who will be calm, natural, and not say anything to upset the audience. This is not a quiz show for great quizzers- well, to be brutally frank it isn’t really a show for quizzers at all - this is for ‘give-it-a-go-innit’ members of the public. I was pleasantly surprised that, when I played this on the ITV Player less than two minutes went by before we were off with the first round, and some of that was taken up with the opening credits. 6 players sit facing Andi. They are each in a lit up armchair, which is at the near end of a lit track. In round one Andi asks them a series of questions. They have to buzz in to answer. If they buzz in and answer correctly, happy days, they’re through to the next round. If they buzz in and answer incorrectly, though, you’re out, and we progress immediately to round 2. If five people answer correctly with no incorrect answers, then the player left behind is out. For the purposes of the show, this means that the chair slips rapidly back along the track, and then tips backwards a la the red chair on the Graham Norton show. Whether the player has to extricate him or herself from the clutches of the chair, or whether they are tipped back into some glorified Thunderbirds Tracey Island-esque chute which deposits them safely back into their dressing room, that we don’t get to see.
Now, Round Two is where the FAQ (Faffing About Quotient) starts to rise. Andi turns to each player in turn. After exchanging pleasantries (yawn yawn) he asks a question. If they get it right, they stay where they are, and he moves on to the next player. If they get it wrong the chair starts to move backwards. He keeps firing questions at them until they get one right, or until they are ejected, or until they press their panic button. Getting one right stops the chair. Once the chair reaches the end of the track, they are ejected. Once during the game a player can press a panic button. This stops the chair, and Andi gives them a sudden death multiple choice question. Get it right, and they are moved back a little way up the track. They get it wrong, and they are ejected. During this round I rather nastily kept hoping that the contestants would get the questions wrong, simply because it kept the chat down and the questions coming. We keep passing along the contestants until two of the contestants are ejected and we are down to 4, and the speed of the chair ramps up slightly as we go.
In the third round the three remaining players fight it out for a chance to get to the final. Basically it’s about buzzing in to answer a question. Let’s say the first person buzzes in correctly. Then the next two contestants fight out the next question. If one of them buzzes correctly , then the other starts moving backwards, and keeps doing so until they answer one correctly. And so on until just one remains. In the final round, the contestant has to face three rounds of questions without being ejected. Surviving one round brings £500. Two rounds - £1000, and three rounds - £10,000. By my reckoning you need to get perhaps three questions right in the first half dozen or so to guarantee £500. Basically, if you get your first two questions right, you’re pretty much laughing, because you don’t start moving back until you get one wrong.
Right then, let’s make a few observations before I give you my verdict. For the kind of show that it is you know that there’s going to be quite a bit of chat and you just have to accept that if you’re going to watch it. The gameplay itself is relatively simple, and this is a positive point. At the end of the day it is about answering more questions correctly than the other people, and that’s essentially what a quiz ought to be. The nature of the show is that it is rather stop-start, which means just as you’re getting up a decent head of steam on the questions they stop. As for the questions themselves, well, they’re for the average, non-quizzing public and as easy as you’d expect. Which never stopped the Weakest Link becoming very popular. I’ve only watched one show, but if the players on this one were typical, while I can see quite a lot of £500 and even £1000 pay outs, I think the production company won’t be writing too many cheques for £10,000.
So to my verdict, then. Altogether now – this particular subgenre of quiz show really isn’t my cup of tea – Ok, so allowing for that, and judging it for what it is rather than what it isn’t. For its type I really thought it was quite good. Negatives for me are the usual ones for this sort of thing, that it’s too long and there’s too much chat. Having said that, though, I can see it working among the ‘general knowledge really isn’t my subject’ crowd, which actually is probably the target audience. So even if it’s not the most difficult show in the world – and it isn’t – and even if this sort of thing isn’t my own particular cup of Darjeeling – I have to say that you have to give it some credit. As a show of its type, for its target audience, there’s been quite a few worse out there.
In The News
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Chung Hung-Won
2. I Can’t Sing
3. Marc Marquez
4. Wirral Cricket Club
5. Kevin Phillips
6. Amal Alamuddin
7. Patrick Mercer
8. Sir Alan Moses
9. Chris Tomlinson
10. Cressida Bonas
11. Andros Townsend
12. Constance Briscoe
13. Amesbury
14. Barry Hawkins
In Other News
1. Which two pontiffs became saints last week?
2. Which island in the Bristol Channel regained its status as a bird observatory?
3. What was the score between Liverpool and Chelsea?
4. What was the score in the Heineken Cup semi final between Toulon and Munster?
5. – and Clermont Auvergne and Saracens?
