University Challenge

[quizzywig]

I didn't care for that nasty shiny jacket that Paxo was wearing last night! Something left over from the eighties I reckon

[janbee]

I didn't see it quizzy, but I haven't really watched UC since old Bamber left. It was more "classy" in those days.

[murraymints]

Good old bamber ! Is he deid now ?

[quizzywig]

It's true, Bamber was a nice bloke. He's still with us aged 79 - can't believe he's 79!

[murraymints]

He had a really good manner with the students...he is to UC as Richard Whitely is to countdown ...made it their own and will forever be their babies !

[Fibonacci]

Here he is in the 1980s Media URL: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3y5ae_university-challenge-1985-part-1_shortfilms
Description:

[factor-fiction]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3y5ae_university-challenge-1985-part-1_shortfilms

[DTCwordfan]

It's not the jacket that bothered me; I have found the questions on the first two shows a lot tougher - not hitting my strike rate!

[Peter Pedant]

Questions are really different

a few weeks ago, no one could identify the Pastoral
where as we were asked ( 1970) what key it is written in ( F, I think)

This week they missed all the decade-of-history bonuses.
I confused, completely understandably, Philip V ( 1710s) with Phililp II ( 1590s). Well its really Fay-lee-pay innit ?

and woke up with C20 authors....

and they get a few science questions - Bamba grass-groin when asked why he didnt do science ( he used to review all the qeustions ) said No one gets them and we all chortled; yes but ....

[Cloverjo]

I loved the clip with Bamber. I got a few questions right too.
There is an ABer who has been on UC recently and says that Jeremy P is quite charming.

[Hopkirk]

My son is in it this year, so I saw a few being recorded.

IO can confirm that Jeremy is a lot more amiable than the screen image he gives. He can be techy though, if there are recording delays and he isn't kept informed.

[Hopkirk]

...tetchy...

[jim360]

Yeah he's probably just one of those people who has built up an on-screen persona of being tough, patronising, arrogant, condescending, not suffering fools gladly... away from the camera he's far more relaxed.

I don't think the questions are necessarily easier or harder between the two ears of UC. It varies anyway year on year, let alone between eras. For every stinker from Gascoigne's day you can find an easy one. There's a snippet on youtube where it's essentially "for 40 points, name five scientists important in overturning the old view of the Solar system" -- and, after rattling off Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and (say) Tycho Brahe, the score racks up so fast. Or you have "Solomon Grundy was born on Monday. When did he die?" But then from Paxman's era you have questions such as "what is the 8th prime number?", that's really just testing speed of recall rather than knowledge -- and there was perhaps a heavier emphasis on literature in earlier days that might have more students stumped nowadays than before.

Good luck to your son, Hopkirk!

[Mick-the-Miller]

I watched University Challenge and must say I never noticed Jeremy Paxman's jacket. The only things that stuck in my mind was the girl on the Oxford Brookes team with green hair and secondly how long the Brookes team took to answer the questions - usually wrongly!

[jim360]

The green-haired girl was on the Jesus, Oxford team -- but they did seem to take too long on the bonuses.

Long way to go, but early signs might be that this won't be such a high-scoring series as last year's?

[Mick-the-Miller]

Of course, when I said Brookes I really meant Jesus - we all make mistakes - but we don't all take as long as Jesus College (and the green-haired girl) to get them wrong!

[Bazile]

factor - fiction , link
I dont remember seeing those camera angles on the show , when it was broadcast on tv - do you ?

[WELSHYORKIE]

Nope, that girl with the green hair was definitely on the Oxford team :-)