― MarkH, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
i had a ridiculous haircut (black/white striped) at the time, which loads of people seem to remember when i mention it ("ohmygodyouwerethatfreakonuniveristychallengewiththeweirdhair!!" etc).
― toby, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Gage-o, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― DG, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― RickyT, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― jel, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Jeff W, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
She had an Italian name, but I have forgotten it, so no stalking for me.
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:24 (nineteen years ago) link
-- toby (toby_ge...), January 8th, 2002.
My mate David was on it the year Durham won it - he was UCL, who were you with toby?
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:25 (nineteen years ago) link
As part of the Lancaster team we made it to the final round of auditions two years ago. They actually interview you as if you're going onto an actual game show ("What books have you been reading recently?"), which I found vaguely disconcerting, but answers to the questions on the test we sat included "Tony Hawkes" and "Sixpence None The Richer". So that's alright then.
― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mooro (Mooro), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 16:27 (nineteen years ago) link
OK, that may be just me.
― mike a, Tuesday, 31 August 2004 18:19 (nineteen years ago) link
1. Stream of Consciousness
2. Greil Marcus's Mystery Train
3. something else interesting - what was it?
― the bellefox, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 12:12 (nineteen years ago) link
I thought he did well.
― the bellefox, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 12:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 12:38 (nineteen years ago) link
1970s video games? paxman was aghast that people knew all these, i thought they were piss-easy. (pong, tetris, asteroids, snake)
― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:13 (nineteen years ago) link
Perhaps we should not be surprised that you thought they were easy?
― the bellefox, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:15 (nineteen years ago) link
I'd like to see how many questions he was actually asked as compared to the others.
Uni Chal Mastermind and Buzzocks makes Monday night the best BBC2 line up all week.
― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:36 (nineteen years ago) link
"what's 'amped' mean then?"
― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:39 (nineteen years ago) link
I found it strange that they didn't know what COBOL or SQL were yet got the (IMO) more obscure Ada question right.
University Challenge makes me realise how much stuff there is that I don't know. I'm usually chuffed to bits if I get a run of Starter + 3 Bonuses correct.
Discovered a fairly good quiz show called Eggheads yesterday while I was off work. A team of "boffins" (I think most of them are former champions of 15-to-1 or similar) is challenged by a different team of plebs every episode. Plebs can win £20000, boffins just get to be smug about being clever. Plebs won yesterday for the first time in umpteen episodes.
― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:43 (nineteen years ago) link
UC was good, I knew more answers than usual (ie, about 5). The Greil Marcus question reminded me of RJG. I liked the set of questions where they had to say who ruled in a X-ocracy, and one of the words sounded very much like phallocracy, and they dithered and snickered and then it was something not rude at all.
I like Eggheads too.
― Cathy (Cathy), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Brigadier Rainham Steele, Mrs (blueski), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 13:56 (nineteen years ago) link
That was because it's named after Ada Lovelace innit. I didn't know the others but I know who the daughter of George Gordon, Lord Byron was. Hung out with Babbage, nice one.
― Liz :x (Liz :x), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 15:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 16:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 16:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 16:18 (nineteen years ago) link
(still, not as bad as the cow-orker who pronounces "spamhaus" "spamhorse")
― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 16:25 (nineteen years ago) link
My old drama teacher got to the semis on MM in '86 or so.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 17:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― Cathy (Cathy), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 18:01 (nineteen years ago) link
Didn't he get a wee bit more time than the others - Humphrys explained something by way of explanation about the lipreading thing but I was in the other room so missed most of what he was saying.
I wondered about the cane too.
Was the other interesting thing the karaoke backing tracks of cheesy ballads (all of which I recognised, much to the amusement of my husband and parents)? Wasn't there a Smiths lyrics question too, or was that last week?
― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 18:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 18:18 (nineteen years ago) link
Ah, I was appalled to see tetris in there. It was written in 1985-86! And not really commercially available until a while after that. It's hardly retro!
― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 18:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Monday, 8 November 2004 15:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― beanz (beanz), Monday, 8 November 2004 15:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― robster (robster), Monday, 8 November 2004 15:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― beanz (beanz), Monday, 8 November 2004 15:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Cathy (Cathy), Monday, 8 November 2004 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Liz :x (Liz :x), Monday, 8 November 2004 16:31 (nineteen years ago) link
Haven't seen it yet but it was Mark from The Chase last week. He sure is tall.
