University Challenge 2019/20

[Norton Canes]

^ my daughter went apoplectic when the answering team thought it was Metallica

[edit: NEW PAGE CARET MAKES NO SENSE]

[marquis_de_sad]

Been catching up on these. Haven't watched the most recent one yet (Imperial v St. John's) but the last Courtauld one again had a suspiciously large number of art-related questions. It's one thing to do that in their first round match, but it seems a bit unfair to do it afterwards. They're a good team and everything, just seems like the producers are trying to do what they can to keep them in for the novelty factor.

[marquis_de_sad]

For reference, there were as many art starters in that match as there were literature starters. And that's not including the one about architecture.

[touchingcloth]

Having not seen the first Courtauld round I gave that one the benefit of the doubt. They fluffed a few questions they ought to have aced when they came up.

Tangent, but the more I watch this series the more I realise that university-level knowledge is needed for fewer than half the questions, with most of them following a format of "you know this thing, right? What comes to mind when you think of it?" I can't think of the specifics of the question, but the last episode had a question which went "blah blah blah, George Eliot, blah blah blah?" and even having read no Eliot but being familiar with the titles, I felt confident that the answer would be Middlemarch. It was.

There was another question along the lines of "blah blah blah axiom of choice blah blah Fraenkel and which other blah?" but even without being a mathematician I had a stab at Zermelo being the answer.

It'd be nice if more of the questions were pitched beyond the abilities of people who haven't done much more than fell down Wikipedia rabbit holes, but then I suppose half the appeal of watching is the flattery of being able to guess some answers for yourself.

[marquis_de_sad]

The key is really that most questions give you multiple clues in order to make an educated guess. The trick on the starters is deciding when to take a punt on a 50/50 in order to get ahead of the other team.

If it required properly specialist knowledge for everything then it would be way too hard.

[touchingcloth]

Yes that's true, and the questions are always structured so that the information which clues in the dilettante doesn't come until the final few words. The more informed jump in earlier and risk the points fine.

[marquis_de_sad]

Yeah, exactly.

[billyandthecloneasaurus]

Very annoying thing the celebs do on this - they have no idea on a bonus question and rather than passing they spend about a minute conferring, someone whispering like "just guess...errr...let's just think of someone", like, you dont know, just pass. You're not gonna be able to logically deduce the name of a Latvian physicist ffs.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Yeah I noticed that too, pretty irritating. Especially episode 5 which I've got on now. Just long stretches of near silence. Its bad enough that the introductions take up a full 5 minute chunk and the quiz goes quicker than normal without watching the contestants piss about

[marquis_de_sad]

The celebs are mostly very slow and bad. There have been some good players. Perdita Barran from Sussex and Joanna Nadin from Hull both spring to mind.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

First semi final was worth it just the pantomime round .

[gilbertharding]

That. The colleges are technically different bodies anyway, so having the universities compete instead would be bad for everyone else.

Other people defending the status quo have pointed out that the colleges are also very small comparatively, so this is actually fair.

The celebrity ones have been notable this year for the density (in both senses) of Guardian hacks.

[gilbertharding]

First semi final was worth it just the pantomime round .

That was bizarre. I hate to say 'like an acid flashback', but in this case I'll make an exception.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I do think they should take down the Christmas decorations in the episodes that extend into the New Year. At least get rid of the fucking tree. It just looks silly now.

[honeychile]

A great final, both for the pleasure of seeing the tories get a pasting, and also for when Coles deliberately wound up Paxman with the habeas corpus answer which Paxman couldn't resist biting at.

[mjwilson]

I do think they should take down the Christmas decorations in the episodes that extend into the New Year. At least get rid of the fucking tree. It just looks silly now.

Still Christmas innit.

[idunnosomename]

Yeah if you live in fucking tudor england. Fucking pull that crap down.

Of course I'm talking about the universities at Oxford and Cambridge, eh readers?

[Pride of Elvis]

Just curious, has the full episode with Stephen Fry, or the one with Clive James, ever been unearthed?

Would also love to see the one where Miriam Margoyles says "Fuck" on it. Do any of them still exist? Fry's seems only to exist in this clip.

[marquis_de_sad]

Would also love to see the one where Miriam Margoyles says "Fuck" on it.

I doubt she ever did.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Would also love to see the one where Miriam Margoyles says "Fuck" on it. Do any of them still exist? Fry's seems only to exist in this clip.

Bloody hell, Gascoigne went easy on people buzzing then thinking about it. Fry's taking the piss there!

Only other bits of that episode I've seen is on that Comic Relief special which is a decent watch.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Shut up, Wang.


(No specific incident, just really gets on my tits.)

[marquis_de_sad]

Wang's alright I think.

[Cerys]

I quite like him.  He seems happy.

[Twit 2]

Wang is good, the little ebullient scamp. I like teams that are having fun, but Wang et al confer way too loudly and pontificate too much. I know they are doing it genuinely and not smugly but it does grate after while. Brilliant team though. Their score would be even higher if they just said the answers straight away instead of dancing around it for ages.

[lankyguy95]

Rogers. Mate.

[Cerys]

They're going to lynch him when they get home.

[bgmnts]

Does anyone else feel like actually topping themselves out of pure inadequacy after the one two punch of Only Connect and University Challenge?

I actually feel developmentally disabled.

[Cerys]

I'm feeling quite smug about Only Connect ... and then don't get one that's fucking obvious in retrospect.  Then the smugness goes away.

[Twit 2]

Does anyone else feel like actually topping themselves out of pure inadequacy after the one two punch of Only Connect and University Challenge?

I actually feel developmentally disabled.

Read lots of books then remember some of the stuff in them. Very achievable.

[bgmnts]

Read lots of books then remember some of the stuff in them. Very achievable.

I've read every Mr Men book going.