6. Which type of helicopter tragically crashed in Afghanistan killing 5 servicemen?
7. Which broadcaster was detained by Malta police after making allegation about the hunting of migrating birds on Malta?
8. Which two teams secured promotion to League one of the English football league last week?
9. Who has had the Tory whip restored to him?
10. Teacher Anne Maguire was tragically murdered by a pupil in which school in Leeds?
11. Which sentence did Max Clifford receive after being found guilty of sexual assault?
12. John Kerry was criticized for describing Israel as what?
13. Which English club was found guilty of breaking FIFA’s financial fair play rules
14. What was the score in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup Final?
15. Why did Stephen Fry call for a boycott of the Dorchester Hotel?
16. Which classical musician announced he has to retire due to back injury?
17. Who is the PFA Player of the Year?
18. – and the PFA Young Player of the Year?
19. Which Bank of England note was withdrawn from circulation?
20. Who had her conviction for murder reinstated by the Florence Appeal Court?
21. There was much criticism over the sale of £150 million of shares in the Royal Mail to what?
22. In the Champions League what was the score between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid? 23. And Chelsea and Atletico Madrid?
24. Which golf course was bought by Donald Trump?
25. Name the five players shortlisted for the European Cup rugby player of the Year
26. Which film actor passed away aged 71?
27. Gerry Adams was arrested in connection with whose murder of 1972?
28. What did Jeremy Paxman announce last week?
29. Which historically significant object or artifact was reproduced by 3D printer last week?
30. Which was indicated to have been a factor in the tragic death of Peaches Geldof last week?
31. Why did Jeremy Paxman beg forgiveness last week?
32. Which two teams have reached the final of the Europa League?
33. Who was sacked as England batting coach?
34. Concerns were expressed over Michaelangelo’s David last week – why?
35. 5 monkeys belonging to critically endangered species of tamarins were stolen from which British zoo?
36. Sir Roger Bannister revealed that he was diagnosed as suffering from what in 2011?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Chung Hung-Won
2. I Can’t Sing
3. Marc Marquez
4. Wirral Cricket Club
5. Kevin Phillips
6. Amal Alamuddin
7. Patrick Mercer
8. Sir Alan Moses
9. Chris Tomlinson
10. Cressida Bonas
11. Andros Townsend
12. Constance Briscoe
13. Amesbury
14. Barry Hawkins
In Other News
1. Which two pontiffs became saints last week?
2. Which island in the Bristol Channel regained its status as a bird observatory?
3. What was the score between Liverpool and Chelsea?
4. What was the score in the Heineken Cup semi final between Toulon and Munster?
5. – and Clermont Auvergne and Saracens?
6. Which type of helicopter tragically crashed in Afghanistan killing 5 servicemen?
7. Which broadcaster was detained by Malta police after making allegation about the hunting of migrating birds on Malta?
8. Which two teams secured promotion to League one of the English football league last week?
9. Who has had the Tory whip restored to him?
10. Teacher Anne Maguire was tragically murdered by a pupil in which school in Leeds?
11. Which sentence did Max Clifford receive after being found guilty of sexual assault?
12. John Kerry was criticized for describing Israel as what?
13. Which English club was found guilty of breaking FIFA’s financial fair play rules
14. What was the score in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup Final?
15. Why did Stephen Fry call for a boycott of the Dorchester Hotel?
16. Which classical musician announced he has to retire due to back injury?
17. Who is the PFA Player of the Year?
18. – and the PFA Young Player of the Year?
19. Which Bank of England note was withdrawn from circulation?
20. Who had her conviction for murder reinstated by the Florence Appeal Court?
21. There was much criticism over the sale of £150 million of shares in the Royal Mail to what?
22. In the Champions League what was the score between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid? 23. And Chelsea and Atletico Madrid?
24. Which golf course was bought by Donald Trump?
25. Name the five players shortlisted for the European Cup rugby player of the Year
26. Which film actor passed away aged 71?
27. Gerry Adams was arrested in connection with whose murder of 1972?
28. What did Jeremy Paxman announce last week?
29. Which historically significant object or artifact was reproduced by 3D printer last week?
30. Which was indicated to have been a factor in the tragic death of Peaches Geldof last week?
31. Why did Jeremy Paxman beg forgiveness last week?
32. Which two teams have reached the final of the Europa League?
33. Who was sacked as England batting coach?
34. Concerns were expressed over Michaelangelo’s David last week – why?
35. 5 monkeys belonging to critically endangered species of tamarins were stolen from which British zoo?
