Ship of Fools: University Challenge

Thread: University Challenge Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

University Challenge, in my humble opinion, is the best quiz show on TV. Any other fans out there?

I love watching the programme, but can only usually answer 6 or so questions, not least because you have to retain so much information in your head while working out the answer.

Trinity, Cambridge is my favourite to win the competition this year (Morley is surely a robot!).

As only episodes 2 and 3 are still available on I-player, can anyone tell me who won Aberdeen v. Belfast?

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :

I confess that mr whibley and I watch on iplayer every week. Usually this isn't until Tuesday and mr whibley is on his honour not to cheat while I'm out at work. We keep score and often end up with 10-15 points each. Of course we have to beat the students themselves time-wise so we are usually smugly convinced that we would do so much better if in the actual contest! [Biased]

I'm usually suffering too much from brain-ache to notice who wins on the programme. I think wikipedia is regularly updated, so may be able to answer your question.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

Can I confess to having been on it?

Posted by OddJob (# 17591) on :

You can. But why confess? Is the ability to absorb information and learn quickly - and/or to be in an environment early in life where the opportuity to do so arises - actually sinful? Using such aptitudes less than altruistically may be a different moral question.

I'm usually baffled as to how the contestants have gained such nolij so young in life.

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Can I confess to having been on it?

And me! Bamber Gascoigne was really nice to us all, BTW.

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :

I wonder how many shipmates are going to "confess" to having been on it before one actually surprises us? I know ken was top of my list of those who wouldn't surprise me.

AG

Posted by ButchCassidy (# 11147) on :

Me! Paxman was also v pleasant. And there was always beer and a wheel of brie in the green room afterwards :-)

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

"Confess" because it seems to be boasting.

I played in the old series and the new one. And both Bamber Gascoigne and Jeremy Paxman were very friendly.

Posted by luvanddaisies (# 5761) on :

[Overused]

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Bamber Gascoigne was such a sweetie. I never thought anyone could replace him - but Paxman has done an excellent job.

I also thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Starter for 10', a novel about the programme.

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

I enjoy the program. I get 4-5 questions right a week, which is not bad - I usually beat the rest of the family.

I have not been on it. I believe my uni was banned around the time I was there because they were making fun of the top/bottom way it is shown.

Posted by Arethosemyfeet (# 17047) on :

I was on my university team but we didn't make it to the televised rounds. [Frown]

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

I never got the chance to be on.

But the Polytechnic where I studied is now a University, so just say I was ahead of my time.

Posted by Anglican't (# 15292) on :

I consider it an achievement if I understand the question.

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

I do enjoy it, but Only Connect on BBC4 straight afterwards is even better. (And yes, Ken has been on that too...)

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

I do like Only Connect too. Gill H - how did you do? Will we see you again on it?

I am always reminded of the Undertones lyrics "He thinks that I'm a cabbage 'Cause I hate University Challenge"

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Arethosemyfeet:
I was on my university team but we didn't make it to the televised rounds.

That's a shame. When I did it (1987) I think there were only televised rounds: Granada TV presumably had a rota or something of which universities/ colleges would be invited to be on each year.
Trust ken to have been on twice. It's people like him that are the reason why the OU and Birkbeck traditionally did well.

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
Bamber Gascoigne was such a sweetie. I never thought anyone could replace him - but Paxman has done an excellent job.

Quite. As my late* mother said

quote:
Whoever would have thought that that horrid man could make such a success of University Challenge?

Actually. I quite like Paxo, though I somtimes want to slap him when he's in full Saloon-Bar-Man mode on Newsnight.

* i.e. dead (see relevant Hell thread)

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I do like Only Connect too. Gill H - how did you do? Will we see you again on it?

I am always reminded of the Undertones lyrics "He thinks that I'm a cabbage 'Cause I hate University Challenge"

Not me - Ken!

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

Incidentally, I think UC is the show with the highest rate of questions on the TV. Mastermind is probably a close second. Anyone else want to challenge or confirm that?

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

That's what makes it so exciting - partly because the tension builds up due to the speed and lack of space between questions and partly due to the speed of thought of the contestants, who have to keep so much information in their heads while at the same time performing a calculation or solving a puzzle, to a very fast timescale - it is breathtaking to witness.

I feel sorry for the losing team when they clearly also know all the 'fingers on buzzers' questions, but the other team just pip them to it every time.

Posted by Dinghy Sailor (# 8507) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:

quote:
Originally posted by Arethosemyfeet:
I was on my university team but we didn't make it to the televised rounds.
That's a shame. When I did it (1987) I think there were only televised rounds: Granada TV presumably had a rota or something of which universities/ colleges would be invited to be on each year.
Trust ken to have been on twice. It's people like him that are the reason why the OU and Birkbeck traditionally did well.

I've been on it! IIRC they've now banned people from going on it twice, after the incident where an OU team was comprised entirely of previous winners of UC, Mastermind etc, all enrolled on part time masters courses for the purpose of winning UC.

They didn't have the wheel of brie in the green room either [Frown]

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Dinghy Sailor:
IIRC they've now banned people from going on it twice, after the incident where an OU team was comprised entirely of previous winners of UC, Mastermind etc, all enrolled on part time masters courses for the purpose of winning UC.

Not entirely composed. Just one bloke. But it pissed the producers off. Also they like to have pretty young folk on TV....

They were the OU team that beat the Birkbeck team I was in in the quarter-final then went to win the series. And we were only one question behind them (and it was a question I knew the answer to as well) so we literally lost by a fraction of a second.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
Incidentally, I think UC is the show with the highest rate of questions on the TV. Mastermind is probably a close second. Anyone else want to challenge or confirm that?

I never countes but I'm pretty sure Mastermind contestants typically face more questions than UC contestants in a game. Typically about forty. Also there is only one of you and you only get five minutes to answer them. Also the level of the questions has typically been harder than born-again-UC I think (though my impression is that UC got a bit stiffer over the last few years, after haveing been a little easier in the early 2000s)

Most TV quizzes are quite sparing with questions. In Only Connect a team will face six questions in the first two rounds, then a "wall" then maybe ten at the most of the missing vowels (much the hardest round unless you are a crossword nerd!)

When I was on Eggheads I didn't play in the elimination rounds at all (because my subjects didn't come up, I might have done either science or history) and we only got five or six questions at the end (did very badly [Frown]

)

There used to be a quiz called "Fifteen to One" that seemed much faster-paced to me than UC. I was never actually on it though so I don't really know!

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Yes, I had a shock when they tightened up the UC questions again - a few years ago I was getting more right and thinking I'd developed more brain cells! Mind you, sometimes they buck the trend - last year I was getting more second round questions right than I was in the first round. Usually, you find the questions get harder as they progress towards the final.

Posted by TurquoiseTastic (# 8978) on :

Fifteen-to-One was excellent; the hardest quiz going. You had to be really good to win it. On the one hand, if you got more than 2 questions wrong over the whole programme you would be eliminated. On the other hand, to score highly enough to get to the Grand Final, you had to answer lots of questions correctly. So to get to the final, you had to actively put yourself in the firing line and get at least 15 questions right. And the questions were tough...

(Never been on any show myself but two former pupils were on the same episode of University Challenge last week!)

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :

Q. For fifteen points, what does Ariston do when he sees a thread look like it might do better in Heaven than with the sports discussion threads?
A. Hold on tight—going up!

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