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

As soon as Paxo said the round was going to be about John Waters I was like "these nerds are toast".

The Divine question was so easy Paxo might as well have said “Please repeat after me, the word divine“ but I guess people’s mileage doth vary

I only just realised they were getting the names Hunter S. Thompson and Hunter Davies confused! I'd be surprised if today's students are really aware of Hunter Davies, unless they are Spurs fans and have read his book about the club, or indeed his Beatles biography.

My mother with a big fan of his column Father's Day in Punch.

Anyway, I got 24 this week I think,but am on a bus to London and my list of answers is at home, so my comparison with the rest of youse will have to wait.

* was a big fan,I should say.

I'd be surprised if today's students are really aware of Hunter Davies,

tbf the guy who mixed those up looked to be in his 50's

Fair enough. I find it hard to concentrate on which people said what *and* answer the questions myself. Multitasking doesn't work, people.

Hunter Davies still writes a regular column in the Sunday Times - usually trolling inter-generational fairness and talking about how much tax he has paid.

22 this week. Nail-biting tie-breaker!

Isabella, Poland, Benz, Crab Nebula, New York City, malaria, lute & dilute, duck-billed platypus, zero, Pueblo, New Mexico, hermetic, N-U-N, hawk, Chagos Islands, Ottoman Empire, Ealing, Bill Bryson, volte face, lead, lithium, Nice.

Kicking myself @ not getting Bletchley Park. So obvious in retrospect.

First mother & son combo on the same team. I noticed they were sat as far from each other as possible.

slipped a day this week because of the sport.

i haven't watched last week's UC yet.

LL on pointless. i only saw the one but she looked quite comfortable.

Was this on over the last couple of weeks.
I checked to see if my video box thing had space to record last night then checked the tv guide and found it replaced by sport. Didn't fully check channel for rest of bight.
Checked if it had recorded previous week and nothing there.
I'm doing an irish class at the time now. But do enjoy UC.

was on last Monday, but not yesterday (rugby)

I'm wondering now whether there was a schedule change last week as well because of the political mess. i haven't actual checked the recording... yep, it's there

OC - I don't think the Road Runners actually got that second question (West and Exotic etc)

There was some weird thing with UC on the Sky EPG last week where it was listed as a different series, so it doesn't sit with the rest of the recordings. Very annoying.

I was very frustrated with the young people tonight. It's one thing not to know the films, but who doesn't recognize Cary Grant, for the love of pete?

Yeah, that was a bizarre ruling - there was zero explanation, they just made some noises, it turns out no-one knew who either Elvis *or* Lou Costello was, then hey have some points anyway for just mumbling about names a bit xpost

The music round on UC was also quite painful. Marchant clearly knew eras/genres even if not familiar with the artists, then deferred to her captain who was just picked random names out of thin air. Though I suspect both Dusty Springfield and Tracy Chapman are filed under "old stuff" when you're that age and clearly aren't interested at all in music

In other news, I have to play against recent UC sensations (i.e. noticeable enough for shit tabloids to run stories based on Twitter reaction to them) Michael Hutchison, Michael Kohn and Fatima Sheriff in an online quiz this week #prayforailsa

Ah, you'll batter them.

then deferred to her captain who was just picked random names out of thin air.

She also did that thing I hate of going "it's not that" when she doesn't know what it is. Offer an alternative or shush.

Well, Marchant (Marissa? prob not) got The Moodies "Nights in White Satin" very swiftly, I was like ok here goes.. but, no.

pointless today had "Edith Wharton TAOI" as a *pointless* answer in an american novels round. not just the contestants but the entire 100 people they asked didn't know it.

She also did that thing I hate of going "it's not that" when she doesn't know what it is. Offer an alternative or shush.

I kinda think that was an attempt at going "please don't say Tracy Chapman as a 60s singer" attempt, it's less embarrassing to just say you don't know. It's harsh being judged on TV (she says with a TV appearance coming up which I entirely approached as of I had the judging eye of the casual viewer in my face at all times)

Man I cannot construct coherent sentences.

On a "spot the intro" round, didn't know it so guessed the first song that came to mind. "Sailing" Rod Stewart. Because I had to say something, and it was just about to be issued.