36. Sir Roger Bannister revealed that he was diagnosed as suffering from what in 2011?
Friday, 2 May 2014
Only Connect - Round One - Match Three
Welsh Learners v. Software Engineers
The first of this week’s teams, the Welsh Learners, consisted of Margaret Gabica, Chris Hern, and captain Stuart Hern, Right, you might have read in a previous post of the CIU Wales and West of England regional final. Well, twas after the final question, and while we were waiting for the final scores to be read out that Margaret, who played for Maesglas B, the eventual third placed team, came and told me that she was in one of tonight’s teams. Her exact words were ‘Be kind!’ Believe me, I never deliberately try to be anything else. I’ve known Margaret for quite a few years now, playing against her team in Newport, and in fact we both played together on the same team in a pilot for a quiz show which sadly never was picked up. So I know that Margaret is a good quizzer. Chris and Stuart I don’t know, but I thought that if they were at Margaret’s standard, then they were going to be a good outfit. The Learners’ opposition came in the shape of Stephen Macintosh, Anne Harrison and captain Chris Howlett, who made up the Software Engineers. I haven’t, as far as I know, met any of the team, but as we’ve seen so often in the past, that is no barrier to success on this show.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Learners won the toss and elected to receive the first set. Eye of Horus revealed firstly Police, Fire and Rescue Services. Hmm – I pondered – 999? Were we dealing with tripled numbers or some such? - When reversing – the second, didn’t offer much in the way of clarification. Licensed taxi drivers came third. The Learners spent some time discussing this, and so didn’t have time to go for the last clue. They offered that all of these things are identified by a coloured light, which was not the answer. The last clue was - Vehicle has never had them. I shan’t lie – I didn’t get it, but the Software Engineers – (that’s a mouthful. What can I call you though? The Softies wouldn’t be very nice. We’ll have to go with the Engs) – the Engs had it with – they are all exempt from having to use seatbelts. That was a good shout. For their own first set the Engs picked Lion and were rewarded – or otherwise – with the picture set. I’ll be honest, I only recognized three pictures –the first being Fernando Alonso - the second being Ariel from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” – and the last being Miranda Hart from BBC’s hit sitcom “Large Lady Falling Over A Lot”. The Engs offered that they were all characters known by one name, which in a way wasn’t a million miles away, but the clincher was that they are all characters from The Tempest. I did speculate that the third picture might be a boy band with the unlikely name of The Calibans, but no, they were Franz Ferdinand. The Learners had it for a bonus. They went on to pick Two Reeds, and were given Hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen (yes, that old favourite!) They had no more idea than I did and so went for the second clue – The Solar System. Nope. Figures of a man and woman – now – that did ring a bell. The words Voyager satellite came to my mind, and Stuart’s as well. And he went for it. Actually it was Pioneer 10 and 11 apparently, but the fact was that Stuart had said they were on spacecraft leaving the solar system which was good enough. Two points. A rather surreal discussion between Victoria and Anne about blind gas aliens followed, but we shall move on.
Now, the Engs showed that they had come with serious intent, for they clearly voiced the second vowel of Horned Viper. Well done! This earned them the music set. First we heard ‘I can’t give you anything but love – then the Man from Laramie – then Paul Young singing ‘Wherever I lay my hat’. It obviously wasn’t the titles that connected. So when we heard Will Young singing the last clue it became obvious that these were all Young musicians – well their surnames were Young, anyway. The Engs were nowhere near, and so the bonus was gratefully accepted by the Learners. For their third set they opted for Twisted Flax. Bach I didn’t get. Arias, though, I did. Barbara Bach (which is Welsh for little Barbara) was Ringo Starr’s second wife, and Olivia Arias(which is Welsh for Olivia Arias) was George Harrison’s second wife. I guessed that Mills might be next and Ono last, or vice versa. Mills indeed came next, but the Learners seemed stumped. Ono gave them Beatle wives at the death, which was accepted even though the precise connection was Beatle second wives. Well, it’s not the semis or the final yet, so a little leeway is only to be expected. Water remained for the Engs, who were given Agatha (breasts) – at which I speculated we were maybe on a Saints’ relics track – then Denis (head) - then Lucy (eyes) which suggested that in fact these were what various saints had removed in all manner of nasty ways – then Bartholemew (skin). The Engs looked blank, but Anne rescued the point at the death. This meant that the score at the end of the round was 5 – 2 to the Learners.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Stuart of the Learners played with fire at the start of the round by leaving the second vowel of horned viper unstressed. This was actually a really nice set. We saw –choreographer – ballerina – and here inspiration struck, and I offered choreographer/dancer/flamboyant showoff. It looked like Chris who had it at this point for the Learners – saying that they were all the professions of the current judges on Strictly, which meant that they were looking for Bruno’s profession. They offered dancer. They were given the points, correctly, even though the answer as given was choreographer. They correctly alluded to Bruno’s well known performance in Elton John’s ‘I’m still standing ‘ video. Quite true in Bruno’s case – sometimes you wish he was nailed to his chair on the show. The Engs plumped for Lion, and started with George + 5 more – huh? – and Anne looked to have latched onto it straightaway saying ‘Kings of England’. I saw exactly where she was coming from with this – there were indeed 6 Georges. If it was working backwards, then we needed Edward + 7 others next.We didn’t get it. Instead we got Chelsea + no more. However it did give us the connection. These were obviously Bush babies (sorry – couldn’t resist it) – the Clinton’s only child, and working forward that left us with the little Obamas. I knew his daughters were Sasha and Malia – but who was older? At this stage the Engs had it worked out, and offered Malia and 1 more. A very nice set, and a very good shout. Two Reeds gave the Learners The Arrival of Captain James Cook – Centaur throwing a spear of light – 2008 Fou drummers. I’m sorry but this left me without a Scooby doo. Stuart had it – saying that these were all featured in successive summer Olympics opening ceremonies, so all they needed was one of the many things that featured in the opening ceremony of London 2012. The Industrial Revolution did the trick.