― ledge, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 14:59 (two months ago) link
Also it was from series 2 with the greek letters, not hieroglyphs.
― ledge, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 15:00 (two months ago) link
Yeah, that was Jenny on this week's repeat
― ailsa, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 15:40 (two months ago) link
i missed last week's because the epg had it as a different series id from the previous specials 8( don't think i've seen an episode with greek letters.
― koogs, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 16:00 (two months ago) link
the personal facts at the start of oc in 2013 were dull
― koogs, Monday, 4 March 2024 20:51 (one month ago) link
caught the end of the one with the beast on it and that was quite the drubbing, highest score i think I've seen.
― koogs, Monday, 4 March 2024 21:22 (one month ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/mar/06/tory-peer-jacqueline-foster-pays-damages-university-challenge
I hope Gorgianeh got handsomely compensated for the disgusting abuse she suffered.
― Dan Worsley, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 12:43 (one month ago) link
Was it on here we talked about the UK rebooting The Genius? Anyway, David Tennant!
https://www.itv.com/presscentre/media-releases/david-tennant-front-itvs-genius-game
― ailsa, Thursday, 14 March 2024 11:24 (one month ago) link
So that's one way to confirm I didn't get through the sift.
― Hello I'm shitty gatsworth (aldo), Thursday, 14 March 2024 11:27 (one month ago) link
Good to see people know Borges. Is that a constant? Not sure how I discovered him could it be Colin Wilson or Martin Esslin or something. But seemed the guy knew him pretty thoroughly.May need to reread Labyrinths etc.
― Stevo, Thursday, 14 March 2024 12:36 (one month ago) link
David Tennant? Jesus, there's no hope for the mid-tier lads if that's the kind of talent they're recruiting. Oh well.
― trishyb, Thursday, 14 March 2024 13:20 (one month ago) link
was that the final of UC last night? I've just deleted it from the pvr by accident...
― koogs, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 07:02 (three weeks ago) link
No, next week
― Mark G, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 07:11 (three weeks ago) link
Final of Mastermind though.
― Stevo, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 07:20 (three weeks ago) link
and last of the OC specials (which is what i should've deleted)
― koogs, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 08:59 (three weeks ago) link
Exciting semi-final. IMO the show feels a lot pacier since Rajan joined: it's more like a contest between two teams, instead of nerds in parallel play. Rajan's interactions tend to goose that up - they are occasionally cringey, like a slightly-too-loud parent at a school sports event, but that's fine.
Questions this week varied between exceptionally easy (I got an unusual number of 4 out of 4s) and no-amount-of-reading-could-prepare-me-for-this impossible.
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 11:05 (three weeks ago) link
Was that "Beatles songs that mention places" the easiest round ever?
― Mark G, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 11:08 (three weeks ago) link
> and last of the OC specials
this isn't true. it said 4/4 in the epg but that was 4th of the series 18 specials and next Monday they are showing part 4 of the series 14 specials, QI Elves v Inquisitors
― koogs, Friday, 5 April 2024 02:06 (three weeks ago) link
That was a bit of a shellacking. At least UCL rallied and made 3 figures.
My poorest score of the series too, with only 6 right.
― Dan Worsley, Monday, 8 April 2024 20:09 (two weeks ago) link
ucl made some basic errors (answering "rome" when that was mentioned in the question) and then seemed to lose all confidence. ucl were very strong though, lee especially.
― ledge, Monday, 8 April 2024 20:36 (two weeks ago) link
*imperial* were very strong
Lee was brilliant. Also I'm genuinely astonished at how quickly Amol Rajan has established himself as a very good host of this. He's had some huge shoes to fill and has comfortably just made it his own thing.
― ailsa, Monday, 8 April 2024 23:07 (two weeks ago) link
My only issue was with the second semi-final, where he rushed through the last set of qestions for the losing team so fast that I felt he panicked them. But otherwise, yes, he's really good. I was very amused by UCL all dressing up in their good suits for the final. Bless them.
