University Challenge (also featuring Only Connect and other BBC quiz shows)

The bigger issue would be how the Ox or Camb colleges would coordinate choosing a team between them. I've lived in Oxford long enough to know that they struggle to coordinate on anything!

Not sure how this is UC's problem, and also Durham and York (possibly others too?) are both collegial universities and seem to manage fine

Don't Oxbridge teams win almost every time anyway as it stands?

The opposing team had their equivalent version where they couldn't name Atlanta ("Vinyl?") or Empire (Dynasty?); thankfully third question was about the v white Flight Of The Concords.

Don't Oxbridge teams win almost every time anyway as it stands?

11 out of the last 20 winners

It's great I basically don't give a shit about the teams or who wins

They've been ramping up the vector questions the last series or so. (I notice this as it's one of my Other Half's only specialist subjects). Luckily for today my specialist subject is Jesse Armstrong shows.

Paxman's fuck-up on that "double o" answer...

Overchatty winning team today. Glad the other ones are coming back

Another Rossetti question.

Blanked on a couple of questions last night, Kelmscott bring one of them, must do better.

got the kittiwake one because the same question was on OC 30 minutes earlier

but embarrasingly got my dot product and cross product mixed up even though I supposedly have a degree in maths

Definitely an easier UC, I got my best score ever - and at least one OC 5 pointer (haven't finished watching yet).

Agree with Number None: Paxman accepted 'O' when he needed 'Oo' ?

Yes, I thought I'd heard their answer wrong there

you could see the guy beside their captain was shocked they got away with it

maybe the question was 'which double letter'

hmph, i guess you're right

Got all the bird questions - like Paxman I don't know what puffins sound like.

Kittiwake was the only one I knew through personal observational experience - on the Farne Islands I heard one going "kittiwake! kittiwake! kittiwake!"

We pass those kittiwakes in Newcastle a lot. Or, we used to....

For fuck's sake

Justice served

Someone I know has somehow managed to assemble a *very* interesting team in this forthcoming series of Only Connect

As I was saying... Didn't really work, did it?

They still have another shot :(

(aghast that victoria didn't know what a rebus is. there's been one on the guardian puzzles page for about a thousand years)

Didn't think it was very fair being allowed to have Nostradamus on your team, since clearly you'd know what the questions were in advance.

Yeah, that was odd (the rebus thing). Her ear voice was letting her down there.

I thought it was nice and showed a willingness to learn from the contestants. I think too often presenters have to pretend that they know absolutely everything. Whether she should've known it or not, I liked how happy she was to hear it. It reinforces the idea of OC as a big national club of quizzers, some of whom make it onto the telly occasionally. The Chase can be like this sometimes too, with a bit of learning going both ways.

Fictional Detective JOHN REBUS is also named after a Rebus.

But VCM kinda seemed to misunderstand what a rebus was, was my point. So it wasn't learning or educational. There's tons of that nice chit-chat which goes on and gets edited out when it turns out to be bollocks. I get mildy furious when they leave in Chasers explaining stuff wrongly as well.

I thought that team were great, by the way, which seems to have gone unnoticed by everyone going gaga over the zelebs on the other side.

s/o to casuistry yesterday, which I first came to know as an ILX regular

I was a bit confused by that answer. But did score 20 correct answers overall this time.

Odd young team hearing 'near wild heaven':
'Is it the Beatles?'
'It's *definitely* that time'.
'Oh, how about Velvet Underground?'
'Oh yes, go for it, say Velvet Underground'.

can't blame them for not knowing a deep cut off a 30 year old album with a different singer than usual. (ok it was a uk single, i doubt it's had much airplay since then though.)

Yeah, I think it's fair to say "Near Wild Heaven" is trying to sound like something from the 60's tho since I knew who it was the REMness of it makes it difficult to tell.

Raised an eyebrow at "Don't Fear The Reaper" - sure, not their regular vocalist, but surely the only BOC most people have heard anyway? Tho they didn't get it.

as per usual i'm not in the slighest bit surprised that a few students didn't recognise REM or the Blue Oyster Cult

lockdown really did a number on Paxman

Not sure if I'd even heard that REM one before but it couldn't be anything other than REM

After the show I had a fun evening discovering Blue Öyster Cult songs that weren’t “Don’ t Fear The Reaper”

I never knew that "Don't fear" was by not the lead singer, but I guess the last thirty times I've heard BOC, it's been ".. the reaper"

I had no idea that Blue Oyster Cult had any other songs. And I don't think I've heard Near Wild Heaven in over 20 years. Very much an exercise in "we've thought of a theme and now we need to think of four songs"

It was a good theme though! Really wish there was a proper music quiz on TV. It's been weeks of 'you are about to hear a piece of...' <kinder feels hopeful> '...classical music'. I almost miss Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

There's the Hit List, but that might skew too young for you? Are you basically looking for a TV version of Popmaster?

Not seen that - thanks!
Dunno what I'm after really. Missing pub quizzes probably... NMTB was good when it didn't spend 75% of the screen time on the panels' joeks.

didn't i see something recently about a relaunch of NMTB?

yeah: https://www.nme.com/news/tv/never-mind-the-buzzcocks-returning-five-years-on-2751064

"revived by Sky"

nevermind, carry on.

The Hit List is fun. Here’s a top fact - Dan Perry was on the short lived US version which was hosted by Jamie Foxx. The music rounds always infuriate me and make me feel super old. I got them all and was shouting at them like come on nerds it’s BYC ffs!!!!

But also they should have had “Drive” by The Cars in there too. I’m gonna go back for another degree just so I can be on that damn show and help some poor youngins through one of the music rounds. They can take all the questions on flags of the Canadian provinces and I’ll handle the pop music.

"Hit List" drives me nuts, don't know why.

I was planning to do the show with Alice, but the auditions were badly timed for us. Might have been a laff, might have won some money

But, hey.

I’d thought about doing it but my lack of knowledge of Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith would scupper any chance of success.

One of my mates is a (the?) question writer on The Hit List. I've been a studio stand-in a couple of times as it's filmed down the road from me and both times I've it I've fake-won over £9k when they do the technical run-through of the final game. I don't think I can get on for real for "being mates with the question-writer" reasons, but it's massive amounts of fun, and surprisingly esoteric in its choice of music.

Ailsa that’s awesome!! I worry that I would be fast enough or that I’d also get tripped up by stuff like Sam S or Ed S but it’s so fun to play along with. I don’t think it was on last weekend. Hope it it this week.

*wouldnt* be fast enough