Given Eye of Horus the Engs received - Pepys ceased writing his diary – hmm, I wondered , were these all things caused by blindness or something of that sort? No, because the next was Napoleon I born. Suez Canal opened was the last of the set. I guessed dates, and knew that Pepys' diary finished in 1669. So guessing Napoleon was born in 1769 – you see where I’m going here – then we needed something which happened in 1969. I couldn’t do much better than the Beatles played together on the roof of the Apple Building. The Engs really weren’t close. The Learners didn’t have it. Twisted flax gave the Learners Rumantsch. I plumped for German for a five pointer attempt. Working on first language speakers in Switzerland, I guessed fewest first language speakers would be romansch, therefore most would be German. Stuart did the same, and Victoria gave him – and me – another go. Deutsch! I shouted. They had it as well. Clever – not only the right language, but in the right language as well. The Engs saw a picture of the Who to start (good West London boys) . The next showed us a picture frame. Rabbit! – I shouted, buoyed by the previous five pointer. Indeed the next showed us actor Roger Rees. The Engs weren’t onto it, neither were the Learners. The Learners had extended their lead, and now had 15 to the Engs’ 5.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Engs, given the choice, plumped for Lion. They quickly saw a set of chocolate companies and actors from “Are You Being Served” A spree of hitting and hoping didn’t untangle either line, then they also noticed a set of words which could follow King’s/Queen’s. Finally they resolved Leonidas – Hershey – Mars and Godiva, all chocolate companies. Didn’t know Leonidas and Godiva myself. That was the only one they got before time was up. When the wall was resolved they knew that Richard – Divorced – Every – Thirty each feature in different well known mnemonics. Now that was a good shout. Sugden – Inman – English – Thornton were all the actors from Are You Being Served. This left Speech – Bench – Scout and Counsel – which were the set of words to follow King’s or Queen’s. Had they been a little more methodical on isolating each set they just might have had a full house on that wall. Still, 5 points scored.
On the water wall almost immediately Stuart saw Brian Boitano, and knew he was a world champion figure skater. They also quickly saw a set of sauces. Offices in the church was one of the first lines they tried to isolate and with chaplain – friar – oblate and dean they were successful. They worked out that the other connection would be printers, so all that remained was to isolate each line. Brother – Canon – Epson and HP fell into place next. This worked out nicely, because none of the sauces could possibly be a figure skater apart from Curry, so isolating the last two line was fairly simple. The skaters were Boitano – Cousins – Curry and Hamilton which left Breton – Tartare – Tare and Tabasco. They did fight shy of putting Curry in for a skater for a while though, wasting two lives before going for it. 10 points, thank you very much, and a lead of 25 to 10.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
Well, OK, the Engs weren’t going to come back from so far behind, but nonetheless this last round would give us clues to just how good the Learners were, and just how likely the Engs were to come back and win their second show. The first set were attributes in the poem ‘Monday’s Child’. These come up on a fairly regular basis in quizzes. They fell 3 – 0 to the Engs. The Engs, though, lost a point, because Chris said Is Bonny and Blithe, good and gay – leaving out an 'and' in the middle. Bad luck. The next set were all things considered ironic according to Alanis Morissette (remember – it’s like raaaaiiiiiiinnnnn on your wedding day?) Actually that one was the first and it went to the Learners after the Engs hesitated too long. The next three fell 2 – 1 to the Learners. Mexican states saw tabasco rear its fiery head for the second time in the same show. That one went to Margaret for the Learners. The set was split 2 apiece. That was it. The Engs ended with 14 and the Learners with 30.
Hard lines Software Engineers. They were rather caught out in the second round, and also in the wall they knew that the lines were, but just needed to have been a bit more methodical in sorting them out to score more points. As for the Learners, well, Margaret, I have no idea why you felt you needed to ask me to be kind for I thought you all played very well, and without wanting to scupper your chances, you looked as if you could go a long way. Good luck.
