Arrested for trop d'habits ("too much attire"), the teenagers were wearing bathing suits from the 1950's, their grandmothers' time. They put on these old bathing suits "for fun" and were actually relieved that men were not always "staring, you kno...
Jeremy Paxman today announced that there will be some major changes to the format of his long-running quiz show University Challenge. In a press release he said that the programme was to be re-structured to give it a more topical and less academic f...
Coverage of the popular BBC quiz show University Challenge could lead to the creation of more jobs at the Worcestershire Sauce factory. The progress of Worcester College, Oxford, to the semi-finals of this year's competition was followed avidly by...
So is it a slap-up feast at Ilkley's fabulously and ridiculously expensive Box Tree restaurant for native boy Tristan Burke after he led his Manchester side to victory? I've never been, Tris, despite living near for years, so if they do treat you, drop us a line let me know what it's like. Manchester were hot on the buzzer from the start and once again a previously crack outfit, this time Pe...
Oh dear! What shame! This was a mouth-watering prospect - two of the most entertaining sides in the competition squaring up for a cracking semi-final. But what a let-down. Well, to be perfectly fair, Manchester were entertaining, as well as sharp. But poor old Worcester simply never got going... the score was already a daunting 115-0 before they managed to get to the starter-for-ten buzze...
As Lord Liverpool may well have ejaculated on hearing Wellington's despatch reporting the victory at Waterloo: "Bloody hell! What a stonker!" This was quarter-final last chance saloon for these sides, both of whom had already lost one match, and they served up a spectacular, high-scoring tight finish. The outfit from Cambridge, featuring the deeply intense Daniel Janes, got off to a slow sta...
There was very nearly a coup in the latter stages of this ultimately exciting match. As Clare staged a roaring comeback from a seemingly hopeless position (the score at one stage read an embarrassing Pembroke 140 Clare minus 5) the excitable Daniel Janes seemed to all but usurp skipper Jonathan Burley's answering prerogative. Both Cambridge teams went into this match needing one win to make...
What a sauce! Worcester College, who qualified for the second round by winning the highest-losers' play-offs, are the first team into this year's semi-finals. Defeat tonight would have been fatal for neither side as teams need to win two quarter-final matches to qualify for the semis, and each already had one win under their belts. And there was a feeling that this led to a lack of urgency - it...
It has been suggested that we call this match The Battle of the Babes because both sides are skippered by young women - but we wouldn't do that, would we? Two women on the same show is rare enough... but both skippers? Congratulations to Worcester College, Oxford, and Newcastle University on a thoroughly entertaining match - and for the not insignificant distaff presence. And the girls -...
BBC chiefs moved quickly to cover up the embarrassment of the head of music at Radio 1 and 1Extra, George Ergatoudis, after he took part in a TV quiz last night. Mr Ergatoudis was appearing on Christmas University Challenge, a variation on the reg...
All right! We'll take up the slack while Col Juan News suffers IT trauma. Well done to both teams - this was an entertaining match, thanks mostly to both skippers deliberating with their team mates audibly. And entering into a bit of banter with inquisitor, Jeremy Paxman. Maybe the pressure was off a little, since defeat in your opening quarter-final match is the not the end of the matter...
Quite simply, the Cambridge outfit from Pemroke were just too good for Nottingham, who probably woke up the following day needing a dose of medicine from local outfit Boot's The Chemist. Nottingham took the first starter but that was it for the team from the East Midlands. Pembroke College, Cambridge, were generally faster on the button - and even when they weren't in the later stages, Nottingh...
We seem to be alternating between dull and entertaining bouts of UC lately. Thankfully, there were smiles on faces this week as the two teams seemed genuinely to be enjoying themselves. Which means that I don't have to be sidetracked into describing the cuisine chez Fields this Monday evening (well, if you must know, it was sweet, lean, scrumptious lamb cutlets followed by figs and home-made...
Two Oxford colleges cooked up a tasty dish for gourmands of University Challenge in a second course match this week. Worcester College edged out Queen's at the coffee course and duly take their place in the quarter-finals. We're becoming very familiar with Worcester's likeable foursome of Dave Knapp, Jack Bramhill, Jonathan Metzer and skipper Rebecca Gillie - this is their third appearance t...
Zzzzzzzzz. Oh good grief! If I hadn't been eating dinner (home-made salted cod fishcakes and black bean salad) I'd have been asleep by the time this game was half over! Birmingham picked up the first couple of starters and never looked back. They were not just faster to the buzzer, they really looked as if they knew more - which I'm sure was not the case. Poor Birmingham, bless their c...
Any quiz show in which an answer is the '80's Leeds band The Sisters Of Mercy has to have entertainment value. And last night's University Challenge, the second and final play-off between highest-scoring first round losers, was entertaining, despite the apparent disaparity in the final scores. The eight representatives of Worcester College, Oxford, and St Andrews are clearly a smart set of c...
Controversial historian Ken Lucid was at the centre of high-powered talks that will see reviews of University Challenge return to influential news site TheSpoof from next week. The popular TV quiz show was reviewed every week during its 2010/11 se...
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