― trishyb, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 09:01 (two weeks ago) link
after a certain point did Imperial realllly need any more points. I mean, like surely they had nowhere to put them.
― Stevo, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 10:40 (two weeks ago) link
The ending was very odd. Amol Rajan presenting Imperial with the trophy in the studio and then cutting very suddenly to the roof of Imperial for them all to meet Tom Stoppard, rather than having Stoppard come into the studio to present them with the trophy.
― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 11:44 (two weeks ago) link
There was an interview w/Amol where he was asking if anyone knew anybody that would be suitable to present next year's trophy. I wondered why, and now I know. (ish)
― Mark G, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 14:01 (two weeks ago) link
So, was it that Stoppard was meant to present the trophy in the studio and then didn't show up then for some reason?
― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 14:57 (two weeks ago) link
Maybe he got COVID?
― trishyb, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 15:08 (two weeks ago) link
I've never seen a grand final where the presenter was like "well, here this is yours I guess..."
― Mark G, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 16:29 (two weeks ago) link
venice, urea, parker, ai wei wei, spline, thailand, aspiration, fric(a)tive, psyche, proton, frank lloyd wright, keep the aspidistra flying, bildungsroman
couple of guesses included there and there were a couple more that i might've got given time (son of odysseus...) or a second attempt. i think i'd've gotten away with the mispronunciation of ɸ
but, yes, quite a drubbing for something so late in the competition
― koogs, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 17:32 (two weeks ago) link
Not sure I have warmed to Amol Rajan…he always has a ‘too cool for school’ air…much preferred the detached schoolmasterly distain of Paxman…maybe I’ll be proved wrong
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Tuesday, 9 April 2024 19:48 (two weeks ago) link
I think it's good that he's on the contestants' side. Social media too often treats contestants horrifically, I think a host who isn't sneering at them really helps to humanise the whole thing.
(Yours observantly, someone trolled on social media for going on telly to do a quiz)
― ailsa, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 21:38 (two weeks ago) link
Thinking that paxman is any good just feels like a kind of Stockholm syndrome for forelock wankers tbh
― subpost master (wins), Tuesday, 9 April 2024 21:49 (two weeks ago) link
I also like the idea that Rajan doesn't think it's beneath him to ask questions about video games or knitting.
― trishyb, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 07:59 (two weeks ago) link
and doesn't berate people for not knowing obscure classical composers
― koogs, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 08:05 (two weeks ago) link
Ailsa it was a real delight to watch you on OC (and then to read back up this thread and see you gradually saying "hey, maybe I should try and go on OC")
I for one have kinda enjoyed the UC shift from affronted schoolmasterly "good lord how could you be so dreadfully wrong" to a coolly dismissive "nah, bro, that's kinda embarrassing" response. I hope to live long enough to see lots of different modes of shaming contestants applied
― ን (nabisco), Wednesday, 10 April 2024 15:14 (two weeks ago) link
There was a round about 80s rap which concluded with Amol gently berating the team for not listening to enough hip-hop. I think that sealed the deal for my fandom of him - IMAGINE Paxo saying that.
― chap, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 16:36 (two weeks ago) link
On a bit of a tangent, it was funny to see Only Connect alumnus Michael Joel Bartellein the first episode of The Regime.
― trishyb, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 16:41 (two weeks ago) link
Yeah, I went into this season expecting AR to be a bit crap, but he’s turned out to be adorable and I like what UC has evolved into under his stewardship. And of the contestants, I particularly liked ailsa’s mate, the Open University captain who knew her female punk singers and rocked some fierce looks.
― mike t-diva, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 21:09 (two weeks ago) link
She popped up on BBC London news recently on the panel auditioning buskers for the Tube.
― chap, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 22:38 (two weeks ago) link
Yeah, she works for TfL and is just an all-round fantastic person. I was so happy she got the questions on female punk singers!
Also, thanks Nabisco!
― ailsa, Thursday, 11 April 2024 14:30 (two weeks ago) link
She looked so pleased and confident about that one! (As opposed to the relatable share of people who, getting a topic they're familiar with, immediately panic at the prospect of still being stumped, which is almost certainly what I would do)
― ን (nabisco), Thursday, 11 April 2024 17:26 (two weeks ago) link