The first of this week’s teams, the Welsh Learners, consisted of Margaret Gabica, Chris Hern, and captain Stuart Hern, Right, you might have read in a previous post of the CIU Wales and West of England regional final. Well, twas after the final question, and while we were waiting for the final scores to be read out that Margaret, who played for Maesglas B, the eventual third placed team, came and told me that she was in one of tonight’s teams. Her exact words were ‘Be kind!’ Believe me, I never deliberately try to be anything else. I’ve known Margaret for quite a few years now, playing against her team in Newport, and in fact we both played together on the same team in a pilot for a quiz show which sadly never was picked up. So I know that Margaret is a good quizzer. Chris and Stuart I don’t know, but I thought that if they were at Margaret’s standard, then they were going to be a good outfit. The Learners’ opposition came in the shape of Stephen Macintosh, Anne Harrison and captain Chris Howlett, who made up the Software Engineers. I haven’t, as far as I know, met any of the team, but as we’ve seen so often in the past, that is no barrier to success on this show.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Learners won the toss and elected to receive the first set. Eye of Horus revealed firstly Police, Fire and Rescue Services. Hmm – I pondered – 999? Were we dealing with tripled numbers or some such? - When reversing – the second, didn’t offer much in the way of clarification. Licensed taxi drivers came third. The Learners spent some time discussing this, and so didn’t have time to go for the last clue. They offered that all of these things are identified by a coloured light, which was not the answer. The last clue was - Vehicle has never had them. I shan’t lie – I didn’t get it, but the Software Engineers – (that’s a mouthful. What can I call you though? The Softies wouldn’t be very nice. We’ll have to go with the Engs) – the Engs had it with – they are all exempt from having to use seatbelts. That was a good shout. For their own first set the Engs picked Lion and were rewarded – or otherwise – with the picture set. I’ll be honest, I only recognized three pictures –the first being Fernando Alonso - the second being Ariel from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” – and the last being Miranda Hart from BBC’s hit sitcom “Large Lady Falling Over A Lot”. The Engs offered that they were all characters known by one name, which in a way wasn’t a million miles away, but the clincher was that they are all characters from The Tempest. I did speculate that the third picture might be a boy band with the unlikely name of The Calibans, but no, they were Franz Ferdinand. The Learners had it for a bonus. They went on to pick Two Reeds, and were given Hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen (yes, that old favourite!) They had no more idea than I did and so went for the second clue – The Solar System. Nope. Figures of a man and woman – now – that did ring a bell. The words Voyager satellite came to my mind, and Stuart’s as well. And he went for it. Actually it was Pioneer 10 and 11 apparently, but the fact was that Stuart had said they were on spacecraft leaving the solar system which was good enough. Two points. A rather surreal discussion between Victoria and Anne about blind gas aliens followed, but we shall move on.
Now, the Engs showed that they had come with serious intent, for they clearly voiced the second vowel of Horned Viper. Well done! This earned them the music set. First we heard ‘I can’t give you anything but love – then the Man from Laramie – then Paul Young singing ‘Wherever I lay my hat’. It obviously wasn’t the titles that connected. So when we heard Will Young singing the last clue it became obvious that these were all Young musicians – well their surnames were Young, anyway. The Engs were nowhere near, and so the bonus was gratefully accepted by the Learners. For their third set they opted for Twisted Flax. Bach I didn’t get. Arias, though, I did. Barbara Bach (which is Welsh for little Barbara) was Ringo Starr’s second wife, and Olivia Arias(which is Welsh for Olivia Arias) was George Harrison’s second wife. I guessed that Mills might be next and Ono last, or vice versa. Mills indeed came next, but the Learners seemed stumped. Ono gave them Beatle wives at the death, which was accepted even though the precise connection was Beatle second wives. Well, it’s not the semis or the final yet, so a little leeway is only to be expected. Water remained for the Engs, who were given Agatha (breasts) – at which I speculated we were maybe on a Saints’ relics track – then Denis (head) - then Lucy (eyes) which suggested that in fact these were what various saints had removed in all manner of nasty ways – then Bartholemew (skin). The Engs looked blank, but Anne rescued the point at the death. This meant that the score at the end of the round was 5 – 2 to the Learners.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Stuart of the Learners played with fire at the start of the round by leaving the second vowel of horned viper unstressed. This was actually a really nice set. We saw –choreographer – ballerina – and here inspiration struck, and I offered choreographer/dancer/flamboyant showoff. It looked like Chris who had it at this point for the Learners – saying that they were all the professions of the current judges on Strictly, which meant that they were looking for Bruno’s profession. They offered dancer. They were given the points, correctly, even though the answer as given was choreographer. They correctly alluded to Bruno’s well known performance in Elton John’s ‘I’m still standing ‘ video. Quite true in Bruno’s case – sometimes you wish he was nailed to his chair on the show. The Engs plumped for Lion, and started with George + 5 more – huh? – and Anne looked to have latched onto it straightaway saying ‘Kings of England’. I saw exactly where she was coming from with this – there were indeed 6 Georges. If it was working backwards, then we needed Edward + 7 others next.We didn’t get it. Instead we got Chelsea + no more. However it did give us the connection. These were obviously Bush babies (sorry – couldn’t resist it) – the Clinton’s only child, and working forward that left us with the little Obamas. I knew his daughters were Sasha and Malia – but who was older? At this stage the Engs had it worked out, and offered Malia and 1 more. A very nice set, and a very good shout. Two Reeds gave the Learners The Arrival of Captain James Cook – Centaur throwing a spear of light – 2008 Fou drummers. I’m sorry but this left me without a Scooby doo. Stuart had it – saying that these were all featured in successive summer Olympics opening ceremonies, so all they needed was one of the many things that featured in the opening ceremony of London 2012. The Industrial Revolution did the trick.