Of course, by the time the show aired, said song was the biggest thing around, and of course I looked daft as the intro was nothing like it.

Then again, nobody ever mentioned it...

Liked this week as there was lots of gettable science. I was very impressed by Marchant getting Nights in White Satin so quickly - had no clue on this one. I like a good close contest like that; shame the team from the Fens clinched it.

My score was 27 this week: mole, Sherwood Forest, Offa's Dyke, neuron, dendrite, normal distribution, Stalin, Marshall, Epicurus, Maslow, Tyne, Romania, Alcatraz, Louisiana, The Carepenters, Scylla & Charybdis, Chicago, legume, Laburnum, New Territories, Mao, fructose, tango, 2nd law of thermodynamics, Gregor Mendel, Tale of Peter Rabbit, Kintyre.

Yet another Oxford college trounced by a Cambridge one.

Found this week's quite difficult - got 20 right, i.e. Cardinals, Marlins, Paisley, Coventry, Rachel, Shield, abstemious, Ray Bradbury, Sweden, Malta and Cyprus, buckminsterfullerene, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bexley, Barnet, silverfish, surfing and skateboarding, Yugoslavia, Iona, Mars

Why doesn't the rugby fuck off to another channel. Couldn't watch it last night because of bake off, can't watch tonight or tomorrow because of other commitments.

since BBC4 is nowm a dumping ground you'd think they would dump the rugby there, but no!

Yeah, it's some absolute bullshit. And it's all going to get upended again later this year for the stupid soccer.

Just loved how Kaye looked straight down the camera every time he answered a question. I know the production team probably told him off for it, but it was very funny.

It feels like a very specific punishment for nerds to have the rugby scheduled over University challenge

I thought the questions were quite hard and obscure this week – unusually so! Even the pop culture questions were more obscure than usual

I don't even know which code of rugby UC is being shifted by! My interest / knowledge of egg-chasing sports is close to zero. The only sports pages (in the print Sunday newspaper I still doggedly buy) I skip completely, in fact.

Jesus, Cambridge looked like a threat to win the series in that game though opening round form isn't always super predictive.

Do you count it as a correct answer for you if you correctly guessed the answer after a player buzzed, even if you would not have had the confidence to buzz at that point yourself?

As long as you say the answer before anyone on screen, it counts.

Between the husband and myself, you are also allowed one "I was just going to say that!" per episode.

Plus, one point (or scale) if you get the same wrong answer as someone who buzzes

One day I will keep a score and a record but my husband already thinks I'm mental and I don't want to give him more evidence

the new co-host on pointless is so much better than the others i've seen...

"i know all the songs but i can't make a connection..."

Who is on Pointless this week? I quite liked Stephen Mangan, he seemed fairly at ease with the format and the contestants.

(they are repeats, based on the 2021 in the credits and that Richard was back)

(they won the jackpot by naming some Peter Cushing films)

UC was on Tuesday this week, which totally threw me. Was all set to start watching on iplayer and came downstairs to find my wife watching it on live TV. So no scores from me this week.

i'm four weeks behind. and one of the answers in ucl vs sheffield ("His House") was on tv in the meantime!

"i know all the songs but i can't make a connection..."

Yeah, that was odd. I only got the connection because they got the first song. I was very pleased with myself for getting the Spongebob Squarepants. I'm so cultured!

(they won the jackpot by naming some Peter Cushing films)

Very last-day-of-school energy from these episodes of Pointless.

> "i know all the songs but i can't make a connection..."

for the sake of future me wondering what this was about all the songs had Mind in the titles, the most obvious connection possible and yet...

is "greek fire" the first thing that comes to your mind? i had to look up what it was.

Yeah, I never heard of it. We went with St Elmo's.

it's pretty famous if you've any interest in classical history tbf

catching up on old episodes and this one team didn't know who wrote Martian Chronicles...

Hmm, we have no House of Games recorded today, and the episode doesn't seem to be scheduled for later in the week. Was it on and our Sky box just didn't catch it?

my listings mag says yes, usual time, bbc2

(actually work slack is full of people asking if various things got to sky, seems like there are occasional problems)

So weird, because the recording isn't marked as failed or anything. Oh well.