Given Eye of Horus the Engs received - Pepys ceased writing his diary – hmm, I wondered , were these all things caused by blindness or something of that sort? No, because the next was Napoleon I born. Suez Canal opened was the last of the set. I guessed dates, and knew that Pepys' diary finished in 1669. So guessing Napoleon was born in 1769 – you see where I’m going here – then we needed something which happened in 1969. I couldn’t do much better than the Beatles played together on the roof of the Apple Building. The Engs really weren’t close. The Learners didn’t have it. Twisted flax gave the Learners Rumantsch. I plumped for German for a five pointer attempt. Working on first language speakers in Switzerland, I guessed fewest first language speakers would be romansch, therefore most would be German. Stuart did the same, and Victoria gave him – and me – another go. Deutsch! I shouted. They had it as well. Clever – not only the right language, but in the right language as well. The Engs saw a picture of the Who to start (good West London boys) . The next showed us a picture frame. Rabbit! – I shouted, buoyed by the previous five pointer. Indeed the next showed us actor Roger Rees. The Engs weren’t onto it, neither were the Learners. The Learners had extended their lead, and now had 15 to the Engs’ 5.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Engs, given the choice, plumped for Lion. They quickly saw a set of chocolate companies and actors from “Are You Being Served” A spree of hitting and hoping didn’t untangle either line, then they also noticed a set of words which could follow King’s/Queen’s. Finally they resolved Leonidas – Hershey – Mars and Godiva, all chocolate companies. Didn’t know Leonidas and Godiva myself. That was the only one they got before time was up. When the wall was resolved they knew that Richard – Divorced – Every – Thirty each feature in different well known mnemonics. Now that was a good shout. Sugden – Inman – English – Thornton were all the actors from Are You Being Served. This left Speech – Bench – Scout and Counsel – which were the set of words to follow King’s or Queen’s. Had they been a little more methodical on isolating each set they just might have had a full house on that wall. Still, 5 points scored.
On the water wall almost immediately Stuart saw Brian Boitano, and knew he was a world champion figure skater. They also quickly saw a set of sauces. Offices in the church was one of the first lines they tried to isolate and with chaplain – friar – oblate and dean they were successful. They worked out that the other connection would be printers, so all that remained was to isolate each line. Brother – Canon – Epson and HP fell into place next. This worked out nicely, because none of the sauces could possibly be a figure skater apart from Curry, so isolating the last two line was fairly simple. The skaters were Boitano – Cousins – Curry and Hamilton which left Breton – Tartare – Tare and Tabasco. They did fight shy of putting Curry in for a skater for a while though, wasting two lives before going for it. 10 points, thank you very much, and a lead of 25 to 10.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
Well, OK, the Engs weren’t going to come back from so far behind, but nonetheless this last round would give us clues to just how good the Learners were, and just how likely the Engs were to come back and win their second show. The first set were attributes in the poem ‘Monday’s Child’. These come up on a fairly regular basis in quizzes. They fell 3 – 0 to the Engs. The Engs, though, lost a point, because Chris said Is Bonny and Blithe, good and gay – leaving out an 'and' in the middle. Bad luck. The next set were all things considered ironic according to Alanis Morissette (remember – it’s like raaaaiiiiiiinnnnn on your wedding day?) Actually that one was the first and it went to the Learners after the Engs hesitated too long. The next three fell 2 – 1 to the Learners. Mexican states saw tabasco rear its fiery head for the second time in the same show. That one went to Margaret for the Learners. The set was split 2 apiece. That was it. The Engs ended with 14 and the Learners with 30.
Hard lines Software Engineers. They were rather caught out in the second round, and also in the wall they knew that the lines were, but just needed to have been a bit more methodical in sorting them out to score more points. As for the Learners, well, Margaret, I have no idea why you felt you needed to ask me to be kind for I thought you all played very well, and without wanting to scupper your chances, you looked as if you could go a long way. Good luck.
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Ruben Carter
2. Bernard Hopkins
3. Julian Wilson
4. Victoria Coren-Mitchell
5. Shutthefrontdoor
6. Jamaica Inn
7. Andy Murray
8. Johan Bruyneel
9. John Higgins
10. Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
11. Alexandra Hedison
12. Mark Shand
13. Fatah and Hamas
14. Nikki Fox
15. Mark Schwarzer
16. Adnan Januzaj
17. Stephen Sutton
18. Paul Waterfall
19. The Gherkin
20. Beyonce
21. Andre Lampitt
22. A Man from the Future
23. Prime Pantry
In Other News
1. Who won the Chinese GP in Shanghai?
2. Who is to host a new BBC series of The Generation Game?
3. Which song was last week voted the UKs favourite song from the 80s?
4. Who has taken over at Manchester United until the end of the season?
5. What was the score in the Man Utd. V. Everton match?
6. – and the Chelsea v. Sunderland match?
7. Who beat Roger Federer to win the Monte Carlo Masters?
8. What became the most downloaded song in History in the UK?
9. A huge chemical fire took place in which UK city?
10. David Cameron faced criticism from some sides over his description of Britain as a what?
11. Which football club’s win over Wigan on Easter Monday confirmed their promnotion to the Premiership?
12. What was the score in the Champions League match between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid?
13. – and Bayern Munich and Real Madrid?
14. An advert for which company has been banned for ‘irresponsibly encouraging parents to take their children on holiday during term time’ ?
15. Which organization switched on the first of its planned 44 renewable energy power plants?
16. Which football team clinched the Championship with two games to go?
17. People of which county were officially recognized as a minority, with equal status to Welsh, Scots and Irish?
18. The Mayor of which city has won the right to ban marijuana cafes?
19. Which species of whale are Canada to take off its endangered species list?
20. The Labour party is looking to cut its links with which bank?
21. Which sporting figure’s trial for bribery began in Germany?
22. The annual crime rate for England and Wales fell by which figure?
23. Which organization in South wales announced that it will be creating a Visitor Centre and opening its doors to the public for the first time?
24. It was claimed last week that three cups of coffee a day can cut the risk of what?
25. Nokia has sold its mobile business to which company?
26. Which bank was forced by the government to halve its proposed bonuses?
27. Which Olympic gold medalist set a new British record last week?
28. Who quit as an England National cricket selector last week?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Boxer – former world championship contender, wrongly jailed – subject of Bob Dylan song and Denzel Washington film – Hurricane – died aged 76
2. Boxer – won the WBA light heavyweight title at the age of 49
3. BBC Racing Correspondent for 30 years – passed away
4. Presenter of Only Connect – became first ever two time winner of the European Poker Tour
5. Horse that won the Irish Grand National
6. BBC Drama, over which the BBC apologized when viewers were unable to hear the dialogue in the first episode
7. The Wimbledon champion was given the freedom of Stirling, and broke down in tears during a speech
8. Lance Armstrong’s former team manager, banned from professional sport for 10 years for helping to organize doping in their teams
9. Former World champion knocked out for the second year running in the first round of the world championship – this time by friend Alan McManus
10. Whistleblowing US Solider Bradley Manning has had this granted to him as a new name by a US court
11. She married actress Jodie Foster last week
12. Brother of the Duchess of Cornwall, who died in a fall last week
13. Palestinian organisations who made an agreement to end political wrangling
14. The BBC’s first ever disability correspondent
15. Oldest player ever to feature in a Champions League knockout game
16. Man Utd. player who has opted to represent Belgium rather than England
17. Terminal cancer patient who has fulfilled his wish to raise £1 million for charity
18. A farmer accused of manslaughter after his bull killed a walker
19. The iconic London tower has been placed into receivership
20. She is the cover star for Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people issue
21. ‘Star’ of UKiP European Election broadcast, suspended after alleged series of racist tweets
22. Orchestral work about Alan Turing being premiered at BBC Proms by Pet Shop Boys
23. New online grocery service launched by Amazon
In Other News
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Miranda Hart
3. Vienna by Ultravox
4. Ryan Giggs
5. 2 – 0
6. 2 – 1 Sunderland
7. Stanislas Wawrinka
8. Blurred Lines – by Robin Thicke
9. Leeds
10. A christian country
11. Burnley
12. 0 – 0
13. 1 – 0 to Real Madrid
14. Centre Parcs
15. The National Trust
16. Leicester City
17. Cornwall
18. Amsterdam
19. Humped back whales
20. Co operative Bank
21. Bernie Ecclestone
22. 15%
23. The Royal Mint
24. To cut diabetes
25. Microsoft
26. RBS
27. Greg Rutherford – who jumped a fantastic 8.51m
28. Ashley Giles
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Ruben Carter
2. Bernard Hopkins
3. Julian Wilson
4. Victoria Coren-Mitchell
5. Shutthefrontdoor
6. Jamaica Inn
7. Andy Murray
8. Johan Bruyneel
9. John Higgins
10. Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
11. Alexandra Hedison
12. Mark Shand
13. Fatah and Hamas
14. Nikki Fox
15. Mark Schwarzer
16. Adnan Januzaj
17. Stephen Sutton
18. Paul Waterfall
19. The Gherkin
20. Beyonce
21. Andre Lampitt
22. A Man from the Future
23. Prime Pantry
In Other News
1. Who won the Chinese GP in Shanghai?
2. Who is to host a new BBC series of The Generation Game?
3. Which song was last week voted the UKs favourite song from the 80s?
4. Who has taken over at Manchester United until the end of the season?
5. What was the score in the Man Utd. V. Everton match?
6. – and the Chelsea v. Sunderland match?
7. Who beat Roger Federer to win the Monte Carlo Masters?
8. What became the most downloaded song in History in the UK?
9. A huge chemical fire took place in which UK city?
10. David Cameron faced criticism from some sides over his description of Britain as a what?
11. Which football club’s win over Wigan on Easter Monday confirmed their promnotion to the Premiership?
12. What was the score in the Champions League match between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid?
13. – and Bayern Munich and Real Madrid?
14. An advert for which company has been banned for ‘irresponsibly encouraging parents to take their children on holiday during term time’ ?
15. Which organization switched on the first of its planned 44 renewable energy power plants?
16. Which football team clinched the Championship with two games to go?
17. People of which county were officially recognized as a minority, with equal status to Welsh, Scots and Irish?
18. The Mayor of which city has won the right to ban marijuana cafes?
19. Which species of whale are Canada to take off its endangered species list?
20. The Labour party is looking to cut its links with which bank?
21. Which sporting figure’s trial for bribery began in Germany?
22. The annual crime rate for England and Wales fell by which figure?
23. Which organization in South wales announced that it will be creating a Visitor Centre and opening its doors to the public for the first time?
24. It was claimed last week that three cups of coffee a day can cut the risk of what?
25. Nokia has sold its mobile business to which company?
26. Which bank was forced by the government to halve its proposed bonuses?
27. Which Olympic gold medalist set a new British record last week?
28. Who quit as an England National cricket selector last week?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Boxer – former world championship contender, wrongly jailed – subject of Bob Dylan song and Denzel Washington film – Hurricane – died aged 76
2. Boxer – won the WBA light heavyweight title at the age of 49
3. BBC Racing Correspondent for 30 years – passed away
4. Presenter of Only Connect – became first ever two time winner of the European Poker Tour
5. Horse that won the Irish Grand National
6. BBC Drama, over which the BBC apologized when viewers were unable to hear the dialogue in the first episode
7. The Wimbledon champion was given the freedom of Stirling, and broke down in tears during a speech
8. Lance Armstrong’s former team manager, banned from professional sport for 10 years for helping to organize doping in their teams
9. Former World champion knocked out for the second year running in the first round of the world championship – this time by friend Alan McManus
10. Whistleblowing US Solider Bradley Manning has had this granted to him as a new name by a US court
11. She married actress Jodie Foster last week
12. Brother of the Duchess of Cornwall, who died in a fall last week
13. Palestinian organisations who made an agreement to end political wrangling
14. The BBC’s first ever disability correspondent
15. Oldest player ever to feature in a Champions League knockout game
16. Man Utd. player who has opted to represent Belgium rather than England
17. Terminal cancer patient who has fulfilled his wish to raise £1 million for charity
18. A farmer accused of manslaughter after his bull killed a walker
19. The iconic London tower has been placed into receivership
20. She is the cover star for Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people issue
21. ‘Star’ of UKiP European Election broadcast, suspended after alleged series of racist tweets
22. Orchestral work about Alan Turing being premiered at BBC Proms by Pet Shop Boys
23. New online grocery service launched by Amazon
In Other News
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Miranda Hart
3. Vienna by Ultravox
4. Ryan Giggs
5. 2 – 0
6. 2 – 1 Sunderland
7. Stanislas Wawrinka
8. Blurred Lines – by Robin Thicke
9. Leeds
10. A christian country
11. Burnley
12. 0 – 0
13. 1 – 0 to Real Madrid
14. Centre Parcs
15. The National Trust
16. Leicester City
17. Cornwall
18. Amsterdam
19. Humped back whales
20. Co operative Bank
21. Bernie Ecclestone
22. 15%
23. The Royal Mint
24. To cut diabetes
25. Microsoft
26. RBS
27. Greg Rutherford – who jumped a fantastic 8.51m
28. Ashley Giles
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